The Bible is a book of God’s building, with the first two chapters in Genesis giving us a blueprint of God’s building and the last two chapters presenting a picture of the finished building, while the rest of the book presents the process of the building.
The first two chapters and the last two chapters of the Bible reflect each other. The New Jerusalem is the reflection and the fulfillment of the divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden.
In these two parts of the Bible (the beginning and the conclusion) we see the central thought of God and the central line of the divine revelation. Also, in these two parts of the Scriptures we see a controlling principle of interpreting and understanding the Bible.
In both of these sections we see the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (see Gen. 2:9; Rev. 22:2), the river flowing to reach the four directions of the earth (see Gen. 2:10; Rev. 22:1), three kinds of precious materials (see Gen. 2:11-12; Rev. 21:11-14, 18-21), and a couple (Gen. 2:18-25; Rev. 21:9-10; 22:17).
We need to be enlightened by the Lord and have a spiritual understanding of the central thought of God as revealed in the Bible, so that our understanding and interpretation of the Bible would be controlled by this.
The Bible is a Building Manual
The Bible is a building manual complete with building instructions (Gen. 1-2), the building process (Gen. 2 – Rev. 20), and a photograph of the finished building (Rev. 21-22). In the first two chapters of the Bible we see a blueprint of the building and in the last two chapters of the Bible we see the finished structure of God’s building, complete with all the materials and elements presented in the blueprint.
In the beginning, we see the blueprint of God’s organic architectural plan to have His divine building (see Heb. 11:10; 1 Cor. 3:9), and in the end, we see a photograph of the finished building, the corporate expression of the Triune God.
God today is doing only one thing in this universe, which is to build His eternal habitation in and with humanity. He is building Himself into us and He is building us into Himself so that God and man would have a mutual habitation in God’s building.
Building is the main street of the Bible, and Christ today is building His church (Matt. 16:18) as His Body, the precursor of the New Jerusalem. In the church life today the New Jerusalem is under construction by God building Himself into us and us into Himself.
For us to know what God is doing today and how to cooperate with Him in His building work we need to spend much time to know the detailed instructions of this “building manual”.
We need to know God’s central thought, His purpose, and the way He takes to accomplish His purpose, otherwise we will find ourselves “doing something for God” yet not being in His central thought, like the workers of lawlessness in Matt. 7:21-23.
O Lord, unveil us to see Your central thought, the blueprint of Your building, so that we may one with You in Your building work! Lord, build Yourself into us and build us into You so that You may gain Your building, the New Jerusalem!
Cooperating with God for His Building
How can we cooperate with God for His building? We need to see the detailed instructions of the building manual presented in Gen. 1-2, and realise that we are vessels made with a human spirit to contact God, receive God, and be filled with God.
We cooperate with God for His building by learning to exercise our spirit to continually contact God and receive Him as our life. We need to see that God in Christ by the Spirit is the tree of life for us to eat and enjoy.
When we take in God as the tree of life, we will have more of God’s life, and there will be a flowing of living water in us, which will cause us to be transformed from clay into precious materials. As precious materials we need to learn to be related to others, dependent on others, and built up with others in the church as God’s building. Finally, such a building will be the bride of Christ for His rest and satisfaction.
The way we cooperate with God for the building is by realizing we are vessels to contain God, eating Christ as the tree of life, enjoying the living water flowing, being transformed into precious materials, being built up with the saints, and by loving the Lord with our first love to be His bride.
In ourselves and by ourselves we are individually peculiar and naturally divided, impossible to be built up with others or be fitted into God’s building. We need to contact the Lord, feed on Christ, enjoy the living water flowing in us, and at the same time deny our self, reject our natural life, and live by Christ. In this way, the Lord will flow within us and He will transform us into precious stones, fit for God’s building.
The Lord needs to recover such a group of people who take heed to the blueprint of God’s building and who, as members of the Body of Christ, give all the glory and honor to Christ as the Head! May the Lord gain His Bride, His building, the New Jerusalem!
Lord Jesus, we open to You to be enlightened by You concerning Your central thought and Your original purpose in creating man and in doing everything in the universe. Lord, may Your central thought be our central thought. May You gain Your building, Your Bride, Your New Jerusalem as soon as possible. We want to learn to exercise our spirit to receive You and enjoy You, so that You may fill us with Your life and flow in us to transform us into precious stones. Lord, gain Your building, Your bride, on earth today! Gain a group of people who are enjoying God as life, who are being transformed into precious stones, and who are built up together into Your Bride!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message and portions in, The Vision of God’s Building (ch. 2), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 1, The Central Thought of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne; / Eat! The tree of life with fruits abundant, richly grown; / Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for / Here there is no night!
# Behold the New Jerusalem descends from God. / The Triune God Himself in His intrinsic essence / Now consummately dwells in them and they in Him.
# Chapter one of Genesis: / Life is God’s one emphasis, / Showing Christ subjectively, / Step by step He grows in me.
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