THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Building
Message One—The Central Vision of the Bible—Building Up God’s House
Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 3:17a, 19b, 4:16; Rev. 21:2-3
I. The entire Bible is a book of building; the main subject of the Bible is the building of God—Gen. 28:10-22; Matt. 16:18; Rev. 21:2-3.
II. The central and divine thought of the Scriptures is that God is seeking a divine building as the mingling of Himself with humanity—a living composition of persons redeemed by and mingled with Himself—Exo. 25:8:
A. God’s intention is to have a group of people built up as a spiritual building to express God and to represent God by dealing with His enemy and recovering the lost earth—Gen. 1:26; Eph. 2:21-22.
B. Whatever God is doing today—in preaching the gospel, edifying the saints, or establishing churches—is part of His building work; these activities are part of God’s main work, the work of building—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:16.
C. We need to be enlightened by and fully saturated with the thought that in this universe God is doing only one thing—building His eternal habitation—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 21:2-3.
D. For the sake of His coming back, the Lord needs the church to be built up; only the church built up according to the Lord’s desire can be the stepping stone into the age of the kingdom—Matt. 16:18, 27-28.
E. To be built up with fellow believers is the Lord’s supreme and highest requirement of His faithful seekers according to the divine oneness of the Divine Trinity—John 17.
F. Being built up with fellow partakers of the divine life is the highest virtue of one who pursues after Christ according to God’s eternal economy—Phil. 3:7-12.
III. The building of God is the Triune God as life wrought into us continually so that under His transfusion and infusion we become His corporate expression—Eph. 3:17a, 19b, 21:
A. God’s building is the mingling of God with man, that is, God mingling Himself with us; thus, the church is God’s building composed of Himself as the divine material mingled with man as the human material—John 14:20; 15:4a; 1 John 4:15; Eph. 3:17a; 1 Cor. 3:9, 11.
B. God’s building is the corporate expression of the Triune God—1 Tim. 3:15-16; John 17:22; Eph. 3:19b, 21.
C. God’s building is the enlargement, the expansion, of God to express God in a corporate way—John 3:29a, 30a; Col. 2:19.
IV. Because the building is what God desires, the entire Old Testament is on the subject of God’s building—Gen. 28:10-22; Exo. 25:8-9; 40:1-38; 1 Kings 6:2; Ezek. 43:10:
A. The account of Jacob’s dream at Bethel is the most crucial word in the revelation of God, including the whole Bible in it scope and requiring the rest of the Bible to explain it—Gen. 28:10-22; Matt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15:
1. Genesis 28:10-22 is the first place in Scripture where God reveals that His intention is to build Himself together with man and to have a dwelling place, a Bethel, on earth—Gen. 28:10-22.
2. In Genesis 35 the vision of Bethel came again not as a dream but as a reality; in Genesis 35 there is a crucial and radical turn from the individual experience of God to the corporate experience of God—the experience of God as the God of Bethel—Eph. 3:17-21; 4:4.
B. According to the book of Exodus, God’s building is the desire of God’s heart and the goal of God’s salvation—25:8; 40:1-38:
1. The purpose of Exodus is to show us that the goal of God’s full salvation is the building up of His dwelling place—1 Pet. 2:2, 4-5; Eph. 2:1-22.
2. God’s chosen people are to be built up together into one entity, the tabernacle, where God and man may mutually meet, communicate, and dwell.
3. In Christ we and God, and God and we, are built together, meet together, and dwell together; this is the central thought of the book of Exodus.
4. God’s dwelling place must be built according to the pattern revealed on the mountain—Exo. 25:8-9; Heb. 8:5.
C. The tabernacle and the temple typify two aspects of the church:
1. The tabernacle was designed for the wilderness and was transitory in nature; the temple was designed for the kingdom and was eternal in nature—Exo. 40:2; 1 Kings 6:2.
