The verses listed above nearly cover from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. All these verses are included at the beginning of this chapter because we need to see that the truths presented in this chapter are supported by the entire Bible.
In this book we will address God’s building in a specific way. People can easily see God’s creation in their reading of the holy Scriptures. However, the Scriptures not only reveal God’s creation but also God’s building. In the entire Bible only the first one and a half chapters of Genesis speak about God’s creation. From the second half of chapter two to the end of the book of Revelation, the Bible speaks about the other aspect of God’s work, God’s building.
Brothers and sisters, I hope that you would pay attention to these two things: God’s creation and God’s building. When you read the Bible, at the beginning you see God’s creation, but at the end of Revelation when you have finished reading it, what you see is the building of God. At the beginning of the Scriptures we are told that “the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished” (Gen. 2:1). This was the creation of God. At the end of the Bible it says that there is a city coming down out of heaven, adorned with every precious stone (Rev. 21:2, 19a). This is the building of God. In Genesis 2 we see a garden, and in the middle of the garden is the tree of life (vv. 8-9). This garden is a flower garden, filled with plants. We all realize that a garden does not readily convey to us the thought of building. A garden primarily shows us the created things of nature, such as flowers, grass, and trees. When we see a garden, we would say, “Oh, how beautiful are the flowers and the trees created by God!” All the scenery in a garden gives us an impression of the creation of God. However, when we come to the end of Revelation, we see that the tree of life is no longer in a garden; rather, the garden has become a city. There is no longer a nature scene comprised of flowers, grass, and plants. Instead, there is a building that has been built with precious stones.
Therefore, the picture at the beginning of the Bible is very different from the picture at the end of the Bible. At the beginning it is a creation scene while at the end it is a building scene. At the beginning there is a natural garden while at the end there is a builded city. At the beginning everything exhibits the beauty of creation while at the end everything shows forth the glory of building. Brothers and sisters, I do not know whether you have seen these two different pictures. One picture is a natural, beautiful garden produced through creation while the other picture is a glorious city produced through building. In one we cannot see any building; all we can see is creation. In the other we see that in the created universe there is a building which manifests the glory of God. Thus, the Scriptures reveal that God’s work consists not only of the work of creation but even more of the work of building. Furthermore, we see that God’s creation occupies only a little more than one chapter in the Bible while God’s building occupies all the rest of Scripture. From this we can see that God’s building is a very crucial matter in the Bible. Thus, to see only God’s creation is simply not enough.
What is God’s creation? And what is God’s building? We all know that to create is to produce something out of nothing. In creation something was produced without using any materials. Building, however, is different. To build is to produce a structure by using materials that are already in existence. Before creation there were neither the heavens, the earth, nor man. God created all these things. Now here is a question: Why did God create all these things? Why did God create the heavens, the earth, and man? We should not believe that God accomplished His purpose through creation. If this were so, then it would be sufficient for the Bible to have only the first two chapters. If God only needed the heavens, the earth, and man, then God would have accomplished His purpose after He had created all these items. Then the Bible and the story of the universe would have been very simple; everything would have been accomplished by the middle of chapter two of Genesis. This is not, however, what the Scriptures show us. God’s creation did not accomplish His purpose; rather, the creation of God is altogether for the next step of God’s work, which is building. God’s creation is for the preparation of material for God’s building. It is only when God has done a further work of building on created man that He will be able to accomplish His purpose. Therefore, God’s creation did not directly accomplish God’s purpose; the accomplishment of God’s purpose depends on God’s building.
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