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It is God’s desire that we realize and fulfill the vision of His building on this earth. To do this we must see the basic points of God’s building work from the entire Bible. In the beginning of the Scriptures we are mainly aware of God’s work of creation. However, all of God’s creation is for His building. It is true that the natural scenery of animals, trees, and flowers portrayed in Genesis 1 and 2 is not a picture of building but of creation. But at the end of Revelation there is a city, a building. In a garden we are aware of the natural scenery, but in a city we are mainly aware of buildings. At the beginning of the Scriptures the garden is central in the universe, but at the end the building is the center.
God has only two kinds of work in the entire universe: creation and building. And the creation is for the building. By creation God gained the ground and prepared the materials for the building. When the ground is obtained and the materials are on hand, we naturally expect to see the construction work of the building proceed. God’s creation work is not the end; there is a need for the building.
Before considering Genesis 2, where God reveals the steps He uses to attain His goal, it is imperative to see an important principle regarding how to properly study the Scriptures.
In chapter 22 of Matthew we see how the Lord Jesus rebuked the Sadducees for their unbelief in the resurrection by quoting a short passage from Exodus 3:6. He referred them to the title of God—the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—and in this very title He proved that resurrection is implied. If we take this passage just in letter or in a natural way, we can never see resurrection in this title. But Jesus pointed out that since God is the God of the living, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must be resurrected. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had died, but God is not the God of the dead; therefore, resurrection is proven to be a fact. This is the divine way to study and understand the Scriptures.
As a boy, I was much troubled when I read the first two chapters of Genesis. When I read that God formed man out of the dust, I laughed to myself, thinking, “It is just like a little boy making something out of dirt.” Then I read that He breathed life into man, and I thought, “Isn’t that just like a child at play?” When I read that God put man before a tree called the tree of life, I simply could not understand. I could comprehend an apple tree or peach tree, but what was this tree of life? Genesis 2 goes on to tell of a flowing river which was divided into four branches. Then suddenly gold is mentioned, gold that is good, and another item, called bdellium, and finally onyx stone. Following this, the Lord brought every living creature before Adam, and Adam named each one. But eventually Adam became disappointed, for of the myriads of living creatures he could find none as a suitable counterpart for himself. Then you remember how God put him to sleep, opened his side, and removed a rib, and from that rib God made a woman in the same form and likeness as Adam. Then when Adam awoke and beheld the woman, he said, “This time this is bone of my bones, / And flesh of my flesh” (v. 23). He said in effect, “This is my counterpart.” And the two became one. When I read this account as a youth, I exclaimed, “This is really comical! What does it all mean?”
It is very difficult to understand the record of Genesis 2 unless the Lord opens our eyes and imparts heavenly vision. Only the Lord Jesus, who had such wisdom to see God’s resurrection in the title the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob can impart to us the real meaning of Genesis 2. Praise the Lord, since 1938 this chapter has been continually opened to us. For more than thirty years the Holy Spirit has been bringing us back again and again to this chapter.
Genesis 1 shows us that God’s intention in creation is positively to have a corporate man as His unique expression and negatively to use this man as His representative to deal with His enemy and subdue this rebellious earth. This means that God desires to fully recover the earth. Many people want to go to heaven, but God desires this earth; man and earth are vital and dear to God. Then Genesis 2, not as a continuation but as a supplement, reveals to us in detail how God could attain the goal of His intention. Step by step we are shown how God will accomplish His expression and representation in man. There are at least six steps.
“Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (v. 7). In this verse God reveals that man consists of three parts: first, a physical body, formed out of dust; second, the breath of life, breathed into the nostrils of that body; and third, when these two parts were composed together, man became a living soul. The first part was a body, and the last part a soul. The second part is “the breath of life” breathed into man’s body. The same Hebrew word translated “breath” is translated “spirit” (the spirit of man) in Proverbs 20:27. Thus, the second part must be the spirit of man. Therefore, this verse mentions a body without, a spirit within, and a soul produced by the composition of the body and spirit. Thus, man consists of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23).
It is very important to realize that God formed man as a vessel, a container (Rom. 9:21, 23), not as an instrument for some kind of use. An instrument may be constructed for use yet still not be a vessel capable of containing something. Man was created as a vessel into which God put the breath of life as the very spirit of man.
What is the function or purpose of man’s spirit? We may use as an example a transistor radio. A transistor radio is a plastic box containing a certain electronic component that we will call a receiver. This receiver within the box is capable of contacting and receiving the electrical waves from the air. Likewise, our human spirit is our receiver to contact and receive God within us. However, it is one thing to mentally comprehend the fact that we have a spirit but quite another to daily exercise our inner receiver to contact and receive God. We may be like a foolish boy who appreciates the bright and shiny box given to him yet does not know that it has an inner receiver. Like the boy with the box, we may lavish care upon our body, pampering and polishing it, and yet never exercising the divinely-given receiver within to contact and receive something of God.
