These subjects will be God’s peoples, among whom is the tabernacle of God. Revelation 21:3 speaks not of the sons of God (vv. 6-7) but of the peoples of God, who will be the nations around the New Jerusalem.
The subjects of the reign of the New Jerusalem will be sustained to live the human life for eternity by the leaves of the tree of life (22:2b), signifying the deeds of Christ, but they will not eat of the fruit of the tree of life, which is for God’s redeemed as His sons (21:7). This means that the subjects will not be regenerated; that is, they will not have eternal life but only the life of the humanity that was originally created by God and then was redeemed and recovered. Although they will not have eternal life, they will live for eternity by the leaves of the tree of life.
The fruit of the tree of life will be our food to nourish us in the New Jerusalem, but the leaves of the tree of life, which are good not for eating but for medicine, will be for the healing of the nations. Because the leaves are effective for healing, the nations will live forever. The leaves of the tree of life symbolize the deeds of Christ. The regenerated believers will eat of the fruit of the tree of life, receiving Christ as their inward life and life supply that they may enjoy the divine life for eternity, whereas the restored nations will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life, taking the deeds of Christ as their outward guide and regulation that they may live the human life for eternity.
In their relationship with God, the subjects will walk in the light of this organic building (v. 24a), which is the glory of God shining in the Lamb through His redeemed. This means that in matters related to God the nations as the subjects will walk in the divine light. For their human affairs they will also live under the light of the sun created by God and the lamp made by man.
The earthly kings of the subjects will bring their splendor, that is, their glory, to God (21:24b), as the twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne of God (4:10). The nations will bring their splendor and their honor, that is, their preciousness in status and dignity in position, to God (21:26), as the four living creatures do to God, who sits upon the throne (4:9).
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more, nor will there be sorrow or crying or pain anymore; for the former things will have passed away (21:4). All these are the blessings to the nations as the subjects, not to the saints as the sons of God (vv. 5-7), under the reign of the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem as such a marvelous, wonderful, and amazing entity is the aggregate of all the visions and revelations in the Holy Scripture; the total accomplishment of the types, figures, and shadows, and the total fulfillment of the prophecies of the Holy Scripture; and the final conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Holy Scripture. Without the New Jerusalem, the Bible would not have a conclusion.
The New Jerusalem as the organism of God is God’s good pleasure of His heart’s desire (Eph. 1:5, 9), God’s ultimate goal, and the complete fulfillment of the eternal economy of God (v. 10; 3:9).
Such a New Jerusalem is the total blessing of the eternal life (Matt. 19:29; Rom. 5:21) that all the redeemed people of God will enjoy in Christ as the unsearchable blessing of God’s dynamic and complete salvation for their eternal inheritance.
Home | First | Prev | Next