All posts tagged Rev. 21:12-21

Aspects of New Jerusalem in these verses.

The Three Materials of New Jerusalem Signify the Triune God.

New JerusalemNew Jerusalem is the eternal dwelling of the Triune God with His people. New Jerusalem is constructed with gold, pearls, and precious stones. These signify the Triune God and His operation for and in His people.

Revelation has many other aspects such as beasts, fightings, and judgements. However, none of these are the focus of God’s revelation. Rather, they show what God does to clear away the old creation, the creation corrupted by Satan, in order to bring forth the new heavens and new earth with New Jerusalem at their center.

The three sections of the New Jerusalem are constructed with three kinds of materials, or three kinds of elements. The number three is a particular number in the universe, signifying the Triune God. The Triune God is the number three. Every number in the Bible has its meaning, and three signifies the Triune God. Therefore, the three kinds of materials in the New Jerusalem no doubt signify the Triune God.*

The gold signifies the Father’s divine nature, the pearls signify the Son’s work through death and resurrection, and the precious stones signify the Spirit’s transformation of the believers. The Triune God and His operation for and in the believers is the intrinsic essence of New Jerusalem, and New Jerusalem is an eternal display of the Triune God.

* The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man, chapter 6, by Witness Lee.

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by Don on January 15, 2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 15, 2020

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/the-three-materials-of-new-jerusalem-signify-the-triune-god/

The Gold, Pearls, and Precious Stones of New Jerusalem Portray God

New JerusalemRevelation is a book of spiritual signs (1:1). For example, in 1:20 the Lord Jesus tells us that the seven lampstands are signs of the seven churches and the seven stars signify the messengers of the churches.

New Jerusalem, the conclusion of Revelation and of the whole Bible, is described in Revelation 21–22. The city has many spiritual signs, including those of its appearance, size, and materials. Here is something about the spiritual significance of the materials.

The New Jerusalem has three sections. The city proper, or the city itself, is pure gold (21:18b). This means that the base of the city is gold. The second part of the city is its twelve gates, each of which is a pearl (vv. 12-13, 21). The third part of the city is the wall with its foundations, all of which are precious stones (vv. 14, 18a, 19-20). The entire wall is jasper, and the foundation of the wall has twelve layers. The first layer of the foundation also is jasper. Revelation 4:2-3a tells us that God’s appearance is like jasper. Thus, in appearance the city is exactly the same as God. God appears like jasper, and the city also appears like jasper.*

The base of New Jerusalem is the divine nature, portrayed by gold. Nothing natural, nothing of the old creation can support this marvelous city. On this base and with the jasper, New Jerusalem has the same appearance as God because the purpose of the city is to express God, to manifest His glory.

* The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man, chapter 6, by Witness Lee.

TO MY READERS:

Most of the posts in the coming months will include quotes from the website Excerpts from Books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee by Living Stream Ministry. Each post will identify the specific source for the quotation.

This week my blog returns to three posts a week, ending the two posts a week which began in November.

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by Don on January 13, 2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 13, 2020

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2020/01/13/the-gold-pearls-and-precious-stones-of-new-jerusalem-portray-god/

Enter the New Testament Holy of Holies

Revelation 21 describes New Jerusalem. Verse 16 tells us, “the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” The entire city is a cube.

New Jerusalem

Part of Hebrews 10:19-22

The only cubes in the Bible are the holy of holies in the tabernacle, the holy of holies in the temple, and New Jerusalem. This shows that New Jerusalem is the eternal holy of holies, where we will live forever in the Lord’s presence.  

Hebrews 9 says that the Old Testament priests were always going into the holy place but that only the high priest entered the holy of holies and only once a year. Verse 8: “The Holy Spirit thus making this clear, that the way of the Holy of Holies has not yet been manifested…” 

In contrast to the Old Testament, when the Lord Jesus was crucified, “the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom” (Matt 27:51). As a result of His death the way through the veil into the holy of holies is open. “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16). He opened the way, let us come forward (Heb. 10:19-22).

The throne of grace is in the heavenly holy of holies and we come forward in our spirit united with the Spirit. Ultimately this throne will be at the center of New Jerusalem. 

In this age we need the call to “come forward.” But in New Jerusalem there will be no need of this call; will be permanently in the holy of holies; eternally forward.

Photo courtesy of pixabay.com.

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by Don on October 21, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on October 21, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/10/21/enter-the-new-testament-holy-of-holies/

New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:21-27

Revelation 21:22-23 says about New Jerusalem, “The Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

New JerusalemRevelation 21 has a wonderful description of New Jerusalem. This chapter and the next present what God wants us to see about this eternal city. May the Lord open our eyes to see the heavenly vision!

New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-8
New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:9-20

Here are the titles of recent posts and their links for 21:21-27.

