This post briefly presents aspects of New Jerusalem which have stood out to me over the months since I began this blog. I include links to prior posts where you will find references to Bible verses.
New Jerusalem is spiritual. It is not a physical city. This is most clearly shown by the fact that New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb, Christ. The physical elements of the city’s description are signs of spiritual realities. Examples of these signs and realities are the river of water of life signifying the Spirit as the flowing eternal life, the tree of life signifying Christ as our daily life supply, and the street of gold signifying the divine nature as the path in which we walk.
New Jerusalem is the consummation of the believers’ present experience. The city does not appear at the end of time as something distinct from what has happened before. Instead, it is a completion of what God is doing among His people throughout all the ages. For example, Christ is now sanctifying all His believers dispositionally by the washing of the water in His living word to cause us to match New Jerusalem as the holy city. Another example is our being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Christ so that we can participate in New Jerusalem which shines with the glory of God.
New Jerusalem is a mingling of Triune God and His people. The city is not a place in which we and the Triune God will live near each other. Rather, New Jerusalem is the eternal development of what the Lord spoke to us in John 14:20, “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” and in John 15:4-5, “abide in Me and I in you.” The whole city is a living, corporate entity—the Triune God living in His people and His people living in Him. The city is the residents and the residents are the city. The description of the city is the description of the Triune God Himself and of what He has accomplished in His people through the ages.
Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and copyrighted by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The New Testament of this Bible, with its outlines, footnotes, and cross-references, may be viewed at online.recoveryversion.org; this too is copyrighted by Living Stream Ministry.
New Jerusalem - the Consummation 
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