Will you please turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 21? Revelation chapter 21. We will read the first seven verses.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God:
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
Chapter 22, the first seven verses.
And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and His servants shall serve Him;
and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads.
And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass.
And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We thank Thee that Thy words are true. We thank Thee that we can stand on Thy Word, knowing that it is eternal; it is reality.
O Lord, we do pray that Thy Word may be living and operative in our lives, that we may be counted among those who not only have heard Thy words, but have kept Thy Word. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been considering together this matter of the house of God. The first mention of the house of God in the Word of God is found in Genesis 28:17.
Jacob, a homely man, was homeless. He was traveling in the wilderness. He spent the night there, using a stone as his pillow. He was so worn out that he fell asleep.
Then a vision was given to him. He saw a ladder set up from the earth, reaching to heaven; and God stationed Himself at the top of the ladder. Of course, Jacob slept at the end of the ladder, and he saw angels ascending and descending upon that ladder.
After Jacob saw that vision and heard what God had promised him, he woke up. Notice what he said: “How dreadful is this place!” Why? Because this is the house of God, the way to heaven.
Now, that is the first mention in the Bible of the house of God. And we know that, according to the principle of first mention, whenever something is mentioned for the first time, it usually gives us the principle and the ideas of what that matter is.
Today we know that this ladder represents our Lord Jesus, because in John 1, our Lord Jesus Himself said, “Ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” In other words, our Lord Himself is that ladder.
He came into this world. He connects heaven and earth together. In Him, God and man are joined together and communicate. Now, that is the house of God, and it is the gate of heaven.
Then later on, we find God further revealing His house. After God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them to Sinai. There He declared to this redeemed people, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”
So we know that the tabernacle was built. When that tabernacle was built, Moses was warned again and again that he must do everything, every item, according to the pattern on the mountain. There could be no deviation, no adding, no subtraction—exactly as God had shown him.
Why? Because this is the house of God. God is to dwell among His people. It is represented by the ark in the holiest of all.
But unfortunately, the children of Israel were unfaithful to God. God is always looking for reality. Men can be deceived, but God never.
So when the children of Israel departed from God, God allowed His ark to be taken by the Philistines. Even though it came back, it never returned to the tabernacle.
Then we find, in the time of David, that because of his love for God—he was a man after God’s own heart—he desired to build God a temple.
Even though he was not allowed to do it because he had shed too much blood, and could not represent the house of God, which is peace, God accepted his heart. God showed him the pattern of the temple.
Out of his love for God and for His house, even though he was not allowed to build the temple, he prepared the material for the temple. And Solomon, in wisdom, built the house.
You know, when the temple was built, at its dedication the temple was filled with a cloud, the glory of God; and fire came down from heaven to consume the burnt offering. God accepted it. God dwelt in that house. He put His name there.
But unfortunately, the children of Israel again were unfaithful. Because of this, we remember how the children of Israel were taken into Babylonian captivity. The temple was destroyed.
God never will keep anything that is merely a false testimony. He would rather see the temple destroyed than see it representing something falsely.
But thank God for His mercy. He did allow the children of Israel to come back from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the house. But we know that, in that rebuilt temple, several things were missing.
So, at the time of Christ, we find that the temple worship was going on, and yet it was empty.
God sent His only Son into this world to be the real, living house of God. All these types had failed, but God never failed.
So He sent His Son into this world, and the Bible tells us, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth; and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, for the first time, what God has in His heart concerning the house of God is perfectly represented in Christ Jesus. God and man are joined in one.
The Lord said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” because the Father is in Me, and I am in Him. For the first time, there is such unshadowed communion between God and man in Christ Jesus.
He always pleased the Father, and the Father was so pleased that heaven opened three times, as if God could not hold Himself back any longer. He said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
For the first time, God is worshipped and served as He ought to be. How the Son, our Lord Jesus, served the Father; how He worshipped the Father and put the Father in the rightful place.
He always stood in the place of a man, a bondservant—listening, waiting, obeying, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
So, in Christ Jesus, we see the real meaning of the house of God. But this is a demonstration.
Our Lord Jesus came into this world not only to demonstrate what the house of God really is, but He also came to prepare for that full house of God—that is, including man. So, on Calvary’s cross, He made it possible.
