The more you read the Bible from the beginning to the end, having God’s economy glasses on and being open to the Lord to unveil you and speak to you concerning His purpose, the more you realize: wow, the whole Bible speaks of only one thing! God desires to get a building, a mingling with God and man, and He obtains it in the New Jerusalem!
In the Old Testament this building was the tabernacle and then the temple, and now in the church age the building of God is the church, which is a miniature of the New Jerusalem!
All the main aspects and the outstanding features of the New Jerusalem should be our reality today in the church as we allow God to work Himself into us and to build us into Himself.
In the New Jerusalem we see the presence of God, the ruling of God, the flow and supply of life, and the divine light. In this blog post we will focus on the gates of the New Jerusalem (pearls) and the golden street.
I have to say that by myself I would never see these things, but with the help of the Recovery Version (and the footnotes), the ministry of bro. Witness Lee and bro. Watchman Nee, and the many seeking saints throughout the ages that saw the New Jerusalem and God’s economy… – I can see more!
My prayer is that all these aspects of the New Jerusalem would become our experience and reality in a practical way, at least in a small measure, so that we would have the reality of the New Jerusalem today in the church life!
A Built-Up Church has the Mingling of God and Man and has Nothing Natural
The New Jerusalem has twelve gates, three on each of its four sides, facing all the directions of the earth (very convenient for everyone to enter; Rev. 21:12). Three symbolizes the Triune God, and four symbolizes man as a creature (see: four living creatures in Ezek. 1).
Twelve therefore symbolizes the Triune God not merely added to man but mingled with man in full! Twelve is the number of eternal completion (see 12 disciples, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 gates in the New Jerusalem, etc).
In the New Jerusalem God is completely mingled with man, and today in the church life God is continually mingling Himself with us. The church today is the mingling of God and man, and the our daily life today is a life of being mingled with God!
The fact that the gates of the New Jerusalem are pearls means that nothing natural is allowed in the building of God (Rev. 21:21). We as grains of sand have entered into Christ as the real oyster, and we have wounded Him (see Isa. 53:5). He entered into the death waters, and in His resurrection He secrets the life-juice, the resurrection life, to coat us as the grain of sand until we become a beautiful precious pearl.
This means that in the church today as the miniature of the New Jerusalem we need to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit, denying ourselves and living by the resurrection life of Christ. We cannot bring anything natural, anything of the “grain of sand” into the church – it all has to pass through death and resurrection to be qualified!
All the natural beings and all the natural elements need to become a new creation – the pearl – through the dealing of the cross and the coating of resurrection! No matter how smart, ingenious, and good your human effort, method, or scheme is to help or serve in the church, unless it goes through death and enters into resurrection it is merely “sand” and not a “pearl” (Paul calls it hay, stubble, and wood in 1 Cor. 3:12).
Never bring anything natural into the building of God: everything in God’s building needs to be the result of the mingling of God and man, and it has to go through death and resurrection to be a new creation!
Brothers and sisters, only a vision can rescue us – we need to learn to bring all our natural thoughts, discernment, schemes, abilities, and strength to the cross to be dealt with! After they all have been broken and have passed through death and resurrection, they will become pearls and can be used by God in His building.
A Built-Up Church has the Divine Nature as the Unique Way of Living
In the New Jerusalem there is only ONE street – the golden street, starting from the throne of God and spiraling the city until it reaches all the twelve gates (Rev. 21:21b). Many times even with a GPS you can get lost because there are so many roads, streets, and alleys… but you cannot get lost in the New Jerusalem!
In the middle of the street there’s the river of water of life – this shows that the divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people (see Rev. 22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4; John 14:6). The unique way of living for us today is according God’s divine nature.
God’s divine nature is Spirit (John 4:24, God is Spirit), love (1 John 4:8, 16, God is love), and light (1 John 1:5, God is light). The nature of God’s person is Spirit, the nature of God’s essence is love, and the nature of God’s expression is light.
This means that in our daily living we need to enjoy God as the Spirit by exercising our spirit to worship Him in spirit, and daily living a life according to the spirit (Rom. 8:6; Gal. 2:20).
To enjoy God as love and light we need to be in the flow of the divine life and take care of the sense of life and peace in our being. We just need to love the Lord with our first and best love (Luke 10:27; Matt. 22:37; Rev. 2:4), and we need to allow Him to shine on us, within us, and through us as light.
Everything we do in the church should be “on the golden street”, according to the divine nature of God. This means we need to deny ourselves, our own ways, our own ideas and opinions, and anything that’s from us, and live and walk according to the divine nature so that we may walk on the golden street.
Whenever we deny ourselves and live in the nature of God, what we do will issue not only in the building up of the church but also in leading others to the way of God.
When we live and walk according to the divine nature we enjoy the supply of the divine life (the river of water of life and the tree of life), and we are in reality a miniature of the New Jerusalem!
Lord, may all the saints in the church in our locality enjoy more mingling of God with man. May there be more and more experience of death and resurrection so that we all may be in reality a new creation, a precious pearl as the entrance into the New Jerusalem! Save us from bringing anything natural into the church. Lord, we want to walk according to the divine nature as the golden street by denying ourselves and living by Christ in our spirit! Increase our living in the nature of God so that we may walk in Your way and bring others in God’s way also!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ speaking in this message and portions in, The Building Work of God (ch. 8), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 7 entitled, Growing unto Maturity to Become the New Jerusalem as the Ultimate Consummation of the Church.
- Similar articles on this topic: Gates of Pearl, and, Twelve Gates are Twelve Pearls (via newjerusalem12.wordpress.com).
- Hymns on this topic:
# There are seven golden lampstands in the nature all divine— / Nothing natural does the Body life allow. / When we’re one and share God’s nature, / how the lampstand then does shine— / Hallelujah, it is brightly shining now!
# I count not my righteousness mine— / ’Tis Jesus that lives in my soul. / I partake of His nature divine, / And in Him I am perfectly whole.
# Twelve city gates are each one pearl; / Thus man is through redemption shown / Reborn and as a pearl transformed, / Entering to a realm God’s own.
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