New Jerusalem is the Living Tabernacle of God
“The Word was God….And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:1b, 14a)
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them.” (Rev. 21:3a)
Revelation 21:3 is the speaking of a loud voice from the throne about New Jerusalem. The tabernacle of God here is God Himself, not a thing, because the next phrase of the sentence says “He [God] will tabernacle.”
Revelation also tells us that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God (21:3a). In the New Testament the tabernacle is first Christ and then Christ enlarged. John 1:14 tells us that the Word who became flesh tabernacled among us. When Jesus Christ was incarnated, He was a tabernacle. The tabernacle in the Old Testament was a material building, but the tabernacle in the New Testament is a person. Furthermore, the temple in the Old Testament was a material building, but in John 2 the Lord Jesus indicated that He Himself is the temple (vv. 19-21). The temple is now a person in the New Testament.*
The quote above speaks of Christ enlarged. This matches the word of John the Baptist in John 3:30, “He must increase.” John did not say that Christ’s followers must increase in number but that Christ Himself “must increase.” This increase is the bride of Christ (v. 29) which ultimately is New Jerusalem.
This matches 1 Corinthians 12:13 which says “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body.” This is the spiritual, enlarged Body of Christ with all of us as His members which eventually becomes New Jerusalem. In chapter 12 our physical body, with many members, is a picture of the enlarged Christ.
Just as our physical body has grown in life as one unit, so also New Jerusalem grows. Christ’s enlargement begins with His believers being born of the Spirit and baptized in one Spirit and grows with Him as their life.
* From chapter 27, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.
Posted by Don on November 23, 2022
