Will you please turn to 1 Timothy 4? We will read from verse 8 through verse 10.
For bodily exercise is profitable for a little;
but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe.
And will you please turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation—Revelation 21. We will read from verse 1 through verse 7.
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.
Then Revelation 22. We will read from verse 1 through verse 5.
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.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, as we continue in Your presence, our hearts bow in adoration. We thank Thee for Thy love that is so everlasting. We thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us, all that Thou hast provided and prepared for us.
Lord, who can tell the wonders that Thou hast performed? As we gather in Thy presence, Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt open our inner eyes, that we may really see what a marvelous work Thou hast accomplished. O Lord, draw us, that we may run after Thee. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been sharing together on spiritual exercise—how spiritual exercise will give us the promise of life. And the life here is not physical life. The life here is spiritual life, the life of Christ Jesus that God has given to us.
So, with spiritual exercise, we will have the promise of that life, not only in this age, but also in the ages to come. And this morning, we would like to share together on how spiritual exercise will bring us to New Jerusalem.
You remember Moses in Psalm 90, verse 2. He said, “From eternity to eternity, Thou art God.” Our God is the eternal God. Everything that comes out of Him has eternity in it.
And that is the reason why, when God created all things, we find in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God made all things beautiful in their season, but He put eternity in the heart of man.
In other words, when God created man, man was not created for a time or for a season. Man was created with eternity in view. God is eternal, and God created man with eternity in view.
So, brothers and sisters, this is why you find man will never be satisfied if we only live for today. Even if you lived to be a hundred years old, you would feel that you were not satisfied.
I remember when I was in college. As you entered through the entrance of that college, there was a memorial pillar there. The pillar was cut off in the middle to show that the person who lived and did so much, when he died, had not fulfilled all that he should fulfill.
And this is the sense we have. You know, when you look at the heavens and the earth, look at all these physical things, even the animals: they live for a season, not for eternity. Even this old heaven and the old earth will pass away.
A cat or a dog that you love lives just for a season. The flowers, as they blossom, live for a season, and then their aim is reached. But not with man, because God created man with eternity in their hearts.
So, brothers and sisters, we cannot just live for time—eating and drinking, for tomorrow we die. That is not God’s will. God wants every one of us to enjoy life in eternity to come.
We have already mentioned that before God created anything, in eternity past, God had a purpose. He never did anything by chance. Before time, He had conceived a purpose. We call it the eternal purpose of God, and that purpose is concerning His beloved Son and, with His Son and in His Son, man.
Time is used by God to perform that which He purposed in eternity past. And when you come to time, you find in the Bible that there is this age, which is the age of grace; there is the age to come, which is the millennium, the kingdom age; and then there are the ages of ages, which is eternity to come.
So this morning, we would like to talk about how spiritual exercise has its relationship with eternity to come.
You know, brothers and sisters, when we look at ourselves, are you satisfied with yourself? When you look around you, are you satisfied with what you have seen?
In the Bible, we find the Lord said He will have a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. You find that in Ephesians 5. But, brothers and sisters, as you look at the church today, can you see that the glorious church is coming?
Maybe what you see is just the opposite. The more you look at yourself, the more you are dissatisfied. The more you look around, the more you are unsatisfied. The more you look at the church, the more you feel the church is not a glorious church. Rather, you find it is so inglorious, or even shameful.
But thank God: men may fail, but God never fails. So that is the reason why we find God gave us the final, the last revelation.
You know, Revelation 21 and 22 is the last revelation that God has given to us. He shows us that, in spite of our failures and in spite of our weaknesses, He is able to finish what He purposed before time eternal, before time began, in eternity past.
God never fails. I believe the reason why the Lord showed us this last revelation of the New Jerusalem in eternity to come is to encourage us—to show us that, in spite of all our weaknesses, He is able to get what He has purposed from the very beginning. And sure enough, He will have it.
And He is using time to accomplish what He has in His mind.
You know, when you look at Revelation 21 and 22, there is a new heaven and a new earth. All things have passed away, and there is the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven upon this new earth.
Now, oftentimes, we think of this in a physical sense. In other words, you find hymns being sung about how we all enter into pearly gates and how we are walking on golden streets. And our brother Len said we will be there playing harps all the day.
You know, we are all too physical, too material in nature. But here you find God is revealing something to us which is spiritual reality. And when you come to spiritual reality, it is more than physical and material. It is heavenly and spiritual.
How can you imagine a city to be the bride of the Lamb? That is physically impossible. So, brothers and sisters, we are not trying to spiritualize things, but we have to know that when you come to spiritual reality, it is more than physical and material. It has to be heavenly and spiritual.
