THE HEAVENLY CITY
[p. 268] THE HEAVENLY CITY
Revelation 21:9 - 27; Revelation 22:1 - 7
JT It has been suggested that we might look at the church as the heavenly city. I should like to take it up in its bearing upon us now, not merely as it will be in the future.
For those who were not here this afternoon it may be well to say that sonship was the subject before us, and the subject of the heavenly city was suggested as suitable to follow on. There can be no question that sonship is connected with the city. The gospel of Matthew is intended to show that what existed before in connection with an earthly system is now connected with what is heavenly.
In Mark we get service taken up in the Son. “The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark 1:1. Everything that has been connected with man in the flesh is now taken up and connected with the Son. In Matthew’s gospel we get what illustrates how things which were formerly connected with an earthly system are now connected with what is heavenly. Up to chapter 17 sonship is developed. The Spirit shows how the divine thread is taken up. Sonship is taken up in Christ; it was indicated in Israel, “Out of Egypt have I called my son”, Matthew 2:15. In chapter 3 He is proclaimed from heaven as such; “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17) and in chapter 17 He is owned from heaven on the mount of transfiguration as Son. Moses and Elias did not speak as sons, but now the Son is here. So the speaking now is to be in the Son, and hence the character of the message — “Hear ye him”, Matthew 17:5. Then you get the Lord associating others with Himself as sons. He says to Peter, “that take, and give unto them for me and thee”, Matthew 17:27. “Then are the sons free”, Matthew 17:26. Then in chapter 18, you get [p. 269] that the sons form the assembly, and that is the present aspect of the city. There you get the transference of what was connected with earth to what is heavenly. I do not connect chapter 16 with the truth of sonship as in relation to us. There Christ is the “Son of the living God”, Matthew 16:16. But what I have before me now is sonship in connection with our coming into liberty.
ASL How do you distinguish between life and liberty?
JT The Spirit of sonship has to be taken account of in both aspects, liberty and life. The “Son of the living God” is in contrast to all that went before; the legal system was characterised by death, so nothing subsisted. In Christ things subsist, and everything is established in Christ. The resurrection is the great evidence of God’s power, but liberty comes from heaven.
PRM We are never sons as He is Son. We are sons by adoption.
JT Quite so. In Matthew that is carefully guarded. I only refer to that to bring it home in a practical way. To have to say to the things of God we must know liberty. Christ took up the will of God, not as a legal obligation, but in the consciousness of sonship, in the liberty of affection. The things of God must be taken up in that way. The gospel of Mark is beautiful. Everything there is done suitably. Divine service is carried out perfectly. Christ’s heart was in everything He did.
HT “The Father seeketh such to worship him”, John 4:23. “To serve the living God”, Hebrews 9:14. Is it not service in the sense of worship?
JT I was thinking of Matthew 18 as showing what corresponds on earth to what is above. Jerusalem above has what answers to it on earth. Ananias in Acts 9 is brought into accord with heaven in regard of what was upon earth. The principles [p. 270] of the heavenly city now are what is before us. The heavenly city comes down from God out of heaven. She is marked by liberty. She is not sent down; she comes down. The Lord says: “I ascend”, John 20:17. He is in liberty. I admit it is in virtue of His Person that He ascends, but there is also the idea of liberty, and the heavenly city is in liberty; she “comes down”, Revelation 3:12. So in the city we get sonship; she comes down from God out of heaven. She is in liberty, the liberty of sonship. The formative work is going on now; that is to say, the residents of that city are in view now. In 2 Corinthians we get some idea of the character of the inhabitants of the city. Our present condition, our present abode, is referred to as a tabernacle, “our earthly tabernacle house”; whereas the building from God is “eternal in the heavens”, 2 Corinthians 5:1. The residence in the “walled city” is eternal; that which you never lose.
Ques In what way can we view the saints at the present day as a city?
JT In the Acts the assembly as built up by the apostles became the centre of all divine operations. Jerusalem was the centre from which everything had proceeded; but from chapter 9 you get a turning-point; from that point everything begins from heaven, and everything is directed from heaven.
PRM Why does Paul’s name not come into the foundation of the heavenly city?