When we know how to use our inner receiver, we will not be so concerned with the “box.” Our main concern will be that the receiver works. So many Christians clean and polish the outside of the box. Personally, I am not much concerned with a little untidiness in a person if I hear the “heavenly music” coming from within. I would rather see a naughty boy full of life than a very clean and tidy dead boy. There are so many pretty “boxes” today without the heavenly music. Where are those Christians who know how to exercise their spirit to contact God? Many Christians are so quiet—they never bother anyone. Personally, I like to be bothered by heavenly music.
God’s chief desire is that we contact Him with our spirit. Man’s spirit, breathed into him by God at creation, is the very mark of God’s working today. This is God’s economy. If we miss this mark, God’s economy does not work. All the interests of God’s eternal economy hinge on this very receiver, our human spirit. If we would reach the goal and realize God’s intention, we must first know that we are a vessel made by God and that we have a spirit within as a receiver to receive and contain God. This is why Hebrews 4:12 says that we must discern the spirit from the soul. It is only when we discern our spirit that we can know how to contact God within. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [the human spirit]” (John 4:24).
Therefore, God’s first step toward the goal of His intention is the forming of man as a vessel and putting into this human vessel a spirit as a receiver to receive God.
“Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And 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 in the middle of the garden” (Gen. 2:8-9).
As far as God’s relationship with man is concerned, the earth is the center of the universe, the garden is the center of the earth, and the tree of life is the center of that garden. God’s second step in fulfilling His intention was to put man, His empty vessel, in front of the tree of life.
If you saw a painting of a fountain flowing with water and an empty vessel before it, what would you conjecture? I think that even a little child would exclaim, “The vessel needs to be filled with water!” Genesis 2 shows a “cartoon” of a tree with an empty little man with a receiver within, standing before that tree. This indicates that God intended man to be filled with the tree of life. This fact is later confirmed by the New Testament accounts which tell us that when the Lord Jesus came to earth, life was found in Him. Jesus Christ is the life (John 14:6). And He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (10:10). John’s Gospel also reveals the Lord Jesus as the bread of life. In Genesis God presented the tree of life to man in the form of food. The Lord Jesus also presented Himself in the form of food to be received by us. If we eat Him as the bread of life, we will receive Him as the reality of the tree of life into us.
Not many Christians today know how to exercise their spirit to take Christ as food. Even grade-school children can understand the teachings concerning the spirit in one lesson. But this is a matter to be practiced, not merely comprehended mentally as a doctrine. Do you exercise your spirit day by day to take Christ as your food, feeding on Him all day long? This is the central problem today. Adam was put before the tree of life, but he did not partake of it. Are you in the same condition? Every Christian has Christ within, but how many are exercising their spirit to enjoy Christ, feeding on Him as the reality of the tree of life? Why is the church in such a poor condition today? Simply because most of us do not know how to exercise our spirit to feed on Christ as our daily food.
God created man with a spirit to receive something. And man, as an empty vessel, was placed before the tree of life. Now we are clear that God’s intention in placing man before this tree was that he might receive life in the form of food. Being a Christian, as far as our relationship with God is concerned, is not a matter of working for God but a matter of eating. We must forget about trying to do things for God and give our full attention to eating properly. Adam’s entire future depended on what he ate. If he ate properly, he would live properly, but if he ate wrongly, he would die. We can never exhaust the subject of learning how to partake of Christ—that which was portrayed and foreshadowed in Genesis 2. Neither can we exhaust the full message of this chapter.
The third step towards God’s goal concerns a river which issued out of Eden to water the garden and from there was parted and became four branches (v. 10). Notice, the river came forth to water the garden. It is very meaningful. And then this river springing forth from one source became four branches, flowing to the four directions of the earth. As we see the tree of life in this chapter, we are also aware of a river flowing by its side. It is an impressive picture: a tree, a man before the tree, and a river flowing beside the man. The tree of life is for food, and the river is for watering. By experience we know that when we feed on Christ as our life, we immediately sense the flowing of something within watering us. If we do not feed on Christ, we will soon be withered and dried, for we will consequently lose the watering of the flowing river. When we fellowship with the Lord, feeding on Him continually, we not only sense satisfaction but also a flowing within us. The life, which is Christ Himself taken in the form of food and enjoyed by us, is also the living water flowing within us. The Gospel of John testifies to this. The Lord Jesus is the food of life, and He is also the living water continually springing up within us.
