God’s created man in His image because of His desire to have a corporate expression of Himself by means of God becoming man’s life. This expression culminates in New Jerusalem.
To express God, to fulfill what New Jerusalem will be, we need God’s life and nature. This need is illustrated with a monkey, which can be trained to briefly imitate a man, but can never fully express a man because it does not have the man’s life and nature.
The New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of the Bible, involves God becoming man and man becoming God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead (Rev. 21:2; 3:12). To arrive at the corporate expression of God requires that God become man and that we become God in life and nature so that we can be truly incorporated with God to become the New Jerusalem as His expression. Without this process of our becoming the same as God in life, nature, and expression [but not in the Godhead], there cannot be an organic corporate expression of the Triune God involving Him and millions of believers.*
By faith we are born of God (John 1:12-13, 3:5-6) and we have God’s life, the life flowing as a river in New Jerusalem. But don’t wait until then—Christ is our life now (Col. 3:4).
By this same faith, we participate in “all things which relate to life and godliness” and receive “precious and exceedingly great promises” so that we “might become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3-4). This divine nature is symbolized by the gold of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:18, 21).
As this divine life and nature spread in us, God’s expression develops in our being and in our living. This development continues through our entire life and culminates in New Jerusalem.
Related Post: God’s Life and Nature for New Jerusalem.
* Affirmation & Critique (A&C) is a Christian Journal published twice a year, © Living Stream Ministry. A&C presents Bible truths in a scholarly manner, with references to and citations from a variety of publications by authors over the entire Christian era. A&C exhibits much appreciation for the person and work of Jesus Christ and our life with Him. This group of my posts has short extracts from the article The New Jerusalem—the Consummation of the Divine Economy according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation by Ron Kangas in the Fall 2010 issue.
New Jerusalem - the Consummation 
Edgar
/ November 9, 2015Amen!
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ebncubeblog
/ November 13, 2015Praise the Lord we have the divine life, Christ, the life-giving Spirit in our spirit now (Col.3:4) and we are partakers of the divine nature now (2 Peter 1:3-4). Christ is the eternal life (John 3:36), the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16b) and the incorruptible life (2 Tim. 1:16b). Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. He is God Himself. He must increase in our being while we decrease. As Brother Don says, “as this divine life and nature spreads in our being, God’s expression develops in our being.” As Christians our individual lives should express God by His divine attributes becoming our human virtues for a corporate expression of our God here on earth. In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” When God’s corporate expression is fulfilled, the one new man will be a reality culminating in New Jerusalem. Lord open our eyes to have a corporate view of Your divine economy!
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Don
/ November 14, 2015Elizabeth, thank you for your comment and the verse references.
Lord, spread Your expression through us!
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Enid Niven
/ November 18, 2015The New Jerusalem will have a light , the redeeming and shining God . Revelation 21:23 ” for the glory of God Illumed it , and it’s lamp is the Lord “
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Don
/ November 18, 2015No need of the sun, no need of the moon, no need of candles, no need of electric lights, because the glory of God illuminates New Jerusalem.
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