7圣经首先陈明国度，然后陈明召会。哪里有诸天之国的掌权，哪里召会必被建造起来。哪里有一班人接受诸天的行政管理，哪里召会就产生了。所以看起来是国度的出现产生了召会，但新约超越这点。这只是新约启示的一半，另一半乃是：召会带进国度。在诸天管治之下而产生的召会，因着服在诸天的管治之下，就对付了神的仇敌。因着仇敌的出现，神的旨意受拦阻不能行在地上；乃是召会运用神的权柄，才将他赶出去，然后新耶路撒冷才出现。在新耶路撒冷里，你看见国度和召会调成为一个。新耶路撒冷是新妇，按照以弗所五章，这新妇就是召会。新耶路撒冷也是一座城，这说出行政；在这行政的中心有神和羔羊的宝座。新耶路撒冷将召会和国度结合在一起。我们这样说，就把整本新约的内容总括在一句话里了。我们可以用三个辞句来表达：国度产生召会，召会带进国度，终极结果就是国度与召会。新约开始于陈明国度，然后陈明召会。但召会怎样成为实际呢？乃是借着运用国度的权柄。当召会容许国度掌权管理，服在其支配之下时，召会就将诸天的管治带到地上。在整本新约里我们一直看见，召会与国度调在一起，国度与召会调在一起，至终这调和产生新耶路撒冷。在新耶路撒冷里，我们能够看出召会的性质和国度的光景，神在那里能够完全彰显祂主宰的权柄，因此能够执行祂的旨意，彰显祂的荣耀。
7The Bible first presents the kingdom and thereafter presents the church. Where the kingdom of the heavens is in authority, there a church will be built up. A church comes into being where a company of people accept the government of heaven. So it would appear to be the presence of the kingdom that produces the church. But the New Testament goes beyond that. That is only one half of the New Testament revelation; the other half is this—the church brings in the kingdom. The church that comes into being under the rule of heaven, by reason of her submission to the heavenly rule, deals with God’s enemy. It is the presence of God’s enemy that hinders God’s will from being done on the earth, and it is the exercise of God’s authority by the church that casts him out. Then the New Jerusalem appears, and in the New Jerusalem you see the kingdom and the church blending into one. The New Jerusalem is the bride, which according to Ephesians 5 is the church. It is also a city, which speaks of government, and in this center of government there is the throne of God and of the Lamb. The New Jerusalem combines in itself both the church and the kingdom. And in saying this, we have summed up in a sentence the entire content of the New Testament. We might express it in three statements— the kingdom produces the church, the church brings in the kingdom, and the ultimate issue is the kingdom and the church. The New Testament opens by presenting the kingdom and thereafter presenting the church…When the church has ceded to the kingdom the right to rule and has submitted to its sway, the church then brings the dominion of heaven to the earth. All the way through the New Testament we see the church blending with the kingdom and the kingdom blending with the church, until eventually this blending issues in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem, where you can detect the nature of the church and the conditions of the kingdom, God is able to express His sovereignty fully and can therefore execute His will and display His glory.