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God created the universe with a center. In this universe there are many galaxies, the sun, the moon, and constellations, which constitute what we call heaven. Speaking from man’s perspective, under the heaven is the earth. Therefore, man lives between heaven and earth. When scientists studied the moon, they discovered that it has no atmosphere around it. Therefore, there is no rain, and consequently, the entire moon is incapable of growing life. According to scientific inference, life exists only on earth. Many parts of the earth are composed of minerals, which are essential to the existence of living things. For example, the elements of our human body are the same as the elements of dust, both being composed of minerals. Therefore, we need these minerals for our existence.
Moreover, the earth created by God in His wisdom is not only rich in minerals, but it also produces all kinds of living things. It first produces plants, including flowers, grass, and trees, which are in the principle of the “wood, grass, stubble” mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:12. Plants are capable of propagating life. A seed, for example, after being buried in the ground brings forth many grains; this is the propagation of the seed.
Those who have been to Southeast Asia know that when the Chinese immigrated there to do business, they made money and became rich through planting rubber trees. They owned many acres of rubber plantations. The rubber that we use daily comes from these rubber trees. When a rubber tree has grown to a certain stage, latex seeps out if the bark is cut open. This latex from the rubber tree is the source of many rubber products such as washbasins, cups, and automobile tires, which are indispensable in our daily lives. This shows us that anything created by God, whether it is mineral, plant, or animal, can be used to produce something.
In God’s creation, minerals, plants, and animals all undergo changes. Although God used clay to create human beings, He wants us to be transformed into pearl and precious stones. The way He transforms us is to continuously add His element of pure gold into us. We can become pearl and precious stones because we have His element of pure gold.
First Corinthians 3:9 says that the believers are God’s cultivated land, God’s farm, for growing plants, and it also says that the believers are God’s building. This is truly wonderful in that it speaks first about a farm for growing plants and then about a building to be built with minerals. In verse 12 Paul first mentions gold, silver, and precious stones and then wood, grass, and stubble, that is, first minerals, then plants. Paul also says that when a person’s work is proved by fire, if it is in the nature of plants, it will be consumed. However, if it is built with gold, silver, and precious stones, his work is in the nature of minerals; it will remain, and he will receive a reward (vv. 13-14).
In summary, on this earth there are first minerals, and then plants are produced. It is apparent, however, that whether minerals or plants, they are either mostly dirt and rocks, or leaves and wood, which are easily decomposed, and do not appear to be precious or valuable. They need to go through transformation to produce gold, pearl, and precious stones.
According to the record in Genesis 2, there is a kind of pearl, bdellium, that is produced out of the plant life (v. 12). In the New Testament, however, pearl is produced not out of the plant life but out of the animal life, out of oysters (Rev. 21:21). The pearl in Genesis 2 is produced by a resin-producing plant, such as a rubber tree. When the life-juice that issues from this kind of tree is coagulated, it solidifies to become a pearl. However, the pearl mentioned in the New Testament is produced from oysters in the sea. When a grain of sand gets into an oyster, not only does it wound the oyster, but the foreign particle also stays within the oyster. When the grain of sand enters into the oyster, the oyster secretes its life-juice, which coats the grain of sand layer by layer. With each layer of coating the grain of sand becomes larger, and in the end it becomes a pearl.
In terms of life, the earth is the center of the universe. On the earth there are minerals and plants. Minerals consist mostly of dirt and sand, and plants are wood, grass, and stubble. Today as products of the earth, we are constituted with minerals and plants. The food we eat every day includes plants and minerals. In addition, we also eat animals, such as chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We human beings are compositions of these three kinds of substance. We are certainly very capable, because we not only can take in but also absorb all these things. After we have absorbed them, they become the elements of our body. Man’s longevity depends on the body. A person with a healthy body lives a long life, while a person with an unhealthy body lives a short life. Regardless of how healthy a person is, if he does not eat or drink, he will become sick and eventually die.
When a new human life is born, it weighs only about six or seven pounds. After a period of time it increases to twenty pounds, and after another period of time it may be over a hundred and thirty pounds. The reason human life has such a manifestation is that it is constituted with the elements of minerals, animals, and plants. Today, whether presidents, government heads, enterprisers, street sweepers, garbage collectors, whether college graduates, elementary school graduates, or uneducated persons, all are composed of dirt, sand, wood, grass, stubble, chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We can even say that they are heaps of all such materials.
We know that although jade, crystals, and other such things come from dirt and sand, they are gems and are precious. Today we who believe in Christ are composed of dirt, sand, wood, grass, stubble, chicken, duck, fish, and beef, but we are very different from people in the world, because we have a treasure inside of us. The treasure within us is none other than Christ (2 Cor. 4:7), who is God. Without God we are only compositions of minerals, plants, and animals; with God we have a precious element within us that makes us precious.
Even though the elements that make up the entire earth are nothing more than minerals (such as dirt and sand), plants (such as wood, grass, and stubble), and animals (such as chicken, duck, fish, and beef), we are different because we have God. First Peter 2:4-5 says that we are living stones, chosen and precious with God. We are precious living stones, and these living stones are not for exhibition but for the divine building. Isaiah 28:16 says, “Therefore thus says / The Lord Jehovah: / Indeed I lay a stone in Zion / ...A precious cornerstone.” This cornerstone indicates building. Therefore, in the church we are not like the items in a jewelry store that are only for display. Rather, every day we are growing and being transformed for the building of God.
In the Gospel of John the Lord tells us that He is the true vine (15:1). This means that all the other vines are not real; only the Lord Himself is the true vine. Since He is the true vine, we are joined to Him as the same vine; the only difference is that He is the root, the source, and we are the branches (v. 5). We know that a tree with only the root or trunk but without any branches is not a complete tree. Christ and we are the vine that bears fruit. The fruit that we bear is the outflow of life. When life flows out from the plant, it becomes pearl. Therefore, on the one hand, we are dirt, sand, wood, grass, and stubble, but on the other hand, we are filled with the element of gold. God as gold is in us to transform us into pearl and precious stones for His building. In other words, God’s building is built with these precious materials. The building composed of these materials is the greatest treasure in the universe.
As saved ones, we have truly been blessed with God’s special grace, so we should go and preach the gospel everywhere. We should go knock on the doors of the president, the cabinet heads, and the college deans. Some may say that these doors are not easy to knock on because they are doors of people of high position and influence who will not open to us. If that is the case, we can use the telephone. If they will not pick up the telephone, we can write letters. When going out to contact people, we have at least three ways: knocking on doors, making telephone calls, and writing letters. In addition, we can send books such as gospel pamphlets by mail. If we are faithful in our practice, in all these ways there will be one that works.
We have to tell people that whether they are the head of a nation, the head of a government department, or the head of a university, one day all these “heads” will pass away and vanish, and all that will remain is dirt, sand, and other elements. There is a brother among us who went through the Whampoa Military Academy and was a high ranking military officer. Nevertheless, today he is no longer any kind of “head.” Happily, he believes in the Lord Jesus. If he did not believe, he would be left with only the elements of animals, plants, and minerals, and one day when he closes his eyes and expires, all that he has will come to an end, and he will have nothing.
Whether a person occupies the highest position or works as a street vendor, the outcome is the same. That is why we ought to preach the gospel to people, telling them that regardless of their occupation today, in the end they will be only a pile of mineral, plant, and animal elements; there will not be much left. Some of us are younger and some of us are older; the difference is only a matter of time, eighty years at the most. Eventually, the older ones will be the first ones to turn into a pile of dust, and the younger ones will also follow suit to be dust. There is no difference in their end.
Today by the Lord’s mercy we have made a high choice, which is also an excellent choice. I was saved at the age of nineteen in 1925. That afternoon I heard the gospel in a large chapel, and I was very clear that I was saved. Before then I was born and raised in Christianity, but I was not a believer. Furthermore, because of the Chinese ethical education that I had received, I greatly despised Christianity and its practices. I considered it a religion preached by foreigners who could only teach that sinners would go to hell and good people would go to heaven. To me, such teaching was far too inferior when compared with Chinese Confucian philosophy.
Yet that afternoon the Lord caught me under very special circumstances. The sister who preached the gospel was only six years older than I was. That day she did not talk about hell or heaven, nor did she talk about bad people or good people. She was from the Yangtze River valley in the south and was serving in the region around Shanghai. Rarely did she come up to the north, but in 1925 she was invited by the denominations to come and preach the gospel in my hometown, Chefoo. I had always attended Christian schools and had been accustomed to the so-called sermons and gospel, and I was even getting tired of them. During my childhood, because the school was next to the chapel, every Lord’s Day morning the teachers would have us line up one by one and would take us to the chapel to hear the pastors speak. I was weary of listening to them, especially because they did not speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. Therefore, I did not have a good impression whenever Christianity or the church was mentioned.
Because of my family’s Christian background, outwardly I would nevertheless argue for and defend Christianity. I remember that every time the school took us on a field trip, whenever we passed by a temple, a classmate would bring up questions concerning God, and I would argue with him, telling him that all those idols are false and that only the God we have in Christianity is real. Even though I said such things, I myself did not believe. It was extremely self-contradictory. Back then I always felt that going to operas, playing soccer, and playing games were far more exciting and interesting than attending church meetings.
