Conformed to Christ for God’s Expression
Man was created by God for His purpose which is accomplished by His life growing in man and being expressed through man. Although man fell into sin and death, God in Christ redeemed man to impart His life into His chosen people. Through the ages this brings forth New Jerusalem as God’s consummate expression.
The number four refers to God’s creation. In [Revelation] 4:6 we see that the four living creatures represent all other living creatures (cf. Ezek. 1:5-14). Four refers to us as God’s creatures, and three refers to the Triune God. The number twelve in the New Jerusalem is not arrived at by addition but by multiplication. Multiplication is a blending, or a mingling. The number twelve is mingled, or blended, by three times four. This means that the entire New Jerusalem is a blending, a mingling, of the Triune God with us human beings.*
In the Bible the number twelve indicates eternal perfection. New Jerusalem is God’s goal and whatever God does is eventually complete and perfect, matching God’s nature.
God’s mingling with man begins with regeneration, “that which is born of the Spirit is [our human] spirit” (John 3:6b). It continues with the Spirit’s renewing work in us that we may “be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). This conformation is not merely outward appearance but includes all the Son’s virtues lived out through us. This mingling concludes when we are “conformed to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21).
God in the Son in us and fully lived out from us is the expression of New Jerusalem.
* Life-Study of the New Testament, Conclusion Messages: The Church, the Kingdom, and the New Jerusalem, message 259, p. 2708, by Witness Lee. Published 1998 and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California.
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Posted by Don on November 29, 2024
https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/11/29/conformed-to-christ-for-gods-expression/