Toward the end of His ministry, He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
On this foundation—our Lord Jesus is the foundation—He laid the foundation, and upon that foundation the house of God will be built.
So we who believe in the Lord Jesus, we are all living stones, having His life in us. And with that life of Christ, we are being built up together to be that house of God.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down, and one hundred and twenty believers were baptized into one body to be one house, and filled with the Holy Spirit, the presence of God. So, in the Book of Acts, we see how the church, the house of God, is being built.
This building process has been going on ever since. That house has not been finished yet.
How do we know the house of God has not been finished yet? We know because our Lord has not come back and claimed His bride yet.
So even today, it is still going on. Brothers and sisters, maybe you begin to feel, “Will that house ever be finished, ever be built?” It seems as if, as years go on, the completion of that house seems to be further and farther away.
You remember once, when Brother T. Austin-Sparks asked Brother Watchman Nee, “What is the most difficult thing in the Bible that can be fulfilled?” Our brother’s answer was, “Ephesians 5, when the bride shall be ready.”
So, brothers and sisters, outwardly, probably as you look at the church today, your impression probably will be that there is no hope. Because what God’s people have been building through the centuries is mostly the Tower of Babel instead of the house of God.
But if you look with the eyes of faith, you know God cannot fail. Whatever He has promised, He will fulfil it.
So thank God, this working is going on secretly. Maybe we do not see it outwardly, but it is continually being built. We have the assurance. Why? Because toward the end of the Book of Revelation, God gives us a preview of that finished house.
So, as far as God is concerned, it is finished, because with God there is no time factor. But as far as we are concerned, we are still in that process.
This morning, we would like to raise our eyes of hope, eyes of faith, and look into this finished house of God and see how glorious it is. That is our permanent abode with God.
Hopefully, that will increase such a desire for it that we are willing to give everything for it.
Abraham, in his days of sojourning in the land of promise, what kept him living in tents all his life? What was the secret?
In Hebrews 11, we are told that he waited for the city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. That is what he was looking for. That gave him the strength, the hope, and the faith to continue on as a stranger and a sojourner on earth, because his eternal home was in that city.
Brothers and sisters, may this be our inspiration.
But before we consider this holy city, this New Jerusalem, we would like to ask one question. This is a pressing question to each one of us. It is something we have to know and we have to answer.
Upon what principle will the house be built? Or, put it another way: in the building of the house, what is it that really decides whether the house is built or whether it is not built—whether you are involved in that building or whether you are not involved?
For that, we will go back to Revelation 1 through 3, because Revelation 2 and 3 are seven letters to the seven churches.
Our Lord has already risen from the dead. He has ascended up to heaven. While He was on earth, He was the Apostle of God, as Hebrews 3 tells us. He was the Sent One of God, the Anointed of God. He was sent by God for a mission.
That mission was to complete the work of redemption, which He did on Calvary’s cross. But now He has ascended up on high. What is He doing there? What is His ministry today?
We know from the Book of Hebrews that today His ministry in heaven is as the High Priest of the true sanctuary, the spiritual house of God.
So our Lord Jesus today, in heaven, is the High Priest of the sanctuary. On earth He was the Apostle of God, and He said, “It is finished. The work is done.” But in heaven He is continuing, working and ministering as the High Priest of the church, the house of God.
That is why, in Revelation 1, you find a vision of the risen Christ as the High Priest ministering to the seven churches in Asia.
These seven churches in Asia were real churches toward the end of the first century. They were seven churches that you could find in Asia Minor. Of course, during that time there were more than seven local churches in that Roman province of Asia, but God picked out seven of them for a reason.
In these seven churches, prophetically speaking, we see the whole history of the church on earth. Spiritually speaking, at every age, every century, and every generation, you will find these conditions in the church of God. Therefore, they are representative.
So, in these seven churches of Asia, God is showing us what our Lord has been doing, and is still doing, to His church. He said, “I will build My church,” and this building process has been going on for more than twenty centuries.
We want to see: How does He build that house of God? Why is it still unfinished? Where is the problem?
