The light of the New Jerusalem is God Himself in the Lamb as the lamp. There’s no need for sun or moon or any other natural or man-made luminaries in the New Jerusalem, because God Himself in Christ is the light of the city.
If we were to come to God Himself, He dwells in unapproachable light – we would not be able to come to Him. Therefore, God Himself came to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this One is so approachable, touchable, and enjoyable. God as the light came in Christ as the Lamb-lamp, and this One is the light of the world, the light of life.
We were born in darkness and we lived in darkness until we met the Lord Jesus, the light of the world. This One shined in us, exposed our darkness, and attracted us with His magnetizing beauty and grace.
Now we have become children of light, those who seek to walk in the light as He is in the light, and as we walk in the light His blood cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7). How wonderful our Christ is, the Lamb-lamp who shines out God, expresses God, and brings God’s life into us, and at the same time He washes us from our sins, cleanses us, and makes us beings of light, even light itself in Christ.
Today we can have a foretaste of God in Christ as the enjoyable and approachable light, and we can live and walk in the light in the church life so that we may enjoy a taste of the New Jerusalem, the city full of the light of God in Christ.
As we open to the Lord and allow Him to shine in our being, all the darkness in us is exposed and eliminated, and the divine life is infused into us and grows in us. May we be those who open to God in Christ as the Spirit who comes to us as light through His word, shining in our being and exposing anything not according to His nature, ready to apply the blood to cleanse us from every sin.
Our Need to Have the Reality of the Body of Christ Consummating in the New Jerusalem
What God is building today is the Body of Christ, and what we need is to have the reality of the Body of Christ that will consummate in the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the greatest and most consummate final sign in the Bible, giving us the spiritual significance of all the things in God’s economy.
In Genesis we see the seeds of God’s economy, throughout the Bible there’s a development and growth, and in the New Jerusalem there’s the consummation of all that God intends to do. May we be those who care not merely for a study of the ultimate sign and picture of the New Jerusalem but also for the application of all the aspects of the New Jerusalem to our daily life.
The New Jerusalem is NOT heaven – “going to heaven” is a religious superstition that has defrauded many genuine believers throughout the ages. What God wants and what we are saved for is NOT heaven, it is the New Jerusalem!
We need to have the Reality of the Body of Christ today in all the local churches so that the Body of Christ may be built for the consummation of the New Jerusalem.
And today in the local churches in the Lord’s recovery we are seeking not to “go to heaven” but to live out and work out the New Jerusalem. The church life may be small (compared to other denominations or religious groups) but it all depends upon our view.
What God is recovering today is not a large number but a small number of people who pay attention not only to the outward things but to the reality of the Body of Christ. The Lord’s recovery is not here to be “big” but to be new and holy, to be the testimony of the New Jerusalem, and we are here to endeavor to be a miniature (a greatly reduced in size model) of the New Jerusalem.
For this, we need to see that, as necessary as the outward things, arrangements, and practices are for the church life, we need to have the reality of the Body of Christ among all the local churches. We need to pay attention to what is intrinsic, invisible, in the divine and mystical realm.
We definitely need to preach the gospel, teach the high truths, perfect the saints, shepherd the new ones, and have all kinds of arrangements for the day-to-day church life in the Lord Recovery, but our focus is not the outward things but the essence, the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ needs to be built up in reality among all the local churches; this is the highest standard in the Lord’s recovery. The local churches all around the world are “the physical frame” (just as our human body is our physical frame), but where is the reality of the Body of Christ? Only when the Body of Christ is fully built up in reality can the Lord have His Bride consummating in the New Jerusalem.
Whatever we do today needs to be for the building up and working out of the New Jerusalem by seeking to be built up in the Body of Christ and live in the reality of the Body today in the church life.
Lord Jesus, gain the reality of the Body of Christ in all the local churches today. May we be the ones who focus not on the outward activities and necessary arrangements but on the intrinsic reality of the Body of Christ. Constitute Yourself into us and build us into You. Gain the vital groups in all the churches. Perfect the saints to be the overcomers and gain the built-up Body as the reality and intrinsic essence of the church. Lord, blend us, build us up, and gain what You are after in us today!
Enjoying the Pleasant Dispensing of God through the Shining of God through Christ as the Lamp
When we come to the New Jerusalem, the first thing we enjoy is its light – so bright and yet so pleasant, bringing everything in the light! The New Jerusalem has the glory of God, and the glory of God is the content of the holy city. The New Jerusalem saturated, permeated, and filled with God’s glory (God’s expression).
God Himself is the light, shining through Christ as the Lamb-Lamp. The Redeeming God, Christ, is the lamp that makes God so approachable and pleasant to us. There’s no need for man-made light or any natural source of light (the sun, the moon, the stars, etc) in the New Jerusalem, because God Himself is the light, and He shines through the Lamb as the lamp (Rev. 21:23).
To be in darkness is a punishment from God as a result of sin (see Exo. 10:22; Rev. 16:10), but in the New Jerusalem, there will be no more night (Rev. 22:5)! In the new heaven and new earth there will still be the distinction between day and night, but within the holy city there will be no more night – God Himself is the “sun that never goes down”, and all His people enjoy His constant shining!
The New Jerusalem has the glory of God, and her light is like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal (Rev. 21:11, 23). God shines through Christ as the lamp and through the jasper wall to illumine the whole universe with the light of life.
In the physical world you can’t touch the source of light – it will burn you – but you can enjoy the warm white/cool white/natural white or other types of approachable light if the source of light has a lamp. If God would shine on us by Himself, we would be finished; but praise the Lord for the Redeeming One, Christ as the Lamb, who came to make God so approachable, pleasant, and receivable.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.
The Lamb is the lamp containing the divine light, and when the Lamb came into the world He was the light of the world, even the light of life. In Christ God’s light is just right, and we can walk in the light to have all our darkness removed, have fellowship with one another, and have the cleansing of the blood of Christ.
Without the Redeemer we can’t receive the light of God, but through Christ and in Christ as the Redeemer we can come to the light, enjoy the light, and walk in the light. Through the Lamb, the One who redeemed us, God’s light is so enjoyable, shining in us for His dispensing!
The goal of the shining of God’s light is not merely to expose and eliminate the darkness but to dispense God into us. Light always brings in life, and where there’s the shining of God, life comes forth. When we have a further light, we have a higher level of life. Let us welcome God in Christ as light. Let all darkness and gloominess be dispelled. Let there be light!
Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Redeeming One who makes God so approachable, touchable, and pleasant. Keep us under Your shining today. We open wide to Your inward shining and infusing. We choose to walk in the light as God is in the light, enjoying fellowship with one another and having the blood of Christ cleansing us from every sin! Keep us open to Your light so that Your divine life in us may grow. We want to have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem as the city of light in the church life today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minor Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 262, 431), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 6 / msg 6, The Lamb as the Lamp with God as the Light.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all! / Oh, how we love within His presence to dwell! / In this light we enjoy a constant cleansing within— / From every sin! (Song on 1 John 1:7)
# Lord, to know Thee as the Body, / Is my desperate need today, / Oh, to see Thee in Thy members, / ’Tis for this I long and pray. / No more just to know Thy headship / In an individual way, / But to see Thee incarnated, / As the Body-Christ, I pray. (Hymns #1225)
# The city needs no sun nor moon / For God’s own glory is its light; / The Lamb’s the lamp the city bears, / In all directions blazing bright. (Hymns #979)
