10. Its Street

. The street signifies the way, and the street being pure gold indicates that the nature of God is the way in the New Jerusalem. Because it is one street that proceeds out of the throne to reach all the twelve gates of the city, it should be spiral that passes through the entire city.

11. Its Supply

The river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, signifies the Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God, flowing out of God and the Lamb. In the flow of the river is the water of life with the tree of life as a vine going on the two sides of the river.

12. The Mingling of God with Man

According to the inherent significance of all the above points, the New Jerusalem is really a marvelous mingling of the processed Triune God with His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, conformed, built and glorified tripartite people for His glorious and utmost expression in His consummated manifestation for eternity, in the new creation of resurrection, no longer in the natural flesh, as His individual manifestation in Christ and His corporate manifestation were in the past.

3. Its Components

Revelation 21:12 says that on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, and Revelation 21:14 tells us that on the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

4. Its Base

Revelation 21:18 says, “The city was pure gold, like pure glass,” and Revelation 21:21 says, “The street of the city was pure gold as transparent glass.”

5. Its Gates

Revelation 21:13 and 21 tell us that the New Jerusalem has “on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates…and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.”

6. Its Wall and the Foundation of Its Wall

Revelation 21:18-20 tell us that the building material of its wall was jasper, and that the foundation of the wall of the city was adorned with twelve precious stones the first of which was also jasper.

7. Its Temple

In Revelation 21:22 the Apostle John tells us that he saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. Since God and the Lamb are the temple, they could not dwell in it, and it is not their dwelling place.

C. IN THE NEW JERUSALEM AS THE CONSUMMATE CORPORATE EXPRESSION IN THE NEW CREATION

The final stage of God’s manifestation will be in the New Jerusalem as the consummated corporate expression in the new creation.

.” In eternity past God purposed to have a corporate expression so that He might be fully expressed and glorified (Eph. 3:9-11; 1:9-11). For this, He created the heavens, the earth, and mankind. Eventually, the old heaven and the old earth will pass away through fire and be renewed into the new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:10-13) into which the New Jerusalem will come for God’s eternal expression.

GOD—HIS MANIFESTATION

In the foregoing message we saw that God’s good pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, is to have many sons for the expression of His Son so that He may be expressed in the Son through the Spirit. For this purpose, God has manifested Himself, first in Christ as an individual expression in the flesh and then in the church, the Body of Christ, as the enlarged corporate expression in the flesh. Ultimately, God will be manifested in the New Jerusalem as the consummated corporate expression in the new heaven and new earth. In this message we shall consider God’s manifestation in these three stages.

A. IN CHRIST AS AN INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION IN THE FLESH

God’s manifestation was first in Christ as an individual expression in the flesh. Concerning this, Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” In this verse “fullness” does not refer to the riches of God; instead, it refers to the expression of the riches of God. What dwells in Christ is the expression of the riches of what God is. We need to see that the fullness of the Godhead is the expression of the Godhead and that this expression is in Christ individually.

B. IN THE CHURCH—THE BODY OF CHRIST—

AS THE ENLARGED CORPORATE EXPRESSION IN THE FLESH

We have pointed out that the fullness of God is the expression of God. According to John 1:16, the fullness of God came with Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s fullness. With Christ, the expression of God was an individual matter. This expression needs to be enlarged from an individual to a corporate expression. The church is to be the enlarged corporate expression of God in the flesh. This means that the church should be the fullness, the expression of God, in a corporate way. In the church God is expressed not through an individual but corporately through the Body of Christ. Because the fullness of God is embodied in the church, the church is the corporate expression of the Triune God.

FOR THE EXPRESSION OF HIS SON

It is God’s good pleasure, the desire of His heart, to have many sons for the expression of His Son. As we have seen, Romans 8:29 says that God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. To have us conformed to the image of His Son is for the expression of His Son.

C. THAT HE MAY BE EXPRESSED IN THE SON THROUGH THE SPIRIT

God desires to have many sons for the expression of His Son so that He may be expressed in the Son through the Spirit. Through the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, the firstborn Son of God, God has produced millions of sons

D. BY HIS DISPENSING

For God to be expressed in the Son through the Spirit needs God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people to produce a corporate expression

E. LIFE AS THE MEANS AND EATING AS THE WAY

According to Genesis 1, God created man in His image with the intention of dispensing Himself into man. God’s way to dispense Himself into man is through man’s eating of Him as the tree of life.

GOD—HIS GOOD PLEASURE

In this message we shall consider:

GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE—GOD’S HEART’S DESIRE

Ephesians 1:5 says, “Having predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:9 goes on to say, “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” God has a will in which is His good pleasure. This good pleasure is the desire of His heart. God’s good pleasure is the delight of His heart.

God’s good pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, is to have many sons. The destiny of God’s marking us out beforehand is sonship. The goal of God’s predestination is to have many sons.

God’s goal according to His good pleasure, the desire of His heart, is to produce many sons. This goal of producing many sons of God requires redemption, the imparting of life, and the living by this life so that they may be regenerated, transformed, and conformed to the image of the Firstborn of God.

X. LONGSUFFERING

Romans 2:4 also speaks of God’s longsuffering. This also is a divine attribute. Longsuffering is something more than patience. It means to suffer long. “Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger, and it is associated with mercy”

Y. ENDURANCE

In Romans 15:5 God is called the God of endurance. How shall we differentiate longsuffering and endurance? Longsuffering is patience toward the troubling persons, whereas endurance is patience toward the afflicting things.

Z. JEALOUSY The most jealous one in the universe is God. He is jealous whenever we love anything or anyone in place of Him. He wants us to love Him uniquely, singly, wholly.

In these messages we have seen the many aspects of what God is in His person. We have also considered God’s attributes. This God is now dispensing Himself into us. This means that God with all that He is and with all that He has is being dispensed into us. The more we are under God’s dispensing, the more the divine attributes are infused into our being. While God is dispensing Himself into us, He is dispensing all that He is and has.

Let us quickly review the divine attributes: life, love, light, riches, fullness, holiness, righteousness, wisdom, prudence, faithfulness, truthfulness, simplicity, sincerity, goodness, mercy, compassion, grace, peace, joy, hope, encouragement, kindness, forbearance, longsuffering, endurance, jealousy, severity, impartiality, immortality, immutability, glory, honor, majesty, sovereignty, authority, power, strength, and might.

How wonderful that these attributes are being dispensed into us! As we remain under God’s dispensing day by day, His attributes will be dispensed and infused into us. After God’s attributes have been dispensed and infused into us, they will all become our virtues.

U. ENCOURAGEMENT

In Romans 15:5 God is called the God of encouragement. Encouragement, as an attribute of God, is slightly different from comfort and consolation.

V. KINDNESS

The New Testament reveals the divine attribute of kindness. Kindness is a benevolent goodness which issues out of mercy and love.

W. FORBEARANCE

Regarding the way God deals with sinners, Romans 2:4 refers to His excellent attribute of forbearance. God forbears with fallen man for a purpose. His purpose in showing forbearance is to accomplish His economy. If God did not show forbearance to man, there would be no way for God to fulfill His purpose of accomplishing His economy.

R. PEACE

Another attribute of God is peace. The New Testament speaks about both the peace of God and the God of peace.