I.　In the building of God there is only "one window"—one revelation and one vision through one ministry—cf. Gen. 6:16; Acts 26:19; Rev. 21:10.

II.　The New Jerusalem is the reflection and fulfillment of the divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden:

A.　God's eternal intention for us to become the New Jerusalem is seen in Genesis 1—2 as the organic blueprint, the architectural plan of the Triune God, and in Revelation 21—22 as the finished product, the organic masterpiece of the Triune God, for the full manifestation of His multifarious wisdom—Heb. 11:10; Eph. 2:10; 3:10; cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; 3:10-12:

1.　Man is a vessel created according to God's kind that man might contain and express Him—Gen. 1:26; Rev. 21:11; 4:3.

2.　The tree of life is the center of God's economy—Gen. 2:7-9; Rev. 22:2.

3.　A river of water of life is flowing to reach the four directions of the earth—Gen. 2:10-14; Rev. 22:1; cf. 21:13.

4.　At the flow of the river are three kinds of precious materials for God's building—Gen. 2:11-12; Rev. 21:18-21.

5.　The goal is the producing of a couple, a corporate, great God-man—Gen. 2:22; Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17.

B.　What is revealed in these two parts of the divine revelation in the holy Scripture is the central line of the divine revelation throughout the entire holy Scripture; this central line should be a controlling principle to our interpreting and understanding of the holy Scripture.

III.　The Bible as the content of the Christian life is the autobiography of the Triune God—John 1:1; 4:14b; Jer. 2:13:

A.　Christ as the Word of God defines, explains, and expresses the invisible God in the five greatest events in the history of the universe—John 1:1:

1.　In His creation Christ unveils God's eternal power and divine characteristics—Psa. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:20; Acts 14:15-17; 17:24-29; Col. 1:16.

2.　In His incarnation Christ unveils that the Creator has become one of His creatures (Col. 1:15), bringing God into man, mingling divinity with humanity as one, and in His human living He expresses God in the divine attributes through His human virtues—John 1:14; Heb. 2:14.

3.　In His becoming the Lamb for the redemption of the lost world, Christ speaks to us how God accomplished His judicial redemption through His death as the procedure according to His righteousness—John 1:29, 36.

4.　In His becoming the Spirit for life-giving and transforming (1 Cor. 15:45), Christ speaks to us further how God carries out His economy organically by His divine life for His divine purpose according to His heart's desire—John 1:32, 42.

5.　Christ, in His being the heavenly ladder at Bethel, also speaks to us how God desires to have a house on the earth constituted with His redeemed and transformed elect, that He may bring heaven to earth and join earth to heaven, to make the two as one for eternity—v. 51; Gen. 28:11-22.

B.　In the beginning, in eternity past, was the Word, who was God; in eternity future, the Word becomes the New Jerusalem—John 1:1; 4:14b:

1.　The Triune God and we become the New Jerusalem by the divine speaking, divine spreading, divine dispensing, of Himself into us as the flowing Triune God for our enjoyment to be our eternal blessing for His eternal glory (this is the eternal principle and the governing principle of the Bible)—Rev. 21:1-2, 5, 11; cf. Psa. 36:8-9; Num. 6:22-27; 2 Cor. 13:14.

2.　In eternity past He was the Word, but in eternity future He will be the heavenly ladder (the New Jerusalem):

a.　In His humanity Christ became a joining ladder to join heaven (God) and earth (man) into one—Gen. 28:12-17; John 1:51.

b.　In eternity future the New Jerusalem will be standing in the whole universe as something uplifted toward the heavens upon which the angelic family will ascend and descend to bring heaven to earth and join earth to heaven for the divine traffic, the divine fellowship, between God and man—2 Cor. 13:14.

c.　God's economy will consummate in such a ladder, a city, and this city is an incorporation of God in man and man in God—Rev. 21:3, 22.

d.　Whenever we turn to our spirit, we sense Christ bringing God (heaven) to us and joining us to God (heaven); thus, Christ as the heavenly ladder is the stairway to bring God to us and join us to God—John 14:6; Eph. 2:22; cf. Heb. 6:19; 13:13; Hymns, #549, stanza 7.

e.　As the duplication of Christ, we are a heavenly ladder bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven, moving with God in the unshakable power of the Spirit—cf. S. S. 3:6: (1) When we minister Christ to sinners, they will appreciate Christ and receive Christ; this is to bring heaven to the earth. (2) When we help them to grow, we are joining them to heaven.

IV.　The goal of the Triune God's eternal economy is the New Jerusalem, a corporate person—Eph. 2:10; 3:9-11:

A.　The holy city is the bride, the wife, of the Lamb—Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17a.

B.　The New Jerusalem is the aggregate, the totality, of the divine sonship—the aggregate of the glorified sons who have been led into glory through the process of sanctification—Eph. 1:4-5; Rev. 21:7; Heb. 2:10-11.

C.　The New Jerusalem is a corporate, great God-man—Rev. 21:3, 22.

D.　The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God to be everything to His chosen and redeemed people for His corporate expression—Rev. 22:1-2, 5.