The Visions in the Scriptures are Related to God’s Building, which is the Church

In relation to the church we need to have a clear vision of what the church is, we need to see what is the practice of the church, and we need to give ourselves to the Lord for the building up of the church. The church as the Body of Christ is an organic entity, and the Lord Jesus today is doing only one thing: He is building up His church (Matt. 16:16).

Before we can build up the church we need to see what the church is in God’s eyes and in our Christian experience: the church is God’s building, and God’s focus, aim, and goal is to gain a building which is the mingling of Himself with humanity.

The building up of the church is missing almost completely from today’s Christianity – many talk about the church, but who knows what it means to build up the church? Some talk about “spiritual edification”, but who speaks of the building up of the church as the Body of Christ?

Nothing else is more important in God’s eyes than the building up of the church, and this is the only one work He does and the only concern that He has. The only work God is doing today is to build up the church as the Body of Christ. If we see this, we will give ourselves to the Lord to do nothing else but cooperate with Him for the building up of the church.

If we read the Bible we will see that the central point of God’s purpose according to all the visions and revelations in the Scriptures is God’s building, the building up of the church. Starting from Jacob’s dream in Genesis to John’s final vision of the New Jerusalem, the ultimate aim and central point of God’s purpose is God’s building.

All the spiritual visions in the Bible are focused on God’s building, since the only thing God ever wanted to do and to obtain is His building. He gained the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament times with His people Israel, and today He is gaining and building up the church, His spiritual building, composed of all the believers in Christ.

We need to see a vision of God’s building by seeking the Lord with an open heart so that the building of God would become a vision to us.

The Visions in the Scriptures are Related to God’s Building

Since God’s desire in this universe is His building, all the visions He gave man throughout the Scriptures are related to God’s building. God wants to gain a building of Himself into man and of man into God, the mingling of God and man, the built up church as His house and corporate expression, and He will get this!

If we truly seek the Lord and His heart’s desire, we should go along with God in this matter; we should sympathize with Him and have the same heart and burden as He does. There’s a need for a people who would share this concern that God would get a built-up house in this age on the earth.

Throughout the ages God has gained some who have seen the vision of God’s building and gave themselves to cooperate with God for His building, and today we need to have the deepest and greatest concern for God to get a built up church.

Many believers speak of having “visions”, but somehow these visions don’t have the building of God as their center. Many Christians go to a Bible seminary or a Bible school, but they don’t see or even hear about the vision of God’s building. We need to see that throughout the Bible God gave men visions and the center of all these visions is God’s building.

Jacob’s Dream: a Vision of God’s Building

The first vision in the Bible, setting up the principle for all the following visions, is Jacob’s dream at Bethel, where he saw the house of God, the mingling of God with man (see Gen. 28:10-19). The first vision in the Bible is a dream, the central point of which is the house of God, Bethel, built with human beings mingled with the Triune God.

Even though Abram had God’s appearing, it was more of a vision of the God of glory – and not something clear concerning what’s on His heart. Jacob’s dream was of the opened heavens with a ladder set up on the earth reaching to heaven, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

When he awoke from his dream, he called the name of that place Bethel, the house of God, and took the stone he used as a pillow and made it a pillar, pouring oil upon it. This typifies the Spirit as the ultimate reaching of God to man being poured out upon Christ and all His believers who are regenerated and transformed to be living stones to form the church as the house of God.

This vision sets up the pattern for all the visions in the Bible, and according to the principle of the first mention, the visions in the Bible are therefore related to God’s building.

Visions in the Bible showing us the Growth, the Enlargement, the Recovery of God’s Building

The vision of Bethel is the seed of the vision, and the vision of the New Jerusalem is the harvest of the vision; in between, there are a number of visions in the Bible that show us the growth, the enlargement, the recovery, and even the enlargement of the seed of the vision.

Between the vision of Bethel and the vision of New Jerusalem, all the visions have the building of God as their center, and they show a gradual development and increase of God’s building consummating in the New Jerusalem.

Moses saw a vision of the building of the tabernacle: he went up to the mountain and saw a clear pattern and a genuine vision of God’s building (see Exodus 25-31). He saw in great detail the vision of God’s building.

He didn’t just receive the ten commandments but he saw detailed visions of the heavenly pattern of the tabernacle, the building of God. This vision was the governing vision for Moses and the house of Israel; they had to live and behave according to the pattern of the tabernacle, God’s building.

David saw the vision of the temple as the enlargement of the tabernacle (2 Sam. 7:1-16). Even though he was not the one that built the temple, he saw the vision of the temple, the enlargement of the tabernacle.

In the wilderness, God was the God of the tabernacle, but after His people entered into the good land He wanted a more permanent home, the temple. David was a man after God’s heart; he sought God and he saw the vision of the temple.

Ezekiel saw a vision of the enlargement of the temple seen by David (Ezek. 40-48). He saw a detailed vision with precise measurements of the enlargement of the house of God.

Zechariah’s vision was related to the recovery of the temple (Zech. 4:9), and Daniel’s visions were related to the temple in the end times (Dan. 9:27).

Peter, Paul, and the apostles saw a vision of the church as the building of God (see 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16). Peter saw that we are being made living stones (as we come to Christ, the living Stone) to be built up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. Paul saw the church and the building up of the church in spirit.

The final and consummate vision is the vision of the New Jerusalem seen by the apostle John (Rev. 21:2, 10-11). In his gospel, John speaks of life and building, and in Revelation, he saw a vision of the consummation of God’s purpose and of His work throughout the ages: the New Jerusalem, God’s building, God’s mingling with man.

Our Need to See God’s Building

In our age today the Lord needs a group of people who are open to Him and seek Him earnestly, some who desire to see what is on His heart. If we are open to the Lord and seek Him, eventually the vision of God’s building will be open to us and we will see it in our spirit (Eph. 1:17-18; 2:21-22).

We need to not only hear and learn about God’s building but also see the vision of God’s building. For this, we need to seek the Lord, open to Him, get into the spirit, and have much fellowship with the saints that we may see more and more concerning the building of God.

Lord Jesus, we open to You; we come to You to seek You earnestly so that we may have a clear vision of Your building. Lord, grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of You and of Your heart’s desire. We want to not only hear about or mentally understand what God’s building is; we want to have a vision of God’s building, something that will govern us and direct our daily living. Lord, mingle Yourself more with us today. Build Yourself into us and build us into You for Your building, the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” p. 147-148, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 7 / msg 7, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) – The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Our God is a God of purpose, / What He plans, He will fulfill! / Genesis to Revelation / Shows His full and glorious will. / What He’s after is a building. / In creation He began / With a simple garden planted— / This, the setting for His plan. (Hymns #1324)
  # Recall how David swore, / “I’ll not come into my house, / Nor go up to my bed, / Give slumber to mine eyelids, / Until I find a place for Thee, / A place, O Lord, for Thee.” / Our mighty God desires a home / Where all His own may come. (Hymns #1248)
  # And let them make a sanctuary for Me, / That I may dwell in their midst, / Our prayer is “Lord, we give ourselves to Thee, / We’ll be the builders for Your economy.” / Under a clear sky, / On the mountain, / Beholding the glory of the / Vision of His building, / That He may have His dwelling place, / That He may have His dwelling place. (Song on Seeing God’s building)