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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:19; Eph. 3:17, 19; 4:12-13
In this chapter we would like to discuss the purpose of God’s building in the universe. Simply speaking, God’s building is for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. If we read through the entire Bible, we will see that God’s eternal purpose is of two aspects: to express Himself and to deal with His enemy. In our previous life-study of the Bible we pointed out that both of these aspects of God’s eternal purpose are accomplished by His entering into man and being mingled with man. For His purpose God has chosen to express Himself and deal with His enemy through man. For this reason He created man. Generally, people find it very difficult to understand why there is the need for man in the universe and what is the meaning of human life. By reading the Word of God, however, we can find the answer. God created man so that He may accomplish His purpose through man. By gaining man as a vessel and putting Himself into man to be mingled with man, God can express Himself and deal with His enemy through man.
This matter is clearly revealed in the record in Genesis 1 concerning God’s creation of man. There it shows that God created man in His own image (vv. 26-27). Man is a picture of God or, in modern terminology, a photograph of God. The photograph of a person is the expression, the reflection, of that person. Therefore, what is shown in Genesis 1 is that man was created to be the reflection, the expression, of God.
Furthermore, Genesis 1 says that after God created man, He gave man authority to rule over all things. This chapter says particularly that God wanted man to have dominion “over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth” (v. 26b). One of the creeping things on the earth is the serpent, and the realm of the serpent’s activity is the earth. As you read the Bible, gradually you find out that the serpent is the embodiment of God’s enemy. Hence, for God to give man the authority to rule over the earth and especially over the creeping things on the earth implies that God wants to deal with His enemy through man.
At the end of the Bible when the work of God is complete, we also see that these two aspects of His purpose have been attained through man. In Revelation 21 the New Jerusalem, which signifies all the saved ones, is altogether an expression of God. God’s appearance is like jasper (4:3), and when the New Jerusalem appears, it is also like jasper (21:11, 18). This means that the city is altogether the expression of the image of God. When you see that city, you see the expression of God. Moreover, the city is filled with, and even diffuses, the glory of God; the light of the city is the radiance of God (vv. 23-24a). This signifies that God is expressed through a group of people who have been redeemed by Him and have experienced His building. Hence, in this picture we see the accomplishment of the first aspect of the purpose of God’s creation of man.
At its conclusion the Bible also refers to the end of the ancient serpent — Satan (Rev. 20:2-3, 10). If you read the Scriptures carefully, you will see that at the beginning there is a serpent, and until the end there is still a serpent. The story of this serpent is seen throughout the entire Bible. Revelation 12 shows that due to the rapture of the overcomers Satan will be dealt with and cast down to the earth. He will be defeated before the saints (vv. 5, 7-9). In Revelation 20 Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss (vv. 1-3); afterward, he will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (v. 10). At that point the second aspect of the purpose of God’s creation of man will also be accomplished. Therefore, the purpose of God both to express Himself and to deal with His enemy will be accomplished through man.
To be used by God to accomplish His eternal purpose, it is not enough for man to be created; man still needs to receive God so that God may be mingled and united with him. Therefore, after Adam was created, he was placed in front of the tree of life so that he could receive its fruit into him. I believe that now we are all clear about what the tree of life signifies. The tree of life not only signifies God, but even more it signifies the God who desires to be mingled with man by being life to man. At that time in the garden of Eden, Adam was standing in front of the tree of life and had not received the tree of life into him. God was still outside of man, and man was also outside of God; the two had not yet been mingled together. Therefore, at that time Adam, though not fallen, could not fulfill God’s purpose.
At the end of Revelation, however, the situation is altogether different. There you see that the tree of life has already entered into the holy city, the New Jerusalem. We know that the city signifies all the saved ones throughout the generations, because on the twelve foundations of its wall are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb and on its twelve gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This indicates that the city is a composition of all the saved ones in the Old Testament age, represented by the twelve tribes of Israel, and of all the saved ones in the New Testament age, represented by the twelve apostles.
