Praise the Lord, we are Becoming the Reality of “God is There”, the New Jerusalem!

The very last verse of Ezekiel says that the name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah is there; when God gains the holy temple and the holy city in the holy land, the name of that city is, God is there – God’s presence is with man, and man is in God’s presence!

This is absolutely wonderful and glorious, for it corresponds to the divine revelation in the word of God; the end of the Bible also speaks of this – all universe is full of praise to God, for in the New Jerusalem God dwells with and in man, and man dwells with and in God, and God is there! Hallelujah!

The consummation of all that God is doing in and with man is the holy city with the holy temple in the holy land, that is, the New Jerusalem; as we enjoy the Lord today as the reality of the good land, and as we let Him measure us to possess us, He gains a miraculous structure of treasure, the New Jerusalem, and the name of that city is, God is there.

God wants to dwell with man and in man, but man is fallen, and even God’s people reject Him, sin against Him, and are many times dead like the dry bones.

Therefore, God has to come in as the breath of life, the Spirit that gives life, and bring in life into His people, form them into His army, recover them inwardly, put His Spirit and a new heart in them, and bring them into a condition where they can build and become the building of God.

We as believers are priests and kings to God, and it is our privilege and responsibility to enjoy the Lord Jesus – the all-inclusive Christ as the bountiful all-sufficient Spirit – as the reality of the good land in our daily life.

The more we enjoy the Lord, the more we experience Him, the more we apply His judicial redemption and enjoy His organic salvation, the more we build up and become the temple of God and the city of God, and the name of that city is, God is there.

The church today is the center for the fellowship with God (the temple of God) and the center for the reigning of God (the city of God).

In the church today we need to enjoy the Lord and fellowship with Him, and we need to let the Lord reign in us and among us; then, when people come among us, they will sense that God is there.

As we experience Christ, enjoy Him, and are built up together, God is with us, we are in God, God is in us, and we become the corporate Emmanuel – God is there!

We are Becoming the City of Jehovah, the Reality of “God is There”, the Presence of God

In Ezek. 8-10 we see that, due to the abomination of the people of Israel, who committed idolatry in God’s temple, God couldn’t stand it anymore, and He left the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the people of Israel; the temple and the city became empty.

But through the judgement of God and the recovery work of God in the following chapters there’s the proper building through the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive land, and now there’s a place – a city – whose name is, Jehovah is there (Ezek. 48:35).

The name of the city from that day will be, God is there (Heb, Jehovah-shammah)! Hallelujah! Jehovah has returned, and now He lives in and with His people! We must be the people of whom Jehovah can say, I am there!

It doesn’t matter how many we are or how knowledgeable we are – if we don’t have God’s presence, if God is not there, everything is in vain. We need to become the reality of “God is there”, the presence of God with man.

Jehovah is a person, and “there” in Ezek. 38:45 is also a person; Jehovah is there means that Jehovah is in His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people, and that they are in Him (see Rev. 21:3, 22).

Two thousand years ago there was a Man, Jesus Christ, who was called Emmanuel – God with man; after passing through all the processes, He was enlarged and became a people, the Body of Christ, a corporate God-man.

Now as a corporate God-man, we are “God is there”!

The New Testament economy begins with Jesus – who is Jehovah the Savior and God with us (Matt. 1:21, 23) – and ends with the New Jerusalem, “Jehovah is there” and “the city of Jehovah”, the city of the great I AM (Ezek. 48:35; Isa. 60:14).

“There” is not just a place – “there” is a person! God calls us “the city of Jehovah” – He Himself is dwelling in us and we dwell in Him. The temple becomes the city – we dwell in God, and God dwell in us! Because Jehovah is there – because God is there – when people see God, they see us, and when they see us, they see God! Wow!

“Jehovah is there” is actually the presence of Jehovah Himself united, mingled, and incorporated with His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people to be one entity – a great corporate God-man!

This corporate God-man is the mutual abode of God and man, the dwelling of God in man and man in God. This is what God is after: He is after a corporate God-man, a mutual dwelling place of God and man.

In Psa. 133 we see something quite similar – the oneness is described as an ointment upon a person, flowing down, and as the dew descending on the mountains of Zion, for THERE is the commanded blessing. “There” is both a place and a person – both the mountains of Zion and the person of Aaron. Hallelujah, Jehovah is there, and we are there!

