As we have seen, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the revelations in the Bible. The five designations of the New Jerusalem are: the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the wife of the Lamb, and the mother of the believers. The name by which a person or thing is designated always implies the constituents, the components, the elements, of that certain person or that certain thing. The word “dog” designates an animal whose elements, composition, and constitution are that of a dog. In the same way all the designations of the New Jerusalem imply its constituents, elements, composition, and constitution. This is why it is important for us to find out the significances of all these designations.
As we have pointed out, the word new, especially in the New Testament, denotes that the divine element has been wrought into God’s creation. There was no divine element wrought into the old creation. However, the church as the new man and the new creation means that the divine element has been wrought into the man created by God. This shows us that the New Jerusalem is the old creation with the divine element wrought into it. Furthermore, we have seen that the designation “the holy city” denotes that God’s holy nature has been wrought into the New Jerusalem. This is not merely positional holiness, but dispositional holiness, which is God’s nature wrought into His creature. The New Jerusalem is also the tabernacle of God. According to the revelation of the New and Old Testaments, the word tabernacle is used to denote a building composed of two natures—the gold and the acacia wood. The gold signifies the divine nature, the acacia wood signifies the human nature, and these two are added together to become the basic elements for the building up of the tabernacle. Because this is a building of the divine nature and the human nature, it is a building for both God and man, a mutual building. The New Jerusalem is a mutual abode of God and of man.
Based upon these first three titles or designations, it is impossible to say that the New Jerusalem is a physical, material city. How could a physical, material city have the divine element? It is impossible. How could a physical, material city be wrought with God’s holy nature? It is impossible. How could a physical city be built with the divine nature and the human nature and become a mutual abode for God and man? It is impossible. I must admit that my understanding concerning the New Jerusalem was poisoned and occupied by the traditional teachings. These traditional teachings keep us from going further or deeper into the depths of the Holy Bible. In this chapter we want to see the last two designations of the New Jerusalem—the wife of the Lamb and the mother of the believers. The significance of these two designations is much deeper than the first three.
Revelation 21:2 tells us that the New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and Revelation 21:9 refers to the New Jerusalem as the bride, the wife of the Lamb. The first wife in the whole universe was Eve. In Ezekiel 23 the children of Israel are referred to as the wife of Jehovah (vv. 1-4). In John 3 all the regenerated believers are the bride of Christ to be His increase, His enlargement (vv. 29-30). In Ephesians 5 is the church as the wife of Christ and in 2 Corinthians 11:2 the believers have been engaged or betrothed to Christ as their husband. In Revelation 19:7-9 is a universal wedding day, the marriage of the Lamb. Finally, in the last two chapters of the Bible is the wife of the Lamb. The Lamb is the embodiment of the Triune God and the wife is the consummation of all the saints. The Bible concludes and consummates with a divine couple living a married life in eternity.
The New Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb is composed of the Old Testament saints represented by the twelve tribes, and the New Testament saints represented by the twelve Apostles (Rev. 21:9-14). The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is composed of all the redeemed saints of the Old Testament. Also, “the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (21:14). “Apostles” here also indicates that the New Jerusalem is not only composed of the Old Testament saints, represented by Israel, but also of the New Testament saints, represented by the Apostles.
In Ezekiel 23:1-4 we see that the old Jerusalem symbolized the children of Israel as the wife of Jehovah. In these verses, Ezekiel talks about Samaria and Jerusalem. In this passage, Jerusalem does not denote a physical city, but the people represented by the city. The old Jerusalem did not merely denote a physical city, but a living people who were a wife to Jehovah.