There are two different pictures here. One picture is in the garden of Eden. Here man was facing the tree of life and had not yet taken it into him or been mingled with it. As a result, God’s eternal purpose was not yet accomplished through man. The other picture is at the end of Revelation. Both the saved ones in the Old Testament age and the redeemed ones in the New Testament age are there, and the tree of life has entered into them. Unlike the situation in the garden of Eden, where God was in front of man, now this God has entered into man to be life to man, is enthroned in man with His kingship, and has become man’s center. Therefore, in this picture the eternal purpose of God has been fully accomplished.
We can see from these two pictures that whether or not God’s purpose can be accomplished totally depends on whether or not God can come into man and be mingled and united with man, thereby becoming one with man. This mingling, this union, is the building. In the garden of Eden there was no building of God at all; thus, God and man were separate. But when the New Jerusalem appears, God’s building will be completed; thus, God and man will have been mingled together and will have become inseparable. At that time God Himself will be completely expressed through man, and also the enemy of God will be thoroughly dealt with. Hence, God’s eternal purpose can be accomplished only through God’s building.
If we look at the picture of the New Jerusalem and the mingling of God and man revealed in it, we will see that the New Jerusalem is the crystallization of God’s building work throughout the generations. Over all these six thousand years God has been building Himself into man and building man into Himself. Today in the church age the Holy Spirit is also doing this building work in all the saved ones. All the work of the Holy Spirit today is for the building of God into us and the mingling of God with us.
Do we not have the sense that the Holy Spirit is constantly doing this kind of building work in us? A normal Christian surely has the Holy Spirit stirring, constituting, and mingling within him daily. Perhaps a brother or sister will say, “Oh, there has been no mingling of God within me for half a year already.” I admit that it is possible to have such a condition. But I am convinced that even while you are in the most fallen state, while you are so far away from God, within you there is still the stirring of the Holy Spirit. While you are loving the world and lusting after sins, outwardly you may be almost like the worldly people, but inwardly you are still different from them. When they commit sins and do evil things, they are fully at ease, having no feeling within at all. But when you sin, because you are a saved one, there is a stirring within that does not allow you to have peace. You may say, “I have not prayed for more than half a year.” I believe what you say, but I cannot believe that in the past half year you did not have any of God’s stirring. Sometimes you might not want to pray, yet inexplicably there is always an inner stirring that urges you to pray. When you look back at your Christian experience, there has been hardly a day in which you have been able to escape the stirring and moving of the Spirit of God within you. Please remember that this stirring, this moving, is God’s mingling, constituting, and building.
I often feel that to be a Christian is a marvelous thing. If you say that a Christian has peace, it is really true. However, if you say that a Christian has no peace, it is also very true. He has no peace when he loses his temper, and he also has no peace when he says something wrong. If he speaks too much, he has no peace; if he speaks too little, he also has no peace. If he does not pray, he has no peace; if he prays but not according to his inner sense, he also has no peace. He has no peace if he does not attend the meeting; he also has no peace if he attends the meeting but hurries to leave at its dismissal. Oh, a Christian has so many situations in which he has no peace! He experiences such situations from morning till evening. Please remember that all these instances of having no peace are the stirring of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit within. The more the Holy Spirit moves in you, the more God is constituted into you. We may say that the entire living of a Christian is the story of God’s moving and constituting Himself into man. However, some allow God to be constituted more deeply and solidly in them. Regrettably, however, others do not allow God to work that much in them.
From our experience we can see clearly that wherever there is a group of Christians who allow God to build in them in an extensive way, immediately there are two conditions among them. God is manifested among them — God is with them, and God is expressed in many aspects of their living. Not only so, Satan is defeated, dealt with, thus having no ground in them. These two conditions show that God’s purpose has been fulfilled among them. On the contrary, if in a group of Christians there is the lack of God’s building, God’s mingling, then when you go into their midst, you will also sense two kinds of conditions. On the one hand, the presence of God will be missing, and on the other hand, the activity of demons will be rampant.
