THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Building
Message Seven—Experiencing Christ as the Stone Making Us Precious Stones for the Expression of the Testimony of Jesus
Scripture Reading: 2 Sam. 7:13a; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:2-7; Rev. 21:10-11
I. In the Bible there is a line concerning stone from Genesis through Revelation; in Genesis 2 we have the onyx stone at the beginning, and in Revelation 21 and 22 we have the jasper city as the consummation—Gen. 2:12; Rev. 21:10-21.
II. The stones in the temple signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ—1 Kings 5:17; 6:7; 2 Chron. 3:6:
A. Such a transformed Christ is now the foundation stone, the cornerstone, the living stone, the precious stone, and the topstone of God’s building—Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 4:3; Zech. 4:7.
B. In Christ God came in incarnation to be a stone for the building up of His universal habitation—John 1:14; Matt. 21:42.
C. As the all-inclusive stone, Christ is the centrality of God’s move for the building up of His eternal habitation—vv. 42, 44; Zech. 3:9.
D. Christ as the cornerstone is for the building up of the church—Isa. 28:16:
1. Everything Christ is, everything He has done, and everything He is doing are due to the fact that He is the cornerstone—Matt. 21:42; 1 Pet. 2:6-7. 2. In Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building, including both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is being fitted together and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord—v. 21.
III. The stones in the temple also signify the believers in Christ who have been transformed by Christ as the stone—Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 21:11, 14, 19-20:
A. The stone in John 1:42 denotes a work of transformation that brings forth material for God’s building—1 Cor. 3:12.
B. We, the believers in Christ, are living stones, like Christ, through regeneration and transformation—1 Pet. 2:5.
IV. We need to experience Christ as the stone living in us and making us precious stones for God’s building—vv. 2-7:
A. We need to believe in Christ and regard Him as most precious, having a divine sense of value—v. 7; Jer. 15:19; Luke 16:15b; 10:41-42; Phil. 3:7-11.
B. We need to come to Christ, the living, precious stone, by turning to our spirit, His dwelling place, and by contacting Him in the Word—2 Tim. 4:22a; Eph. 2:22; John 5:39-40.
C. We need to be nourished with the milk conveyed in the word of God—1 Pet. 2:2-3.
D. We need to eat Christ as the passover lamb in His entirety, with the head (wisdom), the legs (activity and move), and the inward parts (the inward parts of Christ’s being, including His mind, emotion, will, and heart with all their functions) —Exo. 12:9; John 6:57; 1 Cor. 1:24; Rev. 14:4b; Phil. 1:8.
E. We need to experience Christ as the ladder that produces stones—John 1:51.
F. We need to grow in the divine life through the increase of the element of God and of the stature of Christ within us—1 Pet. 2:2; Col. 2:19; Eph. 3:17; 4:13.
G. We need to be transformed with the stone element of Christ through the flowing of the Spirit of life throughout our inner being—Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18.
H. We need to deny the self, take up the cross, follow the Lord in our spirit, and lose our soul-life—Matt. 16:18, 21-26.
I. We need to be stones “cut” and “finished” at the “quarry” and then fitted into the temple of God, experiencing a life hidden with Christ in God and knowing the quietness of the work of the divine building—1 Kings 5:17; 6:7.
J. We need to be transfused with all that Christ is and has accomplished by opening our being to the gaze of the seven eyes upon the building stone—Zech. 3:9; 4:7; Rev. 5:6
V. The unique focus of the Lord’s recovery is the testimony of the Triune God—the corporate expression of the Triune God; this focus is the testimony of Jesus—Eph. 3:16-17a, 19b; 1 Tim. 3:9, 15-16; Rev. 1:9, 12, 20:
A. God’s original intention was that man would receive His life and nature and thereby become His expression; the Lord’s recovery is to recover the corporate expression of God—Gen. 1:26; 2:7-9; Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10.
B. As the corporate expression of the Triune God, the church is the fullness of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19b.
C. The four-in-one organic entity in Ephesians 4:4-6 corresponds to the golden lampstands, the testimony of Jesus, in Revelation 1:9, 12, and 20; the churches as the golden lampstands bear the testimony of Jesus:
1. The testimony of Jesus is an all-inclusive expression—vv. 2, 9:
a. The testimony of Jesus is the testimony of the Son coming with the Father and by the Spirit to live on earth, to die on the cross to clear up the universe, to release the divine life, and to resurrect from the dead to become a life-giving Spirit, who comes as the Son with the Father compounded with divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 1:14; 14:17-18, 20; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
b. Such a compound testimony is the testimony of Jesus, and this testimony has a symbol—the golden lampstand—Rev. 1:2, 9, 12, 20.
