Search
We have seen that God’s intention is to have a group of people built up as a spiritual building to express God and to represent God by dealing with His enemy and recovering this lost earth. But before God could accomplish this goal, the evil one, Satan, intervened.
It is a principle that Satan always does something beforehand as a counterfeit of the thing that God intends to do. Satan knew that it was God’s intention to have a building, so he preceded God to build a counterfeit. God has to wait, but Satan never waits. In the garden of Eden he damaged the man whom God had made for the purpose of His building. Eventually, from that damaged man, Satan’s counterfeit was brought into being. Before God’s building, the New Jerusalem, could come into existence, Satan’s counterfeit cities were built.
“Cain went forth from the presence of Jehovah and dwelt in the Land of Nod, east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch” (Gen. 4:16-17). It was not long after man had fallen that Cain left the presence of the Lord to dwell in a land called Nod. Nod means “floating” or “wandering.” Cain was in a state of wandering, for he had gone forth from the presence of the Lord. As such, he built a city apart from God’s presence and named it, not after God, but after his son Enoch. Chapters 4 through 6 of Genesis reveal that the city of Enoch was the center of the first civilization instituted by the fallen human race. It was a city in opposition to God, a city full of sin, a city to make a name for man. All manner of human inventions were initiated in this city.
This city was Satan’s first counterfeit building. He knew God’s intention of building up human beings as one person to express God, and he was well aware of God’s intention to deal with him in order to regain the lost earth. Thus, he took over. He built up the fallen people for his purpose, to express himself and to oppose God. This was why God judged that city and that dispensation with the flood.
But before God judged the wicked city of Enoch by a flood, He called a righteous man who walked in His presence and appointed him to undertake a building in opposition to Satan’s counterfeit city. God commanded Noah, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make rooms in the ark and shall cover it within and without with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make an opening for light for the ark, and you shall finish it up to a cubit from the top; and you shall put the entrance of the ark in its side; you shall make it with lower, second, and third stories” (6:14-16).
The details of the ark built by Noah are exceedingly significant. It was of gopher wood and covered within and without with pitch. In the Hebrew language pitch is related to the word for expiation. In type, the entire ark was pitched with expiation. Every dimension and specification is full of meaning. Its length was three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Thus, the dimensions were either one hundred times three, ten times five, or ten times three. In addition, the ark was three stories high. This was the design of God’s first building.
What is the real meaning of the ark? It is an overall type of Christ. But in this ark, in this Christ, are the three persons of the Godhead. The Triune God is in Christ, mingled together with the human nature. This is typified by the ark’s three stories—the lower, the second, and the third stories. Christ in the human nature is typified by the wood used in the ark’s construction. Wood, we know, is a type of humanity.
In the dimensions of the ark the numbers three and five appear repeatedly. In the Scriptures the number three signifies the Triune God. To see the significance of the number five we must consider its constituents—four plus one. Four signifies creation, as testified by the four living creatures mentioned in Revelation and the four winds of the earth, etc. One signifies the one, unique God. Thus, creation plus God give us the significance of the number five. The Ten Commandments were divided into two groups of five. Five is also mentioned many times in the building of the tabernacle. And in the New Testament the ten virgins were divided into two groups of five. Five signifies the mingling of God with man; it means that man with God mingled with him must take responsibility.
The ark, as we have seen, typifies Christ in human nature with the three persons of the Godhead—God mingled with His creation. The ark built by Noah contained all the basic principles of God’s design for His building throughout eternity. God’s building is a building of Christ in human nature with the three persons of the Godhead; that is, divinity mingled with humanity. We will see the full development of these vital principles in the final New Jerusalem in later chapters.
We must all be in this ark, in Christ. All our activities, all our daily walk, whatever we do, must be in these principles of Christ in human nature, containing the three persons of the Godhead—God mingled with humanity. We must preach the gospel in these principles, and we must practice the church life in these principles.
In the beginning of the Scriptures we have a contrast of the first building of the fallen human race, a city called Enoch, and the first building of God, an ark constructed according to His design.
We must realize that since the time of Noah, there have always been on this earth only two kinds of buildings—one of God and the other of Satan. One kind is in the hand of the human race and is much utilized by the enemy as a counterfeit to damage God’s building; the other kind, God’s building, is completely apart from man’s building, even as the ark of Noah. These two kinds of buildings are proceeding on the earth even at this present time. To which do you belong? Praise the Lord, in God’s building we have a place as a refuge.