Because what you can see is temporary, but what you do not see, which can only be seen by the eyes of faith, is eternal.
In this last revelation, this last vision that God has given to us, we see a holy city, New Jerusalem, and it is to be the bride for the Lamb.
You know, you look at this wonderful city, and what is the spiritual impression that it gives you? I think the impression it gives you is a union. It is the union of that New Jerusalem to the Lamb.
And is that not the purpose of God? God’s purpose is that we may be united with Christ. So that is why, when you first open the Bible, you find in Genesis there is a marriage.
After God had created man, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone. Let Us make him a help meet for him.” And how we remember God put Adam to sleep and made the first surgical operation.
Out of his side, God took out something. Now, some Bibles say a rib, but in the original it is just something out of man. And from that something out of man, God built a woman. God led that woman to the man, and they became one flesh—a marriage.
And here you find, at the end of the Bible, another marriage. It is the marriage of a city, New Jerusalem, to the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, union with God is a term that we probably have heard quite often. You know, with the mystics, their aim is union with God.
You remember Madame Guyon, how she described this. She said, “We are like a drop of water, and this drop of water gradually flows until it flows into the ocean. And when it reaches the ocean, it disappears in the ocean.” Why? Because it becomes one with the ocean.
Do you see anything wrong there?
Union with God is the aspiration of people. But when you are really talking about union with God in the sense that the mystics are talking about, there is a flaw there.
Why? Because it either will reach to pantheism—that is to say, everything is God, and God is everything. That is pantheism. And if it is not pantheism, then you go to the other error, and the error is the deification of man.
Because in union with God, you become part of God; you become God. Deification of man. And that has been taught in Christianity.
But, dear brothers and sisters, what you see here and what the Bible really teaches is union with God in Christ Jesus. In other words, yes, we are united to God in life, and that is the life of our Lord Jesus.
So here you find this New Jerusalem in union, married to the Lamb—the Lamb of God. And because she is married to the Lamb, she is in union with God, because the Lamb is God.
So we need to be very clear upon this point; otherwise, we will be led into heresy. Thank God, we ought to be in union with Him, but this union is through Christ Jesus. Or, to speak it more accurately, we are united with Christ, and through that union, we are united to God.
When you look at this city, the New Jerusalem, you find it is a huge city. Why? Because, if you read Revelation 21:15-17:
And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal.
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
Now, this city is a cube. Why? Because you find its width and length and height are equal. Now, do you remember that in Old Testament times, what building was a cube? The holiest of all.
In the temple, you find the holiest of all, and then the holy place, and then the court. But the holiest of all is a cube. Its width, its length, and its height are equal.
And can you imagine that city is a cube? You think of its length; you think of its breadth; and, more marvelous, you think of its height. They are all equal. And how much is it? He says, twelve thousand stadia.
Now, you find in the Bible that sixty stadia is about seven English miles, and twelve thousand stadia is about fourteen hundred miles. Now, did you ever see a city that is fourteen hundred miles in length, fourteen hundred miles in width, and fourteen hundred miles in height? You never see such a thing.
So it cannot be physical. It gives us a spiritual impression, and the spiritual impression is the immensity of it. That is the work of God. Whatever God has done, it is immense.
We find the length and width and height of the love of God are beyond understanding. So what it shows us here, what impression it tries to impress upon us, is the immensity of the love of God.
It is through His tremendous love that we are being brought into this place.
And the wall, of course, is a hundred and forty-four cubits. Everything is a multiple of twelve, because twelve in the Scripture represents perfection, a complete number.
And then, when you look at this city that comes down out of heaven, what do you see? You see glory. The glory of God fills the city.
The wall is made of jasper. And jasper stone—if you read Revelation 4—you will find the One who sits upon the throne is like a jasper. In other words, it is the glory of God.
The whole city is a city of glory, and it is the glory of God. And that is what the Scripture says: a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. God can do it. You know, men may fail, but God never fails.
So it is full of glory, and glory is the manifestation of God. You know, when we are manifested, you do not see glory; you see shame. But when God is manifested, you see glory.
Every time in the Scripture, when God is revealed, when God is manifested, you see glory. So, brothers and sisters, one day we will be delivered out of all the shame of our flesh, and we will truly be conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
And when that day comes, it is all glory—nothing of ourselves, but everything of God.
Then you find there is a measuring rod. You know, in the Bible, oftentimes you see this measuring reed. Why? Because everything has to be measured, and measured to its fullness.
And what is the measurement that God would use in measuring us, in measuring His church, and in measuring everything? God has only one standard, and that standard is His beloved Son.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find God will use His Son to measure everything, to see whether we measure up or not. And whatever does not meet that measure will be cast away, and only that which is measured according to Christ will last forevermore.
