…Walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4)… serve in newness of spirit (Rom. 7:6).
It is so encouraging to know that we are becoming the NEW Jerusalem! Today we are in the process of being renewed day by day by having God’s element being wrought into us, and we will be so new that we will be called New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:1-2).
In our natural man there’s nothing new, and in ourself we are so old – we are 6000 years old! But in our spirit – where God as Spirit dwells – we are new, fresh, living, and young. Whenever we turn to the Lord in spirit and call on His name, pray over His word, fellowship with Him, talk to Him, and spend time with Him, we are being renewed more and more.
When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior we had new beginning, a new birth – we received God as the source of new divine life into us. When the people of Israel had the Passover, even though it was in the seventh month, this month became the first month – they had a new beginning!
When we received the Lord, our calendar changed – we had a new beginning, and now throughout our Christian life we live a life of being renewed day by day (Rom. 12:2), walking in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), and serving in newness of spirit (Rom. 7:6).
May the Lord save us from having wasted days, days in which we don’t experience Him and enjoy Him. May our days be a memorial between us and Him unto the New Jerusalem, days in which we are sanctified by taking Christ as our substitute, have a new beginning of life, and eliminate all the sin that the Lord exposes in us.
May we be those who daily live by drinking the water of life and eating the tree of life, depending on the Lord for our supply and trusting in Him for our daily needs. May we give the inner flow of life the preeminence in all things, paying attention to the sense of the divine life within us and allowing Christ to flow in us and through us.
May we be such persons of life with a new beginning in the divine life every day, a sweet and solid walk with the Lord by taking Him as our substitute throughout the day, and cooperating with Him to eliminate sin and live a life of feasting on Christ by eating Him, drinking Him, and breathing Him in, so that we may become beings of the New Jerusalem living a normal church life today.
Living a Daily Life that is Worthy of being a Memorial in the New Jerusalem
We don’t merely “go to the New Jerusalem” or simply “become the New Jerusalem” out of nowhere; rather, in our daily life we need to experience all the aspects and features of the New Jerusalem so that we may intrinsically become part of the New Jerusalem. Every day we need to have a new beginning of life, an “Abib” (see Exo. 13:4).
On the one hand we live in the world, but on the other hand our living is before God and with God, and we seek to daily be saved from staleness and deadness, and we desire to walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit.
Every morning we have a new beginning not only humanly but also spiritually. Every morning we need to have a new beginning with the Lord, opening to Him in a fresh way, and taking Him as our new beginning.
Then, all throughout the day we need to allow Christ to “bud” in us and “sprout” out of us, being saved from staleness by walking in the newness and freshness of the divine life and serving the Lord in the newness and freshness of the mingled spirit (see Rom. 6:4; 7:6).
This means that we need to be sanctified by God by taking Christ as our substitute (Exo. 13:2), having a new beginning of life and eliminating all the sins that He exposes in our being, so that we may have a daily living that is worthy of being a memorial between us and the Lord.
May the Lord save us from having wasted days, days in which we don’t enjoy Him or experience Him as the new and fresh divine life. I was touched by brother Lee’s sharing in his life-study of Exodus on this matter,
I am concerned that many Christians will have very little to remember when they are in the New Jerusalem. But if we live with Christ as our substitute, have a new beginning of life, and deal with all exposed sin, we shall have a great deal to remember in eternity. Every day we live in this way is a day worth remembering. It is possible for every day of our Christian life to be a memorial. May the Lord save us from having to repent over wasted days, days in which there is no new beginning of life and no thorough dealing with leaven. After we have been saved through Christ as our Passover lamb, we need to take Him as our substitute for the beginning of a new, sinless life. Then we shall have many days of memorial. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 308-309)
First, we need to be sanctified by taking Christ as our Substitute and allowing Him to live in us a reproduction of the life He lived while on the earth. Then, we need to have new beginnings of life, eliminating the exposed sin and enjoying Christ as the crucified, resurrected, and sinless life (the reality of the unleavened bread).
Those who are sanctified by taking Christ as their Substitute (Exo. 13:2), who have a new beginning of life (v. 4), and who eliminate all exposed sin (vv. 6-7) will have a daily living that is worthy of being a memorial, an eternal remembrance (v. 9).
