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Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” There are two things related to the creation of man: image and authority. Man was created in the image of God and was committed with the divine authority of God.
Now let us read Genesis 2:9. As we read it, we must keep in mind these two words, image and authority. “Out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life.” Here, we have the word life. Image and authority are mentioned in chapter 1, and the matter of life is mentioned in chapter 2. Then Genesis 2:10 says, “A river went forth from Eden to water the garden.” In this verse we have the river or, in other words, the flow. The river which waters the garden is the flow of life. Then verses 11 and 12 say, “The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium [pearl] and onyx stone are there.” In this verse we see the gold, pearl, and onyx, which represent transformation.
In these two chapters are the image of God with the divine authority, the life of God, the river as the flow of life, and the transformed materials of gold, pearl, and precious stones. If we put all these words together by the inspiration and anointing of the Spirit, we will see that though man was created in the image of God and committed with the divine authority, he still needs the life of God, and by the flow of this life he will be transformed into gold, pearl, and onyx stone. Later, we will see that all of this is for God’s building.
God created man according to His image with the intention that man might be His very expression. As he expresses God, man will be in the divine authority. To fulfill this purpose man must have the divine life. Only God’s life can express God and bring man into the divine nature which is signified by the gold. Life always has a kind of nature. Then by the life with this nature man will be transformed into pearl and precious stones which are good for the building of God’s house.
Let us read Exodus 26:29: “You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars; and you shall overlay the bars with gold.” In other words, all the wooden boards are united and put together as one with the gold and in the gold. If we read this chapter carefully, we will see that the forty-eight boards for the tabernacle are all one. They are not one in themselves, for in themselves they would fall apart, but they are one in the gold. All the boards are overlaid with gold, and on the overlaying gold are the golden rings. Within the golden rings are the golden bars which unite all the boards together as one. They are not one in the wooden nature, but in the golden nature. As we have seen, the wooden nature signifies the human nature, and the golden nature signifies the divine nature. We all are the boards. In our natural life, or human nature, we are just parts, but in the divine nature, the gold, we all are one. We are all one in life with the divine nature of God. Here we can see the building of God. All the pieces are united and fitly framed together as a building.
Exodus 28 gives us a clearer view of the building. This is the building upon the garments of the priests. “You shall take two onyx stones...you shall make them enclosed in settings of gold” (vv. 9, 11). These two onyx stones are set into the gold. We know that this means building. Even the onyx stones by themselves are separated, but after being set into the gold, they are built up together. Then verses 13 and 14 say, “You shall make settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold.” The function of the chains is to bind the pieces together. This is the building united and built up together by the pure gold.
In Exodus 28:17-20 four rows of twelve precious stones are on the breastplate of the priests. All these stones are set in enclosings of gold. Gold is the setting which holds all the precious stones together. They are united together as one by being set into the gold.
“You shall make on the breastplate twisted chains, a corded work of pure gold” (v. 22). The chains are binding, and the settings are holding. It is by the binding and holding of the gold that all the pieces are one. So I repeat that the building is on the garments of the priests. It is a building with the gold holding and combining all the precious stones together, and the precious stones come from the transforming work of the divine life. As seen in Exodus 26 and 28, the precious materials are built up together in the divine life and nature.
Now we must read 1 Corinthians 3:11-12: “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...” We must build on Christ with gold, silver, and precious stones.
“In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit” (12:13). In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, and now we are drinking one Spirit. Within, the Spirit is the drinking water; without, the Spirit is the baptizing water. In other words, we are in the water to be filled with the water. All believers are in the Spirit to be filled with the Spirit. Outwardly, we are in the Spirit, and inwardly, we are filled with the Spirit. We are all in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit.
Now we must read Ephesians 2:22. “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” We are all being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. We are being built up together in spirit.
Also, 1 Peter 2:5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood.” It is not a wooden house or a physical house but a spiritual house, and this spiritual house is the holy priesthood. We are the living stones built up together as a spiritual house—a house in the spirit and filled with the Spirit, and this spiritual house is a holy body of priests separated unto God in the spirit.
Next, we must read Revelation 4:2-3. “Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting; and He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.” The precious stone jasper signifies the image of God, because God looks like jasper and sardius stone. This verse must be read with Revelation 21:18: “The building work of its wall was jasper...” This means that the wall of the city is in the image of God. It gives the impression of the appearance of God. When we look at the city, its appearance is just like that of God’s image. God looks like jasper, and the wall of the city is built up with jasper, so the appearance of the city must be like the image of God.
“And the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone” (vv. 18-19). Then the twelve different kinds of precious stones are listed. “The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (v. 21). The city is of gold with the precious stones set upon it and with the pearls as gates.
