"And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 12:8). God brought Abraham not only to Shechem, but to Bethel as well. The name Bethel in the original language means "the house of God." God is not after hundreds and thousands of strong, but uncoordinated, men like Samson, and He is not after a pile of unorganized, living stones. God's intention is to build a temple—the house of God. One characteristic of Canaan is that God's people are the temple of God and the house of God. Hebrews 3:6 tells us that it was not Moses who was over this house, but the Son of God who is over this house.
God wants to raise up a vessel to fulfill His purpose. Such a vessel must be His house. A few particularly gifted gospel preachers will not fulfill such a purpose, nor will a few capable revivalists do the job. It is not enough to have Shechem (power) only. There must also be Bethel. All the powerful ones must become God's house and the Body of Christ before they can become useful. God has to deliver us from all forms of individualism. God has not saved us only to be proper Christians, but to be God's house and one Body together with all His children. Therefore, we should not have our personal "liberty." Unfortunately, many Christians love their personal liberty and are very good at preserving their personal liberty! Brothers and sisters, if we are truly clear about the testimony of God's house, and if we know that God's vessel is a house, not individual, scattered stones, we will learn to submit to one another, reject any individual move, and take the same way as all of God's children.
God's house is not only a principle, but a life. The problem is that many Christians consider the Body of Christ merely as a principle; they have not seen the life of the Body of Christ. What good is it if we try to do something according to a principle without having the life to do it? We think that we should cooperate with one another in everything, and we often reluctantly agree to cooperate, but our heart has no taste for it. What is the use of doing such a thing? We have to remember that the Body is a life and not merely a principle. If we do not know that the Body is a life, and if we merely act according to a principle, we are only imitating in an outward way. Many Christians have never been dealt with by the Lord. They have heard that they should not act independently and that they should cooperate with others, and they try to practice cooperation. However, they do not realize that this is something that one cannot learn to do. Just as our relationship with Christ is not something we acquire by learning, our relationship with the Body of Christ is not something that we acquire by learning.
How can we know the life of the Body? The basic condition for knowing the life of the Body is that our tent must be pitched between Bethel and Ai. To our west there should be Bethel, and to our east there should be Ai. It is not merely a matter of Bethel, but a matter of Ai as well. The name Ai means "a heap" in the original language. Bethel is a house, the house of God, while Ai is a heap, a desolate heap. The desolate heap signifies the old creation; Ai symbolizes the old creation. If we are to turn our face towards God's house, we must turn our back towards the desolate heap. In other words, unless a Christian is dealt with in his fleshly life, he cannot possibly know the Body of Christ. Only when we have Ai on the east will we have Bethel on the west. If we do not have Ai on our east, we will not have Bethel on our west. One begins his experience of the Body of Christ and enjoys and lives out the Body life by dealing with the life of the flesh. If we want to find out what the house of God is, we must deny the desolate heap on the negative side. Only after our natural life has been dealt with by God, and only after we have been subdued to realize that the natural life should be judged rather than praised, will we be joined spontaneously to the other brothers and sisters. Only then will we be able to live out the life of the Body of Christ. The only reason we cannot be joined to the other brothers and sisters is that the life of our old creation is too strong. Once the old creation within us is dealt with, we will spontaneously live out the life of the Body of Christ; we will see that we are a part of the Body of Christ and that we are in the Body. Hence, the life of the old creation must be dealt with and thoroughly denied. No matter what is in the heap, it is a desolate heap and not the house of God.
For those Christians who have not passed through the judgment of the old creation, the old creation is a boast to them. They still think that what they have in themselves is good. Although they admit with their mouth that they are weak and corrupt, they have never been judged in reality. They do not consider corruption to be corruption. Instead they consider corruption to be something lovable. They consider the part in them which cannot get along with others to be something noble. Whenever we find ourselves in this state, that is the time we need God's mercy the most.
One day God will bring us to the point where we realize our uselessness. We will lose our self-confidence. Only then will we come into God's house spontaneously. It is impossible to live the Body life without having the flesh dealt with. We must ask the Lord to show us that the Body of Christ is not just a principle, but a life.