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Romans 12:5, “we who are many are one Body in Christ.”

New Jerusalem, the Wife of the Lamb

In Ephesians the church is presented as the Body of Christ, the one new man, and the wife of Christ. At the end of the Bible New Jerusalem is declared to be “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (21:9). Although New Jerusalem is the consummation of the Body and the new man, they are not mentioned explicitly.

New JerusalemThis shows that at the end of the Bible the emphasis is love—Christ loves His people and all His people love Him. First John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” In 1 John 4 we love God, we love one another, and we love all people, This is possible solely because we love with Him as our love.

In Revelation 2:1-7 the Lord commended the church in Ephesus for many things but said faulted them in that “you have left your first [best] love.” We need to continually love the Lord above all, no matter how much we do for Him.

Ephesians concludes “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility” (6:24). While we await His appearing, let us love Him with His incorruptible love, and not leave this love like the Ephesian believers left. Then we will love Him as “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”Come, Lord Jesus!

Photo courtesy of EUMETSAT/ESA.

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by Don on March 20, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 20, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/03/20/new-jerusalem-the-wife-of-the-lamb-2/

Jesus Christ, the New Testament Reality

The Old Testament uses physical objects to portray spiritual matters. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the reality and He replaces all the physical symbols, both now and in eternity.

One example is John the Baptist’s word in John 1:29. In the OT physical animals were presented on the altar as sacrifices and offerings. But when John saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus replaced all the OT animals.

New JerusalemIn the OT, God’s house was a physical tabernacle and then a physical temple. Jesus replaced them with Himself as the dwelling place of God. John 1:14 says literally that the Word tabernacled* among us. Then in John 2:19-22 He presented Himself as the replacement for the physical temple.

All the NT believers together are the universal church, the Body of Christ, and the one new man. Ephesians 1:22-23 proclaims that the church is His Body. First Corinthians 12:12 shows that Christ is not only the Head of the Body but also the reality of the whole Body.

According to Colossians 3:10 we have put on the new man. And in verse 3:11 in this one new man “Christ is all and in all.” He is all, everything, and He is in us all. This is the reality today and will continue into New Jerusalem.

* “Tabernacled” is the literal translation, although most English versions use the word “dwelt.” See the sections Literal Translation and NT Translations on https://biblehub.com/parallel/john/1-14.htm.

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by Don on March 6, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 6, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/03/06/jesus-christ-the-new-testament-reality/

New Jerusalem Comes Forth from the Maturity of God’s Life in His People

New Jerusalem is heavenly but eventually it will come out of heaven and be on earth. Because New Jerusalem is heavenly, we should not try to understand it with earthly concepts based on our outward environment.

New JerusalemColossians 3:2 instructs us, “Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth.” To set our mind on the things above includes to set our mind on God’s word. Many portions of His word give us a preview of New Jerusalem.

One preview is the Body of Christ, a living organism brought forth in resurrection. The Body of Christ is portrayed in figure by our human body which is wholly constituted by life and grows by a supply of life. Today “we who are many are one Body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5).

New Jerusalem is the consummation of the Body of Christ. It is a living city composed of God in Christ who has lived and grown to fullness in all the believers and continues to live in them eternally. View New Jerusalem as the full-grown realization of the Body of Christ, not as a physical, material city.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on February 2, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 2, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/02/02/new-jerusalem-comes-forth-from-the-maturity-of-gods-life-in-his-people/

New Jerusalem is Built by the Growth of Christ in Us

New Jerusalem

Colossians 2:19 – “holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.”

The “growth of God” is the spread and development of Himself as the eternal life in us. This growth builds the Body of Christ.

God will not regress from this living organism in this age to a physical city in the future. No. The living Body of Christ will expand to become the living New Jerusalem!

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by Don on January 26, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 26, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/new-jerusalem-is-built-by-the-growth-of-christ-in-us/

New Jerusalem is Built by the Life of Christ

New Jerusalem

 

Ephesians 4:15-16 – “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body…causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”

The Body of Christ is built by our holding to Him and letting His rich life flow into and through us. New Jerusalem is the outcome of this growth and building process.

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by Don on January 15, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 15, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/01/15/new-jerusalem-is-built-by-the-life-of-christ/

Drink the Spirit both Now and New Jerusalem

First Corinthians 12:13 tells us “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body.” Ephesians 4:3 exhorts us concerning “the oneness of the Spirit” which is the oneness of the Body of Christ; 4:4 continues, “one Body and one Spirit.” These verses present the Spirit as the essence of the Body.