Brothers and sisters, are we building the house of God, or building ourselves before God, with wood, stubble, and hay? Or are we building with gold, silver, and precious stones?
Today, you cannot see it. On the contrary, what you see is wood, stubble, and hay, because they are cheap. You can build a very big building with these things. But gold, silver, and precious stones are costly.
You cannot see it. It is tiny; it is small, because these are the days of small things. Do not be attracted by those that are big. You know, we want everything big—mega, mega church.
But, brothers and sisters, what God is looking for is what is of Him: gold, silver, and precious stones. But then the day shall come when the glorious church has no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. It is just full of His glory.
And then you notice that this city has twelve gates, and the twelve gates—every gate is a pearl. Now, have you seen such a big pearl yet, that you can walk into that gate?
And the names of the twelve gates are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And then you have twelve foundations to the wall, the twelve foundations of precious stones.
Now, what is the spiritual impression that you get? The spiritual impression is that the day shall come when God will gather together all His work, both in Old Testament times and in New Testament times.
All the redeemed of the Lord, both under the old covenant and also under the new covenant, God will sum up all things in Christ Jesus.
It is the summing up of all the works of God throughout time, whether it is in Old Testament times or in New Testament times. God will sum up; nothing will be lost.
It is just like when our Lord Jesus performed the miracle of five loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand people. And after all were satisfied, He gathered up all the pieces and bits, and they filled twelve baskets. Now, that is what it is.
Nothing that God has done is ever lost. It is there. And if you look at the opposite, what is not out of God, what is not of Him, what is not through Him, what is not for Him, will be cast out.
Then, when you look closely, there is something that is very strange: you find there is no temple.
Now, in Old Testament times, you find the temple is the most important thing. Because when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Sinai, God covenanted with them to make them His people. And God wanted to dwell among them.
But in spite of being delivered out of Egypt, they were still not a holy people. And God is holy, so He could not dwell directly in their midst. So what He did was ask them to build Him a tabernacle, and through the tabernacle He would live among His people.
And you remember when our Lord Jesus came into this earth. When He began His ministry, He cleansed the temple. When He ended His ministry, He cleansed the temple the second time, because He found that the temple had become worse.
When He cleansed it the first time, He said, “Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” But when He cleansed it a second time, He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye make it a den of robbers.”
And the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And He pointed to His own body. So, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He was the temple of God, because God dwelt in Him and He dwelt in God.
And that is what the church ought to be. The church ought to be the temple of God. The whole city is a temple.
You do not find the holiest place, the holy place, and the outer court anymore. You find the whole place is the temple. God is the temple. So far as we are concerned, He is the temple. So far as He is concerned, we are the temple.
Is that not marvelous, that there is such a dwelling together in unity? But do not forget: even though there is no temple, what do you find there? You find the throne of God and the Lamb, and it is in the center of this city.
We may be united with God in Christ Jesus, but, brothers and sisters, the authority of God is still upon us.
You know, sometimes we say familiarity breeds contempt. We think we are so close to God that we disregard His authority. But you find He is the supreme authority, because at that time, in that city, there is no resistance to His authority. His authority is supreme there.
You know, it is very strange when you look at that huge city: it has only one street. Now, people try to figure out physically how one street throughout the whole city can touch every gate, touch everywhere.
Well, they say it is a spiral. One street spirals farther, higher, and higher until it touches the summit where the throne of God is. But we are not thinking in terms of the physical; we are thinking in terms of the spiritual. What does it mean—only one street?
Street is the place where people walk, having fellowship. So street in the Scripture speaks of fellowship. There is only one fellowship.
Now, today we have this fellowship and that fellowship and fellowships of all kinds, and how we are all divided. But according to the Scripture, there is only one fellowship. It is the fellowship of the Son of God.
It is the fellowship of our Lord Jesus with His Father in the Spirit, and it has been extended to all those who are His. And here you find one street, one fellowship.
But the wonderful thing is that the street is gold. Have you ever seen gold that is transparent? You do not have it on this earth, but this is transparent gold as crystal.
Everything is reflected. You cannot hide anything. In other words, the fellowship is so open that there is nothing hidden.
People say, “Walk on the golden street.” Now it reflects all that is in your mind. Do you dare to walk on that street? You dare not.
But one day that becomes a fact—that we can all walk on that transparent golden street. As it were, our fellowship is without any shadow or shade. It is a fellowship like the fellowship of the Father and of the Son. Is that not marvelous?
One street. And then you find there is one river, the river of life, and it flows through the whole city.
And there is one tree of life. But this one tree of life spreads not only in the midst of the river, but on two sides of the river and all over the city. It is a garden city.
