All posts tagged the Spirit

A New Beginning in Resurrection

In Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1, the phrase “the first day of the week” is coupled to the Lord’s resurrection.

New JerusalemThe first day of the week, or the day after the Sabbath, signifies a new beginning, a new age. In Lev. 23:10-11, 15, a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest was offered to the Lord as a wave offering on the day after the Sabbath. That sheaf of the firstfruits was a type of Christ as the firstfruits in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20, 23)…By His all-inclusive death He terminated the old creation…In His resurrection He germinated the new creation with the divine life.*

The new beginning points to New Jerusalem, a city of resurrection. Everything about this city is in resurrection; it has no part in the old creation and there is nothing old in it.

Thank the Lord for this new beginning which He accomplished for us! It was on the evening of that same day, “the first day of the week”, that He came to His disciples (John 20:19), showed them His physical body, and “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This completed His promise to them in John 14:17.

The Spirit breathed into the disciples is the Spirit as life for our regeneration (John 3:6), renewing (Titus 3:5), and more. This is inward, whereas the Spirit as power coming as a wind in Acts 2 is outward, upon the disciples. It is the Spirit as life for our eternal newness that is pictured by the river of life flowing from the throne in New Jerusalem.

* Part of footnote 1 on John 20:1 in the Recovery Version Bible published and © by Living Stream Ministry. A New Testament of this Bible, with 9000 footnotes, is a available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe.

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 May 1, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 1, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/05/01/a-new-beginning-in-resurrection/

The Trinity Prepares us for New Jerusalem (2)

New Jerusalem[In Ephesians 4:4-6] we see the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. This, of course, refers to the Divine Trinity…We need to ask why Paul begins with the Spirit, goes on to the Lord, and ends with the Father. This is because Paul is touching a subjective matter, and in our experiences the Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Trinity reaches us, He is the Spirit; therefore, Paul begins with the Spirit as the reaching aspect of the Divine Trinity. When we have the Spirit, we also have the Lord because the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17).*

The Spirit first reaches us to bring us to repentance that we may receive the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2). The Spirit then regenerates us, imparting divine life into our human spirit (John 3:5-6). Then through the course of our Christian life the Spirit does many things in us—guiding us into the reality (John 16:13), bearing witness in us (Rom. 8:16), bountifully supplying us (Phil. 1:19), renewing us (Titus 3:5), transforming us (2 Cor. 3:18), and much more.

All of the Spirit’s operation in us imparts the reality of New Jerusalem, bringing us onward to this glorious city. In New Jerusalem the Spirit will continue to reach us as the river of water of life, bringing Christ as the tree of life.

* 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 11, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 11, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/09/11/the-trinity-prepares-us-for-new-jerusalem-2/

Have the Golden Nature, Walk on the Golden Street

Gold is mentioned twice in John’s description of New Jerusalem: “the city was pure gold” (Rev. 21:18) and “the street of the city was pure gold” (21:21). This gold portrays the divine nature which God has given us to partake of.

Since we as the children of God have the divine nature, this divine nature should spontaneously be our street and our walkway. The reason we do not go dancing is because this is against the divine nature. The divine nature regulates us, not by a written regulation but by being a street in our inner being. Our driving a car is not only regulated by a street but also by the lines painted on the street. Our Christian life should not be regulated by a church code or by a written regulation but by the divine nature as our unique street.*

New Jerusalem This unique street is also “the law of the Spirit of life” in Romans 8:2. It regulates us to stop by the inward sense of death or to go ahead with the inward sense of life and peace (8:6). This is in contrast to the struggles and failures in Romans 7 from trying to live by the outward law.

May we all learn in this time to live Christ (John 6:57, Phil. 1:21) by walking according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 18). Walking in this way we experience the golden street of New Jerusalem before we actually see the city.

* From chapter 40, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on August 11, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on August 11, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/08/11/have-the-golden-nature-walk-on-the-golden-street/

Serve God in God Himself, in Spirit

New Jerusalem has a living temple; “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22).