21:21, Enter by the Regenerating Resurrection

21:22, The Triune God is the Living Temple
of New Jerusalem

21:23, The Living Glory of New Jerusalem
21:23, The Glory of God Illuminates the City

21:24,26 Nations Walk by the Light of New Jerusalem

21:25,27 First Step to New Jerusalem: Believe!

Many older posts about Revelation 21:22-27.

Photo courtesy of pixabay.com.

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by Don on June 7, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on June 7, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/06/07/new-jerusalem-in-revelation-2121-27/

The Street of the City is Pure, Divine Gold

New JerusalemRevelation 21 tells us “the city [New Jerusalem] was pure gold, like clear glass” (v. 18) and “the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (v. 21).

Recent posts, Pure Gold and Divine, Eternal Gold, discuss the gold in verse 18. The gold in verse 21 is the same. It represents the divine nature, it is eternal, it is pure and transparent, and it is not physical gold.

Second Peter 1:3-4 says that God “has called us by His own glory and virtue, through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature.” God’s glory is involved in calling us and bringing us all the way to the city of glory, New Jerusalem.

Through God’s calling and the precious promises He gave to us, we become partakers of the divine nature. By partaking we are constituted with this nature and we walk according to this nature, portrayed by the golden street of New Jerusalem.

This constitution is like clear glass and our walk is like transparent glass—nothing in darkness, nothing deceitful, nothing sneaky, nothing cloudy. We advance in this clearness and transparency by laying hold of the “precious and exceedingly great promises” to partake of more of the divine nature.

Lord Jesus, thank You for the wonderful promises in the Bible. Keep me feeding on them every day. Constitute me with Your divine nature and keep me walking in it all the way to New Jerusalem!

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by Don on May 24, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 24, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/the-street-of-the-city-is-pure-divine-gold/

Enter by the Regenerating Resurrection

New Jerusalem has twelve gates; “the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl” (Rev. 21:21).

Like the gold of New Jerusalem, the pearls are not physical. They are spiritual signs. They represent the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Through death He terminated all the problems that separate us from God. In resurrection He released the divine life to us to regenerate us. “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

New JerusalemThis life is our entrance into New Jerusalem. The city is entirely separate from our fallen, natural life and is wholly in the realm of the divine, eternal life.

The Lord also presented this in His words to Nicodemus. He said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). When we are born again, regenerated by the Spirit with eternal life, we enter the kingdom of God. New Jerusalem is the ultimate stage of this kingdom.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our entrance into New Jerusalem. Each gate is one pearl; this is the one, unique way to get into the city. Yet there are twelve pearl gates; this shows that the Triune God (three) faces all of creation (four) to invite and allow every human being a chance to enter the city.

“He who believes into the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). This is our entrance into New Jerusalem.

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by Don on May 22, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 22, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/enter-by-the-regenerating-resurrection/

New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:9-20

Revelation 21:9-11: “Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.”

Here are the recent posts from Revelation 21 with the main verse for each.

21:9, God’s Final Judgments, then New Jerusalem
21:9, The Bride, the Wife, New Jerusalem

New Jerusalem21:10, Carried Away in Spirit to See New Jerusalem
21:10, On a High Mountain, See New Jerusalem
21:10, Heavenly Jerusalem is on Earth from God

21:11, New Jerusalem Has the Glory of God
21:11, New Jerusalem’s Precious Light
21:11, New Jerusalem, Clear as Crystal

21:12, The Great and High Wall of New Jerusalem
21:12, New Jerusalem has a Wall with Twelve Gates
21:12, The City has 12 Gates, 12 Angels, 12 Names

21:13, We Enter by the Gates into New Jerusalem

21:14, New Jerusalem’s Wall has 12 Foundations

21:15, New Jerusalem is Divinity in Humanity

21:16, New Jerusalem is the Eternal Holy of Holies
21:16, Holy of Holies: Come Forward, Don’t Wait

21:17, The Eternally Perfect Wall of New Jerusalem

21:18, The Jasper Wall Expresses God                                               New Jerusalem
21:18, New Jerusalem is Pure Gold                                                       in Revelation
21:18, New Jerusalem is Divine, Eternal Gold                                          21:1-8

21:19-20, The Foundations of New Jerusalem’s Wall

Many older posts about Revelation 21:9-11.
Many older posts about Revelation 21:12-21.

Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service.

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by Don on May 20, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 20, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/20/new-jerusalem-in-revelation-219-20/

The Foundations of New Jerusalem’s Wall

Revelation 21:19-20, describing New Jerusalem, says, “The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.”

New JerusalemAs with the gold of New Jerusalem, so also the stones are not physical. They portray the Spirit’s work in us.

Precious stones are not created but are formed through a process in the earth. In the Bible, precious stones portray the Spirit’s transforming work in all the believers. This is 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.”

Our transformation happens by our beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord, and transforms us into His image of glory. Ultimately this is the glory of New Jerusalem.

As with all the other “twelves” in New Jerusalem, the twelve stones proclaim eternal perfection. The variety of the stones portray the variety of the attributes of Christ constituted into us by the Spirit’s transforming work.

