Message Eight

Christ as the Apostle and Builder of God’s House

Scripture Reading: Heb. 3:1-6;
Matt. 16:18; Gen. 1:26; 2:7-12, 22

1. Jesus is our Apostle, the One who was sent to us from God and with God, and our High Priest, the One who went back to God from us and with us—Heb. 3:1:
   1. Moses, as a type of the Apostle Jesus (Heb. 3:5; Acts 3:22-23), was God’s sent one, the apostle who was to take Israel out of Egypt and lead them through the wilderness with the goal of entering the good land for the purpose that they might be formed and constituted into the house of God—Exo. 3:8, 16-18; 40:33-34.
   2. Jesus as the Apostle came to us with God to share God with us that we might partake of His divine life, nature, and fullness so that we might be formed and constituted into His church, the house of the living God—John 6:46; 8:16, 29; 10:10b; Matt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15.
2. Christ is the Builder of God’s house—Heb. 3:2-6:
   1. Christ in His humanity is the good material for God’s building, and in His divinity He is the Builder:
      1. Christ in His humanity is the foundation stone (Isa. 28:16), the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), and the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4) to produce us as living stones for God’s spiritual house (v. 5).
      2. Christ is not only a part of the building in His humanity but also the Builder in His divinity:
         1. God in Christ is within us to build Himself into our being and to build us into His being—Eph. 3:17; John 14:23.
         2. He builds His divinity into our humanity and builds our humanity into His divinity in order to mingle and blend His divinity with our humanity into one entity.
   2. We are God’s living, spiritual, organic house (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:21-22), and Christ builds God’s house, His church, in an organic way:
      1. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus prophesied that He would build His church, and the fulfillment of this prophecy in His recovery will bring Him back—Rev. 19:7.
      2. The blueprint of God’s architectural plan for His organic building (Heb. 11:10) is seen in Genesis 1 and 2:
         1. Genesis 1 reveals that God’s intention is to have a corporate man as a building in His image to express Himself, and this man is to be committed with His authority, using His dominion to subdue and recover the earth—Gen. 1:26; Heb. 2:5-6.
         2. Genesis 2 reveals the way that God fulfills His purpose:
            1. 1) God created man as a vessel with a human spirit that man might contain God, contact God, receive God, and assimilate God into his whole being— Gen. 2:7; Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 4:7; John 4:24; Eph. 2:22.
            2. 2) God’s second step in fulfilling His intention was to put man, His empty vessel, in front of the tree of life that man might partake of and be filled with Him as life—Gen. 2:9; John 14:6; 10:10b; 6:35, 57, 63.
            3. 3) Along with the tree there was a river (Gen. 2:10), revealing that once we receive Christ as life, He becomes the flow of life within us—John 7:37-39; Psa. 36:8-9; 46:4.
            4. 4) At the flow of the river were three kinds of precious materials (Gen. 2:11-12), signifying that the divine life flowing within us transforms us into precious materials for God’s building—1 Cor. 3:12; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 21:18-21.
            5. 5) God’s building of Eve with Adam’s rib is a picture of His building the church in and with Christ as the unique element to consummate the New Jerusalem, which will be the ultimate Eve as God’s corporate builded expression— Gen. 2:22; John 19:34; Rev. 21:2.