We Partake of the Divine Nature by Exercising our Spirit in Fellowship with the Lord

For us to live out and work out the New Jerusalem to build up Zion as the reality of the Body of Christ, we must partake of God the Father in His divine nature, as typified by the gold as the base of the holy city (2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 21:21b).

Whatever is ascribed to the New Jerusalem should be both our personal and corporate experience for us to become the New Jerusalem and build the New Jerusalem by the mingling of God with man for the oneness of the Body of Christ to fulfill the eternal purpose of God.

All the features and characteristics of the New Jerusalem need to become our experience in the church life today both personally and corporately.

This means that we need to cooperate with the Lord to live out and work out the New Jerusalem in all its aspects and experiences.

We need to cooperate with the Lord to be the early overcomers, those who live out and work out the New Jerusalem in the church life, enjoying and experiencing all the aspects of Christ as seen in the New Jerusalem.

To live out and work out the New Jerusalem is to hold the principle that God’s presence is the criterion for every matter in our church life and Christian life.

The Lord Jesus came as God with us, and we are those living in the presence of God, living and acting in His person and according to the index of His eyes, to become, Jehovah is There, the very presence of God enlarged and expressed.

For us to live out and work out the New Jerusalem we need to be under the throne of God, the ruling of God; this means that we need to call on the name of the Lord, dethrone ourselves, humble ourselves, live in spirit, and maintain a clear sky between us and the Lord.

To reach such a point we need to allow God to have preeminence in us and be completely submissive to His authority and administration so that He can fulfill His eternal purpose in us.

For us to live out and work out the New Jerusalem we need to have the flow and supply of life; the flowing river of life and the growing tree of life needs to be our experience in the church life today.

We need to eat the Lord as the tree of life, drink the Spirit as the water of life, and love the Lord with the first love, enjoying Him and being His testimony.

To live out and work out the New Jerusalem we must be full of the light of life; we need to experience God in Christ shining as the light of life through us as the diffuser, just as God is the light in Christ as the lamp in the New Jerusalem, shining through the holy city.

Amen, Lord, make these our experience!

Living and Working according to the Divine Life Flowing in the Divine Nature to be Pure, Simple, and Uncomplicated

After seeing what it means for us to live out and work out the New Jerusalem in the aspects of the river of life and water of life, the throne of God, and the light of life, we now come to the unique street in the city.

In the holy city there is only one street that spirals from the bottom, reaching all the twelve gates (three gates on each side), going inward and higher until it reaches the throne of God and of the Lamb.

There is only one street in the New Jerusalem, and it is made of pure gold (Rev. 21:21).

The New Jerusalem is built of three kinds of precious materials: the city proper with its street is of pure gold (Rev. 21:18, 21), signifying the divine nature of God, the gates are made of pearls – signifying Christ, and the foundations are made of precious stones, signifying the Spirit.

Gold is a symbol of the divine nature of God, signifying God the Father as the source. The unique street in the holy city is made of gold; no matter what gate you come into the city, you’re on the one street – this is so simple, pure, and uncomplicated.

The unique street in the holy city signifies the divine nature of the Father, of which we all are partakers. When we live and walk according to the divine nature in our spirit, we live out and work out the New Jerusalem in the aspect of the unique street of the city.

Hallelujah, the divine nature in our experience makes us pure, simple, and uncomplicated – we can never get lost in the holy city!

When we walk according to the divine nature, we live and work according to the divine life flowing in the divine nature (the river of life flows in the middle of the street) and we live a pure, simple, and uncomplicated life.

The one street of pure gold signifies that, when we live and work according to the divine life flowing in the divine nature, we never “get lost” and we are pure, simple, and uncomplicated (Rev. 22:1; 2 Cor. 11:2-3).

When we are in the mingled spirit and partake of the divine nature by means of the precious and exceedingly great promises, we will never get lost; rather, we will be purified and simplified, and we are richly supplied with the water of life and the tree of life.

For us to live out and work out the New Jerusalem, we need to live according to the divine nature, being richly supplied with the tree of life and water of life. And our life will be simple, pure, and uncomplicated.

