The second aspect of the triune expression is the expression of the Son as the embodiment of all the divine riches. Whatever the source is and has is embodied in the Son. This triune expression of the Son as the embodiment of all the divine riches is in His Person and with His work. In Revelation, the Lamb is the redeeming Person, and this Redeemer as a Person is the lamp (21:23). The Lamb as the lamp is altogether for expression. All the light bulbs are for expressing the light contained within them. The entire New Jerusalem is under the expression of Christ the Person as the lamp. The lamp is like a big bulb which is able to enlighten a city whose breadth, length, and height are approximately thirteen hundred sixty-four miles. Such a large entity has only one lamp and this lamp is Christ. God the Father is the gold and He is also the light, but this light needs a lamp. Without an adequate lamp or bulb, an electrical light will not shine in an enlightening way. In like manner, without Christ, the Lamb, being the lamp, God could not shine in the enlightening way.
As we have seen, in any kind of scenery, the first thing needed is the light. If God did not shine, we would not be able to see His golden nature. But God shines within the redeeming Lamb as the lamp in the enlightening way. The Son, being the Lamb in His Person, is the lamp to express all that the Father is as the light and as the source of the divine riches. All the divine riches are embodied in this lamp. A light bulb is the embodiment of the electrical light, or you may say it is the embodiment of the electrical riches. Because we are under the shining of the Son as the embodiment of all the divine riches, we can enjoy these riches. The light establishes and confirms us in our experience of the Triune God.
In the lamp is the Person of the Son shining and expressing the Triune God, but in the pearls (Rev. 21:21) is the Son’s work of death and resurrection. We have seen that pearls are produced by oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. The oyster’s wound typifies the death of Christ and the life secretion of the oyster signifies the secretion of Christ’s resurrection life. His Person is in the lamp, and His work is in the pearl.
Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20 that he has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer he that lives but Christ lives in him. When you would not live by yourself and live absolutely by the crucified and resurrected Christ, in your daily life Christ is there as the lamp. It is no longer you that live, but Christ lives in you. If a husband and wife would live according to themselves and not according to Christ, they may argue frequently. But if both of them would declare “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,” Christ as the lamp would be shining in their marriage life. When you say “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,” you also stay in the wound, the death, of Christ. At the same time, Christ secretes His resurrection life around you making you a pearl for His expression. When you deny yourself by staying in His death, and live by taking your Redeemer as your life, Christ as the lamp is shining from within you, and based upon His redemptive death, He is secreting His divine life over you to make you a pearl. This is our expression of Christ in His Person and with His work of death and resurrection.
The lamp refers to the Son’s Person, the pearls refer to His work of death and resurrection, and the tree refers to His nourishment. He is not only making you into a pearl through His work of death and resurrection, but He is also the tree of life (Rev. 22:2) to nourish you with all His unsearchable riches. The twelve fruits of the tree of life yielded each month from the divine tree are for your nourishment.
The triune expression of the Spirit as the realization of all the divine riches is in His all-inclusiveness as the consummation of the Triune God. In Revelation 22:1 is the river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The Triune God reaches us in this river and this reaching of the Triune God is the realization of all the divine riches. This reaching river makes everything that the Father is and has and everything that the Son is and has so practically real. The Spirit as the realization of all the divine riches is all-inclusive. The throne of God and of the Lamb is in this river, this river flows in the golden street, the divine nature, and in this river and along its banks is the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). All the divine things are wrapped up with this one flow. Without this flow, we would not be able to touch the throne, we would not be able to enjoy the divine nature, and we would not be able to partake of the tree of life, the rich Christ with all His unsearchable riches. God, the Lamb, the throne, the divine nature as the divine way, and Christ with all His unsearchable riches are wrapped up with this flow. When this flow comes to you, all these wonderful divine items come with it. This flow is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God with all His divine riches.
I am grateful to the Lord that in these last days He has opened the veil for us to see this all-inclusive and ultimate Spirit. In Revelation we first see that this all-inclusive Spirit is the seven Spirits as the seven lamps of the golden lampstand (4:5). At the end of the book of Revelation, we see the flow of the water of life, which is the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. The last symbol of the all-inclusive Spirit is a river proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In John 7:38-39 the Lord Jesus predicted that the Spirit would be such a flow out of our innermost being. The consummate flow is the universal river which flows with God, with the Lamb, with the throne, with the divine nature as the divine way, and with all the unsearchable riches of Christ.
The Christian life must be a life in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit. In our homes, in our daily life, and in our church life, there must be a river flowing all the time that brings with it God, the Lamb, the throne, the divine nature as the divine way, and Christ with all His unsearchable riches for our enjoyment. The wife’s submission should be the Spirit, and the husband’s love should be the Spirit. Every aspect of our virtues must be the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 are the very characteristics of Christ becoming our virtues. These virtues are the fruit of the Spirit which issue from the all-inclusive flow of the Spirit. Even today in the church life there is such a marvelous, all-inclusive flow. As long as we have God and the Lamb on the throne flowing in His divine nature as the divine way with Christ as the rich supply, there is nothing else that we need.
Today’s church life in the Lord’s recovery must be a precursor and a miniature of the New Jerusalem. We should be those who are being constituted with the Triune God, existing with the Triune God, and living with the Triune God. Every day we need to enjoy the Triune God, and spontaneously we then express the Triune God. This should be our present experience, and this will be our future destiny in eternity. The book of Revelation ends with a promise and a call. Revelation 22:14 promises that those who wash their robes have the right to the tree of life. In 22:17 there is a call from the Spirit and the Bride to drink the water of life. The church life today is passing on the promise of the tree of life and the call to drink the water of life. We are enjoying the Triune God in such a way and calling others to participate in the same kind of enjoyment. While we are enjoying Him, we express Him in a triune way.
In the application of the New Jerusalem, we have three main categories of the divine items which we partake of, enjoy, and express:
1) The light, the lamp, the light-bearer, and the glory of the New Jerusalem. The light is God (Rev. 21:23; 22:5), the lamp is the Lamb (Rev. 21:23), the light-bearer is the city (Rev. 21:11b), and the glory is God expressed (Rev. 21:11a). God as light shines from within the Lamb as the lamp through the city as the light-bearer to express Himself as the glory.
2) The throne, the street, the river and the tree of the New Jerusalem. The throne is the center (Rev. 22:1b), the street is the way (Rev. 22:1c), the river is the river of the water of life (Rev. 22:1a), and the tree is the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). From the throne as the center spirals the street as the way to pass through the entire city and to reach all its twelve gates. In the middle of the street flows the river of water of life to saturate the entire city and on the two sides of the river grows the tree of life producing fruits to nourish the entire city.
3) The creating God, the redeeming God, the flowing God, and the nourishing God. The creating God is God the Father as the Creator (Rev. 22:1b), the redeeming God is God the Son in His death as the Lamb (Rev. 22:1b), the flowing God is God the Spirit as the river (Rev. 22:1a), and the nourishing God is God the Son in His resurrection as the tree (Rev. 22:2). God the Father as the creator created the heaven and the earth and all the things within them, God the Son in His death as the Lamb redeemed the fallen creation, God the Spirit as the river saturates the redeemed, and God the Son in His resurrection as the tree of life nourishes the redeemed.