Noah had a share in this building, and after the flood he knew what he must continue to do. “Noah built an altar to Jehovah...and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (8:20). Later we read that Noah and his sons dwelt in tents (9:21, 27). After living in an ark, Noah’s life involved an altar and a tent. We will see later that the tabernacle of God consisted of a tent with an altar. Noah’s tent was not only his dwelling place but must also have been the dwelling place of God, where Noah was living in the presence of God; where Noah was, there was God. Noah’s tent with the altar was a miniature of the coming tabernacle with the burnt-offering altar.
We have clearly seen a definite contrast—the building of the human race and the building of God. Cain’s building is a product of the fallen human race, a city called Enoch. But God chose Noah to build an absolutely different structure—an ark, according to God’s specifications. And when Noah disembarked after the flood, he did not build another city but erected an altar along with a tent for his dwelling. This is the first contrast: a city versus an ark, an altar, and a tent.
Noah’s example of walking in God’s presence and being for God’s building did not last long. Soon after the flood Noah’s descendants began to fall. They joined together and forgot about living in a tent with an altar. Instead they began to build a city named Babel. “They said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the surface of the whole earth” (11:3-4).
Notice that these fallen people built their city with mud, straw, and brick rather than stone. These are the exact materials used later by Pharaoh of Egypt. Stone is a creation of God, but brick is a product of human hands. God’s building is always of stone, but Satan’s counterfeit building is always made with brick, the work of human hands.
The people of Babel began to build a tower, for their intention was to reach into heaven. Fallen man always has the thought of going to heaven, but God’s desire is to come down to earth. Basically, this tower signified man’s intention to accomplish something in opposition to God. These fallen builders, in the same character as Cain, said, “Let us make a name for ourselves.” They forgot God’s name and sought to make a name for themselves. How many cities there are today that are named after famous men! Human builders always seek to enhance their own names.
But “Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men had built” (v. 5). God beheld a strange sight in this city. The people were one, for they had one language. They were built up, but not in the way of God. Their building and the way of their building were Satan’s counterfeit. And the Lord said, “Come, let Us go down and there confound their language” (v. 7). The Lord said, “Let Us.” This signified the three persons of the Godhead. The Triune God came down and judged this city, destroying fallen man’s work. The name of the city was called Babel because “there Jehovah confounded the language of all the earth” (v. 9). Babel is an Old Testament Hebrew name of which the Greek rendering is Babylon. Both have the same meaning. Babel was the source, the commencement of Babylon.
Let us now see the building of God in contrast to this second city built by fallen man. God called a man named Abraham out of Babel. Abraham was typical of the local people, but God separated him from the building of fallen man. Notice now what Abraham did. He did not start to build another city, calling it by his own name. He did not even build a city in the name of God. God brought Abraham to an elevated place called Canaan and there told him to build an altar. Abraham obeyed, erecting an altar and pitching a tent for his dwelling. Again we see the tent with an altar in contrast to the city built by fallen man. Again God recovered the life of His building. Noah’s descendants had lost it, but God recovered His building with the calling out of Abraham.
However, Abraham in the land of Canaan was still in a dangerous position. On one side there was the city of Babel, and on the other side there was the city of Sodom. Abraham was separated from Babel and kept also from Sodom. But Abraham’s nephew Lot drifted into the city of Sodom.
One day while Abraham was sitting in the door of his tent three men appeared. It was the Lord with two angels (18:1). The Lord asked Abraham, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “In the tent” (v. 9). That is a good answer. After a time of fellowship Abraham’s visitors arose and journeyed toward Sodom, the city of sin. Abraham, unwilling to leave their presence, brought them on their way. As they went toward Sodom, “Abraham remained standing before Jehovah” (v. 22). He was in the presence of the Lord, not in the city of sin.
Chapter 19 of Genesis tells a pitiful story. There came two angels to Sodom (the Lord was not included—He would not go there). The angels did not visit the city in the day while the sun was shining but in the evening at the setting of the sun. As darkness was descending, the two angels followed Lot, who was sitting not at a tent door like Abraham but in the gate of Sodom. This is a picture of a man in a fallen state, fallen in the darkness.
History reveals that Babel was principally a city of idol worship. But Sodom was a city of sin. Many today find it easy to be separated from the “building” of idol worship. But it is not so easy to be kept from drifting into the city of sin. We must see these contrasts. Abraham lived in a tent opposite Babel. And then he lived in a tent opposite Sodom. Here we see the contrast between a tent and the fallen cities of man.
