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We have seen how the building of God is continually being enlarged, step by step. It began with a little tent and altar, but the ultimate manifestation will be an immense city, the New Jerusalem, a building of three dimensions. The New Jerusalem is called the tabernacle of God with man. In Revelation 21 the apostle John says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem...And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them” (vv. 2-3). Tabernacle in the Greek text is the verb form of the noun tabernacle. God will tabernacle with us. The New Jerusalem is a tent, a tabernacle. Noah and Abraham’s small tents portrayed in Genesis were the seed, and the New Jerusalem is the final harvest of that seed. This principle of increase and enlargement is clearly seen in the Scriptures.
Now we shall consider God’s building in the New Testament. The Gospel of John says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (1:14). Again the word tabernacled is the verb form of the noun tabernacle. The meaning of the Lord Jesus being incarnated as a man is that He tabernacled among us. Now we realize how the entire Old Testament is necessary to explain the meaning of this one vital word. If we read John 1:14 according to the Greek text without knowledge of the Old Testament, we will not understand the full meaning of the word tabernacle. It is simply the mingling of God with man. Divinity and humanity became a mutual habitation. The tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, was not the dwelling place of God alone. From the Psalms we see that the temple or the tabernacle was also the dwelling place for all who sought God. It was a mutual habitation of God with man.
The apostle John points out that the Word became flesh. What was the Word? The Word was God (John 1:1), and God came into the flesh, the human nature of man. This simply means that divinity was mingled with humanity—this is the true tabernacle. John 1:14 continues, He “tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory...).” Even as the people of Israel had seen God’s glory fill the old tabernacle, now the apostles of Christ saw the glory, “(...glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” Later, at the end of the same chapter, the Lord Jesus told the true Israelite, Nathanael, “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (v. 51). This chapter is exceedingly meaningful. In the first verse there is the Word, who is God Himself, and in the last verse there is the Son of Man. God Himself became the Son of Man. The Word speaks of something in eternity past—“In the beginning was the Word.” But the Son of Man speaks of eternity future. Eternity is required to explain this fact. In eternity past there was only God, but in eternity future divinity will be mingled with humanity in the Son of Man. In eternity past there was nothing of humanity in God, but in eternity future there will be God Himself as the Son of Man, full of the human nature. Divinity will be wholly mingled with humanity.
The essential point of John 1:51 is the open heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Do you remember Jacob’s dream? Our Lord was speaking to a group of people who knew the Old Testament quite well. When the Lord addressed Nathanael, both he and the others around him knew what the Lord meant. Jacob’s dream had two items, an open heaven and a ladder joining heaven and earth, upon which the angels ascended and descended. This ladder was the Son of Man. Notice here the order: first ascending and then descending. That means that something was going to heaven from earth and then returning to earth again. Why did the Lord Jesus refer to these things at the beginning of the Gospel of John? It was to point out that He came for the one purpose of having heaven opened to the earth and that on this earth He, the Son of Man, will be the very element joining heaven and earth together. This is the ladder of Jacob’s dream. With that dream there was Bethel, the house of God, composed of a stone upon which oil had been poured. That stone with oil poured upon it signifies the mingling of God with man. Thus, the Son of Man is the exact fulfillment of that dream. In Him, heaven is opened to earth, and earth is joined to heaven. In Him is Bethel, God mingled with man.
What is the Son of Man? He is the tabernacle. The first chapter of John’s Gospel is indeed marvelous. To comprehend it we must understand these items: the Word, God Himself, and this Word who is God Himself becoming flesh, tabernacling, or mingling Himself, with man. This is the Son of Man, and this is God’s building. The building of God is the mingling of God with man and man with God. The building means that God builds Himself into us and builds us into Himself. The Old Testament descriptions of the oil poured upon the stone and the gold overlaying the boards simply signify divinity being mingled with humanity. This is the basic meaning of God’s building.
In the second chapter of John’s Gospel the Jews asked the Lord Jesus, “What sign do You show us, seeing that You do these things?” The Lord Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews replied, “This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days?” But the Lord spoke of the temple of His body (2:18-21). In the first chapter of John the Lord Jesus is the tabernacle. Now He is revealed as the temple. We may apprehend the meaning of the temple from our previous study of the Old Testament. We should also recall here the struggle over God’s building, for in this chapter the struggle appears again. The enemy, Satan, utilized the Jews to destroy the temple, the Lord Jesus Himself. But the Lord told the Jews that if they destroyed this temple, it would be raised up in three days. The Jews destroyed only one person on the cross, but the Lord raised up millions of people with Him in His resurrection. The more the enemy destroys, the more the Lord enlarges. The enemy destroyed one “little” Jesus, but the Lord raised up millions in His resurrection. Ephesians 2:6 says clearly that we were raised up together with Christ (see also 1 Pet. 1:3). Since we were resurrected with Christ, we have all become members of His Body, the church, God’s temple. The temple raised up by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus includes the Lord Himself with all the members of His Body, the church. This is really an enlarged temple.
