THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Building
Message Ten—The New Jerusalem—
the Ultimate Consummation of the Building of God
Scripture Reading: John 1:14; 2:19-22; Rev. 21:3, 22; 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:28-29
I. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the building of God into man and of man into God, the building of a great corporate God-man as the mutual abode of God and man, the universal incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with the processed and consummated tripartite man—John 1:14; 2:19-22; Rev. 21:3, 22.
II. Second Samuel 7:12-14a is a prophecy in typology revealing that the desire of God’s heart is the building of God into man (God becoming man) and the building of man into God (man becoming God) for the building of a great corporate God-man, the New Jerusalem:
A. The seed of David becoming the Son of God is the building of God into man and the building of man into God for the building of God’s house, the mutual abode of God and man; this is the fulfillment of the greatest prophecy in the Bible—vv. 12, 14a, 13; Rom. 1:3-4; Matthew 16:18.
B. Christ “came out of the seed of David according to the flesh” (building God into man in incarnation), and He “was designated the Son of God” (building man into God) in resurrection—Rom. 1:3-4:
1. By His incarnation Christ, the only begotten Son of God in His divinity, built God into man, into David’s lineage, to become the seed of David, the Son of David—John 1:18.
2. In resurrection Christ’s humanity was deified, sonized, meaning that He became the Son of God not only in His divinity but also in His humanity; in resurrection He was designated the Son of God, made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity —Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29.
3. If a seed dies by being buried in the soil, it will eventually sprout, grow, and blossom in resurrection, because the operation of the seed’s life is activated simultaneously with its death; in resurrection Christ “blossomed” as the firstborn Son of God and He became the life-giving Spirit to dispense, to build, Himself as life into their being to be their inner constitution—John 12:23-24; Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 3:18.
III. As seeds of humanity, we are becoming sons of God with divinity, being “divinized” in our humanity through the metabolic process of transformation; this metabolic process is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and the house of God by the building of God into man and man into God, consummating in the New Jerusalem as a great corporate God-man, the aggregate, the totality, of all the sons of God—Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:7: Rom. 8:28-29:
A. The life of the Son of God has been implanted into our spirit; now we like the seed that is sown into the earth, must pass through the process of death and resurrection—v. 10; John 12:24-26.
1. Losing our soul-life through death causes the outer man to be consumed, but it enables the inner life to grow, to develop, and ultimately, to blossom; this is resurrection—1 Cor. 15:31, 36; 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 16.
2. The more we grow in life for our transformation in life, the more we are designated the sons of God to be deified for God’s building—1 Cor. 3:9:
a. In order to grow, we need to feed on the guileless milk and the solid food of the word—1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-14.
b. In order to grow, we need the watering of the gifted members—1 Cor. 3:6b; John 7:37-39; Prov. 11:25.
c. Through all the things in our environment and by our failures, our ugly self is torn down, and the Lord has a greater opportunity to work within us—Rom. 8:28-29.
d. One day this process will be completed, and for eternity we will be the same as Christ, God’s firstborn Son, in our spirit, soul, and body—1 John 3:2; Rom. 8:19, 23 (Hymns #948, stanza 2).
B. In resurrection Christ in His humanity was designated the Son of God, and by means of such a resurrection we also are in the process of being designated sons of God—Rom. 8:11; cf. Hosea 6:1-3:
1. The process of our being designated, sonized, deified, is the process of resurrection with four main aspects—sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification—6:22; 12:2; 8:29-30.
2. The key to the process of designation is resurrection, which is the indwelling Christ as the rising-up Spirit, the designating Spirit, the power of life in our spirit—John 11:25; Rom. 8:10-11; Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:26; 5:4:
a. We urgently need to learn how to walk according to the Spirit, to enjoy and experience the designating Spirit—Rom. 8:4, 14.
b. The more we touch the Spirit, the more we are sanctified, transformed, and glorified to become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 12:3; Rom. 10:12; 8:15-16; Gal. 4:6.
IV. As we work for God today, we should participate in God’s building—the constitution of the divine element into the human element and of the human element into the divine element—John 14:20; 15:4a; 1 John 4:15:
A. We need God in Christ to build Himself into us, making our heart, our intrinsic constitution, His home—Eph. 3:16-19.
B. We need to practice one thing—to minister the processed and consummated Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man; we need to pray that the Lord will teach us to work in this way—2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 3:9a, 10, 12a.
