Thus far, we have seen five aspects of the application of the New Jerusalem to the believers: its triune entry, triune constitution, triune existence, triune living, and triune enjoyment. In this final chapter we want to see the triune expression. Since we have entered into the Triune God and are being constituted with Him, existing and living with Him, and enjoying Him, we will surely express Him. In the New Jerusalem the city is a mountain of gold with pearl gates and with a jasper wall built upon twelve layers of precious stones. Gold expresses God in His divine nature, pearls express Christ in His death and resurrection, and precious stones express the Spirit in His transforming work with all the unsearchable riches of Christ. In the New Jerusalem we see the triune expression of the Father as the source of all the divine riches, of the Son as the embodiment of all the divine riches, and of the Spirit as the realization of all the divine riches.
We have to see the very intrinsic contents of the Father as the source of all the divine riches. The expression of God the Father as the source of all the divine riches is based upon His nature typified by gold (Rev. 21:18b). The base of the entire New Jerusalem is gold since the city itself is a mountain of gold. God’s divine nature is the very base, ground, and site of the city. The triune expression of the Father is not only based upon His nature but also is in His glory (Rev. 21:11). The New Jerusalem does not need any natural or man-made light because God Himself is the light of the city. Light is the nature of God’s expression. God Himself is signified as gold in His intrinsic nature and God being light denotes His nature in His expression. When this light shines, this shining becomes His glory. The first two striking things about the New Jerusalem are the gold and the shining glory. The triune expression of the Father as the source of all the divine riches is based upon His golden nature in His shining glory.
This vision should be applied to us today in our practical life. Revelation tells us that the city itself is gold (21:18) and that the street of the city is pure gold as transparent glass (21:21). This means that the golden mountain in our experience becomes our way or our street. The divine gold which is pure and transparent should be our walkway in our daily life. The walkway in today’s church life is God’s pure and transparent divine nature. In the church life, you must be pure, transparent, frank, straight, and open; you must be divine. Playing politics is not God’s way, but God’s golden nature is our walkway. If you walk, behave, and have your being in God’s divine nature as your walkway, God’s light will shine from within you and this shining is His glory. When others come to your home, they will have the realization that glory is there. In your daily life, family life, business life, and church life, others should be able to see the divine gold, the divine shining glory. If you behave yourself in a clever, human, and political way, people will not be able to sense any divine nature in your behavior. In your behavior there will not be the shining glory, but rather your entire behavior will be opaque. Nearly all the worldly people are behaving “politically.” Most of the time, their politeness is actually politics. Who, however, is behaving, walking, and having their living in the nature of God? Even most of today’s Christians do not live in the divine nature. In the world today there is no golden street. In the past fifty-five years some people advised me not to be that frank in my speaking. However, whenever I tried not to be frank I had the sense that I was behaving myself in the serpentine nature. Many people are “backbiters,” talking behind each other’s backs, yet behaving politely in front of each other. This kind of behavior is not the gold walkway of the New Jerusalem. Today in the Lord’s recovery, by His mercy, we can see a little bit of the golden street, and there is also some amount of the divine glory shining.
The Bible does not teach us ethical things in the natural way; the Bible is a revelation unveiling what kind of walk we should take. We should take a walk in the nature of God and spontaneously the divine glory will shine in us. Then people will be able to see an expression of God the Father as the gold and as the light. What I am telling you is according to my daily experience of the Father as the source of all the divine riches.