2. As the testimony of Jesus, the golden lampstand is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God—v. 12:
a. In the golden lampstand there are three main factors:
(1) The entire lampstand is gold; it is not only golden but gold itself, signifying God the Father’s divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4.
(2) The gold is in a definite form and a purposeful shape, signifying the Son, Christ, as the embodiment of the Godhead, the embodiment of the Father’s nature—Col. 2:9; 1:15.
(3) The seven lamps shining for God’s expression are the seven Spirits of God—Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6.
b. In the lampstand we see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; thus, the golden lampstand is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God.
c. This is the church as the testimony of Jesus, the testimony of the Triune God, the expression of the Triune God—1:12, 20; 2:1, 5.
d. In the church as the golden lampstand we have the Father’s nature, the Son’s embodiment, and the Spirit’s expression; this should be the essence of the church’s shining—Matt. 5:14-16; Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15-16:
(1) The light that the church shines forth—the testimony that shines out from the church—must be the Triune God—Eph. 3:16-17a.
(2) In everything we do in the church life and in our daily life, we must bear a clear, evident, strong testimony of a golden lampstand constituted with the Father’s nature, the Son’s embodiment, and the Spirit’s expression—Rev. 1:20.
D. To bear such a testimony is to hold the mystery of the faith—1 Tim. 3:9:
1. The faith is the content of God’s New Testament economy, in which we believe—Eph. 4:13; Titus 1:1, 4; Jude 3.
2. In using the word mystery, Paul refers to Christ as the mystery of God and to the church as the mystery of Christ—Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4-6.
3. According to the context of 1 Timothy 3:9, the mystery of the faith should include the church, because the church is constituted with God in Christ and with Christ as the life-giving Spirit; this corresponds to the constitution of the lampstand—Rev. 1:12, 20:
a. As the lampstand is constituted with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, so the church also is constituted with the Divine Trinity—Eph. 4:4-6.
b. The church is a living organism constituted with the living God in His Divine Trinity to be the corporate manifestation of God; this is not only the church but also the church life, the church’s living—1 Tim. 3:15-16.
4. Thus, the church is a golden lampstand shining forth the corporate expression of the Triune God; this is the focus of the Lord’s recovery—the testimony of the Triune God—Rev. 1:2, 9, 12, 20.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE REVELATION IN THE BIBLE
Concerning the Stone
It is not an easy matter to study the Bible. We need certain skills if we are to properly study the Word of God. Those who lack the necessary skills may in their reading of the book of Acts pay attention to such things as signs, wonders, and Peter’s shadow (5:15). They may not pay attention to the stone rejected by the builders. We, however, need to see the importance of Christ as the building stone.
In the Old Testament
At the beginning of the Bible we have the tree of life, a river, and a stone. According to Genesis 2, after God created man, He placed him in front of the tree of life (vv. 8-9). We are also told that a “river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads” (v. 10). In relation to the river Genesis 2 speaks of gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (v. 12). This is the first mention of stone in the Bible.
In the Old Testament we read of stone again and again. For example, onyx stones were on the shoulder of the ephod worn by the high priest, and twelve stones were set into the high priest’s breastplate (Exo.28:8-12, 21). On these stones were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This implies that God’s chosen people should become stones in His sight.
In the Old Testament we also read of the cleft rock out from which flowed the water of life (Exo. 17:5-6). In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us that this rock was Christ: “They drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4).
Isaiah 8:14 and 15 speak of a rock for stumbling. But Isaiah 28:16 says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.” To His opposers Christ is the rock that stumbles them, but to us He is the foundation stone and the cornerstone. Furthermore, Zechariah speaks of Christ as the topstone: “He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” (Zech. 4:7).
