Search
Scripture Reading: Psa. 90:1; 92:12-13; Luke 2:37; 1 Cor. 6:17, 19; 1 John 4:13; Rev. 21:2-3
In the first chapter we saw that God wants to gain a house in the universe through His work of building so that both God and man can have a resting place. We saw that after the completion of the work of creation the Bible says that God rested (Gen. 2:1-3), yet in Isaiah 66:1 God says, “Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet... / Where is the place of My rest?” This word proves that although God created the heavens and the earth and has finished His work of creation, He has not obtained a resting place in the universe. Therefore, He needs to do a further work to build a resting place for Himself. The building work of God is emphasized repeatedly in the Scriptures. While the work of God’s creation took only six days, after six thousand years the building work of God is still not finished. Therefore, in the universe God’s work of building is a great and mysterious matter.
What then is the building work of God? And how will it be completed? In brief, the building work of God is the mingling of God and man. God mingling with man is God building Himself into man; man mingling with God is man being built into God. In God’s creation heaven was heaven, earth was earth, God was God, and man was man. The two sides were never mingled together. In God’s work of building, however, God wants to build Himself into man and to build man into Himself. When these two are mingled and built together, they become a building in the universe, which may be called the universal house. This building, or we may say this house, is constituted through the mingling of God and man. It is the house of God, and it is also the house of man. It is God taking man as His dwelling place, and it is also man taking God as his habitation. In other words, it is the mutual abode of God and man.
The Scriptures clearly show that all of God’s work in time is for gaining such a dwelling place, such a house. Although the universe comprises both heaven and earth, God does not take heaven as His dwelling place, neither does He consider the earth to be man’s habitation. If God does not mingle Himself with man to become one with man but remains outside of man, then God does not have a dwelling place; He is a God without a home. Similarly, if man is not mingled with God to become one with God and if man continues to live outside of God, then man is a wandering, homeless man. For both God and man, the real dwelling place in the universe is neither heaven nor earth, much less any physical house; rather, it is the oneness of the mutual mingling of God and man, the oneness of God being mingled with man and man being mingled with God. This oneness is a great universal oneness, a spiritual building, and a great universal house. God’s building work throughout the generations is to obtain such a dwelling place, such a house.
In the previous chapter we mentioned that God’s building is revealed in Genesis 28. There it says that Jacob saw a ladder in his dream and heard God’s promise to him. After he woke up, he took the stone, which he had used as a pillow, and set it up as a pillar. Then he poured oil on top of it, saying, “This stone...will be God’s house” (v. 22).
We must pay attention to Jacob’s pouring of oil upon the stone. Why did Jacob pour oil upon the stone that he had set up as a pillar? The first time the house of God is mentioned in the Scriptures is in Genesis 28. This chapter is also the first time where such a pouring of oil is mentioned. At that time Jacob was a young man who had not received any spiritual education. Moreover, he was not a person who was seeking after God, and none of his forefathers had ever poured oil upon anything. We have to admit that what Jacob did that morning was an extraordinary thing.
Immediately after God appeared to him, Jacob said, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17). For him to say this was already quite spiritual. However, what is even more amazing is that he took the stone that he had used as a pillow, set it up as a pillar, poured oil upon it, and said that this oil-covered pillar would be the house of God. What is the meaning of pouring oil upon the pillar of stone? When we come to the New Testament, we can see its meaning clearly. Bible scholars all know that in the Scriptures oil signifies the Holy Spirit and that a stone denotes a saved person. The Lord Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). In Greek Peter means “a stone.” Peter himself also told us that all the saved ones are living stones being built up as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5a). Hence, we can see that oil being poured upon a stone signifies that God is poured upon man, that God is mingled with man.
In order for there to be the house of God, there must be the mingling of God and man, as typified by the pouring of oil upon the stone. When God as the Spirit comes upon and into His redeemed people, the two are mingled together. This is the house of God, the dwelling place of God.
I wish that all the children of God could see that whenever and wherever there are people who have the Spirit of God poured upon them and who are joined with the Spirit of God, there is the temple of God, the house of God. There, God is with man and dwells in man, and man also dwells in God.
