The book of Revelation is a book of symbols, so to understand this book, we need to find the real meaning of all the symbols. It is also a book that reaps all the seeds of the Bible. We must use these principles in understanding the New Jerusalem in chapter twenty-one.
The first thing we need to see is that this city is square, with three equal dimensions. The length, the width, and the height are all identical. In the Old Testament, there is only one thing that has three equal dimensions. That is the innermost part of God’s dwelling place, the Holy of Holies. In the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies is ten cubits wide, ten cubits long, and ten cubits high. In the temple built by Solomon, the width, length, and height of the Holy of Holies are twenty cubits (1 Kings 6:20). By this we understand that the whole New Jerusalem is the eternal Holy of Holies. That is why there is no temple in this city. The whole city is the temple, twelve thousand furlongs, by twelve thousand furlongs, by twelve thousand furlongs. This means that this city is one thousand times the total mingling of divinity with humanity. It is altogether a mingling of God with man, and this mingling will be God’s eternal Holy of Holies.
God does not desire any kind of habitation in the heavens or on the earth. Not only is the earth not satisfactory for God’s habitation, even the heavens do not satisfy Him. God’s desire is to have a habitation of Himself mingled with His chosen people. In other words, God wants His chosen people to be His habitation by being mingled with Himself. This is the real church life. The church life is neither a building nor a place, but a group of God’s chosen people mingled with God. The more mingling we have, the more we will be God’s dwelling place.
The mingling of God with man is the real meaning of transformation. Transformation is the divine essence coming into us to replace the fallen human element. We are human, but the divine elements are coming into our being to replace our natural essence. This is what the New Testament calls transformation. Transformation is not an outward change, but an inward metabolism. Metabolism is an inward change caused by a new element replacing the old. This is God’s work today, and this is the work the indwelling Christ is doing. This is also the reason that teachings, doctrines, forms, and regulations never work. Teachings may correct you, and regulations may improve you somewhat, but they can never metabolize you; they can never transform you. The metabolic process in our physical bodies takes place with the eating of food. As we eat day by day, something new comes into our body to replace the old. All the old things are discharged. The body’s health depends upon this kind of metabolization. Hallelujah! Jesus is transforming us! Day by day He is metabolizing us.
To be transformed we need an unveiled face. “But we all with unveiled face beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18, Gk.). All the veils keep us from being transformed. Most of the time our veils are our old concepts. They may be good and wonderful, but they are old. The Lord is new and fresh every day. He is moving on! If we still hold on to our old concepts, we will have veiled faces. These things may have been good ten years ago, or even two years ago. But the Lord is going on.
In the Old Testament, the Lord charged His people to be circumcised. He also charged them to keep the Sabbath day. The Jews became so accustomed to these things that they could never give them up. Then one day the very God who gave them these commandments came to them in a very mysterious way. He came in the form of a little child born in a manger at Bethlehem. If He had come in a glorious way with two camps of angels escorting Him, all the people of Israel would have received Him. But because He came in such a manner, they missed Him.
Who could believe that this little child was the very God? Yet Isaiah 9:6 tells us so. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” A child is born, yet His name is called the Mighty God. The Jews paid all their attention to the verses concerning circumcision and the keeping of the Sabbath, but they missed Isaiah 9:6. If they had heeded this verse, surely they would have been watching for such a child to be born. When the wise men came from the East, they might have been clear that this was the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6.
When Jesus came to the Jews, He completely disregarded the Sabbath day. He told them that He was the Lord of the Sabbath! If they have Him, they have the Sabbath, and if they do not have Him, they miss the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8). God’s dealing with man is always improving. Leviticus 11 tells clearly the things that can be eaten and the things that cannot be eaten. Even after Pentecost Peter still held onto that ancient, traditional teaching. It forced God to give Peter a vision to show him that what He had cleansed Peter should not call common or unclean (Acts 10:15). Peter was veiled by the old religious way.
The Apostle Paul was a typical Jewish religionist. Then the Lord within began to show him that circumcision was just an outward form. This was not easy for a typical Jew. But he was very bold to say, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15, Gk.). Some of us still hold onto something which veils us. Some of my friends have told me that they cannot tolerate the noise in our meetings. But is this really wrong? How many verses can you find about meeting in a silent way? I cannot find one verse. There are a few which tell us to be silent, but all of these are regarding God’s judgment. We have to be silent if God is coming to judge! But when we are meeting together, are we expecting to be judged by God? No! We are meeting with joy! Psalm 100:1 tells us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. This is not just a voice, but a noise. Do you think that the Lord really cares for all the silent religion? Paul tells us that in the last days there is the danger that some will have the form of godliness without the power (2 Tim. 3:5). A mere form means nothing. We need the reality! The reality is just the Spirit. We must forget about all the old, dead, traditional things, or they will become a veil to us.