Scripture Reading: John 17:1-2, 11, 17, 21-23; Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11, 22; 22:1-2a
Ⅰ
The oneness in the Bible is an all-inclusive oneness for the expression of God as the mystery of godliness to carry out the desire of God's heart, and division is an all-inclusive division for the expression of Satan as the mystery of lawlessness to carry out the scheme of Satan's plot—John 17:11, 21, 23; 1 Tim. 3:15-16a; 2 Thes. 2:3, 7-8; 1 John 3:4; cf. 2 Cor. 2:10-11:
A
The oneness of the Triune God, which is the oneness of the Body of Christ, includes all that Christ is to us in and for God's economy; the practice of this oneness, the one accord, is the master key to every blessing in the New Tes- tament—Psa. 133; Eph. 4:1-6; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 1:9-10; Phil. 1:27; 2:2.
B
The division of Satan, which is the division of Babylon the Great, includes every negative thing and is like a great tree deeply rooted and settled in the earth, flourishing with its branches in which Satan's evil spirits with the evil persons and things motivated by him are lodged—Matt. 13:31-32, 4, 19; Gen. 11:1-9; Rev. 17:1-6; 18:2; John 17:15.
C
The main symptom of Satan and his world is “the evil” of division (v. 15); the main attribute of the Triune God and His dwelling place is “the blessing” of one- ness (Psa. 133:3; cf. Gen. 12:2; Gal. 3:14).
D
Day by day we have to move out of ourselves with “the evil” of division and into the divine “Us,” the Triune God as the blessing of oneness, and we have to remain in Him for His corporate expression; if we continually touch the Word and allow the Spirit to touch us day by day, we will be sanctified by moving out of ourselves, our old lodging place, and into the Triune God, our new lodging place—John 17:15, 17, 21; 15:5; Eph. 5:26.
Ⅱ
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the glorification of the Triune God as the oneness of the believers built into the Triune God—vv. 1-2, 11, 21, 23:
A
The New Jerusalem is the Triune God wrought into His redeemed people for His complete expression; through the holy city the Son will be fully expressed in glory, and God will also be glorified in Him for eternity—Rev. 21:10-11, 23-24.
B
The New Jerusalem is the Triune God mingled with His believers as the ultimate and all-inclusive oneness of the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man—vv. 3, 22.
C
The New Jerusalem will be the complete glorification of the Son in which the Father will be glorified—John 17:1-2; Rev. 4:3; 21:10-11:
１
In the New Jerusalem the life of the Father is flowing, and everyone is built up in the Triune God, fully separated from the world and sanctified unto the Triune God to live in the Triune God—22:1-2a; 21:10.
２
In the New Jerusalem all are in the glory; that is, they are glorified to be the expression and manifestation of the Triune God—vv. 11, 23; 22:5.
Ⅲ
To live out the New Jerusalem, which is to become the New Jerusalem, and to work out the New Jerusalem, which is to build the New Jerusalem, are the highest point and ultimate goal of our living and work—21:2, 10:
A
Our living, conduct, and work must be examined according to the New Jeru- salem as the ultimate consummation of God's habitation—Ezek. 43:10-12.
B
All that we are and do must be measured and tested by God's house, the church, which is fully manifested as the New Jerusalem—1 Tim. 3:15; 4:12.
Ⅳ
We must live out and work out the New Jerusalem, the city of life, as the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the building up of the believers into one in the Father's name by the eternal life—vv. 6-13:
A
To be kept in the Father's name is to be kept by His life, because only those who are born of the Father and have the Father's life can participate in the Father's name—v. 11.
B
The Father has the divine life for begetting, propagating, multiplying, and bring- ing forth many sons to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem, the aggregate of the divine sonship, for the corporate expression of God the Father; if the Father's children allow their mentality to overcome and overshadow their inner life, they will be divided, but the life of the Father unites us and keeps us in oneness—Rev. 21:7; Eph. 1:4-5; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11, 23.
C
In the New Jerusalem there is only one throne, with one flow of life, one tree of life, and one street of life—Rev. 22:1-2a:
１
The divine life flowing out of the throne of God and in the divine nature is the unique way for the daily life of God's redeemed people so that they may walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit and be as new as the New Jerusalem—John 10:10; 6:63; Rom. 8:6; 2 Pet. 1:4; Rom. 6:4; 7:6.
２
The divine and human communication, signified by the street, proceeds from the throne to reach all twelve gates of the city in order to bring the entire city into submission to the one divine administration and to blend the en- tire city into the oneness of the one divinity-mingled-with-humanity com- munication (fellowship)—Rev. 21:21b; 1 John 1:3.
Ⅴ
We must live out and work out the New Jerusalem, the holy city, as the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the building up of the believers into one in the Triune God through sanctification by the holy word—vv. 14-21:
A
God's living word works in the believers to separate them from the world and its occupation unto God and His purpose and also to saturate them with God as the Holy One to make them the holy city, the corporate and ultimate Holy of Holies as the reality of Zion—1 Thes. 5:23; Eph. 5:26; Rev. 21:10, 16.
B
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God”—Matt. 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3:
１
To live by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is to live by Christ, the embodiment of the divine breath—2 Tim. 3:16; John 20:22.
２
Our reading of the Bible should be our inhaling of God to receive life, and our teaching of the Bible should be our exhaling of God to impart life; we need to read the Bible by means of all prayer and petition in the spirit to inhale God and minister the word as the Spirit to exhale God into others—Eph. 6:17-18a; Acts 6:4, 10; 2 Cor. 3:6.
Ⅵ
We must live out and work out the New Jerusalem, the city of glory, as the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the building up of the believers into one in the divine glory for the expression of the Triune God—vv. 22-24:
A
The Son gave to the believers the glory which the Father has given to Him so that they might have the sonship with the Father's life and divine nature to express the Father in the Son in His fullness—vv. 22, 2; 2 Pet. 1:4; John 1:16.
B
If we would be one in the divine glory, we must deny ourselves with our life and our nature for the expression of ourselves, and we must live by the divine life and the divine nature for the expression of God; in the expression of ourselves there is division, but in the expression of God there is oneness.
C
Different expressions that produce divisions come from different opinions, and different opinions come from different teachings; therefore, in order to forsake the different expressions, we need to forsake the different teachings and con- tinue steadfastly in the unique teaching of God's economy—1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3-4; Titus 1:9; Acts 2:42.
D
Christ's love makes the believers His martyrs so that God may be glorified— John 21:19; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Rom. 14:7-9; Rev. 2:10; 12:11; Rom. 8:35-37.
E
When the believers follow the Lord to deny themselves and lose their soul-life by the death of the cross, the church is produced, the Father is glorified, and Satan is expelled—John 12:23-33.
F
God is glorified in Christ and in the church—Eph. 3:21.
G
When the believers express God in their behavior, God is glorified—Matt. 5:16; Isa. 43:7; Phil. 1:20; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31.
H
When the believers as the branches bear much fruit, the Father is glorified—John 15:8.
I
The believers who suffer with Christ in this age will be glorified in the kingdom age; that is, they will reign with Him as co-kings—Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12a; Rev. 20:4, 6.
J
Eventually, all of God's chosen people will participate in the glory of the New Jerusalem; that is, they will be glorified with the glory of God for eternity— 21:11.