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Matthew 3:12 says, “Whose winnowing fan is in His hand. And He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” The Lord Himself, the Lord of the harvest, is the One who cleanses the threshing floor. He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn. The wheat signifies those who truly belong to the Lord. The Lord likens those who belong to Him to the harvest.
Verse 3 of chapter 13 says, “He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow.” Verses 8 and 9 say, “Others fell on the good earth and yielded fruit, one a hundredfold, and one sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In this parable of sowing, the Lord showed more clearly that those whom He saved are His harvest that He produced with the seed of life.
Verses 24 through 26 say, “Another parable He set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field. But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away. And when the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares appeared also.” Verse 30 says, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn.” Chapter 3 refers to the matter of gathering the wheat into the barn. Chapter 13 again mentions gathering the wheat into the barn.
Verses 37 and 38 say, “He answered and said, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one.” Please note that the field here is the world, not the church. The tares and the wheat grow together in the world, not in the church. Regrettably, however, many people in Christianity interpret the field as the church, saying that the tares and the wheat grow together in the church. Yet the Lord clearly said that the field is the world, and the tares grow in the world. The wheat signifies the genuine saved ones, who also live in the world. Here the wheat is the church. The church is not a place; the world is a place. The church is the wheat; it is something living.
Verses 39 through 43 say, “The enemy who sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the consummation of the age; and the reapers are angels. Therefore just as the tares are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the consummation of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
If you read the context, you will be clear that the righteous are the wheat gathered into the barn. This is also the Lord’s explanation of the parable. The Lord first spoke the parable to the crowd and then explained it to the disciples. After He told them what the field is, who sows the good seed, and who sows the tares, He told them what the outcome of the wheat and the tares will be. The wheat signifies the righteous; their outcome is that they will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. These words indicate that in the eyes of God, His people in this age are like the harvest growing in the field.
First Corinthians 3:5-9 says, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Ministers through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one of them. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” Cultivated land can also be translated as “farm.” In this portion the apostle puts farm and building together. On the one hand, the believers are God’s farm, God’s cultivated land; on the other hand, they are God’s house, God’s building. On the one hand, the work of the apostles is planting and watering, which naturally refers to the aspect of the farm. On the other hand, the saints are God’s house, God’s building, so the apostle says that their work is also a building work.
Verses 10 through 13 say, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it. For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.” Gold, silver, and precious stones are of one category; wood, grass, and stubble are of another. The day in verse 13 is the day of the Lord’s coming. Verses 14 through 17 continue, “If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you.” Only the work of gold, silver, and precious stones can remain through fire. The work that is consumed is the work of wood, grass, and stubble. Verse 15 speaks of suffering loss and of being saved; these are two different things.
If you read from the preceding section, you will realize that temple in verses 16 and 17 refers to the building in verses 10 through 14, not to our body being the temple of God. Our body being the temple of God is not mentioned until chapter 6. In chapter 1 and chapter 3 the apostle Paul spoke about divisions among the Corinthians. Their divisions were destroying the temple of God, so the apostle warned them here, saying that if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.
I would like the brothers and sisters to see that in the eyes of God, His people in this age are His farm, on the one hand, and His building, on the other. In order for us to know God’s building, we need to pay attention to these two aspects. In regard to a farm, it needs to grow; in regard to a building, it needs to be built. Actually, the two are one, because spiritual growth is building. We know that God’s spiritual building is not a dead building but a living building. Peter says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Since these stones are living, if they do not grow, they cannot be built. To be built together, these stones have to grow. Therefore, the building is the growth, and the growth is the building.
Revelation 14:1 says, “I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” Verses 4 and 5 say, “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth no lie was found; they are without blemish.” These verses show a group of people who are firstfruits to God. We know this word is quoted from Leviticus 23 in the Old Testament. The firstfruits are a small part of the harvest that ripens first.
Revelation 14:14-16 says, “I saw, and behold, there was a white cloud, and on the cloud One like the Son of Man sitting, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Send forth Your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He who sat on the cloud thrust His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped.” Please pay attention to the end of verse 15 — the prerequisite for the reaping is being ripe. The preceding verses speak about firstfruits; verses 14 through 16 speak about the harvest. The firstfruits are a fraction, whereas the harvest is the whole. Whether it is the firstfruits or the harvest, the principle and requirement are that it should be fully ripe. The first to ripen are gathered first; these are the firstfruits. When all are fully ripened, that will be the time of reaping.
I believe that after reading these messages, everyone is able to clearly see that for us the saved ones, our eternal dwelling place is not in any of the three places of the universe — heaven, earth, or underneath the earth. We often say that the earth is where we dwell as pilgrims. Even people in the world confess that human life is a pilgrimage. The earth is where man passes through in his journey as a pilgrim. Underneath the earth is Hades, and within it is Paradise, the place of Abraham’s bosom where the souls of the deceased saints are comforted. That also is not the eternal dwelling place of the saved ones. When the Lord comes again, the souls of the dead saints will rise from Paradise in Hades, put on a resurrected and transfigured body, and then be caught up together in the air with the living and remaining saints to meet the Lord. Later, the holy city, New Jerusalem, will descend from heaven, and then God will dwell with us forever. So even heaven is not the eternal dwelling place of the saints. Our eternal dwelling place is the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven at the time of the new heaven and new earth.
Many of the hymns in Christianity mention heaven being our home. This is an erroneous concept. From the time of our resurrection and rapture to the descending of the New Jerusalem from heaven, there will be at most one thousand years. The human concept is that God’s intention is to save and bring man to a certain place. In reading God’s Word, however, you can realize that God does not have a place as the goal, but the goal is He Himself. God’s intention is to save man into Himself. God has this as the goal of His salvation.
This is not merely a matter of God’s salvation, but also a matter of God’s eternal purpose. The eternal purpose of God is that man be mingled with Him. This is why we always say that God is working Himself into man and working man into Himself. It is not a matter of time or space but a matter of person. Therefore, the Bible shows repeatedly that God wants to be mingled with man and take man as His dwelling place. God says, “Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / ...Where is the place of My rest?” (Isa. 66:1). What His heart cares for and what He wants to gain are those of a contrite spirit, who tremble at His word (v. 2). Therefore, neither heaven nor earth is the place of His rest; it is man who is His resting place. Nevertheless, those who knew God in the Old Testament times revealed their longings through their groaning and prayer. They desired to dwell in the house of God all the days of their lives (Psa. 23:6; 27:4). They realized that there was not a place in the universe where they could dwell. God alone was their dwelling place.
All the foregoing verses reveal that God’s desire is to have man as His habitation and to have man take Him as his habitation. That is why in the New Testament you see many ins, especially in the Gospel of John: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). This is God dwelling in man that man may also dwell in God. Therefore, when we come to 1 John, we read such a word: “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit” (4:13). His giving to us of His Spirit is His pouring of oil upon us as stones (Gen. 28:18-19a). This is Bethel, the house of God. Through the Holy Spirit’s entering into us, God abides in us and we in Him. This is the house of God.
The first step in this matter was the Lord’s incarnation. This was the first step of God’s entering into man. John says very clearly that the Lord’s becoming flesh was His tabernacling among men. Later, the Lord Himself also said that the body of His incarnation was the temple of God, or we may say, the house of God. The Jews wanted to destroy the Lord’s body, but the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). This means that the Lord would raise this temple up in resurrection. We have said that the body crucified by the Jews was limited to only one man, Jesus the Nazarene, but the Body raised up by the Lord through resurrection includes millions of His believers. When a grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). Before the grain dies, it is just a single grain; after its death and resurrection it grows into many grains. Therefore, the Lord’s word in John 2, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” is a great word. We cannot understand it merely according to letter; we need spiritual understanding. God obtained a house on earth by putting on humanity and dwelling in humanity. This is the house that Satan attempted to destroy through man. However, the Lord said that He would raise it up in resurrection. This word will be fully fulfilled when we are raptured in the future. Then we will see that this temple, this house, this Body, which the Lord raised up in resurrection, is not just one individual — Jesus the Nazarene — but includes all who were regenerated through His death and resurrection throughout the ages.
