I. THE NEW JERUSALEM BEING
THE CITY WITH FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD AND FOR WHICH
THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS SUCH AS ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB EAGERLY WAITED
Now we want to consider what the New Jerusalem is. The New Jerusalem is the city with foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God and for which the Old Testament saints such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob eagerly waited. Hebrews 11:10 tells us this. This was the reason Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents. They did not desire to live in a city in their age because they eagerly waited for the city to come, the New Jerusalem.
In Hebrews 12:22 we are told that we, the New Testament believers, are coming forward to that heavenly city, the heavenly Jerusalem. This shows us that there is something called the heavenly Jerusalem which is already in existence. Some teach that today there is no New Jerusalem. This is wrong. The Bible does not tell us that the New Jerusalem will come but that it will come down (Rev. 21:2). It was there already, but it will come down and be removed from heaven to the earth.
The Architect is God. God designed it and built it. Of course, we know that God does not build it directly. He builds it first through Christ as the Head indirectly. Then Christ gave many gifts to His Body to perfect every member of the Body. Then every member of the Body functions to do the direct building work. This is God’s building work in totality. The Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were waiting for this built-up city.
II. THE JERUSALEM ABOVE, THE MOTHER
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS
Galatians 4:26 says that the Jerusalem above is the mother of the New Testament believers. The Jerusalem beneath on this earth is a sign of the one above, and the one above is our mother. We are the children of the Jerusalem above. Thus, before we came into existence, she was there as our mother. Before we were born, our mother existed already.
III. THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM,
THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, TO WHICH
THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS COME FORWARD
As we have already mentioned, the New Testament believers come forward to something which is already in existence. They come forward to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22). This strongly proves that the New Jerusalem is now existing in the universe.
(The Move of God in Man, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee)
