Living Stones are Worked on Outwardly and Living Inwardly to be Suitable for God’s Building

The stones of the temple signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ – He’s the One suitable for God’s building!

He as the living stone is making us living stones through the inward work of regeneration and outward work of cutting and dealing, just as the stones were cut and dealt with before being built up.

There were two main building materials in the temple, wood and stone.

Wood signifies the crucified and resurrected Christ, and stones signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ.

Right at the front of the temple, there were two pillars of bronze having checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork at the top, with lilies and pomegranates.

Bronze signifies God’s judgment, and the fact that the pillars are right at the entrance and were so great signifies that we need to constantly be under God’s judgment.

On one hand, God passed us in His judgment on the sinners, for we believe into Christ and take Him as our Passover, so we are spared in His judgment.

However, even though we are regenerated believers with the life of God in their spirit, we still have our natural man, and many times we do things in and from our natural man.

We need to be reminded again and again that in ourselves, that is, in our flesh, nothing good dwells.

Nothing good dwells in our natural man. No matter how much the flesh tries, all the efforts of the flesh and natural man to please God and serve God are not welcomed by God.

We need to remain in and live under the reality of our baptism, realizing that in the natural man we’re good for nothing except death and burial.

But praise the Lord, Christ lives in us, and He as the Spirit is our bountiful supply to live the Christian life and serve God in the church.

On one hand, we cannot trust in ourselves but rather, we put ourselves aside and deny the self.

On the other hand, our trust is in God, and we live a life by faith.

Yes, we are in complicated and intermixed situations, and the more we try to get them uncomplicated, the more complicated they are.

We may think that we will switch jobs or move to a different locality, for our situation is too complicated; however, there are even more complications and intermixed situations there also.

God’s way is not to take us out of these things or to uncomplicate things; His way is to supply us inwardly in our organic union with Him so that we live a life by faith, trusting in Him in simplicity, and expressing the riches of His life even in the midst of these complicated situations.

Today we want to see how the stones of the temple signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ, and how we need to go through the process of regeneration to be living inwardly and cutting and dealing with outwardly to be fitted in God’s building.

Being Transformed by Christ as the Stone to be Living Stones for God’s Building

The temple of God was made of stones; the stones of the temple signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ (1 Kings 5:15-18; 6:7, 36; 1 Chron. 29:2; 2 Chron. 3:6).

Christ came as God incarnated in the flesh; having become a man in the flesh, a man in the old creation, he needed to be transformed in His human part (Rom. 1:3-4).

Through death and resurrection, He was transformed in his humanity to be the transformed Christ; now He is the living stone, the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone of God’s building (1 Pet. 2:4; Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2: 20; 1 Pet. 2:6; Zech. 4:7; 3:9; Rev. 5:6; 4:3; 21:11).

The stones in the temple of God are a type of Christ as the living stone for God’s building.

The stones in the temple are also a type of the believers in Christ, who come to Christ as the living stone and are transformed by Christ as the stone (Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:4-7; Rev. 21:11, 14, 18-21; cf. Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45).

Christ builds up the church with Himself as the living stone and with the believers in Christ as the many living stones, those who are transformed by Christ to be suitable for the building of God.

The material for God’s building is Christ, and this Christ is working Himself into us to make us stones, living stones.

Just as Christ had to be transformed in His humanity – not because He lacked something but so that He can become the divine-human Stone-Savior who can impart Himself into us – so we need to be transformed in our humanity.

We need to daily come to Christ as the living stone and allow Him to infuse us with His stone element.

We need to realize that in our natural man we are not suitable for God’s building; it is only Christ with His uplifted, resurrected, and perfected humanity that is suitable.

This One is in our spirit, and we can come to Him and allow Him to infuse us with Himself and transform us to make us living stones for God’s building.

We are not dead stones, as in the stones that are stuck in a wall of a building; we are living stones, full of the divine life inwardly and cut and worked on outwardly to be fitted in God’s building.

For us to become materials for God’s building, we need to enjoy and experience the transformed Christ as the stone for God’s building.

Through regeneration, He came into us as the Stone-Savior, and He is daily infusing His life and nature into us as we spend time with Him.

Our need is to come to Him again and again, let Him infuse us, and simply say Amen to His infusing and speaking.

May we learn to deny the self, put aside the natural man, and let the cross crucify the flesh, so that our inner man may be manifested, grow, and be built up.

And may we allow the Lord work on us through the environment to cut us, deal with us, and make us fit for God’s building.

We may be living stones but we may not allow the Lord to work on us; we need to both enjoy the Lord inwardly as our life and allow the Holy Spirit to work on us outwardly to make us suitable, buildable, living stones for God’s building.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming into us as the Stone-Savior, the living stone! We come to You as the living stone and we allow You to infuse us with all that You are to make us living stones for God’s building. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are living stones in the process of being worked on and cut to be fitted into God’s building. We open to You, dear Lord, and we want to be infused with You. Fill us with Yourself inwardly and work on us outwardly to make us the living stones that are suitable for the building up of the church. Hallelujah, we are in the process of being transformed by Christ as the stone for God’s building!

We are Living Stones being Cut and Worked on to be Suitable for God’s Building

The New Testament speaks of living stones (1 Pet. 2:5), and the Old Testament speaks of cut stones (1 Kings 5:15, 17-18; 6:7).