Notice also how Abraham trained his son Isaac. Genesis 24:67 reveals how Isaac brought his new bride into his mother’s tent. And in Genesis 26 Isaac is again shown in his old age pitching his tent in the valley of Gerar. This is all very meaningful. Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, also dwelt in a tent (25:27). Esau, Jacob’s brother, was a hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a man who dwelt in a tent. Therefore, three generations—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—dwelt in a tent, not in any city. God is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Spiritually speaking, this signifies that these men lived in God’s building rather than in the building of the fallen human race.
One day Jacob went from Beer-sheba toward Haran. “He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and he lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And there was Jehovah, standing above it; and He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your seed...And, behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will cause you to return to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel” (28:11-19).
In his dream Jacob saw a ladder set up on the earth. God’s testimony must be set up on this earth, not in the heavens. Jacob called the name of that place Bethel, which in Hebrew means “the house of God.” Then Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me...and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on” (v. 20). What a shame! Jacob did not have to vow such a vow, for God had already given him His promise. God has signed the policy; we must simply receive it. Jacob said, “If...” Why did he interject that little word? We must realize that “if” always proceeds from our mind, not from our spirit. Jacob was concerned for bread and garments. He was just the same as we are: food and clothing are the two items for which we are always concerned. Upon all these conditions Jacob finally said, “Then Jehovah will be my God” (v. 21). That meant that if God would not provide for all of Jacob’s requests, Jacob would not take Him as his God. We know that all the descendants of Jacob are such good businessmen; they are always making a deal, a bargain.
Jacob spoke much for himself, but he also spoke a wonderful word, a word full of vision: “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house” (v. 22). This meant that not only the place in which Jacob slept should be called God’s dwelling place but even the stone upon which he rested was to be called the house of God. However, the old man in Jacob was again exposed, and he said, “And of all that You give me I will surely give one tenth to You.” He said in effect, “Lord, You give me ten items, and I will give You one.” What a bargain—Jacob was going to make a ninety percent profit!
When Jacob returned to his father’s land, he journeyed to a city called Shechem. He would not go into the city, however, but pitched his tent before it. Later he bought a parcel of field, where he spread his tent. He did not build a house. On this ground he erected an altar and called it “El-Elohe-Israel” (33:18-20). Thus, building a tent and an altar, he followed in the exact footsteps of his forefathers. He did not call the altar after himself, seeking to make a name for himself, but by the name of God. El means “God,” and Elohe also means “God.” The name that Jacob ascribed to this altar means “God, the God of Israel.”
After a considerable lapse of time, God told Jacob to go up to Bethel. Jacob had done well in erecting an altar, but he was still not in the proper place, on the proper ground. He had to go to Bethel and build there an altar. Jacob did, and he called that place El-bethel, that is, the “God of Bethel” (35:1, 6-7). There God met Jacob and was with him, and Jacob did all things in the presence of God. Notice that Jacob added something in his second visit: he still called the name of the place Bethel, but he added the prefix El (that is, “God”) to it.
We have seen how Abraham was separated from Babel, the city of idols, and was kept from Sodom, the city of sin. However, his descendants, Jacob’s children, were not kept from falling into another counterfeit of Satan. They drifted into Egypt and were eventually forced into slavery. They were compelled to build two cities of treasure for Pharaoh (Exo. 1:11). They were forced to use building materials of mud and hay for bricks. This is indeed meaningful. Later we will see that the Israelites, freed from Egyptian bondage, were asked in the wilderness to bring forth materials for God’s building. Those materials included gold and precious stones; onyx stones, the very stones mentioned in Genesis 2, were included. Here is the third contrast. Two cities, built up with straw and mud bricks, in Egypt are in opposition to the Lord’s tabernacle, built up with materials which included gold and precious stones, in the wilderness.
We now have seen three of Satan’s counterfeits in contrast to God’s building. These counterfeits comprised four cities, or in principle, three kinds of worlds—a world of idols, a world of sin, and a world of enjoyment. It is easy for most Christians to be separated from the world of idols. With some, perhaps, it is also easy to be kept from the world of sin. However, it is not so easy for any of us to be protected from the world of enjoyment. We may not be found in Babel or in Sodom, but I fear that many of us are still in Egypt, the world of enjoyment and wealth. American Christians especially know the meaning of enjoyment. Here is a real danger for the Lord’s children. Christians must have nothing to do with idols or with sin, but neither should we be entangled by the world of enjoyment. If so, we are cheated and deceived by Pharaoh; we are taken captive. If so, we must labor strenuously for the treasure cities. If you ask some Christians why they do not attend the meetings of the church, they will reply that they do not have time. This is because all their time is spent in labor for the treasure cities. Is this your occupation? With so many of us, Satan, the prince of this world, is forcing us to labor in mud, brick, and straw. As long as we are working on earthly things, there will never be anything of a heavenly nature about us. As long as we are in Egypt, working for the treasure cities, we have nothing to do with God’s building. Day by day we will be busy laboring for the world of enjoyment. Praise God that we have been separated from idol worship and kept from sin. But are we still in the fallen state of the treasure cities? May God deliver us from this also into His building.