These seven churches are represented before God as seven golden lampstands. Why? Because a lampstand is not an end in itself. A lampstand is a means to an end. A lampstand is not used merely as a decoration; it is used for a purpose. God is very practical.
A lampstand is to hold up light. We know that the light is our Lord Jesus. The church is that instrument of God to uphold the testimony of Jesus. That is what the church is.
So here you find One like unto a son of man, dressed as the High Priest, walking among the seven golden lampstands and ministering to them.
He is there to see whether the light is burning brightly, whether it begins to smoke, whether it is darkened. And He ministers to that.
When you read these seven letters, you find that at the beginning of each letter there is a revelation of Himself. In Revelation 1, you have the whole vision of the great High Priest; then, to each church, you find a part of that vision revealed to that particular church.
In other words, the Lord reveals Himself to the church, and what He has revealed of Himself is what the church is to be.
So, as the High Priest, what is He watching for as He looks into these seven churches? He is looking for Himself.
These seven churches all have many good points—things that are presentable and commendable to man. But He is not looking for these things. He is looking for only one thing: what He has revealed to that church.
He is looking to see whether the church is faithful to what He has revealed to it. If He can find Himself there, then His house is being built. If He cannot find Himself, even though He can find many other things there, nothing satisfies Him. All these things will be judged.
Brothers and sisters, that is what our Lord has been doing to the church for these twenty centuries.
What a tragedy it must be. What heartbreak it must be to our Lord Jesus. But He never gives up. He pursues. The long-suffering of God is our salvation.
When He sees anything other than Himself being built, He says, “Repent. Repent. Return. Recover. Come back to that revelation of Himself.”
This is the only material that can be built into the house of God.
So, brothers and sisters, the same principle applies to us today. He is building. He said, “I will build.” But are you being built in?
Do you cooperate? Are you flexible in His hand? Are you willing to deny yourself—your good self, the self you are proud of—take up the cross, and follow Him? Will you let Him be built in you and into the house of God?
Nothing but what comes out of Him can return to Him, can be joined back to Him, can be the house of God in which God can dwell and be pleased.
Brothers and sisters, God has a high standard, a perfect standard. He will not allow anything less than what He Himself is.
It is a challenge to us. If you really desire the house of God, you have a responsibility. You are called to allow Him to work in you until Christ is fully formed.
Because the church is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Brothers and sisters, unfortunately, most Christians, redeemed by the precious blood, fail. They do not respond.
That is why you find, at the end of each letter, the call for overcomers: “He that overcometh.” “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” “He that overcometh.”
It comes down to individuals. Each individual, if we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying, and if we respond to Him, we overcome.
Overcoming does not mean that we are special. Overcoming simply means that we answer the calling of our Lord: “Lord, I am willing. I want to be what You want to make me.”
“I am willing to lay down myself. I am willing to be faithful to what You have revealed to me. I will not compromise. I will not depend on anything that I consider as my merit.”
Because unless it is Christ, it is nothing—worse than nothing. It is a hindrance to God and an affront to God.
Brothers and sisters, that is how the house is built. It is being built. Thank God, throughout the centuries there have been overcomers.
If you read the Book of Revelation, you will find that the Book of Revelation gives us indications of the call to overcome in the first century, and how, through the centuries, many, by the grace of God, did respond and overcome.
Even before the coming of the Lord, there will be that man-child being born. Brothers and sisters, are we among them? That is the question.
Do you want to be there, or do you want to delay that building process? We have to answer that.
But thank God, it will be done. If not today, even in the millennium it has to be completed, because whom He has called, He has predestined to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son.
But anyway, now go back to Revelation 21 and 22: the finished product. That is your eternal home. I hope that it will create such a desire in you that you want to be there, just like Abraham.
The apostle John was given a preview of that eternal home of God and man, the house of God. He saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from heaven, from God, upon this new earth, as a bride adorned for her husband.
Brothers and sisters, you never connect a city with a bride. These are two different things. But in God’s sight, in spiritual reality, that is what they are.
What is a city? A city represents unity. It is a congregation of people within a certain area, and because they live together, they become one unit—one government, one administration. That is a city.
