Growing in Life and Being Transformed to Become Precious Materials for God’s Building

God’s purpose to have man as His expression and representation on earth is fulfilled in the way of life. Firstly, God in Christ is the tree of life for man to take in, enjoy, and partake of so that man may have God’s life and may grow in life. Secondly, God in Christ as the Spirit is flowing as a river of water of life to quench man’s thirst, fill man, flow in and out of man, and fulfill God’s purpose.

Thirdly, the flow of the river of life issues in three precious materials, which are mentioned both in Genesis 1-2 (as separate and distinct) and in Revelation 21-22 (as being built up in the New Jerusalem). These precious materials typify the Triune God as the basic elements of the structure of God’s eternal building.

Through our various experiences of the Triune God in His attributes and virtues, we are being constituted with gold, pearls / silver, and precious stones, to be materials fit for God’s building. God’s desire is to have a building, the New Jerusalem, and for this we need to both grow in life and be transformed into precious materials.

We daily need to eat Christ, assimilate Christ, and digest Christ, until we become Christ and Christ becomes us, so that we may be transformed into precious materials for God’s building, the New Jerusalem.

Gold, Bdellium / Silver / Pearls, and Precious Stones

As soon as the river coming out of the garden of Eden is mentioned in Genesis 2:10, in the next verses we see that where this river flows there are precious materials: good gold, bdellium, and onyx stones. In Rev. 21-22 we see a very similar situation, where the river of life flows in the middle of the street of gold, passes through the gates of pearls and the walls of precious stones.

In the beginning of the Bible the precious materials are just lying there, but in the end of the Bible we see a miraculous structure of treasure, God’s holy city, the New Jerusalem, composed and built up with all kinds of precious stones, gold, and pearls.

Each one of these three types of precious materials have a special significance and implication, and through the study and digging into the Word and its meaning of many saints before us, we can also know what they mean!

Gold typifies God the Father with His divine and holy nature. Gold has always been associated with God Himself, His divine unchanging precious nature. We as believers are partakers of God’s nature through His calling (2 Pet. 1:3-4). God’s nature is Spirit (the nature of God’s being), light (the nature of God’s expression), and love (the nature of God’s essence). In the New Jerusalem, the base and element of the city is gold – the base of God’s building is the holy nature of God the Father.

Bdellium typifies the produce of God the Son in His death and resurrection. Bdellium, mentioned in Genesis 2:11-12, is a pearl-like material produced from the resin of a tree, and it typifies the produce of God the Son in His redeeming and life-releasing death (see John 19:34) and in His life-dispensing resurrection (see John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3).

In 1 Cor. 3:12 silver is mentioned as the second precious material because man needs redemption, accomplished by Christ. Christ in His death and resurrection produced something precious, and we can experience it today for God’s building.

In the New Jerusalem we see pearls – the gates of the city are of pearl, which signify the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, through which entrance into the city is gained (see Rev. 21:21 and note 1).

Onyx typifies the produce of God the Spirit with His transforming work. In Genesis we see onyx stones, in 1 Cor. 3 precious stones, and in Rev. 21-22 there are all kinds of precious stones. God the Spirit is working upon and in the believers to transform them for producing them as all kinds of precious stones for the building up of God’s eternal building (see 2 Cor. 3:18).

Growing in Life and Being Transformed for God’s Building

As the divine life flows into us, we receive the divine nature, we are regenerated, and we are transformed in Christ’s glorious image to become transformed precious materials for God’s building! We need to build the church with the various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God.

On the one hand, by eating and drinking of God we grow in life to be the many plants in God’s farm; on the other hand, as we experience and enjoy the divine nature of the Father, the life-releasing death and life-imparting resurrection of the Son, and the transforming work of the Spirit, we are transformed to become precious materials for God’s building. We need to participate in and enjoy Christ in our spirit through the Holy Spirit so that we may be transformed.

The church is built up by each member growing in life and being transformed. The way we are being transformed is through revelation plus suffering – we see the revelation of the thought of God, and we go through all kinds of things arranged by God in our life so that this revelation would be imprinted on us, burnt on us, and become part of us.

The Lord speaks to us, showing us His economy, His central thought, and then He takes us through various things to burn this revelation into us, so that we are restructured, rebuilt, and remodeled with the Triune God.

In order to build God’s house with precious materials, we first need to be constituted with them – we need the growth in the nature of God the Father, the redemption of God the Son, and the transformation of God the Spirit; this growth makes us gold, silver, and precious stones for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:12, 16-17).

Eating Christ and Digesting Him for the Building

God’s way to build up the church as His building is organic – He comes into us as food and drink, and He is digested and assimilated into us to metabolically transform us into precious stones for God’s building.

Through our eating of Christ and our spiritual digestion, assimilation, and metabolism, Christ becomes us and we become Christ – we become precious materials for God’s building (John 6:57; Eph. 3:17; Gal. 4:19).

After we eat the Lord as our spiritual food, we need to digest Him – otherwise we get “spiritual indigestion”. This means that the Lord needs to have a thoroughfare in our being.

As we call on His name, pray-read His word, fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, we need to give the Lord a free way in our being by opening our entire being to Him, so that we may digest Him and assimilate Him. As we eat the Lord and drink Him, we need to open our whole being to Him.

If we don’t open to the Lord as we read the Bible, we will lose our appetite and taste for reading the Bible. But if we open to Him and give Him a thoroughfare in us, the Lord will have a way to touch our natural being, and we will then go along with the inner sense to repent, deal with things, consecrate to the Lord, and have further dealings.

If we go along with the inner sense coming from our opening to the Lord and touching Him, we will become joyful and we will have a better, bigger, and deeper appetite for Christ!

By opening our being to the Lord as we eat Him and drink Him, we will spiritually digest Him and assimilate Him and Christ will become part of us, even us! This means that we will decrease while Christ will increase.

We will no longer have preferences for any person, matter, or thing, we will have no choice of place, etc – we will simply be happy to be members in the Body of Christ, growing in Christ, open to be built up with anyone, coordinate with all the saints, and pursue the growth in life for the building up of the church.

True building up is the growth in life, and the extent to which we have been built up is the extent to which we have grown in the divine life. The real building up of the Body – which God is looking for today – is man being reduced and Christ being increased in us until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The way God obtains His building is organic – by life!

Lord Jesus, be merciful to us: cause every part of our being to be open to You. Have the thoroughfare within our whole being. May we have the proper spiritual digestion that we may eat Christ and live because of Christ! Give us the experiences of the Triune God that we need so that we may be produced as the precious materials needed for the building up of Your house, Your New Jerusalem. Lord, reconstitute us, restructure us, remodel us, and rebuild us with the Triune God to make us the same as Christ is for Your building.

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of 1 Corinthians (msgs. 30-31), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 1, The Central Thought of God.
• Further reading:
  # Gen. 2:12, footnote 1 concerning the precious materials.
  # Rev. 21:21, footnote 1 on, the pearls.
  # 1 Cor. 3:12, footnote 2 on the precious materials.
  # The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ (by Witness Lee), the chapter on, Eating and Digestion.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # In the flowing of the river / Gold, pearl, onyx stone we see; / Three materials, raw yet precious, / For God’s building meant to be. / Look, these elements are shining’ / How can we, then, shine as they? / Simply by the Lord, the Spirit, / Us transforming every day.
  # But Christ as life would so transform the saints / That they may be as pearl and precious stone, / As the materials suitable to build / Into His Church to make His Kingdom known.
  # By Thy life and by its flowing / I can grow and be transformed, / With the saints coordinated, / Builded up, to Thee conformed; / Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill.