The God-men not only build up the Body of Christ but also become the overcomers to consummate the New Jerusalem. The consummation of the New Jerusalem requires both maturity and increase. The building up of the church as the Body of Christ needs maturity-the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Otherwise, we may have the building without the consummation.
When some hear this, they may ask, “Are we building the New Jerusalem or consummating the New Jerusalem? Is not the consummation a part of building?” Yes, it is a part of building, but it is still something distinct. To illustrate the difference we may refer to the building of a meeting hall. After the building of the hall has been completed, certain things need to be added, such as electricity, in order for the hall to be consummated. In like manner, the God-men as the overcomers need to consummate the New Jerusalem.
Let us now consider what the New Jerusalem is.
The New Jerusalem is 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. It is thus a union and mingling of the redeemed with the redeeming God.
We are not only united to the Triune God-we are mingled with Him. We may use the digestion of food as an illustration of mingling. The food that we eat, digest, and assimilate is eventually mingled with us. Apart from such a mingling, the food could not become our element. It is by being mingled with us that the food becomes us. The Bible tells us that Christ is eatable and that we should eat Him (John 6:51, 57). To eat Him is to have Him mingled with us.
In John 15:4a the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This mutual abiding, this mutual dwelling, is a matter of coinherence. In today‘s Christianity, Bible teachers may use the word coexist but seldom use the word coinhere. To coexist is different from to coinhere. To coexist is to exist together at the same time. To coinhere is to exist in one another, to dwell in one another. Coinherence, being a mutual dwelling or abiding, is therefore a mingling.
The New Jerusalem is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. Actually, the New Jerusalem signifies that God as the temple (Rev. 21:22) is our dwelling and that God’s redeemed as His tabernacle (v. 3) are His dwelling place. From this we can see that the New Jerusalem is not only a union of the redeeming God with His redeemed people but also a mingling of God with His redeemed ones.
The New Jerusalem is 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.
The New Jerusalem, like the Body of Christ, is 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.
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