Revelation 21:22-25 "And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there."
These verses of scripture describes the Holy City - - the New Jerusalem, which John saw coming down from God. Many of us have been taught that this is some literal city with literal streets paved with gold that will come floating down to this earth from heaven some day and have failed to understand that as the church - - the redeemed of the Lord - - the many-membered body of Christ - - His bride - are also referred to in scriptural symbolism as the New Jerusalem - - the City of God. In Revelation 21:2, John tells us that in his Patmos vision, he saw the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, descending out of heaven, prepared as a "Bride." So, we discover that twice here in Revelation 21, the Word of God refers to the New Jerusalem as the Bride of Christ. There are many other places in the New Testament where the church is called the Bride of Christ. It is important to understand that when scripture presents the New Jerusalem as the Bride of Christ, it is speaking about us....the two are synonymous. To lay hold of this blessed revelation will free us from carnal concepts and allow us to begin to understand something of the higher purposes of our God to bring us into His fulness. For truly we are becoming that City of God, line-upon-line, precept-upon-percept, here-a-little, there-a-little, as our changing nature within becomes more and more like Him. This is what John saw- - that perfect realm in the spirit - - that ultimate purpose of God for His people - - the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ! (Eph. 4). This glorious reality is progressively being fulfilled in a people in this hour.
Spiritual symbolism is important and can reveal to us dimensions of great depth and purpose. It allows us to see clearly that heavenly City that John saw, and we can understand that when John saw "streets of pure gold," he was seeing by revelation, a company of people who had come to a perfect walk in the incorruptible nature of God. John saw the light of that City as a jasper stone, clear and crystal: "light" in God's word refers to truth - - therefore, what he saw was a people who had come to the fulness of truth - - all darkness, all error, all carnal concepts, had been totally purged - - until that people appeared unto John as a City of Gold whose light was as pure and transparent as crystal.
This unfolding revelation of the City-of-God that is to fully come forth in the near final consummation of the ages has been a progressive work of God down through time. He had to have human vessels to work through to fulfil His eternal purpose in the earth. By revelation we can see the City of God - - the New Jerusalem in its progressive stages in types and shadows. We are familiar with the Bible account of God's dealing in the life of Jacob and how he met God in such a supernatural way. Jacob was never the same after that encounter and we hear him exclaim: "How dreadful is this place. This is none other but the "House of God!" And he poured oil upon the rock where his head had rested and declared that place to be forever the House-of-God. That rock with the oil poured upon it, was the first foundation stone, a type of Jesus, our rock - - the stone that the builders rejected but He became the chief corner-stone.
Yet, Jacob's House-of-God was not the fullest revelation of what God purposed for His people. Therefore, we discover from scripture that Jacob's altar of stones anointed with oil progressed over the years into the tabernacle in the wilderness - - pitched by Moses - - another of God's chosen vessels. For several hundred years that Old Testament tabernacle was the highest revelation of the City-of-God that mankind had, yet, this still was not the fullest revelation of God's purpose for His people. Then God searched out a young shepherd boy named David and began to reveal to this yielded vessel something of His divine purpose. God anointed David and made him King of Israel and as a king he began to gather materials to build a temple of worship unto the Lord. These plans had not been completed at his death and were passed on to his son, Solomon who built the temple of God: and scripture reveals that God filled that temple with his Shechinah Glory.
Still, that temple of Solomon's day, as beautiful and majestic as it was, was not the fullest revelation of the high purpose of God for His people. It was only a carnal, physical type of what God had purposed to establish in a higher spiritual realm for His people.
About 2,000 years ago, God, Himself came down to earth in the person of His son, Jesus, and for the next thirty-three years, the fullest revelation of the house of God was a living temple that far superceded anything that Solomon could have built - - His name was Jesus - - a living temple! On the third day after His crucifixion, when Jesus came forth from the tomb in resurrection power, God's progressive work in the lives of mankind began to focus into a clearer picture and it has been getting clearer ever since. On the day of Pentecost, Jesus, the Rock, rushed in by the power of the Holy Spirit and indwelt His many - membered body with Himself! God now had a living tabernacle and His purpose progresses on....as He continues to work in His people, purging out the darkness that is within - - changing our natures - - changing us from glory-to-glory - - conforming us to the image of His Son - - paving our streets (our walk) with the gold of His incorruptible nature: we will come forth no longer a temple made out of lively stones, not only the house of God in the earth, but the "City-of-God".... the New Jerusalem! Abraham saw this by faith. The writer of Hebrews said of him: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles.... for he looked for "a city" which had foundation, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:9-10).
Beloved, God is working in His people as much as we will allow Him to work in this hour... He will fulfill His purpose in a people! Let us allow Him to grow us up by His spirit and His word unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ... until He dwells within us in all of His fulness, completeness and glory and His light shines forth from within us. Until there is no more night in the City of God - - the New Jerusalem which we are becoming - - by the way of the cross and line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept progressively changing unto his likeness. John saw it by revelation and His revelation is progressively becoming our reality! Thus saith the Lord.