Finally, we must read Revelation 22:1-2: “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
I believe that we have gone through the whole Bible from the beginning to the end. The Bible opens with the image of God and with the divine authority. Then there is the tree of life and a flowing river producing precious materials. The flowing of the living water will first of all bring the divine life with the divine nature into us. This life is flowing within us all the time to transform us into gold, pearl, and onyx stone in order that we might be built up together as one in the divine nature. Then we become a spiritual house, a living body of priests to express the image of God under His divine authority. This is the priesthood. Therefore, we can see that the priesthood covers the whole vision of the Scriptures.
The priesthood is a group of people who realize that God’s intention is to mingle Himself with them, so they learn to open themselves to the Lord and to live in the spirit. The best way to learn this lesson is to learn how to pray. It is not to pray in a way of asking the Lord to do something for us but to pray to be filled with the Lord, to be opened to the Lord, and to let the Lord saturate us and fully possess us. Then we will be fully in the spirit.
When we are fully in the spirit, we will be one with all those who are also fully in the spirit. When we all get into the spirit, live in the spirit, move in the spirit, and function with one another in the spirit, we will all be one. We will be the boards overlaid with the divine gold. We will be the precious stones set into the golden settings. We will be one in the gold.
The verses that we have read from the first book to the last book of the Bible show us the full vision of the Scriptures. This vision is that God must work Himself into us and that in His life we will be transformed into His image to exercise His authority. We will be absolutely mingled with Him as one and built up together in Him. This is the vision. In this oneness we will be under His authority to express His image.
How can we realize this vision in experience? The way is so simple. We do not need to learn so many teachings or doctrines. Whenever a person becomes a Christian, he always thinks that he must learn the teachings and doctrines. But there is no need for this. There is also no need for us to keep the forms and rituals or seek after many different kinds of gifts. There is only one thing that we must learn, that is, to realize that the Lord is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. We must open ourselves to Him and let Him come into us in a deeper way, and we must learn not to live, walk, or move in the soul anymore. Instead, we must learn to always move, walk, and have our being in the spirit. When we are in the spirit, we will be thoroughly one with the Lord and one with all who live in the spirit.
This is really simple, but we are too complicated. For example, suppose two brothers realize that they are members of the Body and must be built up together in oneness. They come together to have the proper church life and to learn by His grace to love one another. But one day these two brothers have different opinions. One opinion is white, and the other opinion is black. One is at the north pole, and the other is at the south pole. What shall they do? They realize that they are brothers, that they must have the church life, and that they should try to love one another, but now they have a real problem. One says that a certain thing is white, but the other says that it is black. What shall they do?
It is easy for us to tell these brothers that they must pray, but sometimes the more they pray, the more dissenting they are. After the prayer, their different opinions become even stronger. Suppose we find ourselves in the situation of these two brothers; what would we do? Would we be willing to forget our mentality and our understanding and take care of the deepest part of our being, the spirit? If we would do this, we would realize that it is neither white nor black; it is something else in the spirit. Then in the spirit we would be one.
When we are in the spirit, we are overlaid with gold. When we are in the spirit, we are set into the golden settings. We are bound and combined together by the uniting golden nature. It is so simple. It is not by discussion, conversation, or arguing. No, it is only by turning ourselves to the spirit. Then we all will be one. The holding and combining factor is the divine nature.
I do pray that this review of the vision of the Scriptures will make us very clear that the oneness, the unity, and the proper church life are simply in the spirit. The more doctrines we learn, the more divisions we will have. The more we debate and argue, the more we will be dissenting. The oneness is not in the mind, nor in the teachings or doctrines, nor in the forms or gifts. It is in the spirit. It is only in the spirit that we are all built up together as one.
The habitation of God is something in the spirit, so we must be filled with the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, and drink of the Spirit. We must be thoroughly one with the Spirit. Then all the opinions and concepts will be flooded away by the flow of life. It is here that we will have the oneness, the building up, and the unity. It is here that we will all be under the authority of God. We will be under the throne of God and the Lamb. Everything will be in order, but not by our organizing hands. It will be by the flowing of life.
The flow of life will bring us under the divine authority, and eventually we will have the appearance of God. We will be just like the jasper when we are built up together as a wall. The wall of a city simply expresses what the city is. The appearance of the building up of the church is the expression of God in His image. This does not come by organization but by the uniting, transforming flow of life.
Eventually, the church will be the real picture of the New Jerusalem. In the center will be the authority of the throne of God, and from the throne will flow the river of life throughout the whole city to supply its needs with the tree of life. The authority of God with the flowing of the divine life is the church life and the priesthood.
The priesthood is a group of people mingled with God under His authority. Everything is in the divine order and built up in the appearance and image of God. God’s throne is in the center, out from which flows the living water with the tree of life. Such a content with such an appearance is the priesthood. But the key to this is that we all must learn to turn ourselves to the spirit. Do not try to solve any problem or try to do anything. Whenever we have problems or are going to do something, we must turn back to the spirit. In the spirit all the problems will be solved. We will then be one in the divine nature.
We are complicated by different concepts, different teachings, and different voices. By the Lord’s mercy, I have gone through all these things. When I was young, I always had a notebook beside me when I read the Bible. The more I read, the more questions I put down. I had questions, questions, and more questions. But praise the Lord, now I simply do not have any more questions. To me there is really no problem.