Lord Jesus, we want to live out and work out the New Jerusalem to build up Zion as the reality of the Body of Christ by partaking of God the Father in His divine nature! Amen, Lord, we want to live according to the divine nature and walk according to the divine nature in our daily life. Make us those living and working according to the divine life flowing in the divine nature so that we may be simple, pure, and uncomplicated in our Christian life and church life. Thank You Lord for the divine life flowing in the divine nature!

We Partake of the Divine Nature by Exercising our Spirit in Fellowship with the Lord

What is the divine nature, and how can we partake of the divine nature so that we may walk on and according to the golden street of the New Jerusalem?

The divine nature is what God is, what He is made of; the Bible tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24), God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and God is light (1:5). The divine nature, therefore, is mainly constituted of these three items – Spirit, love, and 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. Therefore, we must exercise our spirit to enjoy God as Spirit, we need to remain in the divine fellowship to enjoy God as love and as light.

When we were born again, the divine seed came into us (1 John 3:9); in this divine seed there is the divine nature. God has granted to us all things which related to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), and we are partakers of the divine nature!

Based upon the fact that God gave us all things related to life and godliness, we have received the precious and exceedingly great promises from God, that through these we might become partakers, enjoyers, of the divine nature.

When we partake of the divine nature, we enjoy God as Spirit, as love, and as light. How can we partake of the divine nature? We are partaking of the divine nature when we contact the Lord and fellowship with Him.

When we fellowship with the Lord, we realize and enjoy Him as the Spirit, and simultaneously we enjoy the nature of God’s essence, which is love. When we fellowship with the Lord and open to Him, His love saturates us and even becomes us.

This is seen in our behavior and living when we love people whom others may consider un-lovable. When we are saturated with God’s nature of love, we can love persons whom others cannot love because we enjoy God as love.

When we enjoy the divine nature of the loving God, we are partakers of the divine nature and love people in a genuine way; it’s not that we are taught to love others, but when we fellowship with the Lord and partake of the divine nature, we spontaneously love others.

When we spend an adequate amount of time in the Lord’s presence, enjoying Him in His word, we will be full of the divine light inwardly; this is the issue of enjoying the divine nature inwardly – we are full of the divine light.

If we practice spending time to fellowship with the Lord, we will have the sensation that we enjoy Him as the Spirit, we become a person of love, and whatever we say would be light and in the light.

Our partaking of the divine nature is by exercising our spirit to enjoy God as Spirit, love, and light, and the result is that we walk according to the divine nature to live out and work out the New Jerusalem.

As we practice having fellowship with the Lord, praying over His word, and partaking of His exceedingly great promises in His word, we will be saturated with Him as the Spirit, as love, and as light; the result will be that we partake of the divine nature, and we walk according to this nature for the living out and working out of the New Jerusalem.

God is Spirit; we need to be those who exercise our spirit to worship Him in spirit and truthfulness. God is love and light, and as we remain in the flow of the divine life, in the fellowship of life, we will enjoy God as love and as light.

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to enjoy God as Spirit in our spirit. We want to remain in the divine fellowship to enjoy God as love and as light. Amen, Lord, keep us in the divine fellowship, exercising our spirit to have the divine life flow in us and supply us to live according to the divine nature. We treasure our fellowship with You. We want to remain in the divine fellowship and be filled with God as Spirit, love, and light, so that we may walk according to the divine nature for the living out and working out of the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 30, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Reality of the Body of Christ (2018 Thanksgiving Conference), week 6, Living Out and Working Out the New Jerusalem to Build Up Zion as the Reality of the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Given us, given us, God has given us / Precious faith, power divine, greatest promises. / We believed, we received, now we have all three; / By these we may grow unto maturity. (Hymns #1211)
  # The city with its street pure gold / As clear as glass transparent is, / Showing that God’s transcendent life / Its quality and nature is. (Hymns #979)
  # Take time to enjoy Him, our portion is He: / Our present, available reality; / Our practical, real, and enjoyable Lord / Is everything to us through His living Word. (Song on, Take time to absorb Him)