The New Jerusalem is a golden mountain. Revelation 21 tells us that the city was pure gold and also that the street of the city was pure gold (v. 21). When we were regenerated, we received the nature of God and a part of this golden mountain entered into our being. We all have a part of the golden mountain, the New Jerusalem. We need to realize that something within us is divine. A part of our regenerated being is gold and this divine gold is God’s nature. As the children of God we have God’s divine nature which means we have a part of the golden mountain. Your part, my part, and the parts of billions of believers in Christ including Paul, Peter, and John, when added together, equal the golden mountain.
The gold within us does not need any further work, but it needs some development. A small tree develops, which means that it grows; but the tree does not work. When trees grow, they develop. As we have seen, 2 Peter 1 tells us that we are partakers of the divine nature and shows us the development of the divine nature. Although trees grow or develop, they still need a suitable environment for their development. The divine nature within us as symbolized by the gold does not work but it grows or develops and its development needs a good environment. Otherwise, the development will be frustrated, limited, or restricted. In order for the divine nature to develop within us to its fullest extent, we need to give it the best environment.
As a young believer I heard that Christians have to grow, but when I asked how we grow no one knew the answer. Some said that to grow is to acquire more knowledge from the Bible. I knew one particular older brother who had a tremendous amount of Bible knowledge. Although he gave sermons on the Bible and was one of the best teachers I was under, he still smoked. Although he had a great amount of the knowledge of the Bible, he was short of life. Today the Lord has opened our eyes to see that God the Father’s nature is in us as the ground, the site, of God’s building, and that this nature is developing. Now we need to let this divine nature have the best cooperation and the best environment that it may grow and develop within us.
The redemptive work of God the Son is all-inclusive. His desire is for us to stay in His death so that He might secrete His “life-juice” over us. This is the life-secreting work of Christ. Because this work is hard for us to realize, we need such an allegory. Without this allegory, we would not be able to see that Christ’s resurrection life is actually the divine life element secreted over us to make us pearls.
If we check with our experience, we will be able to understand more fully Christ’s secreting work. Whenever you remain in the all-inclusive death of Christ, whenever you take the cross, the resurrection life of Christ secretes over you. It may be that a certain young brother feels that his father is wrong in a certain matter. He may feel that he needs to complain or rebel, but if he does this, he is running away from the death of Christ. However, if this brother stays under the cross in the death of Christ and says, “Lord, I praise You that You have kept me in Your death. I praise You that I am now residing in Your all-inclusive death.” Immediately something within him will be secreting around his inner being, and he will sense the inner supply. As he experiences this inner secretion time after time, he will become a pearl more and more. This is the secretion of the resurrected Christ in His resurrection life.
Even in our marriage life we must remember that in order to enjoy the secreting work of Christ in His resurrection through His death, we must remain and stay in His death. Do not run away. Many married sisters run away from the death of Christ in their relationship with their husbands. When a wife is nagging, or scolding her husband, she has moved out of the death of Christ. We all need to see that the marvelous, all-inclusive death of Christ is our “home sweet home.” Regardless of what a sister’s husband would say to her, she needs to stay, to remain, in Christ’s death. If she would do this, she would sense the secreting of Christ’s resurrection life. The more trouble her husband would give her, the more enjoyment she would have as long as she remains in the death of Christ. This fellowship is not a doctrine or a teaching but an explanation of our subjective experience of Christ. Thank the Lord that today He has opened the veils and has shown us the way to be victorious and to be an overcomer. We do not need to “gnash our teeth” to endeavor or to struggle. We only need to stay home, to remain in the death of Christ. Then we enjoy the secreting of the divine life in resurrection.