2. The tabernacle typifies God’s church on earth, whereas the temple typifies the church as Christ’s unique Body; the church appears in different localities, yet the spiritual reality of the church is still one Body, which is unique and eternal—Rev. 1:11; Eph. 1:22-23.
3. The temple was a type of Christ and also of the Body of Christ:
a. The temple first typifies Christ and then the church as the unique building of God in the universe—Matt. 12:6; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21-22.
b. These two—Christ and His Body, the church—are the center, the reality, and the goal of God’s eternal economy—5:32.
4. The temple replaced the tabernacle as God’s dwelling on earth; thus, the tabernacle was mingled with the temple—1 King 6:2; 8:1-11.
D. God charged Ezekiel to show the people of Israel the pattern of His house, because He intended to examine their living and conduct by His house as a rule and pattern—Ezek. 43:10:
1. The building of God is a pattern, and we need to examine ourselves in light of this pattern—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22.
2. Our behavior and conduct should be examined not only according to moral regulations and spiritual principles but also according to the house of God—1 Cor. 14:26.
3. The Lord’s requirement is according to His house, and we all must be measured and checked according to the building of God—Eph. 2:21-22.
4. The Body life is the greatest test of our spirituality; if we cannot pass the test of the Body life, our spirituality is not genuine—1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 4:16; Col. 2:19.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE CENTRAL VISION OF
THE TWO BEGINNING AND TWO ENDING
CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE
God Wanting to Gain a Builded Corporate Man
Genesis 1—2 and Revelation 21—22, the beginning and ending of the Bible, present a picture of God’s intention. God’s intention was beginning to be carried out in Genesis 1 and 2 when the serpent, God’s adversary, came in chapter 3. After the serpent came in, there were many efforts to undermine God’s intention, but God never gave up on His intention and goal. Everything that God’s adversary, Satan, does is aimed at undermining God’s intention and goal. The serpent’s injecting sin into man, which resulted in death in man, was aimed at destroying God’s goal, God’s desire for a vessel to contain Him. However, God did not stop working and even became flesh in order to deal with the serpent, to deal with man’s sin brought in by the serpent, and to deal with the death brought in by sin. God intends to accomplish His desire. Ultimately, the problems related to Satan, sin, and death will be resolved, and the Son of God and the righteousness and life that He brings will gain the full victory. Now God has entered into men of clay with His nature of gold so that they can be transformed into pearls and precious stones. Their earthy element will be completely transformed, and they will be gold, pearls, and precious stones. God is within us to be our life, to live in us, and to be expressed through us. We can shine forth God, express Him in His image, and represent Him with His dominion.
This picture gives a clear impression that there is no room for individuals. The ultimate issue of God’s desire is that there would be one body, one corporate entity, not many individuals. He does not want many transformed individuals but instead wants one transformed and built-up corporate entity. At the end of Genesis 2, God built one woman. At the end of the whole Bible, the issue of God’s work throughout the ages is one city, and this city is also one woman. Hence, the ultimate issue of God’s work is one building. Therefore, in this work there is no room for individuals. Rather, the many are part of one corporate entity. In order to have the building, we, as men of clay, need to receive God as life. After the divine life enters into us, through its flowing and through transformation, pearls and precious stones are produced. However, it is not sufficient for these precious materials to be scattered. Eventually, these materials need to be built up. This is the central vision of the Bible. This central vision includes the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in us.
What We Are and What We Do
Needing to Be for God’s Building
God’s intention is to gain the builded church; therefore, the work of the apostles is for the building up of the church. We need to examine ourselves in order to know how much of the reality of the building of the church we have. We first need to ask how much we are built up. Building is different from edification. Edification is to make that which is improper in us proper, but building is to join us together with others. It may be difficult for us to be joined to others, but through building we are joined with others. Building not only makes us proper but also delivers us from individuality and joins us with others. Hence, the first question we need to answer concerns our relationship with others. With whom do we have the real building? Are we built together with all the saints? Second, we have to ask whether our work builds up the church. Are we satisfied with merely leading people to salvation so that they are regenerated, transformed, and changed into God’s image? Is there a building element in our work? After we lead people to salvation and help them experience transformation so that they can become valuable material—gold, pearls, and precious stones—we need to help them to be built up. However, we often do a work only of edification, not a work of building.