What is a bride? A bride is a matter of life, of love, of union—not only unity, but union: union in life and union in love. That is a bride.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that in God’s work He works according to two principles? One is the principle of government, and the other is the principle of grace.
If you look at the work of God, His work is along these two principles. He is God. He created the world. Government is upon His shoulder.
No matter what men say or what it may appear to be, we know that He rules over all. He has never given up His government. People can rebel, but there will be judgment.
One day, everything will be under His feet. His government shall be over all.
Yet, at the same time, we find the principle of grace. According to government, if you sin, you rebel, you are judged, you are condemned, you are finished. Whatever you sow, you reap. That is government. It is an eternal law.
But God, being love, works with another principle: grace. We find how God is so merciful and gracious through the whole history of mankind. He forgives. He was willing even to give up His only begotten Son to die for us. Grace, freely given.
These two principles may look opposite to each other. If there is government, there can be no grace. If there is grace, how can government go ahead?
But, brothers and sisters, God uses these two principles to work out His purpose. They are not contradictory; they are complementary.
God is God. He has His government. Anyone who violates His government will be punished. There is no doubt about it. Yet He is love.
So He undertook the judgment, as it were, upon Himself and gave grace to us. But grace never abolishes government. Grace brings back government, because those who receive grace willingly submit themselves to the government of God.
So you see the cycle—how God works in a marvellous way.
In that house of God, New Jerusalem, these two join together. On the one hand, the city represents government.
God is supreme, unchallenged, obeyed. His authority is over all. There is order and unity.
Yet at the same time, like a bride, it is full of grace, full of love, a union of life together. That is the house of God.
Unfortunately, today we think these two principles are opposites. We swing either to one or to the other. But God works with these two principles, and in the final product, you find that it is done. Thank God for that.
In our eternal home, God is supreme. His throne is there, with no challenge. His servants serve Him willingly.
There is unity. No more distinctions. One unit, one city, one government: the government of God. Yet at the same time, there is a union of life. Love is the law.
Brothers and sisters, this is the final house of God. It is not where love is and disorder is. It is not where order is and no love is. It is order and love.
This is what God is working in us today.
Take a closer look at your future home. It came down out of heaven from God. The building process is on earth, but the final product descends from heaven. Wonderful!
Whatever is being done on earth is being recognized in heaven, and it is from God. Everything is out of God. As the Scripture says, “For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things.”
When John saw that holy city coming down, he saw the shining of the city. The shining is the glory of God, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
Now, brothers and sisters, this house of God is full of glory. Not only does glory fill that house, but glory diffuses from that house. It is the glory of God, not the shame of man.
Jasper, in Scripture, represents God Himself. Whenever God appears, He appears like jasper. In other words, the house of God is where God is manifested. Glory!
Then John saw that city. It has a wall.
You know, brothers and sisters, in the beginning of human history, our forefathers Adam and Eve were put in a garden, a beautiful garden full of all trees. It was a wonderful garden, but there was no wall.
God wanted Adam and Eve to be that wall, but they failed and allowed the enemy to slip in and tempt man to sin.
But thank God, in that eternal home there is a wall. Look at the wall: it is built of jasper—all of God.
It is so high—seventy-five yards. When I was a boy, I lived in a city with walls. Now, you probably have never seen a city wall, but I lived there. But here is a wall seventy-five yards high.
And it is measured. In other words, in that holy city, the New Jerusalem, the house of God, everything is measured—measured by a golden rod. In other words, Christ is the measure of everything in the city. It has reached its full measure.
Do you know that today the Lord is building that wall in you and me? What is a wall?
A wall serves two purposes. On the one hand, a wall separates everything within the wall from everything outside the wall. On the other hand, it unites, because it puts all that is within the wall into one unit. That is a wall.
Our problem today is that we are not separated from the world. We are not separated from ourselves.
The world and the church have become one. You cannot see where the world begins or ends, and where the church begins or ends. The world is in the church; the church is in the world.
People in the church do the same thing as people in the world. You may call it differently, but it is the same thing. No separation.
This separation has to be built in you and me. It has to be built high enough to really separate and really unite.
It is of jasper, of God. Only that which is of God separates from anything that is not of God.
So, with that wall, everything is protected forever. That is the eternal security of the saints. No fear, no night—rest, peace.