As believers in Christ, we are living stones, and we are in the process of being cut and worked on to be suitable for God’s building.

The stones used for the building up of the church must be living inwardly and cut (dealt with) outwardly (2 Cor. 4:16).

There was no tool like a hammer or iron tool used in the building up of the temple; all the stones were worked on, cut, and prepared according to their measure in the quarry, and then they were fitted in the building.

The materials for the building of the church are found in the world and cut with much effort.

Every saved believer is a stone in the church; we were all in the world, but one day God’s workers found us and we were regenerated inwardly to be a living stone.

Now, we are being worked upon, there is a cutting work going on, and we’re dealt with, so that we may be suitable for God’s building.

As living stones for God’s building, we need to be living inwardly and cutting outwardly to be fitted in God’s building.

Yes, we were regenerated, and the divine life is in our spirit; however, we still need to allow God to cut us over a long period of time.

Many of us have jagged edges and are not able to be built up with others.

We need to be fashioned according to God’s building to be a finished stone. How does this take place?

For us to be living inwardly, we need to spend much time with the Lord and send our roots deep down into Him, absorbing all His riches.

In this way, in our private and personal time with the Lord, we grow and are full of life inwardly.

Then, we need to allow the Lord to cut us outwardly and deal with us, removing the sharp edges and uneven surfaces, so that we may be buildable in God’s house.

Those who are built into the church must pass through a considerable amount of God’s cutting work.

On one hand, we need to be regenerated, which we are; on the other hand, we need to be dealt with by the Lord through many situations and people, so that we may be suitable for God’s building.

In the church some brothers and sisters can be compared to “wild” stones, freshly cut from the quarry and full of sharp edges; we may be such ones, and the more we try to be built with others, the more we hurt them.

When such ones are contacted by the saints, they cause people to be hurt and have an uncomfortable feelings.

They are not stable enough to be built upon, to coordinate with others or serve with the saints; they are not yet suitable to fight the battle with others or to bear the Ark with them.

We should not point fingers at others, saying that they are not dealt with by the Lord and that’s why we can’t be built up with them; rather, we should look at ourselves, come to the Lord, and allow Him to touch us, deal with us, and work Himself into us.

We need to realize that in many ways and in many aspects we are not stable enough to be built upon, nor are we stable enough to coordinate and serve with others.

When it comes to fighting the battle in the Body, we may choose and pick who to coordinate with.

Though we may be capable and quick-witted, we may not be able to bear the testimony of God because we have not been thoroughly dealt with.

Some other brothers and sisters may be too round and slippery; they may be assigned to a certain service, but they are like rolling stones, slipping away no matter where they are placed.

There needs to be much cutting done by the Lord in their being so that they would be a certain size that matches others in the building and be coordinated with them where the Lord placed them.

May we cooperate with the Lord’s inner work of working Himself into us by spending time with Him, and may we allow Him to cut us, deal with us, and make us fitting and suitable for God’s building outwardly.

The real Christian life for the building up of the church as the temple of God is a life of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit being built into our being so that we are being conformed to His death by the power of His resurrection to be renewed day by day and transformed from glory to glory for His glory in the church (Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16-18; Eph. 3:21).

How should we respond to this? How can we apply this in our daily experience?

We can’t just agree with it, say amen, and move on.

May we have a proper response toward the Lord.

May we spend time with the Lord every morning and set our affection on the Lord and His house, giving all we have and are to the Lord for His building.

As we spend time with the Lord every day, He becomes the most precious One to us, and we will be willing to spend ourselves with all we are and have on Him for the building up of the church.

May we give ourselves to the Lord for the building up of the church so that we may advance from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life for Him to gain an increased, enlarged, renewed, and strengthened corporate expression on the earth.

Lord Jesus, we want to be materials suitable for the building of God. We come to You, dear Lord, to spend time with You and send our roots deep down into You to absorb all Your riches. Thank You for making us living stones; keep us contacting You to be living inwardly. We open to You, Lord, and we allow You to cut, deal with, and remove any sharp edges and anything that doesn’t fit the building. May we be fashioned according to the building of God so that we may be a suitable material for God’s building. Save us from being uncut living stones, those who are full of sharp edges. Save us from being slippery and unsuitable to coordinate and built up with others. Make us the stable, balanced, and suitable stones for God’s building who can coordinate and serve with others, fight the battle with others, and bear Your testimony with others. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You for Your building. Work Yourself into us and work upon us to make us suitable materials for the building up of the church as the temple of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, vol. 2, “Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church,” pp. 204-205, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 7, entitled, The Intrinsic Significance of the Materials of the Temple.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Living Stone of life art Thou, Lord, / Precious, chosen thus to be; / Living stones Thou too hast made us, / One in character with Thee. / Built together as a temple / That our God may dwell therein, / Thus we are a holy priesthood, / Offering sacrifice to Him. (Hymns #834, stanza 4)
  – In God’s house and in Thy Body / Builded up I long to be, / That within this corporate vessel / All shall then Thy glory see; / That Thy Bride, the glorious city, / May appear upon the earth, / As a lampstand brightly beaming / To express to all Thy worth. (Hymns #840, stanza 5)
  – What Thy heart desires and loves / Are not precious stones alone, / But together these to build / For Thy glory, for Thy home. / Thou, the all-inclusive Christ, / Dost a builded Church require, / That Thy glorious riches may / Radiate their light entire. (Hymns #839, stanza 3)