We can also observe three precious items in this impressive painting. In the flowing of the river there is gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. What is this mysterious substance called bdellium? The best Hebrew authorities offer two schools of thought. One says that bdellium is a resin, a kind of gum, which issues from a certain tree as sap. The second school insists that bdellium is a kind of pearl. I feel that both are right, for with either resin or pearl the principle is the same. Gum comes forth from a living tree containing the sap of life. Once the tree is damaged or broken, it secretes this living sap, which eventually becomes a brilliant and transparent gum. The pearl also comes forth from something living, an oyster, containing the juice of life. At some time in its history the oyster is wounded, and its life-juice is secreted around the wounded area. Eventually, a lustrous pearl is produced. The principle regarding the gum and the pearl is the same; the only difference is that the gum issues from the vegetable life, whereas the pearl is brought forth from the animal life.
These two aspects are seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:29 refers to Jesus as the Lamb—that is the animal kingdom. John 12 and 15 respectively portray Jesus as the grain of wheat and the vine tree—these are of the vegetable kingdom. The principle of the animal life is that of sacrifice: Christ sacrificed His life by shedding His blood for us. The principle of the vegetable kingdom is that of the generation of life—Christ was the grain of wheat who fell into the ground and died to generate us as the many grains. Whether bdellium is gum from a tree or a pearl from an oyster, the principle is the same: the life must be hurt and broken, and the life-juice must be secreted to flow out and bring forth something precious.
By a thorough reading of the Scriptures, we understand that these three items from the river—gold, bdellium, and onyx stone—are the precious materials for the building of God. Thus, the watering, or flowing, of the river produces the precious materials. God’s fourth step in attaining the goal of His building is the bringing forth of these materials.
In God’s building, both of the tabernacle and the temple, the high priest serving within had as part of his clothing shoulder pieces and a breastplate full of precious stones. If we could look inside at that scene, we would see only gold and precious stones. This is the composition of God’s building.
In the New Testament Paul tells us that the church must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3). Why does Paul mention silver as one of the building materials? Because pearl, which symbolizes the generating life of Christ, was mentioned chronologically in the Scriptures before the time when redemption was needed. When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, not only pearl but also silver was required. Paul spoke of silver because it symbolizes redemption, and fallen man must be redeemed. In eternity pearl is again mentioned in the place of silver, for by that time redemption is fully accomplished.
Now let us look briefly at the end of the Scriptures, where the New Jerusalem is portrayed. This city is composed of exactly the same materials mentioned in Genesis 2. But in Genesis these materials are by the river, and in Revelation they are built up into a city. Between the two ends of the Scriptures, God’s building work is accomplished.
Now put yourself in Adam’s place for a moment, and look at the precious, shining materials. Now look at yourself. Do you shine as they do? How we long to be like those precious materials! But this requires a real transformation work. Adam, including all of us in him, was made of dust. We are just pieces of clay. As such, if we want to be like those precious materials for God’s building, we must partake of the tree of life. Let the life of the tree of life flow within you, and this flowing life will transform you. Second Corinthians 3:6, 17 and 18 reveal the thought of transformation by the flowing of life. The Lord is the Spirit who gives life, and by this life-giving Spirit we will be transformed from clay into the precious materials for God’s building. We must remember that we were made with a spirit to contact and receive God. In principle, we also are in front of the tree of life to receive Christ as life in the form of food. When we enjoy this food, the life will flow within us, watering and transforming us. By this process we are transformed from clay into gold, pearl, and precious stones.
These three precious materials from the river are also related to the three persons and particularly the work of the Triune God. Gold refers to the Father, pearl to the Son, and precious stones to the Holy Spirit. When we receive Him, God the Father is like gold within us. He is the source. Christ the Son was wounded by us, just as a grain of sand wounds the oyster, and out from Him came the secretion of life which produces the pearl. The work of the Holy Spirit is related to the precious stones. A precious stone is formed by being heated with intense heat and pressed with intense pressure. When we enjoy Christ as food and realize His constant flowing and watering within, we will be transformed by the Spirit from a piece of clay into precious materials. And these materials are for God’s building.
The fifth step of God’s intention in creation is the process of our being built up as His building. I have observed many Christians who are very proper in conduct and who appear to be quite spiritual. But the precious stones that God needs are not for men’s praise but for God’s building. God desires to transform us so that we may be built up with others as His building. God desires a house, not a myriad of individual precious stones to be put on display. The great need of today’s Christians is to be mutually constructed as God’s building. If we learn to be built up with others, we will have the victory, the riches, sanctification, holiness, power, and fullness of God. Our only need is to be built up with others in God’s building.
