We need to be reminded of our need to realize that the New Jerusalem is not just an item of prophecy concerning something coming in the future, but the holy city is altogether applicable to us today. In this chapter we want to see the New Jerusalem’s application to us as the triune existence. We have seen that the New Jerusalem is built with gold as its city proper, with pearls as its gates, and with precious stones for its foundation and wall. The standing of this city with its three basic elements is its existence. The New Jerusalem has a triune existence.
We need to see how this triune existence can be applied to us today. Since the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, its existence can be applied to us by going back to look at the church. In Ephesians 4:4 is the Body. The Body is the church and the church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. We can also say that the Body of Christ is a precursor of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is coming and the church exists today as its precursor. The New Jerusalem will be a full consummation of this precursor, the Body of Christ.
We are not in the New Jerusalem yet, but we are surely in the Body. What is applied to the Body today will consummate in the New Jerusalem. As we have already seen, in the New Jerusalem there are three materials for its existence: gold signifies God the Father in His divine nature, pearls signify the produce of Christ through His death and in His resurrection, and precious stones signify the produce of the Spirit’s transforming work. According to Ephesians 4:4-6 we see the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father for the existence of the Body of Christ today which will consummate in the existence of the New Jerusalem. In Ephesians 4 the existence of the New Jerusalem has been applied to us already and is still being applied to us. Day by day we who are in the church, in the Body, are enjoying this application of the existence of the New Jerusalem. We are existing in the Body by the Triune God.
Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “One Body and one Spirit, as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” In these verses are the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. This, of course, refers to the divine Trinity, yet the order of the Trinity in these verses is not the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit. We need to ask why Paul begins with the Spirit, goes on to the Lord, and ends with the Father. This is because Paul is touching a subjective matter, and in our experiences the Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Trinity reaches us, He is the Spirit; therefore, Paul begins with the Spirit as the reaching aspect of the divine Trinity. When you have the Spirit, you also have the Lord because the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). When the Spirit reaches you, the Lord is with you since there is no separation between the three of the divine Trinity. There is a definite distinction among the three yet no separation. You can never separate the Lord from the Spirit, nor can you separate the Father from the Lord. When the Lord is here, the Father is here. If you have one, you have all three. When the Spirit reaches you, the Lord is here, and when the Lord is here, you also enjoy the Father.
Firstly, in the triune existence we are existing with God the Father, who is over all, through all, and in all. You may think that it is easy to understand that God is over you and in you, but can you explain what it means for God to be through you? We Christians have a bad habit of taking things in the Bible for granted. Many of us have probably read Ephesians many times, but did we ever check what it means for God the Father to be over all, through all, and in all? How is this verse applied to our experience? Do we experience God being over us, through us, and in us?
Verse 6 uses the term “one God and Father.” We all know that God is our Father, but in this verse Paul inserts the conjunction “and.” We need to ask what the difference is between God and the Father. God is the originator of all things and the originator of His eternal purpose, His eternal economy. As the Father, God is the source of life for the Body. As the originator, He created us in the old creation, and as the source, He regenerated us in the new creation to be the church. Concerning the old creation, we were created by God. Concerning the new creation, we were regenerated by the Father. On the one hand, we are still the old creation, and on the other hand, we are the new creation. Ephesians 2:15 tells us that through the death of Christ in the flesh, one new man has been created and this new man is the Body. This Body is of God the originator, and of the Father the source. The very originator and the source are over all of us, through all of us, and in all of us.