God’s City is Composed of Divinity + Humanity
God’s New Testament tabernacle is a living building. The Old Testament tabernacle was merely “a figure of the true” (Heb. 9:24). Every aspect of the Old Testament tabernacle is a portrait of a New Testament reality. “Grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17).
The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God is built with humanity and divinity combined together as typified by the acacia wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 26:15, 29)….The standing boards in the tabernacle were made of acacia wood, which is hard, strong, and fine wood, overlaid with gold. The wood and the gold were combined together to be one entity—the standing boards. Gold always signifies God’s divinity, and wood signifies man’s humanity. This shows clearly that Christ as the tabernacle is composed with His divinity plus His humanity. He is the God-man in whom humanity and divinity are combined together.*
Jesus Christ is the first God-Man, divinity mingled with humanity. Now all His believers are humans mingled with the divine nature (but not with the Godhead). We are partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This combination of humanity with divinity qualifies and supplies us to be built into the Body of Christ now, which enlarges to become New Jerusalem.
This building is a matter of life. We grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things (Eph. 4:15) and Christ grows in us to be formed in us (Gal. 4:19). This is our path to New Jerusalem.
* From chapter 27, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.
Posted by Don on November 28, 2022
