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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:9-12; 6:14-16; Exo. 25:8-9; 1 Kings 6:1; John 1:14; 2:19-21; Rev. 21:2, 12, 14, 23; 22:1
In the Scriptures there are many lines of the truth related to many important matters. There is the line of life, for example, from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end. There are also the lines of redemption, sin, and even the enemy of God, Satan, the devil. The building of God is a very important line in the entire Scriptures. This line, however, has been neglected today by many Christians. It is difficult to find a message in a book or given from the platform dealing with the building of God.
In the very beginning of the Scriptures there is the thought of life and building and the thought that life is for the building of God. The first two chapters give us a blueprint of God’s plan, and as we know, a blueprint is for building. In Genesis 2 there is the tree of life, and with the tree of life there is the flow of living water (vv. 9-10). In this flow of living water there are the precious materials for God’s building: gold, bdellium (pearl), and onyx stone (vv. 11-12).
At the beginning of the Scriptures there is life with the materials for the building, and at the end, the ultimate consummation and conclusion of the Scriptures, there is a building, which is signified by the holy city, the New Jerusalem. This building, with life as its center, is built with gold, pearls, and precious stones. This shows us that the Scriptures are, on the one hand, a book of life and, on the other hand, a book of the record of God’s building. In the entire Scriptures there is much concerning building, so we can say that the Scriptures are a record of building.
We first need to see the difference between God’s creation and God’s building. In the sixty-six books of the Scriptures, only the first two chapters of Genesis deal with God’s creation. After His creation, God’s work is the work of building. The greater part of the Scriptures, from the third chapter to the end, deals with the building of God.
As we have seen, at the beginning of the Scriptures there is the garden of Eden, and at the end of the Scriptures there is a city. A garden is a natural scene, a scene of nature, but a city is different; it is a building. When God completed His creation, He had a garden, but He did not have a building. The result of creation was a garden, but that was not His satisfaction. Therefore, from that time God began to do a further work, not a work of creation but a work of building. It is only after His work through all the generations is completed that God will have not merely a garden but a building.
With God’s creation there is nothing of God Himself in His creatures. In His building, however, God builds up something by mingling Himself with His creation. In God’s creation He did a work with His hands, not with Himself, but in His building God works with Himself as the material. In His building God mingles Himself very much with His creation. Therefore, God’s building is a divine mingling of God Himself with man as His creature.
We are a part of both God’s creation and God’s building. As merely a part of God’s creation, we have nothing of God within us, but as a part of God’s building, we have something of God within us. If we do not have anything of God within us, we are not a part of His building; we are merely a part of His creation. What is God building? It is the building of Himself with humanity.
The first building of God in the Scriptures is Noah’s ark (Gen. 6:14-16). The ark is a type of Christ the Redeemer to be the Savior to us. With Him there is redemption, deliverance, salvation, safety, and refuge. Why then was the ark a building? We realize that Noah’s ark is a type of Christ, but we may not realize why it needed to be a building. Here is a divine thought which has been neglected by many people.
To make a building simply means to put different materials together. Christ the Redeemer and Savior is a building. Christ is not only God but a God-man; He is God built together with man. Originally, Christ was only God. John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. However, verse 14 says that the Word became flesh. The Word as God mingled Himself with humanity. This was a building. Verse 14 says that when Christ as the Word of God was incarnated in the flesh, He tabernacled among us. The incarnated Lord is a tabernacle, a building of the divine material mingled together with the human material. In Christ is divinity and humanity. His two natures are the materials, which are mingled together and built up as one. Christ as the Savior, who is God incarnated as a man, is the building, the mingling, of divinity with humanity, a building of God with man.
Before we were saved, we were only a creation and not a building. At most, we were part of the material for the building. However, now that we are saved, God has mingled Himself with us. He has mingled the divine nature with our human nature, making us a divine building.
The numbers three and five are often used in the building of the ark. The ark was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Moreover, it had three stories, not two or four, with one opening for light. Three is the number of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — and five is the number of responsibility, just as we have five fingers on each hand for responsibility in doing things. Five is composed of four plus one. One signifies the one God, and four is the number of the creatures, such as the four living creatures in Revelation 4:6-8. Four plus one signifies the Creator added to the creatures to be a building. Christ is the very God mingled with creation, the “one” mingled with the “four.” As the real “five,” Christ is the God-man, God mingled with man, who bears the responsibility for us before God. Moreover, in Him as the ark there are the “three stories” — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The numbers three and five occur many times also in the building of the tabernacle in Exodus (25:8-9). Many items were measured by three and five. Just as the ark had three stories, the tabernacle had three parts — the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. The width of the boards of the tabernacle was one and a half cubits; two boards matched together equaled three cubits. The height of the boards was ten cubits, divided into an upper and lower part of five cubits each, just as the Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of five commandments each.
There were three furnishings in the Holy Place — the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. Likewise, three items were hidden in the Ark of the Testimony. There are many other occurrences of three and five in the tabernacle. Again, three signifies the Triune God, and five signifies the adding of God to His creatures. Therefore, the building of God is the mingling of God Himself with His creatures.
There are also many things to say about the temple (1 Kings 6:1). The temple is a full picture of the mingling of God with His creatures. Again, in the temple there is the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. These signify the three “stories” of the Triune God. When the Lord Christ came in incarnation, He said that He was the temple. On the one hand, when He became flesh, He was the tabernacle, but in John 2:19 He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” His body was a temple, the house of God, which the Jewish people destroyed, but the Lord rose up again after three days. This further indicates that the Lord Himself is a building.