C. When we build the church with the processed and consummated Triune God, it is not actually we who are building; rather, God is building through us, using us as a means to dispense and transmit Himself into others—Acts 9:15.
D. This building will consummate in the New Jerusalem for eternity, in which God’s redeemed are the tabernacle for God to dwell in and God Himself is the temple for His redeemed to dwell in—Rev. 21:3, 22.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE SEED OF DAVID BECOMING THE SON OF GOD
In 2 Samuel 7:12-14a Jehovah said to David, “When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which will come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son.” The word concerning “your seed” and “My son” indicates that the seed of David would become the Son of God, that the seed of a man would become God’s Son.
This thought is continued very strongly in the New Testament, particularly in Romans 1:3 and 4. Here Paul says, “Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Here we have the same thought as in 2 Samuel 7:12-14a—that the seed of David becomes the Son of God. These verses reveal, on the one hand, that Christ is the seed of David and, on the other hand, that He, the seed of David, has been designated the Son of God. When we compare these two portions of the Word, we see that both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we have the matter of the seed of David becoming the Son of God.
DAVID BEING A MAN
ACCORDING TO THE HEART OF GOD
BUT NOT BEING GOD IN LIFE AND IN NATURE
In 2 Samuel 7 we see that David had a good heart toward God and wanted to build a house for God. However, God intervened and did not permit David to do this, because David did not have an adequate and thorough view of God’s economy. After stopping David from building Him a house, God went on to reveal something further concerning His economy. In this chapter, therefore, the divine revelation took a great step forward.
The Bible tells us that David was a man according to God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14). Under the influence of this word, many Bible students have estimated David too highly. Yes, David was a man according to the heart of God, but, as the remainder of 2 Samuel and the book of Psalms show us, he was still a man in life, in nature, and in constitution. He was a man according to God, but he was not God in life and in nature. David could not say, “To me, to live is Christ” or “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Phil. 1:21a; Gal. 2:20). At the most, David was a “photograph” of God’s heart, but he was not God in life and in nature.
DEIFICATION—BECOMING GOD
IN LIFE AND IN NATURE BUT NOT IN THE GODHEAD
This brings us to the matter of deification—God’s intention to make the believers God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. Athanasius referred to deification when at the council of Nicea in A.D. 325 he said, “He [Christ] was made man that we might be made God.” Although the term deification is familiar to many theologians and Christian teachers, during the past sixteen centuries only a small number have dared to teach regarding the deification of the believers in Christ.
I have not been influenced by any teaching about deification, but I have learned from my study of the Bible that God does intend to make the believers God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. For instance, 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.” This verse clearly reveals that we will be like God.
God makes us like Him by imparting His life and nature into us. Second Peter 1:4 says that we have become “partakers of the divine nature.” John 1:12-13 says that we were born, regenerated, by God with His life. As God’s children we are “baby gods,” having God’s life and nature but not His Godhead. The Godhead is unique; He is the only One who should be worshipped.
We Have Been Born of God and Today, Having God’s Life and Nature, We Are Partially Like Him; One Day, When He Comes, We Will Be Wholly and Entirely Like Him
It was wonderful for David to be a man according to God’s heart, but it was not sufficient. God wants those who can say, “I am not just a person according to God’s heart. I am God in life and in nature but not in His Godhead.” On the one hand, the New Testament reveals that the Godhead is unique and that only God, who alone has the Godhead, should be worshipped. On the other hand, the New Testament reveals that we, the believers in Christ, have God’s life and nature and that we are becoming God in life and in nature but will never have His Godhead.
THE SEED OF DAVID BEING BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN
David had the heart to build a house for God, but God indicated to David that this was neither what he needed nor what God needed. God told David that He would build One to be David’s seed and that this seed would be called God’s Son. This seed would be both divine and human. Hebrews 1:5 indicates that this refers to Christ as God’s firstborn Son. Furthermore, as we have seen, Romans 1:3-4, which corresponds to 2 Samuel 7:12-14a, tells us that in resurrection the seed of David was designated the Son of God. In their intrinsic significance, 2 Samuel 7:12-14a and Romans 1:3-4 reveal to us a human and divine person.