In the church life in the Lord’s recovery we have the Lord’s presence; this is the blessing and the secret of the Lord’s recovery. Brother Watchman Nee is no longer with us physically, neither is brother Witness Lee, but the recovery is still here because God’s presence is still here.

If we no longer have God’s presence and His up-to-date speaking, we have nothing. The reason we are here carrying out the Lord’s recovery is because of His presence, His continual speaking.

We need to treasure God’s presence; His presence is implied in His uniting, mingling, and incorporating Himself with us, so that He becomes us and we become Him, and wherever we are – that’s where He is. We are becoming the city of Jehovah, the reality of “God is there”, the very presence of God with man!

Lord, give us the experiences we need for us to become the city of Jehovah, the reality of “God is there”, the very presence of God with and in man! Your presence is everything to us, and we treasure Your continual speaking very much. Lord, keep us in the process of being united, mingled, and incorporated with the Triune God, and work Yourself into us until we become fully one with You! Make us the place where You dwell, so that we may be the reality of Your presence. Oh Lord, we love to dwell in You even as You dwell in us! Hallelujah, God is there!

Everything will Praise God for what He has done in us to make us the New Jerusalem!

Paul prophesied in Eph. 1:6 that one day will come, when all that the Triune God has done in and through His people with His dispensing will be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

As we enjoy God as grace today, that is, as we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit as everything to us for our enjoyment, every positive thing in the universe will praise God for what He has done in us to make Him and us one entity – the New Jerusalem, the city of glory (Rev. 21:10-11).

Today we are in the process of becoming the New Jerusalem, the reality of “God is there”, the city of glory, where God’s glory shines forth radiantly through man, and we express God to the uttermost in the whole universe.

At that time, the whole universe will be filled with the presence of Jehovah, and everything and everyone will praise the Lord for what He is and what He has done!

Today we need to take the lead in praising the Lord for all that He is to us, for all that He is doing in us, and for all that He will do in us for the sake of His heart’s desire. We must all declare in thanksgiving and worship to Him, “Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, praise Jehovah!” (see Rev. 19:1).

We have been graced: we have been given to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the bountiful all-sufficient Spirit, and as we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit as our everything, we are becoming a universal exhibition of all that God is and has done!

One day there will be the greatest gathering in the universe, where Satan and his evil angels will watch all those whom he has spoiled, who now by God’s grace have been united, mingled, and incorporated with God, with the result that God has become them, and they became God – God is there!

And the whole universe sings praises to God for what He is and for what He has done! Hallelujah!

When we see this, all we can do is exclaim together with the psalmists, “Let everything that has breath praise Jehovah. Hallelujah!” (Psa. 150:6. Also, we are one in spirit and in praising to say, “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. And let all the people say, Amen. Hallelujah” (Psa. 106:48).

Everything and everyone will praise God for what He is and for what He has done; He has taken sinners and made them sons of God, taking them through the process of transformation, conformation, and glorification to make them God’s corporate expression, the very presence of God, the reality of “God is there”.

The New Jerusalem is the masterpiece of what God can do and will do, and today we as believers in Christ need to take the lead and praise the Lord. We don’t need to wait for that day – even today we can say,

Hallelujah! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity! Amen, Hallelujah! Lord, we declare in thanksgiving and worship to You, Praise the Lord! You have taken many sinners and made them sons of God, and You made us fully one with You so that You became us and we became You in every possible way! Praise the Lord, in the church we now have God with His presence, and God is there! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, msg. 1 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 11 (week 23 in the HWMR), The Holy Temple and the Holy City in the Holy Land.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Hallelujah! Thou, Lord Jesus, / Canst not cease to love; / Thine we are and Thine forever, / One with Thee above. / Praise the Lord! Yes, hallelujah! / Who would hush the song? / Join with saints from every nation / Every tribe and tongue. (Hymns #185)
  # Conformed we will be / As in spirit we feed / On the life of the One / Who knows all that we need. / Hallelujah! Full salvation! / Hallelujah! Our prize! / Hallelujah! So sufficient / For all of our lives. (Hymns #1117)
  # It’s the tabernacle of our God, His dwelling place with men; / In His holiness and glory He’s expressed through all of them. / “It is done!” O brothers, see it! See the New Jerusalem! / The victory is won! / Hallelujah, hallelujah! / Hallelujah, hallelujah! / Hallelujah, hallelujah! / The victory is won! (Hymns #1101)