THE CENTER OF THE BIBLE BEING
THE HOUSE OF GOD
The Center of the Old Testament
Being the Tabernacle and the Temple of God
On the one hand, Genesis 3 through Revelation 20 speaks negatively of a serpent bringing in sin and death and positively of Christ the Son of God bringing in righteousness and life. On the other hand, however, the Bible speaks of the house of God, the temple of God. The center of the Old Testament is the tabernacle and the temple. The tabernacle is the precursor of the temple. The temple and the tabernacle are actually one. The tabernacle was erected in Exodus after the children of Israel left Egypt. From the time of their exodus from Egypt, the tabernacle was among them. From the time the tabernacle was erected until the temple was built to replace the tabernacle, the move of Israel was focused on the tabernacle. In the age of the kings, the temple was the center of Israel. When the temple was built, the glory of God filled the temple, and the temple had God’s presence (1 Kings 8:10-11). Later, the temple was destroyed and became desolate, and the children of Israel were taken into captivity and scattered. After a period of time, the temple was rebuilt and remained through the end of the Old Testament age.
Noah’s Household Being Saved
through Building the Ark
The Bible shows that from the time of Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah, God’s eyes were set on the tabernacle because He desires to have a habitation on earth among men. If we have insight, we will see that God’s eyes were always set on the tabernacle and the temple. However, the descendants of Adam did not reach God’s purpose. Rather, they were utilized by Satan, became Satan’s building materials, and even built a city for Satan (Gen. 11:4). As a result, God could not find anyone on the earth to build His habitation. When God judged the world with the flood, Noah’s household was saved through building the ark, and the earth had a new beginning (6:11—9:17). However, Noah’s descendants formed nations and were utilized again by Satan to build the city of Babel (11:1-4). As a result, God was left with no one as material for His dwelling. Thus, God judged Babel and confounded man’s language (v. 7).
God Calling Abraham and His Seed
to Build the House of God
God called Abraham, and charged him to go forth from his land and from his relatives and from his father’s house to the land that God would show him (12:1). God also promised Abraham that He would give that land to his seed (vv. 7; 13:14-17). God promised Abraham two things: land and descendants. The land would serve as the site of God’s house, and the descendants would be the materials for the building of God’s habitation. Abraham waited for the fulfillment of this promise, and his son Isaac also waited. Later, this promise was passed on to Jacob, the son of Isaac. Although Jacob was not the firstborn, he sought the birthright and employed crafty means to cheat his older brother and gain the birthright. Jacob, being hated by his older brother, was forced to leave his parents and flee to his uncle’s house (25:29-34; 27:5-46). While Jacob was fleeing to his uncle’s house, he had a dream in which he saw a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. God was standing above the ladder, and He blessed Jacob. When Jacob awoke, he took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He considered this place to be the house of God, the gate of heaven, and called the name of this place Bethel, which means “house of God” (28:10-19). This indicated that God would raise up the sons of Jacob to be His house.
Israel Being the Real Habitation of God
The sons of Jacob later became a great race, but they were enslaved in Egypt (Exo. 1:1-14). God delivered them out of Egypt and raised up the tabernacle among them (40:17). We must understand this with spiritual insight: the erecting of the tabernacle was the beginning of God’s dwelling place on earth. From then on God was watchful of this tabernacle. The tabernacle can be considered as the symbol and figure of Israel. However, the tabernacle itself was not God’s habitation; Israel was God’s habitation. The tabernacle was a symbol, a type. When Israel was in a normal situation, God dwelt among them; when Israel was not in a normal situation, God did not dwell among them. Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity! / …Like the dew of Hermon / That came down upon the mountains of Zion” (vv. 1, 3). These verses refer to the condition of God’s habitation, the tabernacle and the temple. When God’s people dwelt together in unity, they were God’s habitation on earth, and God dwelt among them. When they were apostate and desolate, God went out from among them, and the temple was destroyed. Before the end of the Old Testament age, God restored the children of Israel, and the temple was rebuilt.