OUR NEED FOR GOD
TO WORK HIMSELF IN CHRIST INTO US
AS OUR LIFE, NATURE, AND CONSTITUTION
Just as the photograph of a person does not have the life and nature of that person, so David, a photograph of God’s heart, did not have the life and nature of God. Even though he was a man whose heart was according to God, he did not have anything related to God organically. What David needed is what we need today. We need God to build Himself in Christ into our humanity. This means that we need God to work Himself in Christ into us as our life, our nature, and our constitution. As a result, we are not simply a man according to God’s heart—we are God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. We today are not outwardly as high as David was, but we can declare that we have God’s life, nature, and constitution.
In order to accomplish this, God in Christ became a man and went through some processes that this man could be designated something divine. In resurrection He was designated the firstborn Son of God. In and through resurrection Christ, the firstborn Son of God, became the life-giving Spirit, who now enters into us to impart, to dispense, Himself as life into our being to be our inner constitution, to make us a God-man just like Him. He was God becoming man, and we are man becoming God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.
GOD’S DESIRE TO BUILD HIMSELF IN CHRIST INTO US
IN ORDER TO HAVE A MUTUAL ABODE
Many Christians are still trying merely to have a behaving, a living, and a being that are according to God’s heart, but they do not have the concept that God desires to build Himself in Christ into our being. What He is building into us will be His abode, which will be our abode also. Hence, it becomes a mutual abode. The New Jerusalem is this mutual abode. On the one hand, the New Jerusalem is the dwelling place of God; on the other hand, it is also our eternal dwelling place (Rev. 21:3, 22). For eternity the New Jerusalem will be the fulfillment of the Lord’s brief word in John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you.”
Ephesians 3:17 tells us that Christ is now within us doing the work of building Himself into us to produce this mutual abode. We often say that Christ is living in us and working in us. Now we need to ask this question: What is Christ wanting to accomplish by His working in us? The answer is that Christ is working in us to build up God’s habitation by building Himself into us.
David wanted to build God a house of cedar, but God wanted to build Himself in Christ into David. What God would build into David would be both God’s house and David’s house. This mutual abode is also unveiled in John 14:23: “If anyone loves Me,..My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” This abode will be not only for the Triune God but also for us. What God builds up in us is both God’s habitation and our habitation.
We need to realize that God will have a habitation not by our doing or working but by His building. Christ builds the church (Matt. 16:18) by coming into our spirit and spreading Himself from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will to occupy our entire soul. This church will become His habitation and our habitation. This is what we need, and our burden is to emphasize this one thing.
THE TRIUNE GOD BECOMING OUR INTRINSIC CONSTITUTION
There is no need for us to build anything for God. Rather, God needs to build Himself in Christ into s as our life, nature, and essence. Eventually, the Triune God will become our intrinsic constitution. We will be constituted with the Triune God. That will be the seed of David and the Son of God— something divine and human satisfying God’s need and our need for a mutual abode. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of this mutual abode, and we will all be there. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 25)
GOD BUILDING HIMSELF IN CHRIST INTO MAN
In these messages on 2 Samuel 7, we have emphasized the matter of God’s building Himself in Christ into man. God is building Himself not in Himself but in man, and not only in man but also into man. This building is God’s constituting of Himself in Christ into man.
God in Christ is constituting Himself into man, making Himself the element of man. Thus, we human beings are constituted with a divine element. This means that a divine element is built into our human element, and the two elements are mingled with each other. Not only is God’s divine element constituted into us—the human element is constituted into God. As the divine element is constituted into our humanity, we become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. As the human element is constituted into God, God becomes man. This is the building revealed in the New Testament.
Such a revelation should become a principle that governs our understanding of God and of God’s building. When we talk about the building up of the church or about the building up of the Body, we need to realize that this building is a constitution of the divine element into the human element and of the human element into the divine element. This building, therefore, is a constitution of the divine element and of the human element into each other. Such a constitution makes the divine element and the human element one entity. This is the building of the church, the building of the Body of Christ. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 31)