We have already pointed out that bdellium is a pearl produced from the plant life and not from the animal life. The shedding of the blood from the animal life is required for redemption, but with the plant life there is no thought of redemption. In Genesis 1 and 2 sin had not come in yet, and man had not fallen. Thus, there was no need of redemption, but there was still the need of the secretion of the life-juice. Thus, bdellium signifies that the Son of God had to be a tree to be broken to secrete His life-juice to produce bdellium. In the Bible the plant life signifies the producing, multiplying, and propagating life.
When the Lord died on the cross, He was broken. A soldier pierced His side with a spear and there came out blood and water (John 19:34). Two things came out of the Lord's side—blood for redemption and water for life secretion. In Genesis 2 there was only the need of the secretion of life. There was no need of the shedding of blood because in Genesis 2 there was no sin. In John 19 from the side of the broken Jesus, blood came out for redemption, dealing with sins (John 1:29; Heb. 9:22) for the purchase of the church (Acts 20:28), and water came out for the secretion of the life-juice, for imparting life, dealing with death (John 12:24; 3:14-15) for the producing of the church (Eph. 5:29-32).
Silver signifies the redeeming Christ with all the virtues of His person and work. Today the Son of God is signified in God's building as the silver. With bdellium there was the thought of life secretion only, but with silver there is the thought of redemption, which includes the shedding of blood and the secretion of life.
In the consummation of the Bible there is neither bdellium nor silver but pearls. Pearls are something produced by the animal life of the oyster. Pearls imply the thought of redemption and the thought of life-secretion to the uttermost. Pearls are produced by the oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. In eternity future, we will still be reminded that the Son of God came into the death waters as the living One, the oyster, and was crucified, being wounded by us to redeem us and to secrete His life over us to make us precious pearls for the building of God's eternal expression.
The tree of life signifies Christ as our life received into us. Then the Spirit as the river of water of life flows within us. The result of this flow is that we are transformed into precious materials. In the spiritual sense, gold, bdellium, and onyx stone all signify transformation. The old creation gets transformed to be the new creation. The Lord wants to transform us from a dust man into a gold man with bdellium and onyx stone. We have to believe that the Lord has added some amount of gold, bdellium or silver, and onyx stone into our being. This is not merely creation, but transformation in resurrection by the Triune God. We need to praise and thank the Lord for the transformation of the Triune God in resurrection. This is God's economy. The tree of life, the river of water, the gold, the bdellium, and onyx stone are all for God's economy. This is to dispense the Triune God into His created man.
The ultimate consummation of God's eternal economy is the New Jerusalem, the eternal building of God, builded with transformed materials of gold, pearls, and precious stones through the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen and redeemed people. I hope we can spend some time to pray-read the verses and the fellowship in this chapter until all these points get into us. We need to worship the Lord that He is the tree of life and the life-giving Spirit as the river of water of life flowing within us. Thank the Lord that He is now transforming us into gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. After a number of years, many of us will possess more of the Triune God as gold, bdellium, and onyx stones, and the church life will bear a strong testimony of the Triune God in resurrection.