The New Jerusalem revealed in the last two chapters of the book of Revelation is not only the conclusion of the book itself and of the New Testament; it is also the conclusion of the whole Bible. In the sixty-six books of the Bible, all the records of plain words, prophecies, and types in the Old Testament, beginning from God’s creation, progressing through Satan’s rebellion, man’s fall, God’s promise of redemption to fallen man, God’s dealings with the Patriarchs, God’s calling of His chosen people, their redemption, their being formed into a nation, their failure, and their recovery, and concluding with their looking to and waiting for Christ; and all the records of plain words, prophecies, and signs in the New Testament, beginning from John the Baptist and the ministry of the Lord Jesus, progressing through the Lord Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and ministry after His ascension, the work of the apostles, the calling, salvation, and maturity of the believers, the establishment and building up of the church, the Lord Jesus’ second coming and the things that He will do in His second coming, the establishment of the millennial kingdom, the termination of Satan and his followers, including demons and human beings, and the passing away of the old heaven and the old earth, and concluding with the coming of the new heaven and new earth, are consummated in the New Jerusalem. She is the goal of God’s eternal economy and the crystallization of God’s work throughout the ages.
The New Jerusalem is the conclusion not only of the whole Bible, but also of the entire divine revelation. The entire divine revelation recorded in the Old and New Testaments, whether expressed or implied, consummates in the New Jerusalem, which is the greatest and highest divine sign in the New Testament, and the one richest in meaning. She is the heart’s delight of the loving God; she is also the meaning of life of God’s beloved in eternity. This shows the important position of the New Jerusalem in the Bible and her profound contents in the divine revelation. We must not interpret this noble revelation in God’s Word according to our natural view or religious superstition.
God’s work in the universe is of two categories: the old creation and the new creation. Whereas the sphere of His work of the old creation was the old heaven and old earth of His original creation (Gen. 1:1); the sphere of His work of the new creation is the new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1), which are the original God-created old heaven and old earth renewed through the burning of God’s judging fire. At the center of the sphere of His work of the new creation is the New Jerusalem, the crystallized product and masterpiece of His new creation. Since the fall of man, God has used four different dispensations—the dispensation of the Patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of righteousness—to carry out the work of the new creation in man, who is of the Satan-ruined and God-judged old creation, by the Spirit and life of Himself as the Triune God who has been processed through incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension; by His heavenly ministry after His ascension; and by what He will accomplish in His second coming. The result of such a work is the New Jerusalem.
The dispensation of the Patriarchs extended from the creation of Adam to the giving of the law by Moses (Rom. 5:14a). In this dispensation, God first placed the created, innocent man under His direct government (Gen. 2:9, 16); then He placed the fallen man, the function of whose conscience (Rom. 2:15) had been activated by the knowledge of good and evil, under the government of his own conscience, that man might seek His grace according to His ordained way of redemption (Gen. 4:4) and enjoy His riches by calling on the name of Jehovah (Gen. 4:26). He then further subjected the repeatedly falling men under human government (Gen. 9:6), which was vested with God’s authority, for their preservation and existence, that He might have the opportunity to grant them His visitations. Finally, He gave the promise of grace to men, who had fallen to the uttermost and had been called by Him, and led them to look to the coming Christ in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3b; 22:18).