Then you find the city. The city is foursquare. You measure it, and the measurement is fifteen hundred miles in length and width. Have you ever seen a city that long—half of America? A city!
It shows the universality: how, throughout the centuries, God has brought people into one city, the New Jerusalem.
The city is made of gold, and it is a kind of gold you have never seen today, because it is crystal-like gold—transparent gold. In God, there is nothing hidden. Everything is transparent. Wonderful!
You find there are twelve gates, and these gates are twelve pearls, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now, pearls in Scripture always represent the working of the Holy Spirit, because that is how a pearl is produced: through suffering and long patience. That is the way we enter in.
They bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. So, brothers and sisters, in that eternal house of God, all the works of God throughout the centuries will be consummated and gathered together in that holy city, New Jerusalem.
Today it is the church that represents the house of God. In eternity, Israel and the church—whatever God has done in the Old Testament time and the New Testament time—will all be gathered together. Nothing is lost. God never loses any of His work. It is all there.
The foundation has twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. In other words, the Old Testament and the New Testament all come together, and they are precious stones.
You go into the city and discover that there is only one street. Think of that: such a huge city, fifteen hundred miles one way, and only one street—twelve gates, one street.
How do you picture that? We know that this description is God using something physical to give us an impression of something spiritual. Actually, you never have such a city like that; it is a spiritual reality. Only one street.
Some people think that the city is like a spiral, one street spiralling through all these twelve gates, and then you go up and up and up until you reach the top, the throne of God.
Everything leads to God. The street represents communication and fellowship. In that city, the fellowship is one—not many fellowships, but one fellowship.
That one fellowship is transparent. Now, today we are afraid to be transparent. If people can look into my mind, I will hide myself.
But at that time, everything is transparent. No hiding, no need to hide. Every fellowship comes from God and returns to God. Wonderful!
Would you like to walk on this street? It is dreadful, yes. Jacob would say it is dreadful, because everything is exposed. But it is wonderful, because this is the work of God. His grace has made this possible.
So you find the street spiralling up to the throne. God and the Lamb are the throne.
Then you find a river that comes out from the throne. Only one river—no more Yangtze River or Yellow River, just one river. It comes down out of the throne and goes through the whole city.
The river seems to be in the midst of the street, because you find one tree—not many trees, only one tree—the tree of life.
That one tree spreads over the whole city. It is in the middle of the river; it is on the two sides of the river, like an arch, you see. What a shade! What a covering!
Every month it bears another fruit. The leaves are for the healing of the nations. They represent the Holy Spirit.
In that city, it is thus full of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills all the fellowship.
God is the light. Christ is the lamp. The city is a lampstand.
So you find in Revelation 2 and 3 seven churches, seven lampstands; but the final product is one lampstand, hugely—the consummation of all the works of God.
Brothers and sisters, those who dwell there are sons of God. But at the same time, they are bondservants.
They have the name of God and of the Lamb upon their foreheads. In other words, they belong to God.
They gladly acknowledge themselves as the love slaves of God: “We will not go away. We love our Master. We love His house. We want to serve throughout our lives.”
Bondslaves, yes—but kings. Everyone is a king, and we shall reign forever under our God.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the vision that God gave us to encourage us. There is hope—to strengthen our faith and stir up our love.
We cannot wait to be there.
Blessed is the one who keeps the Word of God, for they shall inherit. How do we keep the word of prophecy? This is a word of prophecy. How do we keep it?
We believe it. We respond to it. We are willing to give ourselves to it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I hope the house of God is not merely a theory to us, a term to us. I hope that it will create such a willingness, such a love, and such a desire for it that we are willing to pay any cost—if you can call that cost—to see that God’s purpose is fulfilled.
Shall we pray?
Dear Holy Father, what Thou hast purposed in Thy heart for Thy beloved is so wonderful, so glorious. It is beyond our imagination.
O, we thank Thee for revealing it to us. We pray that it may really sink into our very being, our heart, and stir within us a love for the house of God.
Enable us to be like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: to walk on this earth as strangers and sojourners, content to live in tents, knowing that we have an eternal home, the city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Architect is God.