After His resurrection, when the Lord Jesus came to His disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), the Lord poured oil upon stones. Moreover, on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured upon those people, this also was a picture of oil being poured upon stones. In both these cases oil was poured upon stones. We must remember that when oil is poured upon stones, this produces the temple of God, the house of God. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the one hundred twenty people, the Triune God came into their midst and was dwelling within them. At the same time they also were dwelling in God. They really could testify, “We know that God dwells in us, and we dwell in God; God and we are a mutual abode. We are stones, and God is the oil. The oil has been poured upon the stones to produce a temple, which is the house of God.”
We see therefore that the first time the Scriptures mention the house of God, they refer allegorically to the union and mingling of God and man. This proves that without the mingling of God and man, there cannot be the universal building, the house of God. Only when there is the mingling of God and man can there be a dwelling place as the house of God.
We must ask the Lord to give us light to see that the building, the house, God wants to obtain in the universe is altogether not a physical house but a spiritual building of the mingling of God and man. It is true that the Old Testament says that God dwelt in the tabernacle and then the temple, but that was only a symbol of God’s union with the children of Israel. In Isaiah, God said clearly that heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool and that the house that the children of Israel built for Him was not the place of His rest (66:1). His desire was to be with His people and dwell among them, taking them as His dwelling place. Therefore, strictly speaking, God dwelt neither in the material tabernacle nor in the material temple but among the children of Israel as His dwelling place. God was united with the children of Israel and became one entity with them, and this one entity was a spiritual house in which both God and the godly people in Israel dwelt.
If you ponder over the picture of the tabernacle, you will sense how meaningful the tabernacle was. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, the twelve tribes camped around the tabernacle, and inside the tabernacle was the glory of God. When the cloud was taken up and the glory of God began to move, they knew that God was moving, so the twelve tribes would set out and follow. When the glory of God set down in a certain place, they knew that God had settled there, so they also settled there and stopped moving. Their moving was altogether dependent upon God’s moving in the tabernacle. Moreover, the tabernacle became the place where God met with His people. Out of the tabernacle God spoke to His people. These pictures show that God dwelt among the children of Israel through the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the house of God, in which God dwelt and into which the seekers of God entered. It was the meeting place of God and man.
After the children of Israel entered into Canaan, the tabernacle was replaced by the temple. The temple was a stable, firm tabernacle. The temple was also clearly a center. All the works of God were concentrated there, and God Himself and His glory were also there. Furthermore, the godly men, men who were of God and in oneness with God, also dwelt there. Now you can understand the passages in the Psalms that speak about the temple. The psalmists greatly longed to dwell in the temple of God because they knew that they could be in union with God and have God dwell in them and have them dwell in God. Therefore, apparently they were desirous of dwelling in the temple of God, but in reality they longed to dwell in God as their dwelling place.
In Psalm 90:1 Moses prays, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” If you were to ask Moses where he was dwelling, I believe that he would tell you that he dwelt in God, that his house, his dwelling place, was God Himself. In Psalm 91:1 the psalmist says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High / Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Then in Psalm 92:12-13 the psalmist says that the righteous man is like a tree planted in the house of Jehovah and flourishing in the courts of God.
Many love to read Psalm 23. The first part of that Psalm says, “Jehovah is my Shepherd; I will lack nothing. / He makes me lie down in green pastures; / He leads me beside waters of rest” (vv. 1-2). Many read up to this point and think it is enough. Yet the psalmist does not think it is enough. This is only the beginning. Feeding and being satisfied on the green pastures, and resting and drinking to the full beside waters of rest are experiences of a new believer. Therefore, the psalmist goes on to say that we still have to walk on the paths of righteousness that lie before us, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and to be on the battlefield feasting at the table that God will spread before us in the presence of our adversaries (vv. 3-5). Finally, the psalmist says, “And I will dwell in the house of Jehovah / For the length of my days” (v. 6).