In chapter 1 we illustrated what happens to an isolated, severed member of the body. It may seem to be healthy and to function properly, but it is of no avail. This is the prevalent condition of today’s Christianity. So many individuals are seeking power and a holy life, yet the more they seek, the poorer they become. Each of us must learn to be built up together with other saints as a living body. No matter where we are or where we go, we must be built up with others in that locality. In a later chapter we will consider how we may be related with others. My present burden is that we all may see the need of being built up with others as God’s building.
The sixth and last step of how God will attain His goal is the producing of a bride. “Jehovah God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart” (Gen. 2:18). J. N. Darby translates this portion in his footnote: “I will make him a helpmate, his counterpart.” We need to compare this portion of Scripture with Ephesians 5:22-32 for the proper interpretation.
The bride is synonymous with the building. In the final picture of the Scriptures, the holy city, New Jerusalem, is not only the tabernacle of God but also the bride of Christ. When the bride appears, God’s final goal is reached. In Genesis the first Adam was a type of Christ, and Eve was a type of the church. In Revelation the bride, the church, is the counterpart to match the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is only when seeking Christians are locally built up together that there will be a real bride to match Christ. That will be a victorious display, a real gain and glory to Christ. What a disgrace to our Lord that for hundreds of years on this earth there has been so little of a bride to match Him and be His counterpart! Yes, there have been and there presently are many materials, but they are so poor. There are not many who are shining and bright; there are not many precious stones. There are poor materials, and there is hardly any building. Where can you find a real building of God today?
The picture shown in Ezekiel 37 is an exact portrayal of the present situation in Christianity. There are many dead and dry bones without one living body, and there is no house, no army. But eventually the dry bones are resurrected and formed together as a living body. This body is the house, the dwelling place of God, and it is also the army which fights the battles for God. Someday God’s children will be recovered and raised up to realize God’s intention. Then they will not want to be individualistically “spiritual” but corporately built up with others. God’s desire for a house will be satisfied, and there will be a Body and a bride for His Son. We know this for a fact. The final picture in Revelation is the bride, the building of the Triune God.
There are four corresponding items seen both in the beginning and at the end of the Scriptures: a bride, the tree of life, a flowing river, and three precious materials—gold, pearl, and precious stones. There is a distinct resemblance and a definite correlation. Genesis 1 and 2 are like the blueprint in the beginning of a manual of building instructions. Revelation 21 and 22 are like a photo of the finished structure inserted at the end of the manual. First we look at the blueprint; then we read the building instructions and go to work; finally, at the end, we attain the finished structure, similar in every detail to the photo in the manual. The Scriptures are such an instruction book regarding God’s building. At the beginning there is the blueprint, and at the end there is the completion according to the initial concept.
We must spend much time in the detailed instructions of this “manual.” But first we must be deeply impressed that we are a vessel made with a spirit, an inner recipient to receive God. We must learn how to exercise our spirit continually to contact and receive God. Next we must realize that God in Christ by the Spirit is the tree of life, the real food for us to eat and enjoy. As we enjoy Christ in such a way, we will have the flowing of the living water within us, and by this flowing we will be transformed from clay into precious materials. Then as transformed materials we must be built up with others. We cannot be independent, precious Christians. We must learn to be related with others and very dependent. Finally, such a building will be the bride on this earth, the bride which will satisfy Christ.
We have seen now the corporate man whom God is after is not only His expression and representative but also the bride to satisfy the Bridegroom. However, it is only when we are enjoying Christ as our food that we may be transformed, and it is only as we are being transformed that we may be built up with others, and it is only as we are built up with others that Christ will have full satisfaction with us. We will be the expression and representative of God as well as the bride of Christ.
We all know that in ourselves, by ourselves, and with ourselves—in our natural life—we can never be one with others. Every natural man is a peculiar man, a separate man. A husband in his natural state is not one with his wife. Although we may be in the closest relationship on earth as a husband and a wife, we are individually peculiar and naturally divided. It is impossible in such a state to be one. Our natural life must be swallowed up by Christ. We must learn how to contact and feed on Christ in our spirit. We must learn how to deny our self, rejecting our natural life, and live by Christ. Then the Lord will flow within, transforming us from clay into precious stone. As we are united, related, and built up with others, God’s goal will be attained.
From Genesis 2 we have briefly outlined six steps, showing how God’s intention is to be realized. These matters are not doctrines. We must pray over all these points. We must see a recovery of such a testimony, a group of people who practice these things, giving all the honor and glory to the ascended Head because they are His Body on this earth. Then there will be a bride on this earth to express God and to satisfy Christ.