However, on that day when I heard that a twenty-five-year- old woman from Shanghai would be preaching the gospel to us, I thought it was quite extraordinary. From my youth I had never heard a woman preaching the gospel, so I went and listened to her speaking. This sister truly had the presence of the Lord. She told the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. She said that Pharaoh typifies the devil, Satan, whose main intention is to usurp men with the “Egyptian” world. She spoke with great power, and I was caught immediately. I then prayed to the Lord, “Lord, I do not want this world. I do not want to be usurped by Satan. I want God Himself.” With this inward feeling, I prayed as I listened to the speaking until the meeting ended.
Sixty years ago the meetings in the denominations were such that when the meeting was dismissed, the atmosphere was quite cold. There were no after-meeting conversations, and no one would come to contact you. Generally speaking, after a church service everyone would simply go home separately, and no one bothered anyone else. Therefore, we could attend services for ten years without ever having a real conversation with anyone. After the meeting was dismissed that day, while I was walking alone, I was full of feeling in my heart and knew that I was saved. I still remember that on my way home, when I came to a street corner, I stopped, stood still, and prayed to God a prayer that I can never forget. I prayed, “O God, even if the entire world were given to me, and all the world asked me to be king, I would not accept it. I want only You.”
We all need to make the best choice. Even if a person becomes the president of a nation or the principal of a school, in the end he is nothing more than a pile of dust, sand, wood, and other elements. According to the apostle Paul, all human attainments are merely refuse (Phil. 3:7-8). Only when we gain God, when we gain Christ, have we made the best choice.
When I entered to study at a junior college, I was clear in my heart that even if I did well in my studies, I did not study for study’s sake. At that time I did not know about consecration, and no one told me about consecration. Still, walking on the road one day I spontaneously told God, “O God, some day I will carry a Bible bag and preach the gospel in all the villages and small towns. Even if I have to drink from mountain brooks and live on tree roots, I am willing to do anything as long as I can preach the gospel, and I will be satisfied.” I did not understand much Bible truth at the time, but I had this thought within me, that apart from pursuing and gaining the Lord, everything else in human life does not matter.
Therefore, if we would choose the Lord and spend time learning to serve Him, we have made the super-choice, the excellent choice. Today the environment of the church is an environment of “gold, silver, precious stones.” Most of us have received a higher education, and in the church life we are also immersed in the word of God, in God Himself. This enables us to grow and be transformed in life daily. Regardless of how long we have been in the church life, I believe that we all have the same feeling that we are growing, that God’s golden nature is also growing within us, and that there is transformation within us. Ultimately, we will be built together. We are not individual precious stones or pearls, but we are being built with one another.
Today we have a part in God’s building. Individually, we are each a pearl and a precious stone. Corporately, we should be a collective entity of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearl. This is the church today, and in the future it will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem. This is the treasure of the universe, the desire of God’s heart.
God created the universe and the earth for the producing of the church. First, the saints are produced through the redemption of Christ. Next, the church is constituted with the saints. Lastly, the constituted church is enlarged to consummate in the New Jerusalem. At that point the New Jerusalem will still be on the earth, but the earth will have become the new earth with the new heaven (Rev. 21:1-2). It will be a new earth, but it will still be the earth. God is very interested in the earth, because it is on the earth that He will produce the saints and build the church, which eventually will be enlarged to become the New Jerusalem.
Everything in the New Jerusalem is a treasure. The description in the Bible is very clear. It says that the city proper is a mountain of pure gold (v. 18). The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with twelve kinds of precious stones (vv. 19-20). In addition, this city has twelve gates, each composed of one pearl (v. 21). Therefore, this city is truly a city of pure gold, precious stones, and pearl, which is the aggregate of the mingling of the processed Triune God with His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed tripartite man. Ultimately, the Triune God will take us as His dwelling place, and we will take Him as our dwelling place. Thus, He and we will live together for eternity. This is the story of the universal treasure. Today our choice is excellent, our human life is excellent, the meaning of our human life is excellent, and the goal of our human life is excellent. Eventually, what we attain to in our human life will be even more excellent; it will be unparalleled.
We are fortunate to be people who have God and who have a vision. We see ourselves as pearls and precious stones, not a pile of dirt and sand, nor a pile of wood, grass, and stubble, neither a pile of chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We are a building constituted with precious stones and pearl. Our human life is excellent, the meaning of our human life is excellent, and the purpose of our human life is excellent. This purpose is none other than the mingling of God and man. God wants to mingle Himself with us, who are men of clay, to transform us completely into precious stones and pearl.
Today we all are being transformed, growing, and being built together. This is the church, today’s treasure and tomorrow’s New Jerusalem. One day in the New Jerusalem we will not see a single piece of wood or stone. Rather, everything will be pure gold, precious stones, and pearl. Today we should have the same expression. This is the treasure of the universe.
(A message given in the full-time training in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 11, 1990)
