New Jerusalem is a city “having the glory of God” (Rev. 21:11); “the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (21:23).
The city is full of the glory of God because it is so straight and transparent (vv. 11, 23). Strictly speaking, the glory of God is the very content of the city, for the city is completely filled with His glory. This means that the city is a vessel to contain and express God. To illustrate this point, let us consider a common table lamp:…the light is the very content of the lamp and the shade. The glory of God is simply God Himself being manifested. The New Jerusalem is full of God’s glory; therefore, God is manifested in this city. The normal church life today is the same: it is full of God’s glory, manifesting and expressing God.
In the end of the quote, normal does not mean typical or average. Normal refers to what God desires and expects to seen in the church today. Christ is our life and should be our living. Paul said “to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). His “earnest expectation and hope” was “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death” (1:20).
If we all have such an expectation, and if to us to live is Christ, then the church will surely manifest and express God in Christ as a miniature of New Jerusalem.
* Excerpt from The Vision of God’s Building by Witness Lee, chapter 19, © LSM
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