CAMPUS FELLOWSHIP ON REVELATION

Session 28: The New Jerusalem Designations

Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2, 9
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the revelations in the Bible. The five
designations of the New are: the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the
wife of the Lamb, and the mother of the believers. In this reading, we will see the tabernacle
of God and the wife of the Lamb.
The Tabernacle of God As a Material Building
Revelation also tells us that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God (21:3a). In the New
Testament the tabernacle is Christ and then Christ enlarged. John 1:14 tells us that the
Word who became flesh tabernacled among us. When Jesus Christ was incarnated, He was a
tabernacle. The tabernacle in the Old Testament was a material building, but the tabernacle
in the New Testament is a Person. The tabernacle and the temple in the Gospels are a Person,
the temple in the Epistles is a Person, the, and the New Jerusalem in Revelation as a
consummation of the New Testament is a corporate Person, not a material building.
Built and Divinity
The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God is built with humanity and divinity combined
together as typified by the overlaid with gold (Exo. 26:15, 29). Without the type of the
tabernacle in Exodus, we could not realize so clearly that the New Testament tabernacle is a
combination of humanity with divinity. The standing boards in the tabernacle are made of
acacia wood, which is hard, strong, and fine wood, overlaid with gold. The wood and the gold
are combined together to be one entitythe standing boards. Gold always signifies Gods
divinity and wood signifies. This shows us clearly that Christ as the tabernacle is composed
with His divinity plus His humanity. He is the God-man in whom humanity and divinity are
combined together.
In the tabernacle, of course, we cannot see the mingling of divinity with humanity so there is
another wonderful type in the Scriptures to reveal this matter to usthe meal offering. The
meal offering shows us two elements not merely added together but mingled one with the
other. In this offering we see with oil (Lev. 2:4). In the tabernacle we can only see the
combination or addition of gold with wood. In Gods incarnation divinity came into humanity
and was added to humanity. In this God-mans resurrection humanity was brought into
divinity and added to divinity. This is a wonderful two-way traffic. These two natures, the
human and divine, are not only added together but also mingled together as one entity, as
one Person, without a third nature being produced.
A Dwelling and His Serving Ones
Eventually, the New Jerusalem will be a dwelling for both God and His serving ones. In the
Old Testament the picture is very clear. The tabernacle was Gods dwelling and at the same
time it was also the priests dwelling in which they served. Both God and His serving priests
dwell in the same tabernacle. To is His dwelling and to us God is our dwelling because
Revelation tells us that in the New Jerusalem there is no temple for its temple is the Lord
God the Almighty and the Lamb (21:22). This means that we are those serving God in God.
God is the object of our our worship, yet God is also our temple in which we serve God. The
holy city is Gods dwelling and the holy city as the temple is God Himself as our dwelling.
The New Jerusalem could never be a physical city because the temple in the city is the Triune

God. Actually, the entire city is a mingling of God with His redeemed people and this mingling
is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. God lives in us and we live in Him. He and
we become one mingled entity for eternity. The New Jerusalem is a spiritual, divine, and
corporate Person and we are in Him because we have come to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem!
The Lamb
Revelation 21:2 tells us that the New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband and Revelation 21:9 refers to the New Jerusalem as the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
The first wife in the whole universe was Eve. In Ezekiel 23 the children of Israel are referred
to as the wife of Jehovah (vv. 1-4). In John 3 all the regenerated believers are the bride of
Christ to be His increase, His enlargement (vv. 29-30). In Ephesians 5 is the church as the
wife of Christ and in 2 Corinthians 11:2 the believers have been engaged or betrothed to
Christ as their husband. In Revelation 19:7-9 is a universal wedding day, the marriage of the
Lamb. Finally, in the last two chapters of the Bible is the wife of the Lamb. The Lamb is the
embodiment of the Triune God and the wife is the consummation of all the saints. The Bible
concludes and consummates with a divine couple living a married life in eternity.
The Woman
The wife of the Lamb as symbolized by the universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12:16, 13-17, is composed of all the Old Testament and the New Testament saints. According to
Revelation 12:1, this woman is clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and
on her head a crown of twelve stars (see Message 34 of the Life-study of Revelation). This
universal and heavenly woman is the total composition of Gods people on the earth. The sun
signifies Gods people in the New Testament age (Luke 1:78), the moon signifies Gods people
in the Old Testament time, and the patriarchs (Gen. 37:9). We know that this woman is
composed of both the Old and New Testament saints because among the sun, the moon, and
the stars are the brothers who overcome Satan because of the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11).
This very universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12 is the wife of the Lamb. This
woman is a universal composition of all the saints and this woman consummates in the New
Jerusalem.
The Consummation of the Wife as the Church
The wife of the Lamb is also the consummation of the wife as the church in Ephesians 5:2527 and 29-32. An example may help to illustrate what we mean by the wife in Ephesians 5
consummating in the New Jerusalem. When a certain mans wife was only ten years old, she
was his wife, but she was not consummated to be his wife. As she was growing up, she was
consummating. When she finally-three to become this mans bride, that was the
consummation of this ten-year-old girl. The bride on that wedding day was the consummation
of that little girl. The church in Ephesians 5 is like that little girl who is ten years old, and
the New Jerusalem will be. The bride in Revelation 21 can never be improved. She will live
forever but she will not grow. The wife in Ephesians 5, however, is still growing. The church
in Ephesians 5 still has wrinkles and spots, but the bride in Revelation 21 has no wrinkles
or spots. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of the wife in Ephesians 5. The Lord is
still working in the church to cause her to grow.
Further reading: Gods New Testament Economy, chapter 27-28, Galatians 4:26-28, 31. Used with permission.