In the New Testament
We read much more concerning the stone in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus called Peter a stone, and indicated that He Himself is the rock (John 1:42; Matt. 16:18). Christ will build His church upon this rock with the believers as stones. In 1 Corinthians 3:11 Paul says that Christ is the unique foundation that has been laid, and we should build upon this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones. Then in 1 Peter 2:4-5 we see that the Lord Jesus is the living stone and that we also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house. Then in the book of Revelation the Lord says that the overcomers will receive a white stone to signify that they have become precious stones in His sight (Rev. 2:17). Furthermore, in Revelation 4 God sitting on the throne has the appearance of jasper and sardius: “He Who was sitting was like in appearance to a jasper stone and a sardius” (v. 3). Eventually, we have the New Jerusalem, a city whose light is “like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone” (Rev. 21:11), a great and high wall of jasper (vv. 12, 18), and twelve foundations consisting of precious stones. If we consider this city, we shall see that it consists of gold, pearl, and precious stones. This is the clear revelation concerning the stone in the Bible. (Life-study of Acts, msg. 16)
BREAKING AND BUILDING
In order to be built up together by being fitly joined and firmly knit together, we need to be broken. First Kings 6:7 says that the Israelites built the temple “of finished stone, cut at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any iron tool was heard in the house when it was being built.” All the stones were cut at the quarry; hence, no iron tool could be heard in the temple while it was being built. This means that the materials did not need to be dealt with or broken during the building. Because they had already been dealt with, the materials could be fitly joined and firmly knit together.
If the stones had not been cut and carved but had retained their original form, they could only have been piled together, not built together. Stones that are merely piled together cannot be joined together or knit together. In order to be knit, they need to be joined, and in order to be joined, they need to be dealt with and broken. No stone can remain in its original form.
We can apply this clear picture to ourselves. God created us from a lump of clay (Rom. 9:20-21); hence, we are earthy. However, when we received the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit entered into us (John 1:12; 20:22); thus, we have God’s nature (2 Pet. 1:4), and our nature is being changed. In God’s eyes we are spiritual living stones (1 Pet. 2:5). Peter says that every saved person is a living stone.(The Vision, Type, and Practice of the Building Up of the Church, msg. 4)
THE CHURCHES AS THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS
In Revelation 1 there are seven lampstands with forty-nine lamps shining in the universe. This is the testimony of Jesus. The church is the testimony of Jesus. This means that the church is the expression of the Triune God substantially and expressively. Substantially, it is of one substance in the whole universe; expressively, it is many lampstands with the lamps shining in the darkness to express the Triune God. The Father as the substance is embodied in the Son, the Son as the embodiment is expressed through the Spirit, the Spirit is fully realized and reproduced as the churches, and the churches are the testimony of Jesus. If we see this vision, it will govern us and we shall never be divisive. This vision will hold us, guard us, and keep us in the testimony of Jesus.
We have seen that the lampstand is the divine gold embodied into a substantial form to fulfill God’s purpose in His move. The expression of the stand is in the shining of the light. As the expression shines, the shining fulfills God’s eternal purpose. Thus, the lampstand not only signifies the Triune God, but also the move of the Triune God in His embodiment and expression. We also have seen that the local churches are the reproduction of the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. This is not a small thing. We should not be satisfied with saying that the local churches are the lampstands shining in the dark night. Although this is correct, it is rather shallow. We must see that the local churches are the reproduction of the embodiment and expression of the Triune God.
In the Bible, the lampstand is always related to God’s building. The first time it was mentioned was in Exodus 25:31-40 when the tabernacle was built. The second instance was in the building of the temple in 1 Kings 7:49. The third instance had very much to do with the rebuilding of God’s temple in Zechariah 4:2- 10. Here in Revelation it is related to the building of the churches. In Exodus 25 the emphasis is on Christ being the lampstand as the divine light, shining as the seven lamps with the Spirit (the oil). In Zechariah 4 the emphasis is on the Spirit (v. 6) shining as the seven lamps which are the seven eyes of God (vv. 2, 10). The seven eyes of God are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 5:6) for God’s intensified move. This indicates that the lampstand in Zechariah is the reality of the lampstand in Exodus, and the Lampstands in Revelation are the reproduction of the lampstand in Zechariah, Christ is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is expressed as the churches. The shining Spirit is the reality of the shining Christ, and the shining churches are the reproduction and the expression of the shining Spirit to accomplish God’s eternal purpose that the New Jerusalem as the shining city may be consummated. Christ, the Spirit, and the churches are all of the same divine nature. (Life-study of Revelation, msg. 8)