We all have a portion of our Lord’s love, faithfulness, boldness, patience, holiness, wisdom, meekness, etc., but some may have one of these in a greater degree than others. But we all are one Body in Christ and now and one New Jerusalem to come.

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by Don on May 17, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 17, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/17/the-foundations-of-new-jerusalems-wall/

New Jerusalem is Divine, Eternal Gold

Revelation 21:18 says of New Jerusalem, “the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” We must not think that this is physical gold. Physical gold, although valued highly in our societies, does not measure up to the much higher standard of New Jerusalem, as shown in the following verses.

James 5:3, “Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a testimony against you…”
1 Peter 1:7 “The proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes…”
1 Peter 1:18 “Knowing that it was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were redeemed…”
1 Peter 3:3 “Let your adorning not be the outward plaiting of hair and putting on of gold or clothing with garments, but the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God.”

New JerusalemNew Jerusalem being pure gold means that it is constituted of the divine nature. Physical gold is not the real thing—it was created by God to portray something of Himself. The basic element of New Jerusalem is the divine nature trans-mitted into us by the regenerating Spirit.

Physical gold has caused much envy and greed, many robberies, and ostentatious displays. The divine gold has none of these problems. Furthermore, Peter tells us that physical gold perishes. Divine gold is eternal. New Jerusalem is pure, divine, incorruptible, eternal, and much more precious than physical gold.

No Physical Gold in New Jerusalem

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by Don on May 15, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 15, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/new-jerusalem-is-divine-eternal-gold/

New Jerusalem is Pure Gold

Revelation 21:18 says of New Jerusalem, “the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”

New Jerusalem is “pure gold.” Pureness is one of God’s attributes. He desires that we receive Him as our life and partake of His purity. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” First John 3:2-3 says, “We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is. And everyone who has this hope set on Him
New Jerusalempurifies himself, even as He is pure.”

In ourselves we are not pure, but we can seek His purity. First Timothy 3:9 speaks of “holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” The pure conscience is for holding the mystery of the faith but also the more we hold it, the more we are purified.

James tells us “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, forbearing, compliant, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, without hypocrisy.” We can ask the Lord daily to be our wisdom in order to gain its purity and to be saved from hypocrisy (mixture, impurity, corruption, falsehood).

Since New Jerusalem is “like clear glass” the absence of mixture is clearly visible. And the clearness allows the glory of God to shine out through the entire city. Revelation 21:11 declares, New Jerusalem “has the glory of God.”

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by Don on May 13, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 13, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/13/new-jerusalem-is-pure-gold-2/

The Jasper Wall Expresses God

The wall of New Jerusalem is perfect and eternal. The wall separates and protects the city while the gates let us enter. The building work of the wall is jasper (Rev. 21:18a).

John saw God sitting on the throne in heaven and He was like a jasper stone in appearance (Rev. 4:2-3). The wall has the appearance of God. The wall, the outer limit of New Jerusalem, is jasper because the entire city is jasper. “Her [New Jerusalem’s] light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal” (Rev. 21:11).

New JerusalemThe wall and the whole city having the appearance of God fulfills God’s intention in His creation of man. “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). God created man in His image so that man could express God.

Created man fell into sin and death and can no longer fulfill God’s intention. God came in Jesus Christ to redeem man, to re-open the door for man to receive God’s life and thereby be enabled to express God.

New Jerusalem is the consummation of all that God accomplished. The city is full of the divine, eternal life, which flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb who redeemed us (Rev. 22:1).

The jasper city and the jasper wall were produced and are maintained by the flow of life to express the jasper God on the throne.

Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service.

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by Don on May 10, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 10, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/the-jasper-wall-expresses-god/

The Eternally Perfect Wall of New Jerusalem

New JerusalemIn Revelation 21:15 an angel had a golden reed to measure New Jerusalem and its gates and its wall. In 21:17, “he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.”

Twelve in the Bible indicates eternal perfection. In this verse the measure of the wall is twelve times twelve. It is perfectly and eternally perfect. This wall separates the city from everything else and protects the city. Nothing can cross over or go through this wall. But do not be discouraged. All who believe into Jesus Christ and receive Him as their Redeemer and Life enter the city through the gates.

The measure of the wall is both human and angelic. Humans and angels are distinct species but they are linked in one word of the Lord Jesus. In Matthew 22:30, answering a question from the Sadducees, He said “in the resurrection they [humans] neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

The measure of the wall being both human and angelic means that this measure is in resurrection. This matches the nature of New Jerusalem—the whole is a city in resurrection. The city has the nature of resurrection because it was brought forth through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection, and the city has entirely come out of Him, as portrayed by Eve being constituted solely out of Adam.

The gospel today brings resurrection life into us and us unto New Jerusalem.

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by Don on May 8, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 8, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/the-eternally-perfect-wall-of-new-jerusalem/

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