If we would forget about the different concepts, teachings, and backgrounds, we would just be in the heavens. It is so simple. The problem is that we are complicated by our thoughts, our concepts, our understandings, as well as by teachings and all different kinds of backgrounds. If we would just forget about all these things and turn to the spirit, immediately we would sense that everything is so simple. His yoke is really very easy, and His burden is really light.
I would suggest three things for us to do. First, in our private daily lives we must learn to turn ourselves to the Lord in prayer. Even when we do not have the time to pray, we still must exercise our spirit a little to contact the Lord. We must not exercise our mind so much but learn to turn ourselves to the spirit to contact the Lord. We must learn this in practice. There is no other way.
Then, if possible, come together with three or four brothers or sisters to pray. It must not be to talk or learn, but simply to pray. We must learn to open ourselves to the Lord and to one another by praying together in the spirit. Then we will be brought into the spirit, and we will be delivered out of the natural life, the soul, and the mind. We will be brought into the spirit and into the flow of life. This is what we need.
Third, if possible, come to all the regular meetings of the church, and when we come into the meetings, we must learn this one thing—to immediately open ourselves to the Lord and to one another by functioning in the meeting. This can be done by calling out a hymn, by praying, or by giving some testimony of how the Lord has dealt with us. Never try to express any kind of opinion, but always try to release the spirit.
If we all will practice these three things—individual prayer in our daily life, corporate prayer with a few others, and functioning in the church meetings by releasing our spirit to utter something to the Lord and to others—then we will all be so simple, yet so rich in life, strong in the spirit, aggressive in our function, and fruitful in our service. Spontaneously, we will not only be built up together but blended together under the authority of the divine order, expressing the image of God. This is the church life, this is the building up of the Body, and this is the priesthood. This is the very thing that the Lord is going to recover in these last days.
Will we promise the Lord to do two things? Negatively, we must forget about all the things of our background, and positively, we must constantly pay our attention to the spirit. Whatever problem we have, we must try to solve it by continually turning to the spirit. All the things that happen to us are simply to force us to forget about our ability, our energy, our wisdom, and our knowledge. All these things are to force us to turn ourselves to the spirit to pray that we might be filled with the Lord. We will then be fully, thoroughly, and wholly in the spirit. When we are in the spirit, spontaneously we will be one with others. I can assure you that once we practice this, our whole being will be transformed.
Since we have had a review of the whole vision of the Scriptures, it is unnecessary for us to try to remember all the points of the message. We must just keep in mind one thing: that is, today the Lord needs a group of people who are continually turning themselves to the spirit to be gained, possessed, and saturated by Him. It is unnecessary to endeavor to be related with others. When we are in the spirit, spontaneously the relatedness and oneness are there. Eventually, our whole being will be subdued by the spirit. Our concepts will be cast down, our decisions will be overthrown, and our whole being will be radically changed. Then we will all be one in the spirit to express Christ as the Head and God as our life. This is the priesthood, this is the church life, and this is the building.
Is this not simple? If we cannot say Amen, it proves that we are still very complicated. We must even forget all the inner impressions we have gotten about others. Even these impressions hinder. Sometimes when we consider Brother So-and-so, we say, “I know him.” That means we have a certain impression. “Oh, that brother is hopeless; I know that he is hopeless.” No, he is not hopeless. It is our concept that he is hopeless. With the Lord nothing is hopeless, but we have the “hopeless” concept. So we must forget about our concepts, as if we did not know this dear brother. Though we have known him for twenty years, we just do not know him. What I mean is that we must forget the impressions that we have gathered about others. We should never trust our own impressions.
When we hear others talking about how a brother or a sister gave them a poor impression, we must realize that a person talking in such a way is a carnal person, not a spiritual person. When a person is in the spirit, he never tries to collect impressions of others. He learns only to pay attention to the spirit. When we have collected certain impressions about others, we can never help them. Thus, we must give up all our impressions.
In the church life we must be so dull in hearing and seeing but so very keen in the spirit. The poor and pitiful situation today is that many dear ones in the church are dull in the spirit but keen in gossiping. They are so sharp in seeing the wrongs of others but so dull in the spirit. This kind of situation is not right, for it kills and deadens. This means that we are not in the spirit but in the flesh and soul. Opinions, criticisms, and divisions in the church life deaden, kill, and damage the building.
The way of deliverance is to be blind in the eyes, to be deaf in the ears, but to be keen in the spirit. We must remain in the spirit and never be tempted to come out of our spirit. When we are in the spirit, we are in the priesthood, and this priesthood is the church life. The building up of the Body, the spiritual house, is a holy priesthood, which is something wholly, thoroughly, and absolutely in the spirit. May the Lord have mercy upon us that we will all be brought into this realization. In the spirit we will be blended with one another to have the priesthood, the church life, and the building up of the Body.