The New Testament Focusing on Building
the Church as the House of God
Being Built through
the Lord’s Death and Resurrection
The New Testament speaks of the building of God’s dwelling place. God wants us not only to be spiritual and God-fearing men but also to be those who can dwell with God’s people together in unity, who can be coordinated into one entity, and who become a spiritual temple as His dwelling place. John 1:14 says that the Lord Jesus, as the Word, “became flesh and tabernacled among us…, full of grace and reality.” In chapter 2 when the Lord Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19), He spoke of the temple of His body (v. 21). He seemed to be saying that the Jews would crucify Him, but in three days He would be raised up. This means that the Lord would resurrect three days after His death to build up the mystical Body as God’s temple. The physical body that the Jews destroyed on the cross was what the Lord Jesus put on in incarnation. The Body that was raised up when He resurrected from the dead is a mystical Body. Through His resurrection from death He imparted His life into us and regenerated us so that we became members of His Body. After we enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit does a work of resurrection in us, stripping us of our earthy element and bringing everything in us into resurrection so that we can be transformed in resurrection and built together into the Lord’s mystical Body. This mystical Body is the church and also the temple built by the Lord in resurrection.
The Apostles Building the Church
with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones
The Lord Jesus first spoke of the church in Matthew 16:18, saying, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” When He first spoke of the church, He spoke of building. The apostles also preached concerning the building of the church. The purpose of the work was not merely for people to be saved, to be spiritual, to be consecrated, and to become gold, pearls, and precious stones. The work of the apostles was for the building of the church. In 1 Corinthians 3:12 the apostle Paul says that some build with gold, silver, and precious stones, and others, with wood, grass, and stubble. The work of the apostles was to build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. Their work was not merely a matter of salvation or transformation. Their desire was to build the church of God with valuable materials.
The New Testament takes the line of God’s house as its center, which house is the church built by the apostles. This church is not abstract but specific; it is built in every locality. The Bible clearly states that the church is to be built in locality after locality (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). God builds His dwelling place in the New Testament age by building the church as His dwelling place. The practical way to build God’s dwelling place is to gain people to have God’s life and be built together through the transformation work of the Holy Spirit into a dwelling place of God in every locality. This is God’s desire, God’s plan.
Christ Being the Head
and the Church Being His Body
God’s desire must be accomplished in Christ His Son. God is embodied in the Son, and the Son has the first place and the preeminence in the universe so that He can be expressed and glorified. Not only so, the Son of God is expressed in the church, He is the Head of the church, and the church is His Body (Col. 1:18-19; Eph. 1:22-23). The Head and the Body are equally crucial, and Christ and the church are balanced truths in the Bible. We must not neglect either. The vision at the end of Revelation shows that God’s redeemed throughout the ages become a city. Christ, the Lamb who was slain, is the lamp of the city, and God is the light of the city (21:23). This means that God is in Christ, and Christ is in the church. God is expressed in Christ, and Christ is expressed in the church. Ephesians 3:21 says, “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.” This verse does not say, “To God in Christ be the glory,” but “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.” This means that He is to be expressed in the church. All that God is, is for Christ, and all that Christ is, is for the church.
From beginning to end, the Bible speaks of this building. This building is for Christ and takes Christ as its center and everything. Christ’s being the center and His being everything depend on this building. When this building is damaged, Christ cannot be seen as the center and cannot be expressed as everything. Christ and the church are two aspects of the divine vision. They are the mysteries of God and are the corporate man in the universe, with Christ being the Head and the church being His Body. (The Blueprint and the Ground for the Building Up of the Church, msg. 1)