Another aspect in the New Testament of the Lord Jesus as God’s building is the rock, first mentioned in Matthew 16. Most Christians realize that the Lord Jesus is a rock. The Lord is represented by many different types of stone. He is the cornerstone. In Matthew 21:42 the Lord asked, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner’?” Here the Lord refers to God’s building. It is exceedingly clear that this stone is for the building, and the Lord Jesus is this stone. Ephesians 2:20 clearly says that we are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” The cornerstone is that stone which joins the two walls of a building together. Chapter 2 of Ephesians reveals the Jewish believers as one wall in one direction, and the Gentile believers as another wall in another direction. But the Lord Jesus is at the corner to join these two walls together. He is the cornerstone joining the Jews and Gentiles together into one building for God.
In the Old Testament the Lord Jesus is also portrayed as the foundation stone: “Therefore thus says / The Lord Jehovah: / Indeed I lay a stone in Zion as a foundation, / A tested stone, / A precious cornerstone as a foundation firmly established” (Isa. 28:16). He is also the topstone, or capstone, for Zechariah 4:7 says, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the topstone with shouts of Grace, grace to it.” Today we need fear no kind of frustration, for the mountain will become a plain. What is the topstone? In Palestine the Jewish buildings have flat roofs. Each building has a foundation stone and a cornerstone. Then, when the building is nearly finished, the builders put on the topstone, the roof. That means that the building is done. Christ is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone. Every part of the building is Christ.
The Lord Jesus is also the living stone, the precious stone, and the tested stone (1 Pet. 2:4). In Zechariah 3:9 He is spoken of as a stone with seven eyes. Revelation 4:5 indicates that these seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God, or the sevenfold Spirit of God. In Romans 9:33 the Lord is the stone of stumbling, and in Matthew 21:44 He is the crushing stone: “He who falls on this stone shall be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it shall crush him to powder and scatter him like chaff.”
Altogether, Christ is a stone of ten aspects: the foundation stone, the cornerstone, the topstone, the tested stone, the precious stone, the living stone, the stone with seven eyes, the stone of stumbling, the crushing stone, and the rock. All these aspects are related to the building of God. Not only is this stone a building, but it will also become a high mountain. Daniel 2:35 says, “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and they became like the chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” The worldly, political powers will be carried away like the chaff by the wind. The mountain in this verse is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. As a stone, Christ is good not only for the building up of the temple, God’s house, but also for the building up of the city, the kingdom. Daniel 2:45 continues, “Inasmuch as you saw that out of the mountain a stone was cut without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen afterward.” This stone, which was cut without hands out of the mountain, is Christ Himself.
Many Christians have never realized how these verses portray God’s building. Christ as all these various types of stone is just for God’s building. First, we must realize that He was the Word of God, God Himself. Then one day He became flesh, being incarnated as a man. That means that the process of God’s actual building had begun. The divine nature was built together with the human nature. Before the incarnation God was God, and man was man. But by the incarnation God was brought into man, and man was brought into God. These two natures mingled as one compose the building. When the “little man” Jesus was on this earth, He was the one person, the one man, with God within Him. In Jesus, God was built with man as one building. Now God could dwell in man, and man could dwell in God; something was built up. That which was built was the Word of God, who became the Son of man, the One who is the very ladder joining heaven and earth together as the Bethel of God. These things are profound.
This Bethel, this mingling of God with man and man with God, had to be reproduced, and this was accomplished by death and resurrection. Before the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, there was only one person on the entire earth who constituted God’s building. But by His death and resurrection millions of parts of God’s building have been reproduced, thus greatly enlarging it. Christ Himself is the foundation of this enlarged building, as well as the cornerstone and the topstone to complete the building. After His resurrection He became the sure foundation of the enlarged building. And as the cornerstone He is the joining and holding power of the building. Finally, as the topstone, He puts the finishing touch upon the building. He is living and precious, and He has been tested. He is a sure foundation. If you trust in Him, you will be built upon Him as a part of God’s building. But if you are against Him, you will either stumble and be broken on Him, or He will crush you to powder.
Have you ever thought that since you have believed in Jesus Christ, you must be built up? I have seen very few Christians who have ever had this concept. We do not naturally conceive of it. However, the Scriptures clearly show that to believe in Jesus Christ means to be built upon Him. Matthew 16:18 contains the first mention of the church in the New Testament. Simon Peter had told the Lord Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16), and Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens. And I also say to you that you are Peter [a stone], and upon this rock [Christ] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (vv. 17-18). I believe that this passage indicates Peter’s salvation, for at that time Peter recognized and believed that the Lord Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God. Following this, the Lord told him that he was a stone; he was no longer merely a piece of clay. Then the Lord referred to Himself as the very rock upon which He would build His church. Peter was a stone for that building. This matter is almost completely neglected by Christianity today, but the Lord is recovering this reality. All we who have been saved must realize that our salvation means we must be built up. Christ is the rock, and we are the stones. Christ is for God’s building, and we are all for God’s building. If we believe in Him, it means that we will be built up in Him and built up with Him in God’s building. It is the built-up church that all the powers of darkness rise up to attack. Wherever and whenever the church is built up, all Hades is stirred in opposition, but against the built-up church the gates of Hades will never prevail.