Our entire Christian life is a “feast of unleavened bread” (Exo. 13), that is, feasting on the crucified, resurrected, and sinless life of Christ and allowing Him to be wrought into our being to live in us the life that pleases God. Only Christ is absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality, and we can feast on Him.
If we live a life of taking Christ as our Substitute, having a new beginning of life, eliminating any exposed sin, and feasting on Christ as the unleavened bread, our daily living will be worthy of being a memorial in the New Jerusalem. We need to bring these matters to the Lord in prayer and tell Him,
Lord, we take You as our new beginning today. We take You as our substitute. Give us a new beginning in the divine life. We want to deal with any exposed sin in our being. We take You as the feast of unleavened bread today. Lord, we want to keep the feast by enjoying Your crucified, resurrected, and sinless life. May today count in Your eyes. May we not live a wasted day but have a daily walk that is worthy of being a memorial between us and You in the New Jerusalem! Lord, save us from having wasted days. May all our days from now on be a memorial in Your sight!
Living in the New Creation by Eating Christ and Drinking Christ to Live because of Christ
The entire city of the New Jerusalem is a new creation, having God in Christ as its everything. The New Jerusalem possesses the divine life and the divine nature – the divine life can be seen in the river of water of life and the tree of life, and the divine nature can be seen in the golden essence of the city and the golden street (gold typifying the divine nature).
Today we need to have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem by enjoying no other life but the divine life – the tree of life and the river of water of life. Daily we need to drink of the one Spirit as the river of water of life (see 1 Cor. 12:13) and eat Christ as the unique tree of life (see Rev. 2:7; John 6:35).
If we eat Christ and drink Christ, we will also live because of Christ (John 6:57), that is, we will be a new creation living the same kind of life that Christ lived when He was on the earth.
The Lord Jesus “ate butter and honey” all the days of His life (see Isa. 7:14-15), that is, He ate God as the riches grace and sweetest love, and because of this, He was able to accept the perfect will of God in His life. We can accept the perfect and well-pleasing will of God in our life (Rom. 12:2) only by enjoying Christ as the richest grace and sweetest love.
Also, we need to give the flow of life the preeminence in our being – the river of water of life flows from the right side of the house (Ezek. 47:1-2), and it is the practical presence of the Lord Jesus in us. It is a tragedy to lose the flow of life; whenever the flow of life encounters problems, we need to deal with anything that hinders the flow. This is part of drinking the river of water of life in experience.
Eating the tree of life implies that we depend on Christ as life – the tree of knowledge leads to independence but the tree of life leads to dependence on God as life! In 2 Cor. 1:8-9 and 12, Paul and his companions were excessively burdened beyond their power so that they despaired even of living, having the response of death in themselves so that they would not base their confidence not on themselves but on God. Paul lived and behaved in the grace of God, in the singleness and simplicity of God.
Eating of Christ as the tree of life will lead to depending on Christ and living a simple life, trusting in God and in nothing else. When we eat Christ as the tree of life, we live because of Him, we are supplied with Him, and spontaneously the church life becomes the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7), no matter of the condition of the church.
Lord Jesus, we give You the preeminence in our being today. We want to enjoy You as the tree of life and drink of You as the Spirit, the river of water of life. Lord, we give the flow of life the preeminence in our being. Flow in our being and even increase the flow in us! We want to eat You as the richest grace and sweetest love so that we may be enabled to choose the perfect and well-pleasing will of God! O Lord Jesus, we depend on You as our life and life supply!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus (msg. 27), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 5 / msg 5, The Intrinsic Significance of the Name New Jerusalem and the Dimensions of the Holy City.
- Further reading: recommending p. 34 in, The Overcomers (by Witness Lee).
- Hymns on this topic:
# We’re renewed and revived by the Lord day by day; / He is grace upon grace and refreshing as dew. / Shining brighter and brighter, our path’s a clear way, / As morning by morning His mercies are new. (Song on Being Renewed day by day)
# If God leads you to walk / A way that you know, / It will not benefit you as much as / If He would lead you to take the way / That you do not know. / This forces you to have / Hundreds and thousands of / Conversations with Him, / Resulting in a journey that is an / Everlasting memorial / Between you and Him. (Song on A Memorial with God)
# We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!“—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151)
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