The third aspect is that the church is God’s farm. This is what the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:9. “For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s farm, ye are God’s building” (Gk.). Christ came and sowed Himself as a seed into the human field. Now this seed is growing up, and God has a crop. But this crop could never be harvested as long as it is green. There is the need of maturity so that the crop will ripen. With any crop there is the principle that part of it ripens early, and another part later. The early ripened ones are the firstfruits, and the rest become the harvest. Regardless of whether we are the firstfruits or the harvest, we all must be ripened. Then God will reap us either into the temple as the firstfruits, or into the “barn” in the air as the harvest.
The church is not only the lampstand, the woman that produces the manchild to defeat the enemy, and the ripened crop, but also Christ’s Bride. This is why the church must make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb. “Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and give glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (Rev. 19:7-8, Gk.).
Eventually the church must become God’s eternal habitation, the tabernacle of God. This is the New Jerusalem, the holy city. Now she is not only made ready, but also adorned. As the Bride, not yet as God’s habitation, a white raiment to clothe her is sufficient. But for God’s habitation she needs to be built up with transformed precious stones. There is the great high wall, the gates of pearl, and the city proper, which is golden. This is not merely something made ready, but something adorned. She is adorned with gold, pearl, and precious stones (not merely a piece of clothing) for God’s eternal habitation. This is wonderful!
Have you seen these five aspects of the church in the book of Revelation? I have seen every aspect, and it is marvelous! From now on we must never tell others that the book of Revelation is a book of the ugly beast, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials. We must share how it is a book of seven golden lampstands, a wonderful woman, God’s crop, a prepared Bride, and God’s eternal tabernacle adorned with gold, pearl, and precious stones. Revelation is also a book of the seven Spirits, as well as of the wonderful Person of Christ. When He comes in Revelation 18:1, the whole earth will be lightened by His glory. This is His being the light of the world in a complete and full sense. No other book is so wonderful as this book of Revelation!
Now let me ask a question. How could the wonderful woman in Revelation 12 conceive the manchild? All expectant mothers know that the child within them grows according to what they eat. If they eat properly, the child within them grows properly. If they eat adequately, the child grows adequately. If an expectant mother does not eat and drink, it is the baby that will die first. Whatever the mother eats is mainly for her child within. The manchild grows by the woman’s eating and drinking. Even after the manchild has been raptured to the throne, the woman still needs to nourished. “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:14).
It is the same with the ripening of the crop. How could the crop reach maturity? It is only by eating and drinking. The eating is the proper fertilizing, and the drinking is the watering. The crop must always be fertilized and watered. In this way the crop eats and drinks and grows. The best way to be one of the firstfruits is to be faithful in eating Jesus.
How then does the Bride in Revelation 19 prepare herself? Today a girl who is getting married may go to a store to buy material to make a dress. But this Bride is clothed with fine linen, bright and pure. This could never be bought in any store, for it is the righteousnesses of the saints. This is Christ growing up and living out of us. When we live out Christ by letting Him grow in us, He will be our living. This is the preparation. The only way that Christ can grow in us and live out of us is by our eating and drinking Him all the time.
It is not different with the New Jerusalem. The picture shows us clearly how the holy city is adorned with gold, pearl, and precious stones. There is the river of water of life for drinking, and there is the tree of life for eating. “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life” (Rev. 22:1-2a). It is altogether by eating and drinking that this city is adorned with the precious materials. The center of the New Jerusalem is God’s throne, and upon this throne is God within the Lamb. God is now the redeeming God. This is shown in Revelation 4:3, where John said that the One sitting upon the throne looked like a jasper and a sardine stone. The jasper is green, and sardine is red. Green signifies life, and red signifies redemption. Green signifies God’s divinity, and red signifies the redeeming Lamb. This is the Lamb-God, sitting on the throne in the center of the New Jerusalem.
Out from the throne flows the river of water of life. This living water flows out of the Lamb-God. It is clear that this is the Spirit. In typology, the water of life flowed out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6). Jesus told us that if we are thirsty, we should come to Him and drink, and out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). John then tells us that Jesus was speaking of the Spirit (John 7:39). Here we have a picture of the Triune God. God is in the Lamb, and out of this Lamb-God flows the Spirit. In the river of water of life grows the tree of life. The tree of life signifies Christ as our life supply. This means that the Triune God flows out to water and supply the whole city. Then this city will be transformed into precious materials and built up together. This depends upon the whole city feeding on Jesus as the tree of life and drinking of the Spirit. It is altogether a matter of eating and drinking.