New Jerusalem[Ephesians 4:4] indicates that the very Spirit is the essence and the substance of the Body, the church. The church today must be substantially and essentially the Spirit Himself. If there is no Spirit, there is no Body, no church. Without the Spirit all we have is a kind of human congregation. The church must be substantially and essentially the Spirit. When we sing a hymn, we sing it with the Spirit. When we speak, we speak with the Spirit. When we serve, we serve with the Spirit….The church must be one Body with the Spirit as its substance.*

God and the Lamb are on the throne of New Jerusalem. Both today and in New Jerusalem the Spirit flows to us from the throne as the river of water of life because we “were all given to drink one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). By our drinking the Spirit we are constituted with Him.

Isaiah tells us “you will draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation” (12:2b-3). In verses 4 to 6 he gives us many ways to drink the Spirit, all of which will probably still be true in New Jerusalem—give thanks, call upon His name (Rom. 10:12-13), make His deeds known, sing psalms, cry out and shout (in praise).

More on drinking the Spirit.

* From chapter 41, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on September 20, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 20, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/09/20/drink-the-spirit-both-now-and-new-jerusalem/

The Body of Christ Now, New Jerusalem Soon

First Corinthians 12:13 tells us that “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.” Whatever our nationality or status was, the Spirit has put us all into one Body. Hence Romans 12:4-5 says “For just as in one [physical] body we have many members…so we who are many are one Body in Christ.” This is a big step unto New Jerusalem.

New JerusalemSince the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, its existence can be applied to us by going back to look at the church. In Ephesians 4:4 is the Body. The Body is the church, and the church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. We can also say that the Body of Christ is a precursor of the New Jerusalem….The New Jerusalem will be a full consummation of this precursor, the Body of Christ.
We are not in the New Jerusalem yet, but we are surely in the Body. What is applied to the Body today will consummate in the New Jerusalem.*

The Body is also the new man created by Christ on the cross, bringing into one all His believers (Eph. 2:15). In this new man, as in the Body, and as in New Jerusalem, “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).

Verses 3:12-14 exhort us to put on many virtues; these virtues are the Christ we experience, the Christ who lives through us to be all in the new man now and all in New Jerusalem for eternity.

* From chapter 41, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on September 6, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 6, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/09/06/the-body-of-christ-now-new-jerusalem-soon/

New Jerusalem is the Living Tabernacle of God

New Jerusalem“The Word was God….And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:1b, 14a)

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them.” (Rev. 21:3a)

Revelation 21:3 is the speaking of a loud voice from the throne about New Jerusalem. The tabernacle of God here is God Himself, not a thing, because the next phrase of the sentence says “He [God] will tabernacle.”

Revelation also tells us that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God (21:3a). In the New Testament the tabernacle is first Christ and then Christ enlarged. John 1:14 tells us that the Word who became flesh tabernacled among us. When Jesus Christ was incarnated, He was a tabernacle. The tabernacle in the Old Testament was a material building, but the tabernacle in the New Testament is a person. Furthermore, the temple in the Old Testament was a material building, but in John 2 the Lord Jesus indicated that He Himself is the temple (vv. 19-21). The temple is now a person in the New Testament.*

The quote above speaks of Christ enlarged. This matches the word of John the Baptist in John 3:30, “He must increase.” John did not say that Christ’s followers must increase in number but that Christ Himself “must increase.” This increase is the bride of Christ (v. 29) which ultimately is New Jerusalem.

This matches 1 Corinthians 12:13 which says “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body.” This is the spiritual, enlarged Body of Christ with all of us as His members which eventually becomes New Jerusalem. In chapter 12 our physical body, with many members, is a picture of the enlarged Christ.

Just as our physical body has grown in life as one unit, so also New Jerusalem grows. Christ’s enlargement begins with His believers being born of the Spirit and baptized in one Spirit and grows with Him as their life.

* From chapter 27, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on November 23, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on November 23, 2022

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New Jerusalem is the Wonderful Consummation

in Revelation 21–22 New Jerusalem is the consummate revelation of the Bible. It sums up and displays all the positive work that the Triune God has done through all the ages.

The New Jerusalem is the consummation of every positive thing. It has nothing to do with the negative things such as Satan, the fallen angels, the demons, death, sin, darkness, the grave, Hades, or the lake of fire….On the positive side, however, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of God, of God’s salvation, of Christ’s redemption, of the Spirit’s transformation, and of every positive thing in the Bible.

