The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the tabernacle and the temple in the Bible. We have seen that the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God is God and the Lamb Himself as the temple. The New Jerusalem is not something physical but personal. Even in the New Testament the Lord Jesus as the tabernacle (John 1:14) is not a physical item, but a person. Also, the temple in the New Testament is firstly the Lord Jesus (John 2:19-21) and then the church (1 Cor. 3:16-17). The Lord Jesus and the church are not physical matters, but both are personal. The temple in the heavens surely is not personal, but the New Jerusalem as the temple will be God and the Lamb Himself, which is something personal. This means that the New Jerusalem is not the ultimate consummation of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple but the ultimate consummation of the New Testament tabernacle and temple, which are Christ and the church. This New Jerusalem is neither the heavenly tabernacle which is heaven itself nor the temple in heaven which is a place.
We must see three sets of the tabernacle and the temple: (1) One set is in the Old Testament. The tabernacle and the temple here were physical and were types. (2) Another set is the New Testament tabernacle and temple. This set is not physical but personal—Christ and the church. (3) The third set is the heavenly tabernacle and the temple in heaven. Finally, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the tabernacle and of the temple. It is neither the ultimate consummation of the set on earth in the Old Testament, nor of the set in the heavens in the New Testament. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the set of Christ as the tabernacle and Christ and the church as the temple in the New Testament. It is the ultimate consummation, the full development, of the tabernacle which was Christ and of the temple which was both Christ and the church. Now the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation in full of Christ and of the church as God’s eternal dwelling place and as our eternal dwelling place.
In the universe, before Moses, God had a dwelling place in heaven, and heaven, according to Hebrews 9:24, was God’s tabernacle. The tabernacle was heaven itself and in that heavenly tabernacle was a spot where God stayed. This spot was the temple as the Holy of Holies of the heavenly tabernacle. This was the tabernacle with the temple as the Holy of Holies with the ark in it. When God charged Moses to build the tabernacle, He charged him to build it according to God’s heavenly pattern (Heb. 8:5). Therefore, the tabernacle built by Moses and the temple built by Solomon in the Old Testament were according to the heavenly tabernacle and the temple in heaven. One set in the heavens was real and one set on the earth was a copy. The Old Testament tabernacle and temple was an earthly copy of the heavenly tabernacle and the temple in heaven. This copy was a shadow of Christ and the church as God’s tabernacle and God’s temple in the New Testament on this earth. The New Testament set of Christ and the church will consummate in the New Jerusalem. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is neither the set of the tabernacle and the temple in the heavens nor the set on earth in the Old Testament, but the continuation and even the consummation of the set in the New Testament of Christ and the church.
We need to study the Bible in this way to purge out the leaven and to clear up the cloud that we may see God’s New Testament economy and the New Testament ministry. This is the ministry which ministers the Triune God to produce the church and which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. We must realize that this ultimate consummation has been leavened and has been changed in every way in its intrinsic essence and element. It is not a small thing to fight against this leaven. This is the greatest leaven which the woman took and put into the biblical fine flour (Matt. 13:33). By His mercy, we must do our best to purge out this leaven.
Now we all should be able to see that the house in John 14 and the city ‘in Revelation 21 are the ultimate consummation of Christ and the church. The truth concerning the house in John 14 and the city in Revelation 21 has been leavened and this leaven in the past centuries has governed the Christian teachings; therefore, so many have been robbed, misled, distracted, frustrated, and held back. Now we are ministering the genuine thing of God’s economy. We must purge out this leaven. This is a big battle. All the items of these truths must be purely presented to the Christian public. If the house in John 14 and the city in Revelation 21 were physical things, they would have nothing to do with the Triune God working Himself into our being. Such a wrong interpretation is off of the line of the New Testament revelation.
The New Testament revelation shows us the Triune God and how He has gone through the processes to become the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit to work Himself into us to become our life, our life supply, and our everything. Such a dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen and redeemed people will consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is a mutual dwelling place for Him and for His redeemed ones. This is the basic line of the New Testament revelation according to God’s entire economy. To interpret the house in John and the city in Revelation as physical things would mean that they have nothing to do with the basic line of the New Testament revelation. This interpretation eventually robs the riches of the divine revelation and annuls all the proper principles of Biblical interpretation, so we lose everything. The heart and the pulse of the New Testament ministry is lost, is gone. The house in John and the city in Revelation must be brought back to their rightful position in God’s New Testament economy. Both are the very illustration of the Triune God working Himself into our being to be the house and to be the city. In the house and in the city the Divine Trinity is fully portrayed.
John 14 through 17 is a great section of the New Testament telling us the details concerning the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into our entire being. The ultimate consummation of the Triune God dispensing Himself into our being is this holy city, the New Jerusalem. This is not merely an interpretation of the Bible. What we have shared is very basic and very crucial. The Triune God is being dispensed into us to produce the house and to produce the city. The house is the result of the Triune God’s dispensing and the city is the consummation of this result.