2 Pet. 1:4 Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.
The greatest sign in the Bible and the ultimate consummation of all of God’s work throughout the ages is the New Jerusalem.
We need to see a vision of the holy city, New Jerusalem, and we need to realize that it is not a physical city – it is not the so-called “heavenly mansions” of which many Christians dream of. The New Jerusalem is the processed and consummated Triune God united, mingled, and incorporated with His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people so that He would have a divine-human incorporation, a corporate organism for His expression for eternity.
The vision of the New Jerusalem needs to be a controlling and governing vision in our Christian life and church life, so that we may experience all the aspects of the New Jerusalem in miniature/foretaste in our Christian life today. In this way, we cooperate with the Lord for the working out of the New Jerusalem, and we are being headed up in Christ out of the universal heap of collapse and into the glorious oneness of the Triune God Himself.
The purpose of our regeneration (John 3:6) is so that the Triune God would increase in humanity and have a bride (John 3:29); the purpose of being born again is to become the New Jerusalem.
The purpose of enjoying the flowing of the Triune God as living water is so that we would be united with Him, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him and flow out together with Him into the New Jerusalem, the totality of the eternal life gushing out of our innermost being (John 4:14).
What God desires to gain today is one thing: the New Jerusalem. The burden on His heart, His goal, and His one direction and aim in dealing with people and relating to man is the obtaining of the New Jerusalem. And this city which is God’s masterpiece, a miraculous structure of treasure, has a “triune constitution” – the Triune God is constituted into the city!
In the golden base, street, and appearance of the city we see the Father’s divine nature, pure gold. In the gates of pearl we see the Son with His redeeming work. In the precious stones as the foundations and in the flowing river we see the Spirit with His transforming work.
The Triune God is the triune constitution of the New Jerusalem, and He is being wrought into us, constituted into us, until together with Him we become this amazing entity, this awesome city, the New Jerusalem.
God the Father in His Holy Nature is the Base of the New Jerusalem (the gold)
The building work of the wall of the city is jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass (Rev. 21:18). The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass (Rev. 21:21). The base of the New Jerusalem is gold, pure gold; gold refers to God’s divine nature, the Father’s nature which is imparted into us at the time of our regeneration.
By believing into the Lord we receive His divine life and His divine nature, and today we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). This is something mysterious yet so wonderful: God’s divine nature has been wrought into our being, and today we can partake of the riches of God’s nature by enjoying the promises in God’s word.
The whole Bible is a book of promises, and we are not “spectators” but partakers of the divine nature.
Take Phil. 4:6-8 for example: in nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God – and God as peace will guard your heart. This is God’s promise: as soon as we see anxiety coming, as soon as we sense we are about to worry about something, we should “cash in” and open to the Lord, casting our care upon Him by prayer and thanksgiving!
Through our conversing to the Lord and opening to Him about our worries and anxieties, God is working Himself into us and He takes away the anxiety. If we are anxious, the enjoyment of God’s golden nature is annulled; but if we “convert our anxiety into gold” by conversing with the Lord, He is working Himself into us and constitutes us with Himself.
There are many opportunities during the day that we can take to simply turn to the Lord and pray over His promises in the word, and we will enjoy God’s divine nature, and in this way we will gain more gold, more of the golden nature of God!
Living, Behaving, and Doing Everything According to God’s Divine Nature, the Street of Gold
On the one hand, we need to enjoy God’s promises in His word in order to partake of God’s golden divine nature; on the other hand, we need to “walk on the golden street” by living, behaving, and doing everything according to God’s divine nature (see Rev. 21:21b; 22:1).
The way we can experience God’s divine nature, the base of gold in the New Jerusalem, is by taking a strong decision every day, Lord, from now on as a child of God I will live, behave, and do everything according to the divine nature within! This doesn’t mean we exercise our self-will to do it; it means we open to the Lord and agree with Him: Yes, Lord, I want to walk according to the divine nature!
When we take such a decision, there will be a river flowing (the river of water of life flowing in the middle of the street) to water us, and there will be the supply of life (the tree of life) to strengthen us to walk according to God’s holy nature.
We should not be passive: choose life, choose to live according to the divine nature! We have the full right to enjoy the divine life and partake of the divine nature.
When we repented and believed into the Lord, we came under His administration and the divine nature was imparted into us; the more we enjoy the Lord, partake of His divine nature by enjoying His promises, and walk according to God’s divine nature within us, the more we are being brought under God’s throne and there’s a river of water of life flowing.
When we walk according to the divine nature, there will be no corrupt word coming out of our mouth (Eph. 4:29). The divine life flowing in the divine nature is the unique way for our daily life and for our move in the Lord’s move – we have no other way!
In His move God is building up and working out the New Jerusalem by making His home in our heart, building Himself into us, building us together with the saints, and making us full of strength together to become the corporate Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
We need to practice fellowshipping according to God’s divine golden nature. Merely coming together with the brothers and the sisters doesn’t mean we enjoy the fellowship of God. Our contacting the Lord and our contacting the saints have to be based on the divine nature of God, otherwise we merely have a ritual of prayer or we have a social contact with the others.
We need to exercise our spirit to touch the Lord, enjoy Him as the tree of life, drink Him as the water of life, and walk according to the divine nature, and when we come together we will practice spiritual fellowship of life based upon God’s divine nature.
Practicing to live, walk by, behave, and do everything according to the divine nature will make us genuine parts of the New Jerusalem, having God’s nature wrought into us to make us golden as He is!
We need to practice the divine fellowship based upon the divine nature within us (see 1 John 1:3), never ignoring the divine nature when we fellowship but taking a strong decision to exercise our spirit and live according to the divine nature.
Lord Jesus, from now on we choose to live, behave, and do everything according to the divine nature within. We choose to exercise our spirit and live according to the divine nature so that we may become golden – a genuine part of the New Jerusalem. We want to drink the river of water of life, eat the tree of life, and walk according to God’s nature within us. We want to practice having fellowship with God and with the saints based on the divine nature. May our unique way for our daily life and for our move in the Lord’s move be the divine life flowing in the divine nature according to which we live, move, and do everything!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, God’s New Testament Economy (ch. 40), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 7 / msg 7, The Triune God as our Constitution, Existence, Enjoyment, Living, and Expression.
- Further reading: recommending the article on, The Believer Does Not Have the Divine Nature — What a False Teaching! (via, ContendingForTheFaith).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Promises, promises, all God’s called ones share; / Promises, given us, great and precious are. / These we take to partake of God’s nature true, / Having thus escaped the world’s corruption too. (Hymns #1211)
# 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. (Hymns #523)
# Midst the gold street it floweth, / Thus showing to us the way; / As in God’s nature it floweth, / So in His way we will stay. (Hymns #984)