Therefore, this house of God is not a place but a corporate person. This house is composed of the Triune God and all the saved ones. The apostolic Epistles express the same thought. Peter says, “You...as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Paul says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit” (Eph. 2:22). These verses show that this building is not a place but an entity composed of God and man.
I believe you are already quite clear concerning this point. Now we will make still another turn. If we look at it simply from Hebrews 11, it seems that the city Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed after is a place. However, when we come to Hebrews 12, we realize that the name of the city is the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, what they eagerly waited for is the holy city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. However, when you read on to Revelation, you see that the holy city is not a place. This is because the city is the bride, the wife of the Lamb. On the one hand, she is God’s tabernacle, that which is built by God to be the eternal dwelling place of God and man. On the other hand, she is also the bride of the Lamb, the counterpart whom Christ has gained. Therefore, you must agree that this is not a matter of place but a matter of person. This city is the group of people God has built throughout the generations, composed of the Old Testament saints represented by the twelve tribes and the New Testament saints represented by the twelve apostles.
Now we turn back to look at John 14. The Lord said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes” (v. 2). Now we know that this is not what people generally refer to as the heavenly mansion. Many people say that the Father’s house in John 14 is the holy city in Hebrews 11. This we absolutely agree with. Yet we have to ask, is the holy city in Hebrews 11 a heavenly mansion, or is it something built with God’s redeemed people? The Bible does not say that this is a heavenly mansion, but Revelation 21 clearly shows that this holy city is a city built with God’s redeemed ones. This city is the Father’s house. So My Father’s house in John 14 does not denote heaven or a heavenly mansion. Rather, it denotes a building, which is God taking man as His dwelling place and bringing man into God that man may take God as his dwelling place.
Therefore, from John 14:2 through chapter 17, all that the Lord spoke about was that He would go through death and resurrection to bring man, who was outside of God, into God. The Lord said, “Where I am you also may be” (14:3). The Lord was in the Father, and through His death and resurrection we were brought into the Father as He was in the Father. That is why the Lord said that in that day “because I live, you also shall live” (v. 19). “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (v. 20). “The one who loves Me...I...will manifest Myself to him...and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (vv. 21-23). Abode here is the same Greek word translated as “abodes” in verse 2. So the abodes in verse 2 clearly refer not to a physical place but to those whom God gained to be His dwelling place.
Now we have made this great turn. As a result of this turn, we see that the New Jerusalem is not heaven but the people God has saved throughout the ages as His dwelling place and His counterpart. God is not marrying a place as His counterpart; He is marrying His redeemed as His counterpart. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul says, “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (v. 2). The counterpart of God and Christ is not a place but a group of people. This group of people becomes the dwelling place of God.
Brothers and sisters, interpreting the Bible is not a simple matter. It requires the entire Bible to interpret one verse. You cannot make a decision merely by examining one portion of the Word. If you read only Hebrews 11, it may seem to you that the city Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob eagerly waited for is a place; but if you study the entire Bible, you will see that the city is not a place but a group of people.
If we have the light, we can see right away that God’s salvation is not to save us from earth to heaven but to save us who are outside of God into God. This is the work God has been doing throughout the ages since creation. In the Bible this work is called building. God wants to build Himself into man and build man into Himself.
