God created the universe with a center. In this universe there are many galaxies, the sun, the moon, and constellations, which constitute what we call heaven. Speaking from man’s perspective, under the heaven is the earth. Therefore, man lives between heaven and earth. When scientists studied the moon, they discovered that it has no atmosphere around it. Therefore, there is no rain, and consequently the entire moon is incapable of growing life. According to scientific inference, life exists only on earth. Many parts of the earth are composed of minerals, which are essential to the existence of living things. For example, the elements of our human body are the same as the elements of dust, both being composed of minerals. Therefore, we need these minerals for our existence.
Moreover, the earth created by God in His wisdom is not only rich in minerals, but it also produces all kinds of living things. It first produces plants, including flowers, grass, and trees, which are in the principle of the “wood, grass, stubble” mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:12. Plants are capable of propagating life. A seed, for example, after being buried in the ground brings forth many grains; this is the propagation of the seed.
Those who have been to Southeast Asia know that when the Chinese immigrated there to do business, they made money and became rich through planting rubber trees. They owned many acres of rubber plantations. The rubber that we use daily comes from these rubber trees. When a rubber tree has grown to a certain stage, latex seeps out if the bark is cut open. This latex from the rubber tree is the source of many rubber products such as washbasins, cups, and automobile tires, which are indispensable in our daily lives. This shows us that anything created by God, whether it is mineral, plant, or animal, can be used to produce something.
In God’s creation, minerals, plants, and animals all undergo changes. Although God used clay to create human beings, He wants us to be transformed into pearl and precious stones. The way He transforms us is to continuously add His element of pure gold into us. We can become pearl and precious stones because we have His element of pure gold.
First Corinthians 3:9 says that the believers are God’s cultivated land, God’s farm, for growing plants, and it also says that the believers are God’s building. This is truly wonderful in that it speaks first about a farm for growing plants and then about a building to be built with minerals. In verse 12, Paul first mentions gold, silver, and precious stones and then mentions wood, grass, and stubble, that is, first minerals, then plants. Paul also says that when a person’s work is proved by fire, if it is in the nature of plants, it will be consumed. However, if it is built with gold, silver, and precious stones, his work is in the nature of minerals; it will remain, and he will receive a reward (vv. 13-14).
In summary, on this earth there are first minerals, and then plants are produced. It is apparent, however, that whether minerals or plants, they are either mostly dirt and rocks, or leaves and wood which are easily decomposed, and do not appear to be precious or valuable. They need to go through transformation to produce gold, pearl, and precious stones.
According to the record in Genesis 2, there is a kind of pearl that is produced out of the plant life (v. 12). In the New Testament, however, pearl is produced not out of the plant life but out of the animal life, out of oysters (Rev. 21:21). The pearl in Genesis 2 is produced by a resin producing plant, such as a rubber tree. When the life-juice that issues from this kind of tree is coagulated, it solidifies to become a pearl. However, the pearl mentioned in the New Testament is produced from oysters in the sea. When a grain of sand gets into an oyster, not only does it wound the oyster, but the foreign particle also stays within the oyster. When the grain of sand enters into the oyster, the oyster secretes its life-juice, which coats the grain of sand layer by layer. With each layer of coating the grain of sand becomes larger, and in the end it becomes a pearl.
In terms of life, the earth is the center of the universe. On the earth there are minerals and plants. Minerals consist mostly of dirt and sand, and plants are wood, grass, and stubble. Today as products of the earth, we are constituted with minerals and plants. The food we eat every day includes plants and minerals. In addition, we also eat animals, such as chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We human beings are compositions of these three kinds of substance. We are certainly very capable, because we not only can take in but also absorb all these things. After we have absorbed them, they become the elements of our body. Man’s longevity depends on the body. A person with a healthy body lives a long life, while a person with an unhealthy body lives a short life. Regardless of how healthy a person is, if he does not eat or drink he will become sick and eventually die.
When a new human life is born, it weighs only about six or seven pounds. After a period of time it increases to twenty pounds, and after another period of time it may be over a hundred and thirty pounds. The reason human life has such a manifestation is that it is constituted with the elements of minerals, animals, and plants. Today, whether presidents, government heads, enterprisers, street sweepers, garbage collectors, whether college graduates, elementary school graduates, or uneducated persons, all are composed of dirt, sand, wood, grass, stubble, chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We can even say that they are heaps of all such materials.
We know that although jade, crystals, and other such things come from dirt and sand, they are gems and are precious. Today we who believe in Christ are composed of dirt, sand, wood, grass, stubble, chicken, duck, fish, and beef, but we are very different from people in the world, because we have a treasure inside of us. The treasure within us is none other than Christ (2 Cor. 4:7), who is God. Without God we are only compositions of minerals, plants, and animals; with God we have a precious element within us that makes us precious.
Even though the elements that make up the entire earth are nothing more than minerals (such as dirt and sand), plants (such as wood, grass, and stubble), and animals (such as chicken, duck, fish, and beef), we are different because we have God. First Peter 2:5 says that we are living stones, chosen and precious with God. We are precious living stones, and these living stones are not for exhibition but for the divine building. Isaiah 28:16 says, “Therefore thus says / The Lord Jehovah: Indeed I lay a stone in Zion / ...A precious cornerstone.” This cornerstone indicates building. Therefore, in the church we are not like the items in a jewelry store that are only for display. Rather, every day we are growing and being transformed for the building of God.
In the Gospel of John the Lord tells us that He is the true vine (15:1). This means that all the other vines are not real; only the Lord Himself is the true vine. Since He is the true vine, we are joined to Him as the same vine; the only difference is that He is the root, the source, and we are the branches (v. 5). We know that a tree with only the root or trunk but without any branches is not a complete tree. Christ and we are the vine that bears fruit. The fruit that we bear is the outflow of life. When life flows out from the plant, it becomes pearl. Therefore, on the one hand we are dirt, sand, wood, grass, and stubble; but on the other hand we are filled with the element of gold. God as gold is in us to transform us into pearl and precious stones for His building. In other words, God’s building is built with these precious materials. The building composed of these materials is the greatest treasure in the universe.