God’s eternal purpose

Now we want to see the ultimate consummation of the transformation for the composition and constitution of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-3, 9-23). The conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Bible is a divine building, the New Jerusalem. This building is a gold mountain, constituted with precious stones and twelve gates of pearl. This is the issue, the consummation, of the entire revelation of the whole Bible. Surely this must be very meaningful. This is why we purposely wrote a number of hymns related to and concerning the New Jerusalem when we were composing our hymnal (see Hymns, #971, 972, 975, 976, 978, 979, 980, 981, 984). I hope that we would learn to sing all these hymns.

At the end of the Bible a wonderful city is revealed, a city of gold with twelve pearl gates and with a foundation of precious stones. In the early days of our gospel preaching we referred to this city as a heavenly mansion and encouraged people to believe in Jesus in order to flee from the lake of fire and go to this mansion. Eventually, however, we saw that this wonderful city was not a heavenly mansion. Revelation 21:10 says that John saw the holy city "coming down out of heaven from God." In that day, if we go to heaven, we will find that the "mansion" has come down to the earth. This revelation caused us to begin to see the real significance of the New Jerusalem (see Hymns, #971-985). Eventually, we saw that the end of the Bible and the beginning of the Bible reflect each other. In Genesis 2 there is a garden with a tree and a flowing river, and there are the precious materials. Moreover, there is a man who marries a bride. In Revelation 21 and 22 there are the same items, but the garden has become a city. In the beginning there was a garden, not built but natural and created by God. At the end of the Bible, however, the garden is transformed into a city. In this city also there are the tree of life and the river (Rev. 22:1-2). This city is built with gold, pearl, and precious stones, which are the same as the materials in Genesis 2. Moreover, the city itself is the bride, and the Triune God in the Lamb is the Husband (Rev. 21:9-10). They are a universal couple.

The Lord has opened up to us the truth of God's economy with God's dispensing. First Timothy 1:4, Ephesians 1:10, and Ephesians 3:9 all use the word economy, a translation of the Greek word oikonomia. This economy with God's dispensing will consummate in one city. When we composed our hymnal thirty years ago in 1964, I wrote a number of hymns on the New Jerusalem (Hymns, #971-972, 975-976, 978-980). Since 1984 I have given many messages on the New Jerusalem. The last nineteen chapters of the book entitled God's New Testament Economy are concerning the New Jerusalem. After my study of the Bible for the past sixty-nine years, what have I seen? I would say that I have seen the New Jerusalem. This is my vision, this is my revelation, and this is my ministry. I have been in the United States for thirty-two years, and I have published approximately four thousand messages. I have stressed the Triune God, Christ, life, and the Spirit, and the church, the Body, and ultimately, the New Jerusalem.

In Acts Jesus said, "You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (1:8). To witness is to speak something, which is to prophesy. To be a good witness of Christ, we must be able to prophesy. Romans 10:17 tells us, "Faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ," If we do not know how to prophesy, people will not be able to hear God's word. What is the word that people should hear? It is not merely, "Honor your parents," "Love your neighbors," and "Do not steal." If we go as members of a vital group to visit people and speak these things, they will reject us. We must go to people to prophesy concerning the high peak of God's revelation, including the high peak of God, the high peak of Christ, the high peak of the Spirit, and the high peaks of the divine life, the church, the Body of Christ, the constitution of God and man, and the New Jerusalem. We must know how to prophesy concerning the New Jerusalem. We can visit someone and say, "Sir, I come here with a burden to tell you that at the end of the Bible there is a city." When he asks if this is a heavenly mansion, we can say, "It is the New Jerusalem, of which the base is God, the gates are Christ, and the wall is the Spirit." He will want to hear this, and he will invite us to come again. Many years ago when we composed our hymnal, I included a number of songs on the New Jerusalem (see Hymns, #971-972, 975-976, 978-980). This indicates that I was able not only to prophesy about the New Jerusalem but also to make a song out of my prophecy. We must all be able to prophesy concerning the New Jerusalem. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul says, "Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season." To proclaim the word is to prophesy at every time, in season and out of season. In the training we are building you up to know the eight foregoing items of the truth and to prophesy concerning these things.

The writings of two brothers in particular gave me much help and opened up a little door or a little window for me to get into the real significance of the New Jerusalem. Gerhardt Tersteegen, in some of his hymns, referred to the New Jerusalem in a deeper way. Brother T. Austin-Sparks also mentioned something concerning the spiritual and divine significance of the New Jerusalem. It was not until approximately forty years ago, though, that I really began to get into the significance of the New Jerusalem. In 1963 I wrote a number of hymns concerning the New Jerusalem which are presently in our hymnal (Hymns, #971, 972, 975, 976, 978-980). By 1963 the Lord had given me nearly a full understanding of this last great sign in the Bible. By this time I dropped any thought that the New Jerusalem is a physical thing. If you consider the New Jerusalem as a physical thing, you make the Bible low, meaningless, and insignificant. We know the Bible contains the divine revelation; the conclusion of such a revelation, therefore, should be very high and very significant. By 1963 I can testify that I was fully clear that the New Jerusalem is altogether a spiritual, heavenly, and divine sign and not something physical.