The temple being the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb signifies that the Triune God is our dwelling place in eternity (Deut. 33:27; Psa. 90:1), in which we serve Him. Many people feel that we serve God in the sanctuaries, in the chapels, and in the cathedrals. However, we must realize that the Bible reveals that we serve God in God Himself. We may also say that we serve God in the Spirit. The New Testament shows that the Spirit is the processed Triune God reaching us.*

New JerusalemThe Spirit reaches us and we live and serve God in spirit—our human spirit mingled with the Spirit of God.

Paul, in Romans 1:9 speaks of God “whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son.” And in Romans 7:6, “we serve in newness of spirit.” In our natural man is oldness but in Spirit is newness.

Philippians 3 assures us that circumcision is not an outward form but “we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (v. 3). The flesh here is not only our sinful aspects but rather all that we are from our human birth.

In New Jerusalem we, God’s slaves, “will serve Him [as priests]; and they will see His face” (Rev. 22:3-4).

* From chapter 37, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on April 26, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 26, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/serve-god-in-god-himself-in-spirit/

Walk by the Spirit to Have the Spirit’s Flow of Life

New JerusalemJohn saw in New Jerusalem “a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street” (Rev. 22:1).

This river of life is a symbol of the Spirit. (The Spirit plus God and the Lamb on the throne are the Triune God.) In John 7:38 Jesus promised, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Then verse 39 explains, “But this He said concerning the Spirit.”

In the middle of this street is the river of water of life (22:1-2), which indicates that when you take the way according to God’s nature, the life of God flows within you. The divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people. If I do not buy a tie according to God’s nature, there is no flow of life within me. However, if I buy a tie according to God’s nature, I sense the flow of life….Whatever we do according to God’s nature, we immediately have the deep sensation of the flow of life watering us.*

As Christians, we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). We have a choice: walk by the flesh or walk by the spirit. When we walk in spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), the Spirit within us flows. This is our current experience of the eternal flow in New Jerusalem.

More posts about the Spirit as the river of life: Take Freely the Water of Life

* From chapter 36, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on April 7, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 7, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/04/07/walk-by-the-spirit-to-have-the-spirits-flow-of-life/

Transformation into the Glory of the Lord

“He who was sitting [upon the throne in heaven] was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance” (Rev. 4:3). “Her [New Jerusalem’s] light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” (Rev. 21:11)

The Spirit’s transforming work is with His bountiful supply of the divine element (Phil. 1:19) for the building up of God’s building (Gen. 2:12b; 1 Cor. 3:12a; 1 Pet. 2:4-5). Consummately, the transforming work of the Spirit issues in the New Jerusalem, which bears the image of God for His expression. God appears like a jasper stone in Revelation 4:3, and the New Jerusalem, having the glory of God, shines like a jasper stone (21:11)….Since jasper signifies God expressed in His communicable glory (4:3), the main function of the holy city is to express God in bearing His glory.*

New JerusalemTo express God we must be transformed into His image and radiate His glory. This is a gradual process, “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). The glory of the Lord is the glory of New Jerusalem which shines out from the city. The Lord shines through because the city is “pure gold, like clear glass” (Rev. 21:18).

In ourselves we are dark, opaque because of sin and death (Rom. 5:12). But transformation by the Spirit changes our nature so it also changes our appearance. The apostle John assures us, “We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is” (1 John 3:2). We will be like Him and corporately as New Jerusalem we will express Him.

* From chapter 34, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/02/20/transformation-into-the-glory-of-the-lord/

We Turn Our Heart to the Lord for Transformation unto New Jerusalem

New JerusalemThe latter pat of 2 Corinthians 3 speaks of the hardened thoughts of the children of Israel in hearing Moses and says this hardening was a veil on their heart (v. 14-15). However, verse 16 promises that “whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

The renewing, transforming work of the Spirit is based on the secreting work of the resurrection life of Christ. We need both this secreting and this transformation to conform us to the nature and appearance of New Jerusalem.