And every month there is fruit of life, the fruit of the Spirit of God. And the leaves are for the healing of the nations. In other words, you find fullness of life, enjoying life itself.
Brothers and sisters, do you want to be there?
It is true. It is God’s will that we will all be there. Everyone who is saved will be there.
But you remember, even before that time comes, God is preparing every one of us to be there. Every day you live, every moment you live, God is preparing you for that day.
He has sufficient grace. He has given us enough provision for us to be there, because His salvation is full. He is to sanctify not only our spirit, but also our soul and even our body.
But there is one thing He requires: He wants us to respond to Him. And that is a principle God always keeps.
Even with this matter of getting saved, you know what our Lord Jesus has done on Calvary’s cross is enough to save everyone that is born into this world. But unfortunately, not everyone born into this world is saved. Why? Because they do not believe; they reject Him.
And in rejecting Him, you have to suffer for your own sins. Because only by receiving Him, by the blood that He has shed for you, do you have remission of sins. You are delivered from eternal death.
But if you reject the Lord Jesus, your sin is still with you, and you have to pay the wages of sin, which is death—eternal death. You will be outside of New Jerusalem. You cannot be in New Jerusalem.
And the same thing is true with us who have believed. Thank God, we have believed. We are saved according to the will of God, and God’s will never changes. Once you are saved, you are forever saved, and you will be saved to the uttermost.
Whom He has foreknown, He has foreordained to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son. But there is a process: whom He has called, He has justified; whom He has justified, He has glorified.
In other words, unless you are being glorified, you will not be able to fully enjoy that eternal life in eternity.
So the Bible shows us how we need to respond. We have a responsibility, and that is spiritual exercise.
He has given us life. He has given us spirit. He has given us the Holy Spirit, who is in us, to bring us into glory. But we have to respond. We have to agree. We have to receive what the Holy Spirit has spoken to us.
And if we exercise our spirit, by the grace of God, we will reach there. And that is why we mentioned last time about the kingdom.
You know, people today say, “Once saved, forever saved.” In other words, you skip the age to come. But there is the age to come, the kingdom age, and the kingdom age is for those who have overcome.
But if you do not overcome today, what will happen? Now, you find in the Bible the Lord does not want us to have a negative mind. You know, our mind is very negative.
We say, “Well, if I do not respond to the Holy Spirit today, if I do not exercise my spirit today, if I still live in my own flesh and live in my own way, I will not be in heaven at all. I will not be in New Jerusalem at all.”
No, you will be in New Jerusalem, but you have to go through discipline during the kingdom age. If we are not disciplined today, He has to discipline us in the age to come.
So that is why the Bible says, just like the five foolish virgins, they have the lamps with the oil. They are all saved, but they do not have extra oil. They are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
And when the marriage comes, when the bridegroom comes, they cannot get in through the door. They are left in outer darkness.
Then you find the foolish, wicked servant. He even has his body cut in two. In other words, he will suffer discipline during the kingdom age. And God uses the kingdom age to discipline those believers who have not received discipline.
You cannot grow up into maturity without being disciplined. A child will never become a man if he does not receive any discipline. Discipline is necessary.
And, brothers and sisters, we are not able to avoid discipline. You may think you can avoid it, perhaps within a hundred years; but in a thousand years, you will regret it.
Why? Because God is positive. He wants everyone who is saved to be saved to the uttermost, that one day you will be counted in the New Jerusalem.
And, brothers and sisters, even our service: we are saved to serve Him. But if we are not faithful in our service today, just like the one with one talent, he buried his talent. He did not serve as he should.
In that thousand years, he will regret it. He will be disciplined. So when you come to New Jerusalem, what do you see? That we are all sons of God, but at the same time, we are all servants of God.
And our real service begins in eternity. So, in a sense, you find that our service today is just probationary. Our real service is in eternity, and on that day we will serve Him according to His will. And what a service it will be.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I believe the Lord gave us this last vision in order that we may be encouraged, or we may be warned.
And you know, the apostle John, he knew the Lord so much. But in the book of Revelation, you find twice he did something foolish: he worshiped the angel who showed him the vision.
Why? He was so surprised. It was beyond him. And in such surprise, he forgot himself and worshiped the angel, lost in wonder, as it were.
Now, brothers and sisters, are we lost in wonder? Do we think too little of what God has purposed for us, too little of what God has prepared for us?
Oh, if we really see it, brothers and sisters, I wonder whether we would do the same thing as John did. Too marvelous. It should catch our hearts.
So, brothers and sisters, the Lord gave us this last vision, New Jerusalem, and may that vision catch every heart.
Just like the hymn we sing, we look for that city. But today we are pilgrims. We are willing to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him, because we do not live for time; we live for eternity.
So may the Lord help us.