When the people of Israel were delivered out of the work of those cities and brought to Mount Sinai, they were completely free. They were free from Babel, from Sodom, and from the treasure cities of Pharaoh. Their hands were then free to do the work of God’s building. All their possessions, indeed everything, was freed for God’s building. The tabernacle was erected, and for forty years Israel did nothing but continuously deal with that tabernacle. More than two million people did nothing but busy themselves with the tabernacle. Whenever they tarried on their journey, they erected the tabernacle and worshipped. Whenever they traveled, they carried the tabernacle with them. All their activities were with that tabernacle. They were completely free from any other kind of occupation and entanglement. They offered themselves and all they had for the building of the Lord. They no longer labored in mud, brick, and straw but rather with gold and precious stones to build up a dwelling place for God.
We have previously mentioned that we must know how to exercise our spirit to contact Christ so that we may enjoy Him as the flowing life within us and thus be transformed into precious materials for God’s building. This is all necessary, but if we are still in one of these three cities—the city of idolatry, sin, or enjoyment—we cannot possibly share in God’s building. To share in the building of God we must be separated from Babel, the city of idols; we must be kept from Sodom, the city of sin; and we must be delivered out of the two Egyptian cities of treasure and enjoyment. Then we will be in a liberated position, completely available to share in God’s building. We must have nothing to do with idols, with sin, or with worldly enjoyment.
Look at the situation of Christianity today: so many are still in Babel, others are in Sodom, and a great number of dear Christians are enslaved in the treasure cities. They are under forced labor, toiling for the building of those cities, for enjoyment and security. There are not many, sorry to say, who are for God’s building today. We have traveled quite extensively in this country, yet we have seen few Christians who are really out of Egypt. There are some who have come out of Babel and Sodom, but so many are still entangled by the treasures of this world, by the lust for security and enjoyment. It is difficult to find many Christians who are standing in the position of freedom and availability for God’s building. Some indeed know the teaching concerning the exercise of the human spirit to contact Christ as life, yet they are still in the treasure cities. In that position they can surely contact the treasure of worldly enjoyment, but they must give up these cities if they would contact Christ. This is exactly why so many Christians today have such a problem exercising their spirit to contact Christ. So many messages on this subject have very little effect on certain people, because they are still in the treasure cities, they are still entangled in Egypt. They are quick to say, “Look, I am not in Babel; I have nothing to do with idols. I am not in Sodom either; I have nothing to do with sin.” But can we say that we are not in Egypt, that we are not entangled by the world of security and enjoyment?
Peter, in Acts 3:6, could say, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you.” What Peter had was the mighty name of Jesus. Not many Christians could say this today. Yes, they will confess the Lord’s name, but the power of that name for them has been lost. They cannot say, “Silver and gold I do not possess.” They can afford a considerable amount of silver and gold. If we would share in the building of God, we must be delivered out of all these cities. If we would exercise our spirit to contact Christ, we must be disentangled from the enjoyment of the world; otherwise, our spiritual exercise will be of no avail.
We must always be on the alert, for we are endangered by these three fronts: Babel, Sodom, and the cities of Egypt. When we are delivered from these, our hands are free for God’s building. When we are delivered, Christ is so dear and precious to us. It is then that we know how to exercise our spirit to contact Christ. We can never enjoy Christ as our manna if we are still in Egypt. We can never enjoy Christ as the living water, continuously flowing to quench our thirst, if we are still in Egypt. When we are separated from these cities, we are in a position to share in the building of God.
The Scriptures are a record of God’s building and of the contrasts to God’s building. Satan, God’s enemy, is doing his best to build up the counterfeits: Babel (idols), Sodom (sin), and the treasure cities (enjoyment). When Christians are delivered from these counterfeits, they are free to partake in God’s building. Oh, may we know such freedom for God’s central desire!