Second Corinthians 3:17-18 shows the transforming work of the Spirit. Verse 17 tells us that the Lord is the Spirit. The One who died on the cross was Christ the Lord, and the One who proceeded out of Him was the Spirit….Verse 17 goes on to tell us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord Himself, with whom is the freedom from the letter of the law.

May we all learn from Israel and consistently turn our hearts to the Lord to avoid any veil and to experience the freedom of the Spirit! Then we will gradually be transformed inwardly to fully become the new creation for New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 34, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on February 15, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 15, 2023

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New Jerusalem is Spiritual, Heavenly, and Divine (1)

Revelation 21–22, the last chapters of the Bible, present New Jerusalem.

We know that the Bible contains the divine revelation; the conclusion of such a revelation, therefore, should be very high and very significant….The New Jerusalem is altogether a spiritual, heavenly, and divine sign and not something physical.*

New Jerusalem is spiritual because it is the outcome of all the work of the Spirit, especially His work in God’s people. This includes sanctifying us unto salvation (1 Peter 1:2), regeneration (John 3:6), sealing (Eph. 1:13), renewing (Tit. 3:5), dispositional sanctification (2 Thes. 2:13), and transformation (2 Cor. 3:18).

New JerusalemBy this Spirit we are freed from the law of sin and death, fulfill all God’s righteous require-ments, have inner life and peace, and receive life in our mortal body (Rom. 8:2, 4, 6, 11). The Spirit also bountifully supplies us to magnify Christ in any situation (Phil. 1:19-20).

Further, the Spirit witnesses with our human spirit and is the motivation for our crying out Abba, Father (Rom. 8:15-16). The Spirit is the realm of the building up of God’s dwelling place, and is the domain in which we walk, live, and serve and worship God (Gal. 5:25; Rom. 1:9; John 4:24).

New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ and at the end of the Bible the Spirit and the bride speak together (Rev. 22:17).

The produce of the Spirit, who is one with the bride, must be something spiritual. The Spirit is not physical and all the moving of the Spirit through the New Testament produces a wonderful mingling of God and man which ultimately is the holy city New Jerusalem.

* 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 online.recoveryversion.org; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on October 7, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on October 7, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/10/07/new-jerusalem-is-spiritual-heavenly-and-divine-1/

Enjoy and Serve the Triune God in New Jerusalem

Revelation 22 begins with the river of water of life flowing out from the throne of God and the Lamb, the street of New Jerusalem, and the tree of life growing.

New Jerusalem[Revelation 22:3] continues, “And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it.” The situation here is unlike Genesis 3, where God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. Here God is reigning; His very throne is located here. Now the garden has become the city, the place where God is enthroned. “And His slaves will serve Him.” What will the slaves of God do in eternity? They will serve Him. We should never think that in eternity we will have nothing to do. No, we will forever be His slaves, serving Him.*

In Revelation 22:3 we see more of the mystery of the Triune God. The two, God and the Lamb, have one throne. They are One yet they have two aspects. Also, the next little sentence has His and Him, singular pronouns, referring to God and the Lamb. The Triune God is One yet He is also Three.

Revelation 22 speaks clearly of God and the Lamb, but where is the Spirit? The Spirit is the river flowing out from the throne. This matches John 7:38-39. Jesus spoke concerning the flow of “rivers of living water.” (Rivers, plural, are the many experiences of the one Spirit.) Then John explained, “this He said concerning the Spirit.”

In New Jerusalem it will be joyous to serve the Triune God and to be His slaves.

* 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 August 31, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on August 31, 2022

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Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (7)

New JerusalemRevelation 21’s description of New Jerusalem includes: “her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone” and “the building work of its wall was jasper” and “the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone.”

The precious stones are produced out of sufferings. We who believe into Christ “are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time; in which time you exult, though for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been made sorrowful by various trials.”

