Remain in the Death of Christ to Receive More of His Life for a Fuller Entrance into New Jerusalem
The quote below says, “the more we are made pearls, the more we are in the New Jerusalem.” We are made pearls by staying in the death of Christ so that His resurrection life can be added into us, can grow in us.
Romans 6 has us in the death of Christ and in the newness of His resurrection life. Romans 7 adds the newness of Spirit. “The Spirit gives life” (John 6:63). This newness is continually new—it includes a mutual growth. We grow up into Christ in all things (Eph. 4:15) and He grows in us. We grow into New Jerusalem.
The pearls are the gates, and this point of the allegory means that the more we are made pearls, the more we are in the New Jerusalem. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were regenerated, and this was the initiation of our entering into the New Jerusalem….As we stay in the Lord’s death and enjoy His life-secreting resurrection, there is a further entering into the New Jerusalem. Our experience of the Lord’s death and resurrection becomes our entry into the New Jerusalem. We can enjoy being in the New Jerusalem to a great extent by staying in the death of Christ to enjoy His secretion of Himself as the resurrection life-sap around us.
As we are experiencing this further entering into New Jerusalem we participate in the present building up of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 says that the Head, Christ, gave gifts to His Body. The function of these gifted members of His Bodys is “for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.”
The more that resurrection life flows to and through us, the more we are perfected for the building up and the more we enter New Jerusalem.
* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.
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Posted by Don on February 3, 2023
Remain in the Death of Christ to Receive More of His Life for a Fuller Entrance into New Jerusalem
