In the last message we saw that the spirits and souls of dead believers did not ascend to heaven even after the Lord Jesus resurrected and ascended to heaven. Revelation 6:9 clearly says that at the time of the opening of the fifth seal, which occurs very close to the second coming of the Lord, the souls of the martyrs will still be underneath the altar, that is, in the Paradise of Hades. In this message we need to see in principle what the distinctive features of the heavenly New Jerusalem and the Paradise in Hades are. We have to see the consistent line in the Bible.
Most Bible readers acknowledge that at the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis God prepared a dwelling place for man (2:8). At the end of the Bible in Revelation we also see that God prepares a dwelling place for man (21:2). From beginning to end, the Bible is a record of God’s preparation of a dwelling place for man.
The dwelling place God prepared for man in the beginning was called the garden of Eden, and the one at the end is called the New Jerusalem. Eden means “pleasure.” Therefore, the garden of Eden was a paradise. The dwelling place at the end of the Bible—the New Jerusalem, which is mentioned at the beginning of Revelation 2—is also a paradise. The paradise in Genesis 2 has the tree of life in it. Revelation 22 shows us that the New Jerusalem also has the tree of life in it. Thus, the paradise in Genesis 2 is the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22.
Here we see that the dwelling place God prepared for man in the beginning was a paradise and that the dwelling place God prepares for man in the end is also a paradise. Both are pleasant places, and their contents are also similar. The two paradises both have the tree of life and a river, and both have pure gold, pearl, and precious stones. This shows us that the dwelling place God prepared for man in the beginning is the same as the one He prepares for man at the end. The two places have almost the same contents. This tells us that what God did in the beginning was related to His ultimate purpose, and God’s ultimate purpose is revealed in what He did in the beginning.
The two paradises in Genesis and Revelation are both dwelling places for man. They show us the purpose and reason why God prepared them for man. Our simple minds may think that God only wants us to go to heaven. However, God’s thought is very different from ours. God’s unique purpose in this universe is to work Himself into man so that man may have His life and nature and that through His life and nature, man may be transformed inwardly (2 Pet. 1:3-4; 2 Cor. 3:18). Ultimately, God and man will be mingled together, and man will have the image of God (Rom. 8:29). The inward being of God will be the inward being of man, and God’s glorious, outward appearance will be man’s glorious appearance (cf. Rev. 4:3; 21:11). As a result, God and man will be exactly the same both outwardly and inwardly.
In typology, pure gold is used to signify God’s life and nature. Most Bible readers know that pure gold signifies God’s life and nature. For example, the ark in the Old Testament tabernacle was overlaid with pure gold (Exo. 37:1-2). The lampstand was made of beaten work from one piece of pure gold (v. 17). Pure gold typifies the divine life and nature of the Lord Jesus.
The outward expression of God is usually symbolized by precious stones. In Exodus, when Moses saw God, he saw something like sapphire under His feet (24:10). When Daniel saw the Lord, the Lord looked like beryl (Dan. 10:6). In Revelation, John saw in a vision One who was sitting on the throne in heaven who was like a jasper stone and a sardius stone in appearance (4:3). There is no question that in the Bible precious stones signify the expression of the glorious image of God. I hope we all would remember the significance of the pure gold and the precious stones. The pure gold is God’s life and nature, and the precious stones are the expression of God’s glorious image.
Pure gold signifies God’s nature, and precious stones signify His glory. God’s purpose is to work in us to the extent that we become exactly the same as He is. He wants to put His nature into us so that we may be transformed to the point of having His image outwardly. Do we have the pure gold and the precious stones? The pure gold is God’s nature, and the precious stones are God’s glorious image. Do we who are under the work of God’s grace have the pure gold and the precious stones? The pure gold signifies God’s life and nature, which is inward, whereas the precious stones signify God’s glorious image, which is expressed outwardly. Since we all have been saved by grace, we at least have the pure gold, which is God’s life and nature.
Peter tells us that God has given us His life so that we can be partakers of His nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4). Once we are saved, God’s life with His nature enters into us; thus, we have the pure gold in us. However, we may not have the precious stones outwardly. In other words, our outward man may be the same and may not have changed much. For example, before some saints were saved, they were not only created human beings but human beings who had become a mess. One day, however, they were saved and were cleansed by the Lord. They received the Lord’s life and nature and became clean within. Yet outwardly, they are still the same. They are still what they were by creation without any outward change. In other words, they do not express the glorious image of God. They are still what they were originally, except that they do not sin as they did before. Hence, in their outward being they are still the original old man. Is this old man made of precious stones or clay? Our old man is a “clay man.” One gets dirty simply by touching this clay man.