Now we would raise another question. God first created, and after creation He builds. We now understand a little about what God wants to build. The Bible seems to present two aspects concerning the building of God. On the one hand, God is building the church. The Lord Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). The apostle Paul said that today God is building the Body of Christ, which is the church. Peter said that we come to the Lord as living stones, being built up as a spiritual house. They all spoke about God building the church. On the other hand, the Bible says that God is building a city. The city Abraham longed after is promised by God, and it is also designed and built by God.
Now let me ask you a question. Does this mean that God has two buildings in the universe? Does it mean that God is building the church on earth, on the one hand, and building the holy city in the heavens, on the other? Bible expositors throughout the ages all seem to have this view, including Darby. They say that Matthew 16 is on the building of the church and Ephesians 2 and 4 are also on the building of the church. First Corinthians 3 says, “You are...God’s building” (v. 9); this also concerns the building of the church. First Peter 2 contains words referring to the building of the church. Even 1 Corinthians 14 frequently refers to the building of the church. On the other hand, the expositors say that Hebrews 11 speaks about God’s building of the holy city, and that John 14, in which the Lord said, “I go and prepare a place for you,” also refers to His building of the holy city. Therefore, it seems that the Bible expositors throughout the ages have divided God’s work of building into two—one that He is building the church on the earth, and the other that He is building the holy city in the heavens.
Brothers and sisters, do you think there are two buildings or one? If there were two, then there would be many problems. If today God is building the church on the earth, and at the same time He is building the holy city in the heavens, then at the end when both are finished, which one will God want? Can it be that in eternity there will be a holy city as well as a church? We know that there will be only one holy city in eternity. Therefore, we can boldly conclude that today God does not have two buildings; He has only one. God’s building of the holy city is His building of the church, and God’s building of the church is His building of the holy city.
This is very clear in the Bible because when we read to the end of the Bible, we see that the holy city includes the church. It says there that in the holy city are the names of the twelve apostles, who represent the church. It also says that the holy city is the tabernacle of God with men. The tabernacle is the precursor to the temple, and the church is the temple of God. Therefore, when the holy city is manifested, there is no temple in it, for the city is the very temple; it is the enlargement of the temple. These all show us that God has only one building in the universe. He does not have two buildings. It is not as some Bible expositors say, that God, on the one hand, is building the church in the believers through His life, and on the other hand, He is building a city in the heavens with gold, pearl, and precious stones. The Bible never says this.
I would like for all the brothers and sisters to see that God does not have a second building. In the entire universe, God has only one building. This building work of God is His building Himself into man and building man into Himself. This is His mingling together with man to become the mutual habitation of God and man. From Genesis 2, after God completed His creation, He placed Himself before man to be man’s bread of life for man to take in. Since then God has been doing a building work on man and in man. Although later Satan came in to interfere, God never abandoned this goal.
Therefore, in the Old Testament you also see many instances where God came to man to be joined to man. He charged the Israelites to build a tabernacle for Him. Then when the Israelites entered Canaan, He told them to build a temple. These signify that He wants to dwell among His people, having His people as His dwelling place. I have said again and again that all the stories of the Old Testament, from the beginning to the end, are stories of the tabernacle and the temple. The entire Old Testament is centered on the tabernacle and the temple. Even when the temple was destroyed, the central subject of the subsequent prophecies was still to have the children of Israel return and rebuild the temple.
What was the story of the temple? The story of the temple was God’s mingling together with those who were saved in the Old Testament age to become a house, the dwelling place of God and also the abode of those who belonged to God.
In the New Testament God became flesh and entered into humanity. The Bible says that this was God’s tabernacling among men. It also says that the flesh the Lord became was a temple. Those who know the Bible understand that this is an extension to the Old Testament story. The flesh the Lord put on was signified by the tabernacle among the Israelites in the Old Testament and also the temple in the land of Canaan. The Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). We all know that this refers to the Lord’s resurrection. Therefore, the Lord’s incarnation was for the building of the temple, and the Lord’s death and resurrection were also for the building of the temple.
For this reason in Matthew 16 the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). This rock refers to the resurrected Christ. It is written in the Bible that from the time of the Lord’s resurrection, He has been doing this building work as the Spirit. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers, and their work is for the building of the church (Eph. 4:11-12). Therefore, the goal of the apostles’ work is not merely to save sinners or to edify the saints but to save sinners as materials for the building of the dwelling place of God and to edify and perfect the saints with the purpose that the saints might be built into this building of God. All of their work, be it preaching the gospel or edifying the saints, takes the building of this spiritual house as the goal.
This is different from the work of many who preach the word today. Some of them take saving sinners as their aim, and some take edifying saints as their goal. The apostles, however, were not like this. While they did save sinners, saving sinners was not their purpose. While they did edify saints, they did not consider that as their goal. All of their work took the building of God’s spiritual house as the purpose and the building of God’s dwelling place as the goal. The apostle Paul said that as a wise master builder he had laid the foundation—Jesus Christ—and another built upon it, but that each man ought to take heed how he builds upon it—with gold, silver, and precious stones or with wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:10-12). He said that the Corinthians were God’s building and that they, the apostles, were God’s fellow workers who were building up the Corinthians (v. 9). He also said, “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him” (v. 17). Here the temple refers to the church, not man’s body. If anyone destroys the temple of God, which is the church, God will destroy him, because this is the temple that He has been building throughout the generations. Brothers and sisters, we also are God’s fellow workers, and our goal also should be the building of God.
The church today is God’s temple, God’s house, and when it is built, it becomes the city. The city is the enlargement of the house. This city includes the house in the Old Testament and also the house in the New Testament. The story of the Old Testament is the temple, and the story of the New Testament is the church. The work God did in the Old Testament was to build His people, the Israelites, that they might become the house of God. Every work God does in the New Testament is still to build the saints that they may be the house of God. The house in the Old Testament is the temple, while the house in the New Testament is the church. The entire Old Testament is centered on the temple; the entire New Testament is centered on the church. When both are completed, the work that God has been doing throughout the ages will be aggregated to become a city. That is why both the names of the twelve tribes and the names of the twelve apostles are in the city. The names of the twelve apostles represent the church, the house in the New Testament, while the names of the twelve tribes represent the Israelites, the house of Israel in the Old Testament. The two houses of the Old Testament and New Testament join together to become a city. This city is the eternal abode of God and His redeemed people. It is also the bride that God as the Bridegroom marries. God wants to be fully united, to become one, with her. Hence, this city is the tabernacle He built among men as His eternal dwelling place and also as the eternal abode of all of us who are saved.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see that the work that God has been doing among His people throughout the generations is this building work. We who are saved are the materials in this building. The edification we receive after we are saved is not for us to become items for exhibition but to become materials for building. In the past you were natural and wild and could not be coordinated and built together with others. But now due to the work of grace in you, you have been dealt with, broken, perfected, and made fit for God’s building. Brothers and sisters, this is the work God wants to do among us today. Only this can bring in God’s blessing. Only by this can we touch the presence of God and satisfy God’s heart’s desire.
We should not hope to be built up in the future. We should believe that God is doing this building work in us today. For six thousand years this building work is what God has been doing, and it is also what Satan has been undermining. As Satan damaged and destroyed the temple in the Old Testament, in the same way he is using various stratagems to damage and destroy the church in the New Testament. The work of Satan is to damage and destroy the building of God. We can almost say that Satan would allow people to do any kind of work, but he would never allow people to build the church. Whenever you bring up the matter of the building of the church, you encounter Satan’s opposition, attack, and damage. This is because the one thing Satan hates the most is God’s building work, God’s central work, in the universe.