We also need to be those existing with the Lord Christ (Eph. 4:5). Our existence today must be one with Christ in the way He lives in us. Many of us have heard message after message telling us that Christ lives in us, yet in our daily life we do not exist with Christ living in us. Christ living in us is a continuation of the Father being over us, and eventually in us. The Son’s living in us is a continuation of the Father’s being in us. When God is over us, through us, and in us, that is Christ living in us. When Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20a), we live by Him (John 6:57b), which means we exist by Him. Furthermore, we even live Christ (Phil. 1:21). To live by Christ is not as high as to live Christ. We need to live Christ. The very Christ whom we live is the very substance with which we exist. We exist with Christ as the living substance.
The facade of the New Jerusalem is its twelve pearl gates. The front of a building is its facade. Today we must have Christ living out of us as our facade, our front. We exist not only with God the Father over us, through us, and in us, but also with Christ living in us, that we may live by Christ and that we may live Christ. Eventually, we magnify Christ (Phil. 1:20). The first thing that can be seen in the New Jerusalem is the pearl gates. These gates are the magnification of Christ, and today we must exist in a way that Christ is magnified in our existence. In order for us to enter into such a state, there is the need of much time for the divine nature within us to develop and for our growth in life, yet we have to realize that the existence of the New Jerusalem should be applied to our daily life. The New Jerusalem has the Father’s nature as its city proper and the pearls as its gates. We must live by Christ, we must live Christ, and we must magnify Christ by His living in us. When He is living in us, He is surely secreting His resurrection life around us, making us pearls, and these pearls are His magnification.
Finally, we should be those existing with the Spirit (Eph. 4:4). Ephesians 4:4 refers to the one Body and the one Spirit. This verse indicates that the very Spirit is the essence and the substance of the Body, the church. The church today must be substantially and essentially the Spirit Himself. If there is no Spirit, there is no Body, no church. Without the Spirit, all we have is a kind of human congregation. The church must be substantially and essentially the Spirit. When we sing a hymn, we sing it with the Spirit. When we speak, we speak with the Spirit. When we serve, we serve with the Spirit. When we testify, share, and function, we do it entirely with the Spirit. Without the Spirit, there is no substance of the church. Without the Spirit, the church is the same as any other social organization. The church must be one Body with the Spirit as its substance.
Some may wonder how we can say that the Spirit is the substance or the essence of the church. First, the New Testament tells us that we were regenerated by the Spirit (John 3:6b). Since the Spirit has regenerated us, this regenerating Spirit has become the very substance and the very essence of the church. The New Testament also tells us that we have been baptized in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13a). Now we are those drinking the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13b). Day after day the Spirit is our drink, and whatever we drink becomes our intrinsic essence. Therefore, the Spirit must be the intrinsic essence of the church life. Furthermore, we are now being transformed by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). He is now transforming us with the divine element, which is being added to us to replace and discharge the old element of our old nature. You and I have to exist with the Spirit as our spiritual essence. Finally, we are being strengthened and enriched by the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4b) for the Body life, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
The application of the New Jerusalem in its triune existence is described in Ephesians 4:4-6. These verses show us how the church can exist with the Triune God, with the Father, with the Lord, and with the Spirit. I hope that we all have seen something concerning the triune existence. The Bible is a book full of revelations and full of visions. We should not limit our understanding of the Bible according to the ability of our mentality. Our mentality is too small. This is why Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17 that the Father would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that He would open our inner eyes that we might see something. We need the vision to see how the Triune God can be our daily existence. We need a vision to see how we have to exist with God the Father over us, through us, and in us; with the Son living in us that we may take Him as our life to live by Him, to live Him, and to magnify Him; and we also have to see that the very consummation of the Triune God is the reaching Spirit who is right now within us. He has regenerated us, we have been baptized in Him, we are drinking Him, and He is transforming us. He is the very substance and the very essence of our church life. This is the existence of the New Jerusalem applied to us today. I am happy for this wonderful portion of the Scriptures where we can see the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father being the substance of our daily existence. It is truly marvelous that today we can enjoy a foretaste of the existence of the New Jerusalem in eternity.