In Ephesians 1 Paul prayed that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. According to the context, to have the full knowledge of God means to know the hope of God’s calling, the glory of God’s inheritance among the saints, and the surpassing greatness of God’s power toward us who believe. To know God is to know the hope, the glory, and the power, for God Himself is in the hope, glory, and power. If we claim to know God without knowing these three things, then we know God merely in an objective way, not in an experiential way. But to know God in the hope, the glory, and the power is to know Him experientially and subjectively.
Most Christians today know God objectively, in the way of mere knowledge. To them, God is far away in the heavens. They know God as the object of their belief and worship, but they do not know Him subjectively as their hope, glory, and power. They do not know Him as the One operating within them to make them holy, to constitute them the sons of God, and to cause them to become the inheritance of God.
We have pointed out that God’s calling is the sum total of His well-speaking concerning us. In God’s well-speaking we are made holy, we are constituted the sons of God, and we become God’s inheritance. Therefore, we shall be a treasure worthy of becoming God’s inheritance. God is so high, so great, and exceedingly precious. Nevertheless, He will receive us as His inheritance. However, if we look at our present condition, we shall realize that we are not worthy to be His inheritance. But God will work within us to make us worthy, precious, and valuable, a unique treasure in the universe as an inheritance for Him. God considers us, His chosen people, His peculiar possession. The only way we can become God’s treasure, His peculiar possession, is by the divine working in us. God is the treasure, and He is working Himself as the treasure into us that we may become a treasure to Him.
We have seen that three important aspects of God’s well-speaking are that we shall be made holy, that we shall be constituted the sons of God, and that we shall become God’s inheritance. These three aspects are seen in the New Jerusalem. According to Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem will be a holy city, a city in which God’s holiness is seen. Also, the New Jerusalem will be a composition of the sons of God. Revelation 21:7 says that he who overcomes will inherit all things and be God’s son. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine sonship. Furthermore, the New Jerusalem will be a treasure, an inheritance, both to God and to us. In the New Jerusalem God will enjoy us as His treasure, and we shall enjoy Him as our treasure. Therefore, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual inheritance and a mutual satisfaction for God and man. The New Jerusalem will be the embodiment of holiness, a composition of the sons of God, and a mutual inheritance for God and man. Moreover, the New Jerusalem will have the glory of God, which is the glory of God’s inheritance, the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints. Today this glory is our hope.