All those who understand the Scriptures know that the Old Testament is primarily concerned with the tabernacle and the temple. We can almost say that the history of the Old Testament is a history of the tabernacle and the temple. This is because God’s work throughout the Old Testament was focused on this one point — His intention to build a dwelling place so that He can dwell with man. In reality, however, the visible tabernacle and temple were merely types. The children of Israel were the real temple, the real dwelling place of God. Therefore, when the children of Israel were in desolation, God could not dwell among them any longer, and He had no choice but to return to the heavens. At such a time God also caused the temple to be destroyed immediately. The land of Canaan in which the children of Israel dwelt was also not their habitation. Their real habitation was God Himself. Therefore, when they lost their fellowship with God and had a problem with God, then they also could not continue to dwell in Canaan and were driven out into the nations by God.
This is a marvelous yet serious matter. When the condition of the children of Israel was normal, God was united with them, He could dwell in their midst, and they learned to live before God. The two — God and the children of Israel, the children of Israel and God — were in union, in oneness, and in their midst there was a temple, a dwelling place, which was the house of God. God could dwell in it, and they also could dwell in it. The children of Israel and God became a dwelling place to one another. However, when their condition before God became abnormal, when they had a problem with God, God had no choice but to return to the heavens. He could no longer be in union with them and dwell among them. In this situation could they be at peace and without trouble? No, they were driven into the nations by God. Since they would not be God’s dwelling place, God also would not be their habitation. Thus, God became a homeless God, and He made His people a wandering, homeless people. Therefore, when the temple was destroyed, God became “the God of the heavens,” which was how He was addressed in the prophetic books written after the captivity. He had no dwelling place or resting place on earth. On the other hand, the children of Israel, who rejected Him, were driven away to wander among the nations. When God loses man, God becomes a homeless God; when man loses God, man also becomes a homeless man.
Therefore, the center of the entire record of the Old Testament is the temple, which signifies the mingling of God and man. When there is the proper mingling of God and man, God has a dwelling place, and man also has a habitation. In this way there is a building in the universe, a universal house. When there is not the proper mingling of God and man, or when there is a problem with this mingling, then this building is destroyed. Thus, God does not have a home on earth, and man is also homeless and wandering from place to place.
We must see that this is what God pays attention to and desires to obtain, and this is also what Satan hates and wants to destroy. In the Old Testament the enemy Satan destroyed this temple. When people were instigated by Satan to attack the children of Israel, their ultimate goal was to tear down the temple. In the same principle, when the people of God revived, their ultimate goal was to build the temple. Therefore, the Old Testament ends with the recovery of the temple. This signifies the restoration of the fellowship between God and man and the recovery of the mingling of God and man so that God could dwell in man, and man could dwell in God.
Now let us look at the New Testament. The first matter in the beginning of the New Testament is the incarnation, which is God’s coming into man. This is a marvelous matter! Today’s Christianity constantly pays attention to the story of Bethlehem, saying that a Savior was born there for us. Surely this is right, but it is not enough. The story of Bethlehem is not only about a Savior but also about the mingling of God and man, about God coming into man. The significance of what happened in Bethlehem is that God became flesh and entered into man to be mingled with man and to become one with man. It is a mystery that God comes into man to be God to man. Whereas formerly God was outside of man, now God has entered into man. This is not a matter of God’s descending from the heavens to the earth. God’s descending from the heavens to the earth is a human thought, not a divine concept. The significance of what happened in Bethlehem is not merely that God came from the heavens to the earth but that God entered into man. Incarnation is God’s coming into man, entering into a union with man, and tabernacling among men.
We need to remember that the Word becoming flesh and tabernacling among men is related to building. When the Word became flesh, a substantial building, a practical building, began. God began to build Himself into man. Now there was a man who could say, “God is in Me. Outside of Me you cannot find God, and you do not have God. I am a man born of Mary, and I am a Nazarene whose name is Jesus, yet there is God in Me. Within Me is the very God. I am the tabernacle; I am the temple; I am the building of God. Have you ever seen the tabernacle? I am the tabernacle. Have you ever seen the temple? I am the temple.”