We exult in the glorious coming of our Lord because we look away from earthly trials to the heavenly, eternal things (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Sometimes when we sit in the presence of an elderly person, we feel that he is one who is really walking with the Lord. There is a life in him which very much characterizes him; it has become his special nature….He has a special quality, something which has come out from the fire; he is a precious stone.

In the New Jerusalem there are precious stones. Without precious stones, the New Jerusalem will never come into existence. God needs a group of people who will manifest the quality of precious stones. Oh, may God deliver us from being shallow! Only what the Holy Spirit has wrought into our life is of any value or use.

May we not wait passively for the Lord’s return. In Bible time, prayer, praise, singing, rejoicing, and fellowship with other Christians, let us pursue being transformed into precious stones for New Jerusalem.

Through Sufferings to New Jerusalem (7)
Through Suffering to the City of Glory (2)
From Suffering to Glory (2)

* 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 July 11, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on July 11, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/07/11/sufferings-and-transformation-for-new-jerusalem-7/

Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (6)

Revelation 21:18 tells us that “the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” This gold portrays God’s life, given to us upon our believing. But precious stones are also an important part of New Jerusalem, which we see in Revelation 21. New JerusalemThese stones signify the Spirit’s transforming work in us, constituting us with something divine through many difficulties.

These difficulties might be in our physical environment, such as something breaking. They could also be in our relationships with people. Some difficulties might be merely possibilities that cause anxiety. But God wants us to turn to Him from every anxiety, actual or imagined, “casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you” (1 Peter 5:7; also Phil. 4:6).

We should never refuse the trials that come upon us through our environment. We should never refuse the discipline of the Holy Spirit, nor complain when God’s hand encircles and encloses us in every way….How we would like to break through all the bondage and limitation and be released for a while. But we must remember that [God] is forming us so that one day we will come out as precious stones. God has not only given us His life, but He is also working in us to the extent that we may possess a special quality. This is what the Holy Spirit is forming in us through all the circumstances which God allows, and this is called precious stone.*

Paul had a physical suffering and “I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me” (2 Cor. 12:8). But (v. 9), “He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” So Paul decided (v. 9), “Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.”

Paul’s weakness here was his physical suffering. Yet he was willing to suffer to experience the Lord’s grace, the Spirit’s transforming power. The same applies to us in our sufferings. The sufficient grace is constituting us with the precious materials of 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 July 8, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on July 8, 2022

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Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (5)

Babylon is a counterfeit of New Jerusalem. Babylon is “gilded with gold and precious stone and pearl” (Rev. 18:16). These are the same materials that we see in New Jerusalem, but New Jerusalem is constituted throughout with them, not merely gilded.

We humans were born into the natural realm, the old creation. We who believe into Christ Jesus have been reborn into the new creation, yet we still have much of the old creation in us. Therefore, besides regenerating us, God must do a work the NT calls renewing and transformation. The result of this work is that we are constituted with the materials of New Jerusalem.

New JerusalemIn many of God’s children who have walked with Him for ten or twenty years, there is something which God has wrought through the Holy Spirit. It is not just that God has imparted something to them, but they themselves have become that something; it is their very constituent. They have been disciplined by the Holy Spirit for many years. By passing through many trials and experiences, the Holy Spirit has formed a certain kind of life in them….They not only possess the life that is given to them by God, but they also have a transformed life which the Holy Spirit has wrought within them.¹

Romans 12:2 tells us that we are “transformed by the renewing of the mind” and Titus 3:5 that renewing is “of the Holy Spirit.” This renewing goes on through our whole Christian life.

“Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying [or being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out²], yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). The consuming of the outer man is part of God’s process to bring forth the precious stones for New Jerusalem. Let us not lose heart!

¹ 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.

² A portion of footnote 2 on 2 Cor. 4:16 in the Recovery Version Bible, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003.

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by Don on July 6, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on July 6, 2022

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2022/07/06/sufferings-and-transformation-for-new-jerusalem-5/

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