The principle of the Lord being a building is that God mingles Himself with humanity, and this is the principle of God’s building in general. Therefore, the church also is the divine mingling of God Himself with humanity. The church is not something of the old creation. It is God’s building composed of God Himself as the divine material mingled with man as the human material. In this sense, the church is a hybrid. A hybrid is a mingling of two lives and natures into one entity. The mingling of a plum and a peach, for example, is a plant hybrid. The church is a divine hybrid as the mingling of God with man.
We may speak much concerning the building of the church, but we must realize that the building is the mingling of God with man. The more we are mingled with God, the more we are built up together. It is impossible for us to be built up together without God. Even if we could be built in this way, that would not be the building of God; it would merely be a building of people. The church as the building of God is not a combination or composition of humans. Rather, it is a mingling of God with humanity.
After the church, God’s building becomes the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). Noah’s ark, the tabernacle, the temple, Christ, the church, and the New Jerusalem are all God’s building. However, these are all different aspects of one building, not many buildings. In the New Jerusalem we can find items related to Noah’s ark, to the tabernacle of Moses, and to Solomon’s temple with the old Jerusalem. We can certainly see Christ as the house and temple of God, and we can also see the church. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate expression and consummation of God’s building.
The New Jerusalem contains the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (vv. 12, 14). The twelve tribes of Israel are the representatives of the Old Testament saints, and the twelve apostles are the representatives of the New Testament saints. This shows us that the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints in the Old and New Testament times.
Moreover, God is the light of the New Jerusalem, and Christ is the lamp (v. 23). God is in Christ, and out of God in Christ flows the Spirit as the river of water of life (22:1). God the Father is the light, God the Son is the lamp, and God the Spirit is the river of living water. From the throne of God and the Redeemer at the center, the Triune God flows throughout the entire city for the mingling of God with His creatures. This is the real meaning of the building of God. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the redeemed ones throughout the generations with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit as the center. It is a universally great corporate man mingled with God to be a living Body and a built-up city.
The New Jerusalem is a full picture of the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed creatures, the mingling of divinity with humanity. Now God is no longer merely a God outside of man. He is a God within man.
Besides this one building, there is not another building of God. God has only one building in the universe. Why then did the Lord speak of “many abodes” in John 14:2? In 2:16 the Lord clearly indicated that the Father’s house is the temple. What then is the Father’s house in 14:2? This verse says, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” How can we fit this verse into God’s building? When some preach the gospel, they tell people that if they do not believe in Jesus, they will go to hell, and if they do believe, they will go to a heavenly mansion, or a heavenly hall. Should we believe that today, while God is building His church, He is also building mansions in heaven? Many times I have been condemned for preaching that there are no heavenly mansions. My intention, however, is not to preach away the heavenly mansions but to help the children of God know what the real building of God is. The real building of God is not a heavenly hall but the mingling of Himself with man, His creature.
Certain hymns contain the thought that God is a God in heaven and that someday we will go to heaven. Do not think that I do not believe that there is a heaven. I certainly believe that there is a heaven and that God is in the heavens, but heaven where God is now is not the eternal habitation of God. We can prove this with Revelation 21:2, which says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In eternity God will dwell in the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven. We may have the thought to go to heaven, but God has the thought to come down from heaven. The habitation of God in eternity is His divine building, the New Jerusalem, the mingling of divinity with humanity.
We need to be adjusted in our thinking. If we trace the history of the thought concerning the heavenly mansions, we will find that it comes from the teaching of Roman Catholicism based on superstition. We do believe that there is a Paradise prepared by God, but we must realize and remember well that the divine thought in the entire Scriptures is not that God is seeking a physical habitation. A physical habitation can never satisfy God. The central and divine thought of the Scriptures is that God is seeking a divine building as the mingling of Himself with humanity. He is seeking a living composition of living persons redeemed by and mingled with Himself.
After His creation, God began and is still carrying out the work of the divine building. Even today God is doing the work of the divine building, which is to mingle Himself with man. We preach the gospel not merely to win souls or save souls from hell but to minister God Himself through the Spirit to man so that God can be mingled with man. In this way we gain the materials for the divine building. Likewise, we minister Christ to the saints so that they can be mingled and built up together with Christ. This is the basic and central thought behind what we do.
If through my ministry I have not been able to help anyone to be mingled with Christ more and more, my ministry is a complete failure. The success of a ministry is in ministering Christ into people and helping them to mingle with Christ. Before we come under such a ministry, we may have only a little of Christ, but after we come, we gain much Christ. This ministry ministers Christ to us, helps us to grow in Christ, and mingles us with Christ all the time. This carries out the building, which is the divine mingling of God Himself with man.
To be mingled with God day by day is a deep, basic, and central matter. Husbands should love their wives, and wives should submit to their husbands, but for husbands merely to love their wives means little. The real love that is worthy before God is the love that is a mingling of Christ with the husbands. If Christ is mingled in the love of a person, there is the divine building. Some people say that Japanese wives are very submissive to their husbands. However, simply to submit to a husband means little. The submission of the wives should be something of Christ mingled with them. If there is something of Christ mingled with a wife’s submission, there is the divine building. Both the love of the husbands and the submission of the wives must be the mingling of Christ with man, that is, the divine building.
Remember well that after His work of creation, God’s work of building is to mingle Himself with man. In every spiritual experience, God must be mingled with us as the divine building. It is not sufficient to be humble or to love and submit. There must be the divine building, which is the mingling of God within. By this word we can now understand what the building of God, the house of God, and the dwelling of God are. The dwelling place of God is the mingling of God with man. This is also the building of the church. By the grace of God, may we more and more see the mingling of God with man as the real, divine building.