We know that this building work of God is accomplished by His coming to be man’s life. This building of God is the pouring of oil upon the stones, as we mentioned before. The stones are we the saved ones, and the oil is the Spirit of God, the transfiguration of God, God Himself. In eternity God was the Father. When He was manifested among men, He was the Son. When He enters into man to be mingled with man and to be man’s life, He is the Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the One in whom God has a relationship with man. Oil being poured upon stones makes us living stones to be built into a living building.
The Bible uses another way to depict God’s entering into us to be our life. It says that the life of God is the seed of life. First John 3:9 says plainly that God’s seed abides in us. A seed contains life. God being life in us is just like a seed. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said that He was a grain of wheat. If He did not fall into the ground and die, He would abide alone; but if He died, He would bear much fruit (John 12:24). Through His resurrection the Lord regenerated us, making us alive from within. Since then, we are God’s wheat, God’s crop, growing in the field of the world.
Please remember that this growth is the building. In regard to a farm, it is a matter of growth; in regard to a building, it is a matter of building. The two matters are one. If you do not grow, you cannot be built. If you grow a little, then you can be built up a little more in the church. If you grow into Christ, the Head, in a certain matter, then in that matter you can be built up with the saints. When all of us have grown and matured, this building of God will be accomplished.
I would ask you, brothers and sisters, are you God’s farm, God’s harvest? I believe you would all acknowledge that you are. However, I would further ask, are you mature? If you have not matured, and if the Lord comes today, do you think He will reap you? Only when the harvest is fully ripened will it be reaped and gathered into the barn. What will you do since you have not ripened? Today Christianity tells people that they will go to heaven if they believe in Jesus. I do not know what kind of thought or concept this is. They say that this is due to the efficacy of the Lord’s blood. Please remember that redemption through the blood is only one aspect of God’s salvation. There is another aspect, which is the aspect of life. It is true that the blood solved all our problems before God and brought us to God. However, please remember that it is the growth in life that causes us to grow into God. God does not consider us as glass vessels that are good enough if He merely washes us clean with the blood and places us before Him. He has washed us with the blood, but He also wants to come into us to be our life so that we may become a living harvest. This living harvest needs to grow and mature.
Let me ask you: Is there a lord of the harvest who reaps the crops that are still green in the field? No, the crops must be ripe before they can be gathered into the house. Now we understand that the house is the New Jerusalem. The house is the destination of the harvest after it is fully ripened. This does not refer to a heavenly mansion; it refers to the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate destination of us who are saved. However, those who are immature cannot yet go into the house.
Therefore, we should not believe the erroneous doctrines in Christianity. They say that after a person believes in Jesus, he is washed in the blood and will go to heaven after death. This is an inaccurate statement. It is true that if you believe in the Lord Jesus, His blood washes away your sins, and when you die, your spirit and soul can be comforted in Paradise in Hades. Yet I still have to ask, have you grown and matured since you were saved? Paul could say that he was matured. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says, “I therefore run in this way, not as though without a clear aim; I box in this way, not as though beating the air...lest perhaps having preached to others [which is preaching to others concerning maturity, concerning the gaining of the reward], I myself may become disapproved” (vv. 26-27). When he wrote Philippians, he was already quite old. At that time he was locked away in a Roman prison, and he still said, “I do not account of myself to have laid hold...Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal” (3:13-14). That pursuit is the growth, and it is the building. As crops, we need to grow. As a building, we need to be built. We are all running a race on a course, so we need to pursue. Even in his old age Paul said that he was pursuing.
However, in 2 Timothy 4 he says that he was about to be martyred for the Lord: “I am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (vv. 6-8). He knew that he had matured. I ask you brothers and sisters, if today you were to depart from the world and your spirit went to be in Abraham’s bosom, would you be able to say what Paul said? Paul could say that he had matured and was waiting for the Lord’s coming. Can you say the same thing? Therefore, with regard to being washed by the precious blood, you are a redeemed person; you can come before God. However, you need to keep in mind that there is another aspect; that is, God’s life needs to grow within you. God needs to build you into His building. Have you matured? Have you been built? This is a great matter.
