Only God is NEW; God Wrought into us Makes us NEW until We’re Becoming NEW Jerusalem

Why is the holy city in Rev. 22:1 called, the New Jerusalem? Why is it not called “the eternal Jerusalem” or “the Jerusalem of God”? There is an intrinsic significance to the name of “new Jerusalem” and we need to see it and enter into its reality today.

The intrinsic significance of the name “new Jerusalem” applies to our daily living out and working out of the New Jerusalem today in the church life. To be old means to be set, settled, and occupied. To be old means that it is hard for the Lord to have a chance in us (we are set), it is not easy for us to move on with the Lord (we are settled), and to be occupied with many things other than the Lord (we are occupied).

The Lord wants us to keep ourselves empty toward Him, open to Him, fresh, new, living, and young with the Lord. We need to reject being set, settled, and occupied and choose to always be empty and open to receive new revelations and experiences of the Lord. We should not be “old brothers” or “old sisters” but new ones, always new and fresh with the Lord.

God desires to have many such new and young men, those who are fresh and living toward Him. Only when we are new and young can God have a possibility to come and call us to do something for Him in His new move.

The world has not yet seen what God can do through a consecrated and new person toward the Lord. He wants to do something new in life, in preaching Christ, in dispensing the riches of Christ, and in manifesting Christ in full, but for this He needs a group of people that are new and living with the Lord, fully open to Him, realizing they are here for nothing else but Christ and His purpose.

Whenever we open to the Lord, He has a way to dispense something new in us for His move. If the Lord gains us as His new and young people on earth today, He will have a way to make us the “new Jerusalem”, His holy city which is NEW, filled and saturated with God as the element of newness!

Lord, we don’t want that anything would be set, settled, or occupied with us. We want to be fully open to You for Your new move on earth. Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You. Come in and occupy us, take us, and possess us for Your up-to-date move on this earth. Make us the people who are always new, fresh, young, and living with You. Make us Your New Jerusalem!

What does it mean for the Holy City to be called the “New Jerusalem”?

In the Bible we see two creations: the old creation and the new creation. The reason the old creation is old is because there’s nothing of God’s element in it; the reason the new creation is new is because God is wrought into the new creation.

In our old man there’s nothing of God, just as in the things of the nature there’s no element of God. But in our regenerated spirit there’s Christ, the new One, and we have a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26).

In our flesh there’s nothing of God’s element, but in our inward being that is regenerated by the Spirit (John 3:6), we have God’s life and nature being wrought into it (John 3:36; 2 Pet. 1:4). In our natural man, there’s no element of God, so our natural man is old; but in our spirit we have Christ as our life and nature and we become a new constitution, members of the Body of Christ and part of the new man (Col. 3:10-11).

Everything that is new has God as the new element and new nature wrought into it. The Lord Jesus speaks of “the new wine”, “the new garment”, and “the new wineskins” – these are new because, in their significance, God is wrought into them. The New Testament is NEW because it is something altogether of God and has God wrought into it.

The old Jerusalem is a physical city and is old, no matter how many new buildings are in it. In the old Jerusalem there’s nothing of God’s life and nature. But the New Jerusalem, the living composition of all God’s redeemed ones throughout the ages, has God’s life and nature wrought into it, and therefore it is NEW!

Anything that is without God is old but anything that has God added to it is new. As soon as a baby is born he becomes old, but when a man is regenerated he becomes new. The source of newness is God, and newness is God Himself. Without God there is no new and fresh, and God Himself is new and fresh.

If you have God, you are new; if you are not born of God, you are old no matter how young you think you are or you train to be. The reason the holy city in Rev. 22:1 is called “new Jerusalem” is because God is wrought into the city, and the city has God’s element in it.

God is New, and we are a New Creation with a New Spirit and a New Heart!

Only God is “new”. Stores and fashion designers put out “new clothes” and “new trends” and all kinds of “new things” – but they are NOT new. Everything of the old creation is OLD unless it has God wrought into it. By believing into the Lord Jesus we receive the new element of God in us and we become a new creation.

Through regeneration we receive a new heart and a new spirit from God (Ezek. 36:26), and daily we exercise to put off the old man (which is being corrupted according to the lust of the deceit) and put on the new man (as exhibited in the life of the Lord Jesus).

As believers in Christ we learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus. He lived a life in God, with God, by God, for God, and through God, always denying Himself and taking God as His everything. God was in His living and He was one with God.

Today as regenerated people we learn to live not by our old natural life or in our old manner of life but in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, for Christ, and through Christ. We become newer and newer every day as we learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, learning to have God in our living and to be one with God.

Our mind is being daily renewed as we come to the word of God in a new and living way through the exercise of our spirit (Rom. 12:2). Our heart is filled with love for the Lord and for others, becoming a new heart that forgives and forgets others’ offenses, loves and accepts people, and cares and loves others.

Our spirit is no longer deadened but is filled with life, and we can contact God, receive God, eat God, digest God, and assimilate God in our spirit. We are now in Christ – we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The old things have passed away – behold, as we enjoy the Lord and live by Him everything has become new.

The more God is being wrought into all the inward parts of our being through our enjoyment and experience of Him, the more we become new – until we become the New Jerusalem! No matter the age and the wrinkles on the face: as long as you enjoy God, the Ever New One, you are becoming young, fresh, living, and new – as new as God is!

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us a new heart to love You and a new spirit to contact You and receive You. We want to put off the old man and put on the new man by enjoying You and experiencing You in a new way today. Work Yourself into us and make us new as You are new. Lord, without You and without being one with You we are so old. But in You we are a new creation, and as our mind is set on the spirit we are being made new! Hallelujah, we are becoming the New Jerusalem, the new city with God’s element wrought into it!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, God’s New Testament Economy (ch. 27), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 5 / msg 5, The Intrinsic Significance of the Name New Jerusalem and the Dimensions of the Holy City.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Our Father, as the evergreen, / Thou art forever new; / Thou art the ever living Lord, / Thy freshness as the dew. / O Father, Thou art unchanging, / Thou never hast grown old; / Thru countless ages, ever fresh, / Thy newness doth unfold. (Hymns #16)
  # My old person has been nullified; / With my Lord upon the cross he died; / Now in nothing shall he be applied; / He’s dead to me. / My new Person in my spirit dwells; / Springing in me as a bubbling well; / Flowing out until each part He fills / With abundant life. (Hymns #1180)
  # Once again a new beginning, / Yesterday I’ve put behind, / To You Lord I come in seeking, / For Your Words, bring them to mind. / Oh Lord, grant me Your rich speaking, / Cause my spirit filled to be, / Lord, my heart and thoughts transforming, / That my life I live by Thee. (New song on being New with God)