JT The inward work was what Paul had to do with. Her shining with the glory of God is the result of Paul’s work. “For the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 4:6. The light of the glory of God in that passage is a question of what shines in the face of Jesus Christ. The Son only could make the covenant effective. The glory in 2 Corinthians 4 is that the covenant was made effective, but the Son only could do that.
[p. 271] When Paul saw the turning point, that all is directed from heaven, he preached that Jesus is the Son of God. That makes it universal. The full effect of the gospel is to form the heavenly city. Divine administration is to be carried on here on earth, and for that we must be in sonship, so that we may handle things in the dignity and liberty of sonship. It is a great thing to have things taken up in the light and liberty of sonship.
The assembly superseded Jerusalem upon earth. Barnabas was a good man and he rejoiced in the work of God going on outside Jerusalem, and he went and sought out Paul, as much as to say, he is the man who has the light for the moment. Then you get the results of the apostle’s ministry in Ephesus, “fellow-citizens of the saints”, Ephesians 2:19. There you get the city, and every thought of God is gathered up and established in the structure brought about by Paul’s ministry. When saints are brought into the good of sonship the administration is what is before them. Sonship is what prepares for divine administration.
Ques What is the “temple”?
JT It is where the light of God is maintained. The light which came into Paul’s soul was Christ as God’s Son; “to reveal his Son in me”, Galatians 1:16. That was the light which shines in Christ as Son; but the element of authority was necessary because Paul was rebellious. In Acts 9 the lordship of Christ is asserted, but when Paul spoke of Him, he spoke of Him as the “Son of God”. “He preached Jesus that he is the Son of God”, Acts 9:20.
McK. What do you preach?
JT It is easy to preach when you love the Person of whom you preach. It is a wonderful moment when you confess Him as the Son of God. He will take you up then; He can use you then.
EHC Peter had the revelation of Christ [p. 272] as the Son of the living God, but he preached Him as Lord and Christ. Paul knew Him as Lord, but He preached Him as the Son of God.
JT Peter did what he was called to. He had to administer the kingdom and so he had to announce the King; at least, Christ as Lord.
WJ Behind all true administration is sonship.
JT That is most important. If we do not get hold of that we shall not understand the gospels.
S What is the administration in view of?
JT It is for the will of God, and all rule is in view of that. The Son has taken up the kingdom; all administration is in His hand. The Father is the sovereign Ruler, and He hath given all things into His hand; everything now centres in Christ and the “babes”. See Matthew 11:25 - 27. The administration is positive. The gift of the Spirit is administration.
ASL The formative work is going on now.
JT The light of sonship and the city is to form us for that administration. It is all the exercises that go on in this scene. I think the exercise is connected with the twenty-four elders. They were elders, they had experience. In taking up the obligations that belong to our position here as connected with the testimony the exercises we go through help to form us. If we go on with the work of administration here we shall not find it a strange work by-and-by. The twenty-four elders are in sympathy with the throne; so, too, are the living creatures. I think the latter represent what God secured for Himself in creation; the elders represent intelligent sympathy as the effect of exercise and experience. The elders are experienced; they represent all the exercise in connection with the testimony all the way down from Abel. The disciples were put into the place of administration. He sets us, too, to do things; the work is really His, but He [p. 273] gives us help with it, like a father who sets his son to do something, and he comes and gives a hand to it, but it is his son who is doing it.
Ques What is administration? Is it in connection with the world or with the saints?
JT Well, we are to be beneficent towards the world. Forgiveness is to mark us, and what is done on earth is ratified in heaven. All divine operations on earth are centred in the assembly. Read the Acts and you will see that. “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”, Acts 13:2. There is no difference in principle between administration now and in the future. There will be no imperfection in the heavenly city, but in principle the administration will be the same. I think administration is a question of influence. Rule should be influence. Nothing is more important in the household than influence, and it is the preponderating principle in the heavenly city. It is rule by influence.
PRM Is that the force of coming down — ever shedding its administrative influence?
EHC There is no depth in the city in Revelation 21. There is length, breadth and height.
JT I suppose it does descend to the earth. In Ephesians you get depth, but there it is the question of the domain of Christ.