Revelation 21:21’s description of New Jerusalem is “the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.”
In the lamp the person of the Son is shining and expressing the Triune God, but in the pearls (v. 21) we see the Son’s work of death and resurrection. We have seen that pearls are produced by oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. The oyster’s wound typifies the death of Christ, and the life secretion of the oyster signifies the secretion of Christ’s resurrection life. His person is in the lamp, and His work is in the pearl.*
The pearls portray the Lord’s work of death and resurrection, and we are united with Him in this. Romans 6:3-4 tells us, “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.”
Our baptism into Christ Jesus is a step of our entering into New Jerusalem.
Walking in the newness of life is to be in His resurrection. This is to “walk according to the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). This walk is for today and for New Jerusalem.
* From chapter 44, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986
Posted by Don on November 24, 2023
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about Enter New Jerusalem through the Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus.
