Experiencing the New Jerusalem as a City Representing the Kingdom of God Today

Rev. 21:2a, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem…

In the book of Revelation we see Christ as the center of God’s administration according to God’s economy carrying out God’s administration for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Particularly, Christ is carrying out God’s administration to care for the churches.

Revelation starts with the seven churches and has the following statement toward the end of the book, I, Jesus, have sent my Angel to testify to you these things for the churches (Rev. 22:16). The book of Revelation is not merely to tell us “what will happen in the future”; rather, this book is showing us what the churches should be in God’s administration.

Christ is the One with eyes like a flame of fire, searching the inward parts and the heart (see Rev. 2:18, 24), speaking a living and present word, and we in the churches need to see, know, and experience such a Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ.

The New Jerusalem in Rev. 21-22 is a city representing the kingdom of God – it is not merely the tabernacle of God with man but the city (Rev. 21:2), the center of God’s administration.

As miniatures of the New Jerusalem, every local church should be a city where God rules and reigns, where all saints are functioning properly, taking Christ as their head. Every believer as a “little New Jerusalem” should be a little city, where the redeeming God is on the throne and in whom and the kingdom of God is manifested.

May we open to the Lord’s searching, shining, and infusing, giving Him access to our heart and all our inward parts, letting Him search us and remove from us anything that is not according to Him. As He searches us, He burns away the things not pleasing to Him and He infuses us with Himself so that we would become what He is, even the same as He is.

It is of utmost importance that every believer would allow the Lord to search his inward parts and infuse him with Himself, since the church life is an expression of what we are in our inward parts. What the church is depends on what we are in our inner being, what kind of person we are and what kind of constitution we have. In His time, the Lord will raise up the circumstances to expose what is in us, manifesting our inward constitution.

Right now, Christ is the sevenfold intensified Spirit ready to produce us as His overcomers to be the miniature of the New Jerusalem in the local churches. We simply need to enthrone Him, take Him as our Head, give Him the preeminence, and we will enjoy a river of water of life flowing from the throne and the tree of life with abundant fruit.

As we eat the Lord, drink Him, and take Him in, we are brought under His throne and become the city of God, the kingdom of God, a miniature of the New Jerusalem.

The New Jerusalem is a City – It Represents the Kingdom of God

The New Jerusalem is a city – it is the holy city, New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2) that John saw descending from God. On the one hand New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God with man, but it is even more: it is the city of God.

A city is a strong and established structure, the place where authority is exercised and the center of a kingdom. The center of the kingdom of God is the New Jerusalem, where the throne of God is, and it is here that God’s authority is exercised.

In the beginning of the book of Revelation God is on the throne – but the city is not mentioned (Rev. 4:2-3); at the end of Revelation we see God on the throne in the center of the city (Rev. 21:5; 22:3).

As a miniature of the New Jerusalem today, we as believers in Christ need to enjoy and experience Christ as our Head, our King, and our Lord; He needs to be enthroned in the center of our being. As we enjoy Christ, He leads us to the church, the house of God and the city of God.

As a “little New Jerusalem”, each local church should be a center of authority where the Lord (and not any man) exercises His authority and rules. Our experience of the church needs to be enlarged to be not only the house of God but also the city of God, the kingdom of God.

When someone comes among us he needs to see not only the sweet atmosphere full of enjoyment (the church as the house of God) but also the ruling of God among us, the divine authority being exercised among the saints who live in the kingdom of the son of God’s love.

We need to be under the rule of the divine life, allowing the Lord to rule in us by flowing in us. From the throne flows the river of water of life; as we drink the Lord and enjoy the flow of life, we are brought under God’s authority and the flow brings in God’s ruling.

As the house of God, the church is God’s home, the place where He dwells and feels at home; as the city, the church is God’s kingdom, the place where He rules and reigns, exercising His authority (see Eph. 2:19, 21-22).

In our experience, the church is the house of God as we take Christ as life, and the church becomes the city of God in our experience when we take Christ as the Head and are under His ruling (see Col. 3:4; 1:18; 2:19).

For many believers, the church is merely the house of God, a lovely place, filled with the love and enjoyment of God. But we need to realize that there is a Head in the church, and we as the many members of the Body need to fellowship first with the Head and then with other members before we make decisions and do things.

If we see Christ as the Head and realize that He is the Lord on the throne, we will not decide things on our own, we will not take decisions without Him, and we will not do things without first having fellowship. We will honor the Lord and live as kingdom people in the kingdom of God, allowing the Spirit of reality to guide us into all the reality of the kingdom of God.

The Gospel of the Kingdom Brings Forth the Church, and the Church is the Kingdom of God

The Bible first presents the kingdom and thereafter presents the church. Where the kingdom of heaven is in authority, there a church will be built up. A church comes into being where a company of people accept the government of heaven. So it would appear to be the presence of the kingdom that produces the church. (Witness Lee, The Kingdom and the Church, p. 33). Background via here.

When the Lord Jesus came and preached the gospel, He didn’t preach “the gospel of the church” but “the gospel of the kingdom”. When people believe in the gospel of the kingdom, they are regenerated, born of God, and enter into the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine life.

The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life, just as the animal kingdom is the realm of the animals. The life of God is the kingdom of God, and this life produces the church (see John 3:3, 5; Matt. 7:14, 21; 19:17, 29; 25:46). When we receive the life of God as a result of believing into the gospel of the kingdom, we enter into the kingdom of God and are part of the church.

The presence of the kingdom of God produces the church (see Matt. 4:23; 16:18-19). God has a kingdom, God’s kingdom is His divine life, when we receive God’s life we become the church, and the church is the kingdom of God. As we live and walk by the divine life that rules in us, we will do nothing without prayer, fellowship, and blending.

The kingdom of God is the divine life coming into us through regeneration as the seed of life, growing and developing in us as the kingdom of God through our growth in life, and being fully manifested at the coming of the Lord Jesus in His kingdom.

If we don’t have the kingdom of God, we have no genuine church, no reality of the church life, and no building up of the Body of Christ. The kingdom of God produces the church, and as part of the church we need to experience the kingdom of God with His authority being exercised in the church today.

May the Lord bring many saints into the realization of the church as the kingdom of God. May He gain many who enthrone Him in their being, those who allow the divine life to rule and reign in them, and who can do nothing without fellowship and prayer.

May we experience the New Jerusalem today in the church as a city representing the kingdom of God!

Lord, we want to experience the New Jerusalem as a city, the place where You rule and reign. We enthrone You in the center of our being. We take You as the Head. May Your flowing life bring Your ruling presence in us. We want to give the flow of life the preeminence in our being. May our entire being be under Your rule. We don’t want to live by our mood, disposition, peculiarity, or culture. May the Redeeming God be on the throne in our being, and may we be intimately connected to the Head and in a close fellowship and flow with the other members of the church, the kingdom of God! Lord, make the New Jerusalem as the holy city of God be our experience today in the church life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 2 / msg 2, The City and the Bride.
• Similar sharing on this topic: New Jerusalem is a Living City; the Holy City: New Jerusalem; and, A City upon a Mountain: New Jerusalem (via the New Jerusalem blog).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Her local gatherings model / The New Jerusalem; / Its aspects and its details / Must show in all of them. (Hymns #824)
  # And I saw the holy city, / New Jerusalem, / Coming down out of heaven from God, / Prepared as a bride / Adorned for her husband, / Coming down out of heaven from God. (New Hymn on the New Jerusalem)
  # We, the Church, His Body, / He, the Head, the Son; / By the Spirit’s flowing, / We are joined in one. (Hymns #854)