In the previous three chapters we covered mainly the God-men, the new man, the new creation, the Body of Christ, the overcomers, and, in a simple way, the New Jerusalem. In this chapter we will begin to consider the New Jerusalem in a detailed way, pointing out the significance of the New Jerusalem and giving a definition and interpretation of the glorious New Jerusalem.
Bible teachers have had different ways of interpreting the New Jerusalem. Mainly there are two ways: according to the letter and according to the spiritual significance. Some good Bible teachers insist that everything in the book of Revelation should be interpreted according to the letter. In keeping with such a literal interpretation, the seven golden lampstands in chapter one should be regarded not as signs or symbols but as actual physical lampstands. Likewise, the New Jerusalem should be regarded literally as a material city. For a period of time, we tried to interpret the New Jerusalem in a literal way, but eventually we came to realize that this was not the right way. Then the Lord led us to interpret the New Jerusalem according to its intrinsic spiritual significance.
The book of Revelation itself indicates that we should interpret the New Jerusalem not according to the letter but as a sign: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and He made it known by signs” (1:1). A sign is a symbol with a spiritual significance, such as the seven lampstands, signifying the seven churches; the seven stars, signifying the messengers of the churches (v. 20); and the beast from the sea, signifying Antichrist (13:1). In 5:6 Christ is presented as a Lamb. Since Christ is not literally a lamb, the Lamb here must also be a sign. In John 1:29 Christ is called “the Lamb of God.” In the typology in the Old Testament, the Passover lamb (Exo. 12:3) signifies Christ as the One offered to God for our redemption. This is the spiritual significance of the sign of the Lamb in the book of Revelation. Just as the Lamb in Revelation 5 is a sign, so the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is also a sign. Only when we interpret the New Jerusalem as a sign with a spiritual significance will we have a clear view and a proper understanding of the New Jerusalem.
For more than seventy years we have been trying to understand the significance of the New Jerusalem. The city itself is a sign, and the various aspects of the city, such as the street, the gates, and the wall, also are signs. Surely we should not interpret these things according to the letters. Rather, we must seek to understand the spiritual significance of the New Jerusalem in all its aspects.
We need to see how the God-men are related to the New Jerusalem.
The God-men constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem. The constituents of the New Jerusalem are not lifeless materials but living persons, sons born of God to be the God-men.
The God-men build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem. We are building up something in this age-the Body of Christ-that is for something in the next age-the New Jerusalem.
As the members of the Body of Christ, we are now building up the Body of Christ. But here we need to ask a question: With what are we building? The answer is that we are building up the Body of Christ with ourselves. Of course, we are not building with the corrupted self of the fallen humanity; we are building with the self that is being renewed, transformed, and conformed and that will be glorified. Today we are building up the Body of Christ with our regenerated new man.
In today‘s seminaries the students are taught to build up the church with the believers as the members. This is correct, but it is not adequate. With what kind of believers should the church be built? Can the church be built with so-called believers who are still natural, fallen persons? Can people be used as constituents for the building up of the church only because they have had their sins forgiven by God and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus? No, such persons are not sufficient for the building up of the Body of Christ.
It is crucial for us to see that God’s salvation has two aspects. We, the believers in Christ, are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, which washes us and which is the basis for God to forgive us and justify us. All this belongs to the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation. The other aspect of God’s salvation is the life-imparting aspect. We are saved, therefore, not only by the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation but also by the life-imparting aspect. John 19:34 tells us that from the pierced side of the crucified Christ two substances came out-blood and water. The blood signifies the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation, and the water signifies the life-imparting aspect. This indicates that in addition to being redeemed we need to be regenerated. This means that we need to have the divine life imparted into us. This not only regenerates us but also transforms us and conforms us to the image of Christ. The believers with whom the church is built should be not only redeemed, forgiven, and justified persons but also regenerated and transformed persons.
Christ’s death was both a redeeming death and a life-releasing death. The life released through His death has been imparted, dispensed, into us in His resurrection by the Spirit. Christ’s death released the divine life from within Him, and now the Spirit in Christ’s resurrection dispenses this released life into the believers.
We all need to realize clearly that we have been saved by the Lord not only through His redemption but also through His life-imparting. On the one hand, in His crucifixion Christ died to redeem us; on the other hand, He died to release the divine life so that it could be imparted into us as His redeemed ones.
As we pointed out in chapter one, it was by such a death that Christ created the new man. In order for Christ to create the new man, He had to do something more than merely terminate the negative things. He also had to release the divine life from within Him so that it could be imparted into the redeemed persons. The God-men, as this kind of men, not only constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem; they also build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem. How glorious it is that we are now building up the New Jerusalem! Are you not such a builder? We all are co-builders, building an eternal dwelling place for ourselves.
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