Revelation 3:12 says, “He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” The point in this verse is crucial—in the coming temple of God, the pillar is a person. He who overcomes will be made a pillar in the temple of God. We have seen already in 21:22 that John told us he saw no temple in the New Jerusalem because its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. The temple is also a person; it is not a physical matter. If a pillar in the temple is a person and the temple itself is a person, do you believe the New Jerusalem is a physical city composed of physical stones, physical pearls, and physical gold? Could it be that the pillar is a person, the temple is a person, but not the city? To interpret the city as something physical is not logical.
The New Jerusalem, as we have seen, is the consummation of all the building in the Bible. In the Old Testament the tabernacle and the temple are typified by physical matters. In the Old Testament there is physical gold in the tabernacle and there are real precious stones on the breastplate and shoulder-pieces of the priest. But when we come to the fulfillment of God’s building in the New Testament, there is nothing merely physical. The stones in God’s building are living persons. When Peter came to the Lord the first time, He called him Cephas, which means a stone (John 1:42). Peter later wrote in his first Epistle that the Lord Himself is a living stone and that we believers are also living stones (2:4-5). Paul also told us that as a wise master builder he had laid the foundation of God’s building upon which we, the believers, should build with gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:10-12). Surely the stones are not physical things. These are persons, which are confirmed by Peter’s writing that all of the believers are living stones. The holy city, therefore, as the consummation of God’s building in the Bible, is not something physical but personal. The entire city is personal, not physical. This interpretation is fully logical.
We must also ask ourselves whether or not, in the entire universe, God has a physical building and He is also now building a personal building. According to the traditional teaching in John 14, the Lord has gone back to the heavens to build a physical, heavenly mansion. This means that today the Lord in His heavenly ministry is building a physical building in the heavens and a spiritual building on earth. He is now building a physical building with real stones, pearls, and much gold, and at the same time on this earth He is building a personal temple.
If there is a physical city at the end of the Bible, though, we must ask where the spiritual building built by the Lord is. If there is a material temple in the heavens and a spiritual one on earth, where is the spiritual building when the physical one comes down out of heaven? The only way to interpret this is that the spiritual one merges into the physical one. As we can see, this interpretation is entirely illogical. Can we really believe that the Lord today is building two houses? A strange point about this kind of interpretation is that the physical building is in the heavens and the spiritual building is on the earth. On the earth He is building a spiritual house and in the heavens He is building a physical one. Consider what the Lord would have to do to build such a physical building. He would have to collect many pearls and the pearls would have to be very big, at least eight feet in diameter, in order to be a gate through which people could pass. If the pearls were that big consider how big the oyster would have to be to produce such pearls. Pearls are not created, but produced by the living oyster. Also, could we believe that there would be a literal mountain of gold more than thirteen hundred miles high? Some may say that God is universally great and that He can build such a mountain. However, if God could build such a mountain, why would He need two thousand years in which to build it?
The word given in John 14, which some people interpret as the Lord going to prepare “a heavenly mansion,” was spoken two thousand years ago. This interpretation tells us that the Lord went to the heavens to prepare such a mansion and that when He comes back He will receive us to Himself there. According to this interpretation He has not finished the building there in the heavens. He is still there building the heavenly mansion. This, however, is against the principle of God’s creation. In God’s creation, God speaks things into being. He says there is light and light is there. When God says there is gold, gold is there. In God’s creation, He speaks not being as being (Rom. 4:17). Since such is the principle in God’s creation, why has it taken nearly two thousand years to build such a big physical house in the heavens? Also, why would such a big physical building need to come down to earth? Why would the Lord not call not being into being on the earth? Again, we have to say that this interpretation is not logical. To say that the Lord is now building a physical building in the heavens and that when He comes that physical building will come down from the heavens is an improper understanding of the Bible.
We have seen that according to the book of Revelation itself this building is undoubtedly personal, not physical, because the temple is God and the Lamb Himself, and the pillar is an overcomer. These are strong proofs that the city is not physical but a composition of living persons. This is also fully confirmed by the New Testament revelation. In the New Testament a believer in Christ is considered a piece of stone like Peter. Then in the Epistles, the apostles considered the believers as pieces of living and precious stones. I do not believe that the Lord would spend two thousand years to build up something and then eventually put this building aside or merge this building with a physical building.
We also need to see one more confirmation, that is, that today the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23; 1 Cor. 12:12). It is not a physical body. Today the church is also the house of God. This house is not a physical house; God dwells in this house today. First Timothy 3:15 tells us that the church is the house of the living God. This house is composed of living persons and we consider the church as our home. The church is our home and this home is not built with cement, redwood, or Arizona stone. We have a home built spiritually with the living believers. Thus, today the church is a home— not a physical home but a home composed with living persons. The New Testament principle is the eternal principle. The Old Testament principle is the principle in typology and is temporary. However, the New Testament principle, being eternal, will exist forever going through the millennium and on into eternity. This principle is that God’s dwelling in His economy is not a physical building, but a building built up with living persons. Such a principle along with our logical consideration would not allow us to interpret the New Jerusalem as a physical city. If you interpret the New Jerusalem in this way, you are going against the basic principles of the New Testament and you are against the principles which are eternal.