Once I went to a certain place where there were several dozen brothers and sisters. They warmly welcomed me and provided me hospitality. But while they were taking care of me, they began to have different opinions. Some suggested giving me cold drinks, and several others suggested serving me hot meals. The two groups became unhappy with each other. As a result, although they received me warmly, I felt very uncomfortable in my spirit. I felt that Satan was there instead of God. Another time while I was visiting a certain place, some brothers and sisters came to speak with me privately. When they came to speak with me, they all made accusations against one another. One said that a certain brother was wrong, and another said that a certain sister was improper. When I touched that situation, I could not help but have a deep feeling that God was not with those brothers and sisters; instead, there were many demons among them. Because God’s building was altogether absent there, I could not see the image of God. I could only see the ruling of God’s enemy.
Wherever there are some who have experienced God’s building, who are one in God, who have been dealt with by the hand of God, and who have been constituted with God, then God is present and Satan is defeated in that place. In that place the gospel can be spread, and the saints can be edified. In John 17 the Lord Jesus said that when the believers are completely one in the Triune God, that is, when God and man have been built together, then the world will believe that the Lord has been sent by God (v. 21). If the children of God would really allow God to do this building work, then the gospel would be powerful, the saints would be edified, and Satan would lose his ground.
This was exactly the condition of the disciples on the day of Pentecost. On that day Peter and about one hundred and twenty brothers and sisters were mingled with God and one with God. They were also one with each other. They were there as the temple of God, the house of God. God dwelt in them, and they also dwelt in God. Therefore, when they stood up to speak, sinners were pricked in their hearts, and the hardened ones were softened. Three thousand and then another five thousand were saved. At that time, if you were to go in their midst, you would have felt that God was among them in an evident way and that the enemy, Satan, had no place at all. This is the result, as well as the goal, of God’s building.
Yet what a pity that today among the children of God you can easily see those who are zealous and those who are laboring, but you can rarely see those who allow God to build in them. Many love the Lord, and many are zealously laboring for the Lord, yet at the same time, they are also full of opinions, full of their disposition, and full of naturalness. They have not experienced God’s building. Therefore, God does not have much ground among them. All their activities are fleshly, and all their works are manipulations of Satan who is hidden in their self. Since this kind of zeal and labor is void of the building of God, it cannot fulfill God’s intention in its two aspects and has absolutely no way to accomplish God’s eternal purpose.
I hope that you can really see that if we intend to accomplish God’s eternal purpose by expressing God Himself and dealing with His enemy, we must allow God to build in us. We already said that God’s building depends on our spiritual growth, and our spiritual growth comes from the increase of God in us. Because God is constantly doing a constituting work in us, His element gradually increases in us. In this way we will have the growth in God, and this growth will be the building of God in us. Dear brothers and sisters, this is not too hard to understand. Since you have been saved for several years, you should ask yourself how much of God’s element has increased in you. How much of God’s element is in you today compared to three years ago? If there is no increase, you should know that you have not had much growth, and you have not experienced much building.
It is a regrettable thing that some Christians know a great many doctrines and have a good amount of Bible knowledge, yet they have only a very limited measure of the element of God in them. When you meet such a one, you sense that he is a poor person who is short of God within. Please remember that being enriched in biblical knowledge does not make you a rich person. Only the increase of God Himself in you can make you rich. A person may know the Scriptures quite well yet still be a light person. God alone is man’s weightiness. God is not only the richness but also the weightiness in man. Sometimes when you meet a believer, you have the feeling that he is so poor, light, superficial, and short of God. The more he talks about biblical doctrines, the more you feel that this person is destitute and as light as a feather. This indicates that he lacks God within. On the other hand, sometimes when you meet a believer, you sense that he is rich and weighty. When he speaks, even if it is just an ordinary sentence, it is still weighty. This is because he has a good measure of the element of God. Since he has been constituted with God, you sense that his thoughts are similar to God’s thoughts, and his thinking is rich, clear, and bright. You see that his will, emotion, perception, and the way he handles things are full of God. This is neither theory nor superstition. All those who have spiritual experience know that this is the spiritual reality and that God Himself is this reality.
We need to see that only the increase of God in us is the real growth, as shown in Colossians 2:19, which says that we grow with the growth of God. As we grow up, eventually we will reach a certain stage and arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
This statement, “until we all arrive...at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), is rich in implication. When a person arrives at this stage, he is living before God and in God, just as Christ lives. He understands God’s desire, cares for God’s inward feelings, obeys God’s will, and walks according to God’s word.
