CHAPTER FOUR

THE GOD-MEN AND THE NEW JERUSALEM

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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21-22

OUTLINE

1. The God-men:
   1. The God-men constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem.
   2. The God-men build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem.
   3. The God-men become the overcomers to consummate the New Jerusalem.
2. The New Jerusalem:
   1. The union and mingling of all God’s redeemed through all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom with the processed and consummated Triune God.
   2. The consummation of God’s new creation out of His old creation in the four ages from the creation of man to the end of time.
   3. An organic constitution constituted with the redeeming processed and consummated Triune God and the redeemed, transformed, and glorified tripartite men as an organism of the consummated Triune God for His eternal enlargement and expression through the glorified tripartite men.
   4. The dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God, signified by the tabernacle-Rev. 21:3; cf. John 1:14.
   5. The counterpart of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God, indicated by the bride in Christ’s one-thousand-year wedding day and the wife in eternity, the precursor of which is the church as the Body of Christ-Rev. 21:2, 9; 19:7, 9; Eph. 5:25-32.
   6. The ultimate consummation of the universal woman in Revelation 12:1.
   7. The spreading of the processed and consummated Triune God through His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people as His increase for His eternal purpose.
   8. The reflection and fulfillment of the divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden:
      1. The divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden, created by the eternal Triune God, and the divine revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, builded by the processed and consummated Triune God, reflecting each other:
         1. The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains-Gen. 2:8-14, 18-24:
            1. 1) The tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy-v. 9a.
            2. 2) A river flowing into four heads to reach the four directions of the earth-vv. 10-14.
            3. 3) At the flow of the river three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearl, and onyx, scattered and not yet builded together-vv. 11-12.
            4. 4) A couple, signifying Christ and the church-vv. 18-24; Eph. 5:22-29:
               1. a) The wife came out of the husband (signifying Christ) as a part (a rib, signifying the resurrection life of Christ) of him taken out of him in his sleep (signifying the death of Christ) by God, which part God built into a woman (signifying the church)-Gen. 2:21-22a.
               2. b) God brought the woman to the man and made her one flesh with him as her husband to be his counterpart as his increase and expression-vv. 22b-24; John 3:29a, 30; Eph. 1:23.
         2. The revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains-Rev. 21:1-22:2:
            1. 1) The tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy-22:2.
            2. 2) A river of water of life flowing to reach the four directions of the earth-22:1; cf. 21:13.
            3. 3) Three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearls, and precious stones, built together into a city, the city of New Jerusalem, by the processed and consummated Triune God-21:18-21.
            4. 4) The entire city of New Jerusalem being a couple:
               1. a) The processed and consummated redeeming Triune God in Christ is the Husband.
               2. b) The chosen and redeemed people of the redeeming Triune God are the wife, produced by the processed and consummated Triune God through Christ’s death and resurrection with the divine life of the redeeming God as the element to be His counterpart as His enlargement and expression in eternity-21:2, 9; Eph. 1:23; 3:19.
      2. What is revealed in these two parts of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture is the central line of the entire divine revelation throughout the entire Holy Scripture. This central line should be a controlling principle to our interpreting and understanding of the Holy Scripture.
   9. The unique, divine, and organic building in the entire universe:
      1. Its base with its street-Rev. 21:18b, 21b:
         1. God the Father in His nature (2 Pet. 1:4), signified by the pure gold, is the base on which this organic building is built.
         2. The street is a part of the base, indicating that God the Father’s nature is the street (way-John 14:6) which has no turns or corners but is a circling (eternal) spiral, leading up to and joining with the throne of God at the top of the city, out of which issues this organic building’s administration and its supply-Rev. 22:1-2; cf. II. I. 4. a. 3).
      2. Its gates with its availability-21:12b-13, 21a:
         1. The Old Testament saints, signified by the pearls, produced by God the Son through His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection, are the gates:
            1. 1) An oyster (Christ) lives in the salty water (the world of death) and is wounded by a grain of sand (crucified for the sinner) to produce a pearl by secreting its life juice (dispensing His life element).
            2. 2) The gates are in the number of twelve (eternal completion and perfection in administration), which is composed of three (the Triune God) times (mingles) four (man as God’s creature), signifying that the Triune God mingles with man as His creature for His administration to accomplish His economy.
            3. 3) The twelve gates are on the four (man as God’s creature) sides of the organic building, three (the Triune God) on each side, signifying the availability of this organic building toward mankind universally.
         2. The twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating that the entry of the twelve gates, which is the entry of the entire building, is according to the requirements of Israel’s law, which conducts the believers in Christ to Christ (Gal. 3:24), and that the Old Testament saints are constituents of this organic building, to be the initial section of this building for the establishment of its entry for the saints to participate in this organic building as God’s good pleasure and His ultimate goal.