One day the Jews asked Him, “What sign do You show us, seeing that You do these things?” He answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18-19). He had no other signs to show them except this one. The Jews did not understand what He meant. All they saw was the temple before their eyes, which was the temple built by King Herod. The temple in the Old Testament had three stages. The first stage was the temple built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians. The second stage was the temple rebuilt by Ezra and his companions after their return from the land of captivity. The scale of that temple was very small. The third stage was the temple reconstructed by Herod when he became the king of the Jewish people shortly before the birth of the Lord. In order to please the Jews, Herod rebuilt and enlarged the temple, spending forty-six years to complete it. This was the temple the Jews saw at that time. They said to the Lord, “This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days?” This was because they did not understand that the Lord was speaking of the temple of His body (vv. 20-21). God was mingled with Him, and He was the temple of God.
Satan, however, hated this temple and wanted to get rid of it and to destroy it. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus was being judged, the Jews cried out, “Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!” (19:15). Satan thought that he could destroy the temple of God, the building of God, by destroying this man. After three days, however, the Lord resurrected. Through the Lord’s resurrection the small temple became enlarged. Originally, the Lord was one grain of wheat, but now through death and resurrection He produced many grains. Formerly, the Lord alone was the temple, but after He resurrected from the dead and imparted His life into His people, they also became the temple of God. Before the Lord’s resurrection, only Jesus the Nazarene was the temple. However, after the Lord’s resurrection the Galileans who belonged to the Lord and all those who had received the Lord’s life all became a part of this temple. This is what the Lord meant when He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Therefore, after His resurrection the Lord’s physical body became His mystical Body, which includes Peter, James, and John, as well as all of us, the saved ones. After His resurrection the Lord’s Body is an immense Body, an immeasurable temple. This Body, which He raised up in His resurrection, is His church. The church is His Body, His temple.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to see clearly this matter of God’s building in the New Testament age. First, the Lord as the Word became flesh to be a tabernacle, a temple. God mingled Himself with Him and dwelt within Him. At that time, however, the scale of that temple was very small. It was limited to one man, whose name is Jesus, the Nazarene. In the entire human race the building of God was within Him alone. He alone was the tabernacle of God, the temple of God. God dwelt in Him, and He dwelt in God. Then God caused Him to go through death and resurrection so that He could impart His life into His people. In this way what happened in Bethlehem in the incarnation could also happen in them. Thus, God entered into these people and was constituted into them. They were also brought into God, and they became the temple of God. As a result, the temple has been enlarged. It is no longer limited to one person but has been enlarged to include thousands and thousands of people.
Since that day that He entered into His people, God has been building this temple. The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). What is this rock? This rock refers to the resurrected Christ. Immediately after Peter received the revelation and knew that the Lord was the Christ, the Son of the living God (v. 16), the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” The church is being built upon Christ, the Son of the living God. Since that day God’s work has been to build the Body — the church as the temple of God — upon this rock as the foundation.
In this divine building the Lord Himself is not only the rock, the foundation, but also the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20; Matt. 21:42). Every stone in this house is joined to Him. Therefore, 1 Peter 2:4-5 says that the Lord is a living stone and that all the saved ones as living stones are joined to Him and are being built upon Him as a spiritual house for God and His people to dwell in.
For two thousand years God has been doing this building work in the church. The apostle Paul says that after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers. All these gifts are for the building up of His Body, which is the church (Eph. 4:8-13). Furthermore, he said that in Christ all of us who are saved are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit (2:21-22). He also said that we are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16), and that “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). Therefore, this building is the union of God and man in spirit. It is man and God becoming one spirit. This one spirit is a building, a spiritual house, which is the church. Both God and man are in this spirit and dwell in this spirit. This is God’s work of building in the New Testament age.
The church is a very particular item. The church is neither solely human nor solely divine; rather, the church is the crystallization of the mingling of God and man. If there is only humanity, of course there cannot be the church. If there is only divinity, there still cannot be the church. Only when God is mingled with man and becomes one with man can there be the church.