A person with the measure of the stature of Christ does not loosely criticize or judge the church. Some brothers and sisters criticize and judge as soon as they experience something unpleasant. This is because they do not have the measure of the stature of Christ. Some brothers and sisters are unrestricted in their speaking, and their lips have never been circumcised. They constantly stir up disputes and engage in loose talk among the saints. They are just like telegram dispatchers and telephone operators. This is also because they do not have the measure of the stature of Christ.
In this matter we cannot pretend. You may be able to pretend for a brief period of time, but after a while you will be exposed. Frequently, when you meet someone, you may at first feel that he is so gentle, fine, and careful. You conclude that such a one is really a good brother or a good sister. But after you have been with him for a longer time, his condition of being short of the measure of the stature of Christ will be revealed. You will see that he is wilder than others are. He is unrestrained, like a wild horse or a wild donkey. He speaks, expresses his opinions, and does everything loosely. Then you realize that this person does not have the measure of the stature of Christ and is short of God within.
On the other hand, I have also seen someone who is very ingenuous, without any affectation, but the more you are with him, the more you feel that he is weighty. When others are unrestrained, he remains grave. When others are critical, he keeps silent. When others are arguing, saying this and that, he says, “Brothers and sisters, let us all go back to God and seek Him again.” This is one who genuinely has the measure of the stature of Christ. Today in the church we are not short of people who are zealous or well-intentioned. Very often it is zeal or good intentions which do not issue from God’s building that ruin God’s work and damage the church the most. What the church lacks today is a group of people who have passed through God’s building work and have been constituted by God so that they have the measure of the stature of Christ. If in a locality there is a group of people who continually have the increase of the element of God as well as the increase of the measure of the stature of Christ, then God surely will have a way there. God will be able to express Himself and deal with His enemy through them.
I would like to repeat again that this building is what is most needed among the children of God today. What matters is not our being zealous, our pursuing, our praying, or our paying the price. What matters is whether or not we allow God to build in us. Some may consecrate their money and time but be unwilling to let God build in them. This kind of consecration is useless. Others are zealous in preaching the gospel, and they also love to read the Scriptures and to pray, yet they are not willing to let God build in them. This kind of zeal and pursuit is of little profit.
Please remember that when you and I are truly built up by God, Christ will then be able to make His home in us. Please consider, has Christ been able to practically make His home in the church in your locality? Or is He being shut out by you and standing outside the door? In Revelation 3, in the Lord’s epistle to the church in Laodicea, you can see that the Lord is groaning there. He said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (v. 20). That door is not the door of the hearts of individuals but the door of the church. The condition in Laodicea is a condition of not letting the Lord make His home there. May I ask the serving ones and responsible ones in the churches in various localities, “Does the church in your locality allow Christ to make His home there or does it shut Him out?” If you are a person with many opinions and ideas, you should ask, “If the church accepts my idea, would the result be that Christ would be able to make His home there, or would the result be to shut Him out?” This is a serious question.
This is altogether not a matter of whether your view is right or wrong, good or bad; rather, it is altogether a matter of whether your idea builds up or tears down the church of God. It is also a matter of whether it allows Christ to make His home among us or shuts Him out of the church. All of us who take care of the church, all those who serve the church, and even all the brothers and sisters have to be careful in this matter.
May we really allow Christ to make His home among us in all things. In this way we will be filled unto all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19b). Being filled with God is based on Christ’s making His home in us, and Christ’s making His home in us depends on our experiencing God’s building. The more we are built up, the more we let Christ make His home; and the more Christ makes His home, the more we are filled unto the fullness of God. These are all in direct proportion to each other. When the element of God increases, you have the growth. The more you grow, the more you are built up. The more you are built up, the more Christ makes His home in you. The more Christ makes His home in you, the more you are filled with the elements of God unto all the fullness of God. Such a church that has been built up and has the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ can then be filled with God to express His glory and deal with His enemy, thereby reaching God’s eternal goal and accomplishing God’s eternal purpose.