God, the Trinity, the Lamb, the lamp, the tree of life, the living water, the throne, and the Spirit are among the many positive items composed together to make one universal, eternal, divine, spiritual, and heavenly unit.*

New JerusalemThe Triune God is now growing and working in all His people to develop and build up a corporate entity of three aspects: the dwelling place of God, the Body of Christ, and the bride of Christ.

These three all result from the Triune God as life spreading Himself in His people. New Jerusalem is the consummation of all three aspects of God’s work today. The city is God’s eternal dwelling place, the final realization of the Body of Christ, and the bride the wife of Christ (Rev. 21:9).

* From chapter 26 of Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on October 5, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on October 5, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/10/05/new-jerusalem-is-the-wonderful-consummation/

The Temporary Physical Building Replaced by an Eternal Living Building

John 2 presents a radical change from God’s temporary physical building to His eternal spiritual building culminating in New Jerusalem. Verses 14-16 show Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem.

Verses 18-21, “The Jews then answered and said to Him, What sign do You show us, seeing that You do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body.“

This is the change from the Old Testament, New Jerusalema time of pictures and shadows, to the New Testament, a time of the reality which is Jesus Christ Himself. His body, as the temple, the dwelling place of God, was resurrected from death in three days.

The Lord’s resurrected physical body was enlarged to become His spiritual Body including all His members. First Corinthians 12:12b-13a presents this: “all the members of the [physical] body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one [spiritual] Body.”

Now we cooperate with Him to build up this Body in His life. Ephesians 4:15-16 speaks of growing up into Him, His rich supply, the gifted members of His Body, and the proper functioning in each one member. The outcome is “the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”

This building is the New Testament reality with New Jerusalem as the consummation.

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by Don on September 28, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 28, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/09/28/the-temporary-physical-building-replaced-by-an-eternal-living-building/

Who is the New Testament Builder?

God’s Old Testament buildings were physical but His New Testament building work is spiritual. Who is/are building today? The Lord Jesus declared, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). We fully accept His word and agree that He is the New Testament Builder.

However, in 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul says that he is “a wise master builder.” And Ephesians 4:12 tells us that the gifted members of the Body (v. 11) are “for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.”

This indicates that all the believers should be perfected to participate in building up the Body of Christ, the NT church. Similarly Romans 14:19 says, “So then let us pursue the things of peace and the things for building up one another.” Romans 15:2 speaks the same.

New JerusalemYet how does this fit with Matthew 16? The answer is that the Lord Jesus is building His church by dwelling within and working through all His believers, the members of His Body.

We must pursue the things for building up but we cannot boast about our building work because it is Jesus Christ doing the work through us. We are His channels. All the credit goes to Him.

What the Lord is building today will reach its consummation at the end of the NT. His building of His church today will bring forth New Jerusalem as the ultimate realization of the Body of Christ.

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by Don on September 26, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 26, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/who-is-the-new-testament-builder/

New Jerusalem is Pure Gold, God’s Nature (2)

Revelation 21:18b tells us that New Jerusalem “was pure gold, like clear glass.” Not merely gold but pure gold without any mixture. This gold is God Himself and God wrought into His people.

New JerusalemThe outstanding feature of the New Jerusalem is that of gold, pure gold. There is nothing there which contains a mixture; everything is entirely of God. The one lesson which God wants us to learn today is to see that everything coming from us is but dross. Apart from the gold in us, everything which comes from us is refuse. When added to the gold, our goodness is dross; when added to the gold, our zeal is also dross….No one can stand before God and say that he has something to contribute to Him. God demands pure gold. In the New Jerusalem everything is pure gold, without any dross.*

First Corinthians 1:31 instructs us, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord” and 3:21 “let no one boast in men.”

So many verses tell us that we have is “in Christ”— redemption (Rom. 3:24), life (Rom. 6:23), love of God (Rom. 8:39), grace (1 Cor. 1:4), and “every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Furthermore, we are not individuals in Christ; “we who are many are one Body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5). In this Body, the new man created by and in Christ on the cross, “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).

Let us appreciate and experience Christ as everything now as He prepares us for New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 5 of The Glorious Church by Watchman Nee, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, available at www.ministrybooks.org/ and www.livingstream.com/en/the-church/8012401-glorious-church-the.html.

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by Don on June 24, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on June 24, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/06/24/new-jerusalem-is-pure-gold-gods-nature-2/

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