Let me give a little illustration. Sometimes two brothers are at odds with each other and have a grudge against each other. One has a long face when he sees the other one, and the other one frowns when he sees that one. Sometimes they even have arguments. What is this? This is man’s poor situation. In this kind of situation you cannot see the church expressed. There is no church here. However, at other times you see another kind of situation. There may be two other brothers who love each other dearly. When one calls, the other responds right away. When they come together, they are all smiles. This may seem wonderful to you. But what kind of situation is this? It is still only human, and there is also no church here. When there is frowning, there is no church. Likewise, when there is a cheerful look, there is no church. With a long face, there cannot be the church; with a smiling face, there cannot be the church either. These are only human conditions. When there is human hatred, there is no church; when there is human love, there is also no church.
Then what is the church? Both of these persons, one with a long face and the other with a frown, have God in them, and both of them have a prayer life before God. When the long-faced one kneels down before God to pray, he will be conscious that his long face is not of God. Meanwhile, when the frowning one also kneels down to pray, he also will feel that his frowning is incompatible with the fact that God is within him. Therefore, both of them will confess to God and ask for forgiveness. As a result, they will genuinely touch God within them. Although they do not make a resolution to refrain from having a long face or frowning again, both of them meet God and are touched by God. Therefore, one will come to the other one and say, “Brother, I am sorry for my attitude toward you over the last few days.” And the other one will say, “Brother, it is I who should be sorry for my attitude toward you.” Now the condition between these two persons is neither hatred nor merely human love but a love that is of God. As a result, these two brothers will have good fellowship and good coordination. What is this? This is the mingling of God with man. Not only is man here, but also God is here. This is the mingling of divinity with humanity. Hence, the church is here.
On the other side, the other two brothers who are so loving and are all smiles also have God in them. When they seek the Lord, God also will bother them and ask, “What kind of behavior is this? This is human love. This is the flesh. This is the corruptible honey of the Old Testament.” As a result, these two brothers will also be dealt with and restricted by God and will no longer love one another loosely according to their own preference. In this way the church will also be expressed through them.
The above examples are somewhat superficial, but according to the same principle, many times the children of God are disciplined by God to the extent that neither crying nor laughing is right, neither speaking nor being silent is right, and neither being still nor moving is right. They seem to be in a quandary and in a great dilemma all the time. This is the story of God in man. This is the particular experience of a Christian. Within man, God makes it possible for man to be what man cannot be and to live a life that man cannot live. God Himself being mingled with man — this is the church. The church is such a peculiar, wonderful thing. The church is the mingling together of two natures, the union of two lives together. God is mingled with man, and man is mingled with God. Furthermore, not only one person is mingled with God, but many people are mingled with God to become one entity. This is the building of God. This is the house of God. Here God has a home, and man has a habitation. Here God has a place of rest, and man also has a place of satisfaction. This is God’s building.
At the very end of the New Testament all the building work of God is accomplished, and a city appears, which is the holy city, New Jerusalem. This city is produced by the union and mingling of all the saved ones throughout the generations. Therefore, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are inscribed on the twelve gates of the city, and the names of the twelve apostles are on the twelve foundations of the city (Rev. 21:12, 14). This indicates that God has built both the people of God in the Old Testament age and the people of God in the New Testament age into this city. Furthermore, in this city there is the throne of God and of the Lamb, and God and the Lamb are the temple (22:1, 3; 21:22). The life flowing in the city is God Himself (22:1), and the light shining out of the city is also God Himself (21:23-24). Moreover, both the content of the city within and its glory without are God Himself. Therefore, the holy city, New Jerusalem, is a spiritual building as the issue of God being completely mingled with His redeemed people. Here God has an eternal dwelling place, and man also has an eternal habitation.
Thus, in this age, before that day arrives, God is building His house in every locality. This means that God intends to build His church in every locality. This is God’s building today, and this is God’s building in this age. God wants to build Himself into all the saints and to build all the saints into Himself. In the building the saints are not joined to Him individually; rather, all the saints are united with Him corporately. This is God’s building. This is God’s house. This is the dwelling place of God, and this is the habitation of all the saved ones. May we all have a share in this building.
