2005秋季长老
总题:主恢复的异象及其应用
Message Nine The Vision of the New Jerusalem
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:1-3, 5, 23; 22:1-2, 5
I. The New Jerusalem is a corporate person, a corporate, great God-man:
A. This corporate person is a couple—the processed Triune God married to the transformed, tripartite man; this is the Spirit and the bride becoming one entity—Rev. 22:17a.
B. This corporate person is the divine-human, enlarged, universal incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers:
1. God is three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—a corporate person; we, the millions of believers, are also a corporate person; these persons are now in one another—John 14:20-21; 15:5; 1 John 4:15-16.
2. We are God's tabernacle for His dwelling place, and God is our temple for our dwelling place—the mutual abode of God and man—Rev. 21:2-3, 22-23; Psa. 90:1; 27:4; Deut. 33:27.
C. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate Eve, a "bride-building," the building of God into man and man into God; God's building is a God-man—Gen. 2:22; Rev. 21:9-10, 18-21; 22:17a.
II. The Triune God and we become the New Jerusalem by His dispensing Himself into us for our enjoyment to be our eternal blessing (this is the eternal principle and the governing principle of the Bible)—Num. 6:24-26; 2 Cor. 13:14; cf. Psa. 36:8-9.
III. The Triune God—the Father as the light of life, the Son as the tree of life, and the Spirit as the river of life—is the triune enjoyment of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1-2, 5:
A. God as the light shines from within the Lamb as the lamp through the New Jerusalem as the diffuser—Rev. 21:23, 11; 22:5:
1. Light is the presence of God—1 John 1:5; 2 Cor. 4:6; Col. 1:12.
2. In the New Jerusalem there will be no night; God Himself will shine continuously—Rev. 22:5; cf. Exo. 10:22; Rev. 16:10:
a. We need to keep our heart pure and single for God so that our whole inner being will be illuminated, full of light without any dark part— Matt. 5:8; 6:22-23; Luke 11:34-36.
b. Through our genuine, intimate, living, and loving fellowship with God, who is light (1 John 1:5; Col. 1:12), we will realize that we are sinful, and we will take Christ as our sin offering and trespass offering (1 John 1:7-9).
3. For the building up of the Body of Christ, we do not need the artificial light created by man; instead, we need to walk and live under the divine, redeeming, shining light through the word of God—Isa. 50:10-11; John 8:12; Psa. 119:105, 130; Matt. 5:14; Rev. 1:20; cf. Psa. 73:17.
4. As diffusers of the divine light, we need to shine as luminaries in the world, letting our light shine before all men in all goodness, righteousness, and truth for His glory—Phil. 2:15; Matt. 5:14-16; Eph. 5:8-9; Isa. 58:7-8.
5. We need to be one with Christ as the light of the Gentiles so that His salvation might reach to the end of the earth for Him to come again as the Desire of all the nations—Acts 13:46-47; 26:18; Eph. 3:9; Hag. 2:7; Matt. 24:14.
B. The tree of life (Rev. 2:7; 22:2) signifies the crucified (implied in the tree as a piece of wood—1 Pet. 2:24) and resurrected (implied in the life of God— John 11:25) Christ as the embodiment of all the riches of God for our food:
1. To enjoy Christ as the tree of life requires us to love Him with the first love—Rev. 2:4, 7; Eph. 6:24; 1 Cor. 2:9; cf. 16:22.
2. Enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the tree of life solves all the problems in the church through the work of the cross—1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 5:16.
3. Enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the tree of life issues in the growth in life, producing precious materials for God's building—1 Cor. 3:6, 9-14.
4. Enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the tree of life develops our gifts by the growth in life—12:4; 14:4b, 31.
5. The tree of life was unique in Genesis 2:9, but today the tree of life grows in all of us, causing each of us to be a small tree of life—Col. 2:19.
C. The river of water of life is the flowing out of the Triune God—the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaching His redeemed people for their enjoyment—Rev. 22:1; Psa. 36:8-9; 46:4:
1. God's intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment, with the goal of producing the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem as God's fullness for His expression—Jer. 2:13; Rev. 22:17; John 4:14b.
2. As believers in Christ, we need to drink and flow the water of life— vv. 10, 14; 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 12:13; cf. Prov. 11:25:
a. We need to come to the Lord and ask Him to give us the living water—Psa. 42:1; John 4:10; 7:37; Rev. 22:17.
b. We need to contact God the Spirit in our human spirit and in truthfulness—John 4:23-24; cf. Jude 19-21.
c. We need to joyously draw water from the springs of salvation by speaking to the Lord and for the Lord—1 Cor. 10:4; Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:8; Isa. 12:2-6.
d. We need to enthrone the Lord in the center of our being, giving Him the first place in all things—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b.
e. We need to do everything in the inner flow of the divine life, the fellowship of the divine life, according to the divine nature—1 John 1:3; Rev. 22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4.
3. The river of God always flows in the direction of God's glory; if we do not care for the glory of God, the flow in us will be limited—Ezek. 47:1.
4. The river flows out of the unique God as the source and center (Gen. 2:10) and out of our innermost being to reach man in every direction; "every place where the river goes shall live" (John 7:38; Ezek. 47:9).