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The New Jerusalem is the Consummation of the Building up of the Body in the
Local Churches

The New Jerusalem as the consummation of all that God is doing is

rich in meaning and profound in all its aspects. One aspect of the
New Jerusalem is that it is the consummation of the organic
building up of the Body of Christ in all the local churches.

Today the Lord has put us in the local churches not FOR the local
churches but for the building up of the Body of Christ to
consummate the New Jerusalem.

Our purposeful God has an economy in which He intends to have

an eternal and universal incorporation with humanity – God
wants to dwell in man and He wants man to dwell in God.

Every genuine believer in the Lord is a member of the Body of

Christ today and will be a part of the New Jerusalem as the
consummation of the union of God with man, the mingling of God
with man, and the incorporation of God with humanity.

Today the Body of Christ is expressed in the local churches as the

practical and local expression of the spiritual Body of Christ.

We love the church life, and we are for the church, but we need to
see that the local churches are used by God in this age as a
procedure for us to be the Body of Christ and for the New
Jerusalem to be brought in.

Lord, open our eyes to see the Body of Christ. Lord, uplift our view of the local churches. May we be
those who are in the local churches to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ so that we may bring in
the New Jerusalem in reality!

The New Jerusalem – the Enlargement of God

What God desires is to be enlarged, expanded, expressed to the full – in and with man. For this He has an economy, a
household administration, a plan to dispense all that He is into man so that man may be joined to Him, one with Him in
life, mingled with Him in nature, and incorporated with Him in person.

Just as the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, so the Triune God wants to be in us and we to be in Him –
this is incorporation, two persons coinhering mutually by working together as one (John 14:10-11).

For this purpose God became a man and passed through a long process to become the life-giving Spirit to be dispensed
into man and to be enlarged in humanity. All the believers throughout the ages are God’s enlargement, His expansion,
His expression in humanity.

We all can be one because God is in us, and He is the source of our oneness. We are all the one Body of Christ
expressed in the many local churches all throughout the earth for God to be enlarged and expanded.

The consummation of the processed God and the redeemed and regenerated believers is the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2-
3), the universal enlargement of the Triune God in humanity. This should be the principle governing our work for the
Lord today.

If we work with the Lord today with the vision of the New Jerusalem in view, we will keep the oneness, we will build up
the Body of Christ, and we will hasten the Lord’s return!

The Body of Christ Needs the Local Churches

It is easy to say, I am a member of the Body of Christ! But the question is, Practically, are you in the local church? The
Body of Christ is spiritual and divine, and the Body needs the local churches for its existence and function (see Acts 8:1,
13:1).

Without the local churches the Body of Christ is impractical, in the heavens, and only spiritual – “in the air”. The many
local churches on earth are the many expression of the One Unique Body of Christ in many localities.

For us to see and touch the Body of Christ we need to come to the local churches, where the many members of the
Body are today. At the same time, the local churches are the procedure for the many believers as the members of the
Body to be in the reality of the Body of Christ.

The local churches are the Body of Christ, and we all in the local churches need to be not only in the church life but also
in the reality of the Body of Christ. The local churches are “the procedure” for God to gain the Body of Christ.

We are in the church life today so that we can be ushered and brought into the reality of the Body for God to obtain a
miniature of the New Jerusalem today.

The goal of God’s economy is not the local churches but the church, the Body of Christ (in this age) consummating in
the New Jerusalem (in eternity). We love and we treasure the local church because it is the procedure to bring us in the
reality of the Body of Christ.

The Church, the Churches, the Body, and the New Jerusalem
If we read the book of Acts and the Epistles we see that there
are many local churches, like the church in Jerusalem, the
church in Antioch, the church in Ephesus, the church in
Corinth, the churches in Galatia, the church in Philippi, the
church in Thessaloniki, etc. In Revelation 1:11 we see that there
are the seven local churches as the seven golden lampstands.

The practicality of the church as the Body of Christ today is in

the local churches, and God ordained there to be one church in
one city. But what God desires to eventually obtain is the New
Jerusalem – one city (Rev. 21:2). The Lord desires to gain the
New Jerusalem through the precursor of the organic Body of
Christ built up in the many local churches today (Eph. 4:16).

In the church life today in the local churches we need to live in the reality of the Body of Christ so that God may gain
the Body for His corporate expression.
In the church life today we have many nationalities, colors, and cultures, but we are here to be blended together by
enjoying Christ together. Also, we go to visit, blend with other churches, and meet together not only in our locality but
also in our region, country, continent, and beyond our continent.

We love the local church but we are not FOR the local church – we are for the church, the organic Body of Christ! As
we are built up in the Body with all the other members, God can gain the reality of the Body as the foretaste and
precursor of the New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, gain the reality of the Body of Christ in all the local churches today. Lord, thank You for
putting us in the church life, where we can grow in life and be built up in the Body of Christ. May our
emphasis be not the local church as the procedure but on the Body of Christ as the goal! Lord, we are
here for You to gain the New Jerusalem through the building up of the Body of Christ expressed in the
local churches! Build up Your Body! Bring in the New Jerusalem!

References and Further Reading

Sharing inspired from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 258-259), and, The Practical Points
concerning Blending (pp. 9-10), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s
Recovery, week 9 (entitled, The Consummation of the Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery—the New Jerusalem).
Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
Further reading on this topic:
# New Jerusalem – mutual abiding place of God and man (via, newjerusalem12.wordpress.com);
# The New Jerusalem – a Corporate Person (via, affcrit.com, PDF file);
# The New Jerusalem is the consummation of God’s work in humanity (via affcrit.com, PDF file);
# New Jerusalem – the consummation of God’s eternal economy (via, lastadam.com);
Hymns on this topic:
# Behold the New Jerusalem descends from God. / The Triune God Himself in His intrinsic essence.
# Our goal—the holy city with the Lord, / It is our portion, ’tis where He’s adored;
# New Jerusalem—the ultimate sign; / The ultimate goal of God’s economy;
Pictures credit: Sunrise in Himalayas (Nepal), and Rev. 21:2 (online).

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About aGodMan
A God-man is a normal believer in Christ; the author of this article is one who is learning to be a normal Christian, a
daily enjoyer of Christ, a living and functioning member in the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, make us such ones for the
building up of the Body of Christ!
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