The work of God throughout the generations is to gain something that is very mystical. It may be described as a group of people, and it may also be described as an abode, a habitation. It is what Revelation 21 calls the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. According to what the Bible shows us, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of the work of God in all generations. God began to work in Genesis 1, and by the end of Revelation He has built a holy city, the New Jerusalem. In the beginning of the Bible God shows us the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden is a picture, revealing that God’s heart’s desire is to produce the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of the work of God. This issue is a group of people and also an abode. Revelation clearly says that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb (21:9). It also says that the New Jerusalem is the holy city, God’s habitation (v. 10).
How can the New Jerusalem be a group of people and a habitation at the same time? How can it simultaneously be a holy city and a bride? Many people cannot understand this. They may ask, “If we are going to be that city in the future, that is, the stones of that city, will we still be able to praise as stones? Will we as stones still have mouths?” These questions prove that our natural mind cannot understand this matter. How can the New Jerusalem be both a city and a woman? It is clearly a group of people, but how can it simultaneously be a place? No matter how long we think about this, we still will not be able to understand. However, although we may not understand or comprehend the revelations of the Bible, we need to believe them.
Revelation 21 tells us that the New Jerusalem is both a city and a bride. This is the clear word in the Bible, and we must believe it no matter what. Actually, the church today is also a mystery. The New Testament clearly states that the church today is constituted with saved people. However, the Bible also says that we are God’s temple, God’s habitation. We do not need to wait until the time of the new heaven and new earth to be God’s habitation, because we are God’s habitation today. First Peter 2 says that we are living stones, being built up as a spiritual house by the Lord. A spiritual house is a habitation. Ephesians 2 also says that the apostles and we are being built together on Christ the cornerstone to become God’s habitation. Therefore, it is not necessary to wait until the new heaven and new earth for the mystery to be revealed, because it is here today. We who are saved are saints, but we are also a habitation. We are clearly people, but God sees us as living stones. Thus, the New Jerusalem truly has a twofold significance. The work of God in all the ages is to gain the New Jerusalem.
What is the New Jerusalem? The New Jerusalem is a mingling of God and man, something of God mingled with man. Revelation tells us that the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. This implies that the New Jerusalem is filled with the element of heaven and is absolutely heavenly. On the other hand, the New Jerusalem is God abiding among man. It is a corporate man. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is something of heaven, God, and also man. This is the revelation in the Bible. According to the verses we have examined, we cannot deny the fact that the ultimate issue of the work of God in every age is to gain something mystical, that is, something of God, man, and heaven mingled together.
There is no question that this holy city, New Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven. When the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to the earth, this union of God, heaven, and man will be on the earth. The ultimate issue of the work of God will be something of God mingled within man and also heaven mingled within man. Heaven, God, and man will be mingled into one as the New Jerusalem. This is the revelation in the Bible. Every saved person will ultimately end up in the heavenly New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem, according to what Revelation shows us, is God abiding among man and God mingled with man, and it is produced through the transformation of man. When the union of these three is completely manifested, we will be on the new earth. At that time, all of us who are saved will live there with God eternally.
Many Christians are wrongly influenced by Christianity. They think that after a person is saved, he does not need to pay attention to life or to be built up by God but only needs to wait until the day when God will put him into a place called “heaven.” However, the Bible shows us that throughout the ages and generations, God has been managing, building, and working on the place into which the believers will ultimately enter. What God has been managing, building, and working on throughout the ages are the saved ones. The principle of God’s work on those who have been saved is that He works Himself into them and also works heaven into them. Today we who are saved are not only of God but also of heaven. Not only is God in us, but heaven is also in us.
Ephesians 1 tells us that we are in Christ (v. 12). Then chapter two tells us that we are in the heavenlies (v. 6). We not only have God and Christ in us, but we also have heaven in us. This is not a doctrine but a spiritual fact that can be experienced. Consider your own experience. After you were saved, you may have felt that you had the presence of God and the taste of God within you. At the same time, you also may have felt that heaven was within you. In that experience you may have had a special taste. We not only have the taste of God inside of us but also the taste of heaven. The more we love God and the more we live in God, the more we feel that we are in the heavenlies and inwardly have the taste of heaven, as if heaven has entered into us. This is the experience of every saved one.
Thirty years ago when I was still a young man, no one had ever told me about this; however, whenever I prayed and contacted the Lord, I truly felt as if I were in the heavens, and I was inwardly filled with the taste of heaven. I believe many saints have had this experience. Sometimes when we are about to do something, a sense within will cause us to stop, because we have the feeling inside that we are people in the heavenlies and thus cannot do the earthly things. For example, we may want to buy a piece of fabric, but when we see the color and pattern of the fabric, we may immediately have a feeling inside that as people in the heavenlies we should not wear the colors and patterns that the earthly people wear. Therefore, we may turn around and walk away. Then, while we are walking on the street, we may feel not only the presence of God but also the presence of heaven.