Walk According to the Spirit unto New Jerusalem
The twelve gates are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev. 21:12), who were the representatives of the law of the Old Testament, signifying the requirement of the law at the entrance into the kingdom of God. …Therefore, the names of the twelve tribes inscribed on the twelve gates indicate that the law is watching over the twelve gates. With the law there is nothing that supplies or nourishes. The law only requires something of us….The law is the gate watcher, or the guard at the gate, to ensure that you have fulfilled its requirement.*
The law is guarding the gates of New Jerusalem, but we should not be worried by this. Romans 8:3b-4 assures us, “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”
Our repenting for the kingdom of God and believing into Jesus Christ are our first step into New Jerusalem. Then we do not continue by our own effort; we do not make a resolution to behave properly. That will not work as Galatians 3:1-3 makes clear to us.
New Jerusalem is a city of life and life is of the Spirit. The way to fully enter the city is to fulfill the requirements of the law by living, walking, conducting our daily affairs “according to the spirit.”
* From chapter 35, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.
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Posted by Don on March 13, 2023
