When we are just babes in Christ, drinking the living water, how is it possible for the building of the Lord to be among us? It is impossible. We must be grown; we must be matured by experiencing Christ. We must be stones. The Lord is the living stone, and we too must be the living stones so that we may be material for His building.
Figuratively speaking, in Adam we are a piece of clay; we are not stone but clay. The Lord’s building is built with stones, but we are made of clay. How could we as a piece of clay be material for the Lord’s building? It is impossible. We must be transformed from clay to stone. We must be transformed by the Holy Spirit through the practical experience and enjoyment of Christ.
Sometimes a brother comes to me, and I sense that he has been somewhat transformed. But, regrettably, he has only a small amount of stone in him; for the most part he is still clay. You may have met brothers like this. You can recognize a little transformation; they look like a stone, but the greater part of their being is still in the original state. They are still very much in Adam, very much in the clay. They are still too natural.
One day I had fellowship with some brothers. At a certain point in our fellowship, one brother insisted very strongly on a certain matter. I pointed to the brother and said, “Brother, there in your spirit is a little piece of stone, but your head is a piece of clay.” The mentality of so many brothers and sisters is still not renewed, not transformed. Their mentality is just that of the natural man, full of natural concepts and natural thoughts. It is a head of clay. By the renewing of the mind we are transformed from a piece of clay to a stone. After becoming a stone, we are burned and pressed that we may be transformed even further—from an ordinary stone to a precious stone. In the New Jerusalem you cannot find one bit of clay. Neither can you find any ordinary stones. Every stone is a precious stone. The New Jerusalem is built with precious stones.
We know that stones are always related to mountains and hills. If we want some rocks, we must have some mountains. It is rather difficult to find stones in the plains. Then what is the meaning of the mountains and the hills? The mountains and hills in the Scriptures always represent resurrection and ascension. They are something which is raised above the earth, above the plain. How could you, a piece of clay, be transformed to a stone? Only in the resurrection life! All the spiritual, living stones are in the resurrection life; they are stones joined to the mountain of Christ’s resurrection. If we are all living in the Adamic life, in the old life and nature, we are simply in the plain. Since there is no mountain among us, there is no stone among us. But if we are living and walking in the resurrection life, we are enjoying the reality of the hills and mountains, and with these hills and mountains inevitably are the stones.
Let us illustrate. Suppose I meet together with a few brothers and sisters. I as a brother walk according to the natural life, and there is another brother who is always living in the natural life. A dear sister who meets with us is continually walking and living in her emotions: sometimes she is so happy, and sometimes she is exceedingly sorrowful and depressed. In fact, we are all a group of such believers; we are all so natural, continually living and walking in the natural life. Could you sense something in the nature of a hill among us? Certainly not. We are all clay; we are all on the plain. If you looked for a stone, you could find nothing but dust—dust, earth, and clay. Since there is no mountain, there is no stone. If you want stones, you must go to the hill country.
Suppose, then, there is another group of believers. They know something of the cross, they know something regarding the denial of the natural life; therefore, they have realized the resurrection life to a certain extent. They are walking in newness of life and serving in newness of the spirit; they are living in resurrection. When you come to them, you sense there is something raised, something exalted, something which is higher than you. You realize that within them and among them is some spiritual hill, some spiritual mountain. It is not difficult to find many stones, even precious stones. If you look at this one, you see a stone; if you look at that one, praise the Lord, you also see a stone. There are stones because there are mountains and hills.
The mountains and the hills are for the building of the house, the city, and the kingdom of God. So many cities in the Scriptures are built upon hills and mountains. When I was in Palestine and traveled throughout the land, I noticed that nearly all the cities were built in this way. There were very few cities built in a valley or on a plain. A city is the center of a nation, a kingdom. In the Old Testament Scriptures the city was always the symbol of the nation or the kingdom. The thought of the Holy Spirit in such passages, therefore, is that whenever there is some spiritual hill or mountain among the Lord’s children, there are automatically some stones, some materials for the building of the house and the city. The authority of God and the kingdom of God are there. When the Lord was raised from the dead, He told us that all authority in heaven and earth was given unto Him. The spiritual authority, the heavenly authority, is always in resurrection. If you and I are living and walking in the resurrection life of Christ, we will have the authority of heaven.
The concept of many people concerning the authority of the church is entirely mistaken. The authority of the church has nothing to do with organization. It is absolutely a matter of resurrection. If two brothers in the local church are so much in the resurrection, to them the divine, the heavenly authority is committed. They are the authority of the church. They are the hill in that local church. With them is the resurrection, so with them is the authority of the kingdom.
If we are just babes in Christ, we have experienced Him as living water and perhaps as our food supply. We are always having good times together and are so happy with each other, but we are very young. Many times we are just naturally happy, and many times we are sorrowful in our natural emotion. There is no hill among us, and there are no stones among us. We are all a lump of clay. Could you realize the authority of the church in such a situation? Never. The authority of the church is where the saints know what it means to be crucified with the Lord Jesus and live in the resurrection. If they laugh, they laugh in resurrection; if they cry, they cry in resurrection. Even when they are angry, they are angry in the life of resurrection. They experience the Lord’s resurrection life in their daily walk. It is not a mere teaching to them but a practical daily enjoyment. When you meet them, you feel that they are stones in the mountain. They are the ones to whom the heavenly authority is committed. They are the authority of the church. If the saints are like that here, then the house of God and the kingdom of God are here. Here the house is built up, and the kingdom of God is established.
Please do not think that because you have read this, you have it. What we have been speaking of requires years to obtain. I am only giving you the directions; this is simply the map for you to follow. Take it and humbly practice it. Do not think that tomorrow you will be a mountain. No! Pray about these matters and seek to put them into practice. Then after this, you will be profited.