Although the wall is mainly for expression, spontaneously it also becomes a separation and a protection. It separates us from everything common (21:27), protects us, and keeps us in the realm of God’s appearance. Anything that is separated is also preserved and protected. In the church life we must have God’s expression. This divine expression is our separation, and this separation is our protection and preservation. If we all express God, we shall be separated from anything worldly. This is not a mere doctrine. If you live in this manner, you will have the full experience of what I am saying. If I express God in the appearance of jasper, I shall be completely separated from the world. Then I shall be protected, preserved, and kept in the expression of God. Some are captured by the distractions of the world because they do not express God in the appearance of jasper. Instead, they express something else. When we lose the divine expression and express something of ourselves in its place, our separation disappears, and we are no longer protected. As a result, we have no wall. Then there is no expression, no separation, and no protection. Praise the Lord that in the church life today our protection is the expression of God as our separation!
Now we come to the foundations of the city. This is very important. Hebrews 11:10, speaking of Abraham, says, “For he waited for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Maker is God.” The city of foundations, the New Jerusalem, was designed and made by God.
The Lord’s recovery has a solid foundation. From the time the Lord’s recovery was raised up among us more than fifty years ago, this testimony has been more and more solidly founded. During my life I have seen many Christian groups come and go. They were raised up and formed, and then they disappeared. Many of the free groups that began in this country some years ago are no longer in existence because they did not have a solid foundation. The church, a city of foundations, is not designed by man. It is both designed by God and built by Him. All the churches in the Lord’s recovery have been designed and built by God, not by man. Because we have such a solid foundation, the more we are opposed and attacked, the more solidly founded we become.
Verse 14 says, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” These foundations are not the foundation, which is Christ, according to 1 Corinthians 3:10-11. They are the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Today the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). Since in eternity there will be no further need of the prophets, the foundations of the holy city will consist only of the apostles. When we enter into the new heaven and the new earth, all the four dispensations will have been completed, and there will be no need for prophecy. Everything will have been accomplished and fulfilled.
The twelve apostles here represent the grace of the New Testament, signifying that the New Jerusalem is built upon the grace of God. The entrance to the holy city is according to the law of God, and the city is built upon the grace of God.