Concerning the matter of life, there are two aspects related to our practical need. One is our need for the experience of life, and the other is our need for the revelation of the truth in the Scriptures. If we lack either of these two aspects, it will be difficult for us to have the knowledge of life and the growth in life.
Most Christians who read the Bible confess that the Bible is consistent from beginning to end and has a unique subject. However, although they acknowledge this fact, they often do not agree on what the unique subject and the consistent line are. For this reason, we have to see the central thought of the Bible from the Word of God. The first mention of man in the Bible is concerning man being created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). This implies that the purpose of God in man is to make man exactly the same as He is. At the end of the Bible, at the end of Revelation, we see the completion of God’s work in man, in which man is exactly the same as God.
The twenty-two chapters of the book of Revelation can be divided into two main sections. The first three chapters are one section, and the remaining nineteen chapters are another section. The first three chapters speak of Christ being in the church, and chapters four through twenty-two speak of God being in the universe. The first section shows us that Christ is in the midst of the lampstands, and the second section shows us that God is in the universe. At the beginning of the second section, God and the throne of God are mentioned. God Himself is like a jasper stone (4:3), and there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God (v. 5). This picture depicts the work of God in the universe. This work comes from the One who is like a jasper stone in appearance and from the throne where the fire comes forth. This work begins from chapter four and continues through chapter twenty-one and produces a city that surrounds the throne. The wall of the city is also made of jasper (21:18), having the same color as God in appearance.
The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He is. In terms of image, they will be the same as He is. He is jasper, and they will also be jasper. In terms of radiance and color, they will also be the same as He is. Whatever kind of glory He has, they will also have. In other words, the condition of these people will be the same as that of God.
In Revelation 4 the One who is sitting on the throne, having the appearance of a jasper stone, is the same as the jasper wall of the city in chapter twenty-one. At the beginning of the universe God was sitting on the throne, and only He had the appearance of a jasper stone, but at the end of God’s work in the universe, a jasper wall is produced. The jasper wall surrounds the One on the throne who is like a jasper stone, indicating that God will eventually gain or produce a group of people who are exactly the same as He is. Once this issue comes forth, the new heavens and new earth will come, and the eternal rest will begin, because God will have accomplished and fulfilled His eternal purpose. This is the unique subject of the Bible.
The unique purpose of God in the universe is to make man exactly the same as He is. This is the unique subject of the Bible. According to this unique subject, the Bible has a consistent line, which is the line of life. The Bible speaks of this matter from beginning to end. For example, Romans 8:30 says, “Those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Those whom God predestinated were called by God at a certain time. Why did God predestinate them? God predestinated them that they would be conformed to the image of the Son of God (v. 29). God chose us, predestinated us, and called us for the purpose that we would be conformed to the image of His Son. God wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son. His Son is the mold of the image. No one has ever seen God, but the Son of God has declared Him (John 1:18). Colossians 1:15 says that the Son of His love is “the image of the invisible God.” The Son of God is the image of God, and the image of God is the Son of God. Hence, God wants to make us exactly the same as His Son.