In the building of the tabernacle there were no stones. The tabernacle was built with gold and wood. Gold signifies the nature of God, and wood denotes the humanity of Christ. Hence, the tabernacle as the dwelling place of God was built with Christ’s divinity and humanity. The temple was built primarily of stone, but also partly of wood. Hence, it was a combination of wood and stone. Wood is also mentioned with respect to the rebuilding of the temple. Haggai 1:8 says, “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house.” Although wood is mentioned in Haggai, it is not mentioned in Zechariah. In Zechariah we see the topstone (Zech. 4:7). This indicates that the rebuilding of the temple was also mainly with stone. How could there be a topstone without a foundation stone? And how could there be a topstone without a cornerstone? The buildings in the holy land were constructed in the following manner: there was a foundation stone, a cornerstone that held the walls together, and a capstone, called the topstone, that covered the building. The mention of the topstone in Zechariah 4:7 thus implies that there was a foundation stone and a cornerstone. Therefore, in the rebuilding of the temple there was more stone than wood. This is confirmed by the Lord’s word in Matthew 24:2. In this verse the Lord Jesus, speaking of the temple, says, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” God’s ultimate building, the New Jerusalem, will not contain any wood. It will be built of gold, pearl, and precious stone. God’s building began with wood. Gradually stone was added. Ultimately there will be no wood; there will be nothing but stone.
We need to see how this applies to us today. When we first came together as the local church, there was hardly any stone. We came with the gold and the wood, with Christ’s divinity and humanity. At that time the building of the church was a matter of Christ’s divinity and humanity. The beginning of any local church is always like this. Gradually, as we grow in Christ and Christ grows in us, we become more involved with Christ and we become stronger.
In the past you probably were not even wood. Instead, you were a heap of cotton. Look back at the time you first came into the church life. Were you not cotton? I can still remember the day I came into the church in 1932. Without a doubt I was just a heap of cotton. I was soft, warm, nice, and kind, and everyone liked me. Gradually I changed from cotton into hard wood. Then eventually the wood was petrified through the flowing of the divine life within me. This flow carried away my wooden nature and replaced it with heavenly, divine minerals. Apparently, I am still wood; actually, I have become stone. When in my experience I was a ball of cotton, I had little to do with Christ. Christ was the gold and the wood with which the tabernacle was built, and I was a ball of cotton within the tabernacle. When you are a ball of cotton, you may love the Lord and believe in Him, but in your actual experience you have very little involvement with Him. He is He, and you are you. He is the gold and the wood, and you are a ball of cotton. Eventually, however, in the church life, you become more involved with Christ, and Christ is wrought into your being.
When we enter into the New Jerusalem, we shall no longer be balls of cotton or pieces of wood; we all shall be precious stones. Every precious stone is hard. In the Lord’s recovery today the need is for stone. We do not cast away those who are balls of cotton. We shall certainly keep them, but keep them in the hope that they will daily and gradually change from cotton to wood and from wood to stone. Ultimately, God’s temple, God’s habitation, will be built with stone. The Lord Himself is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone, and we also must be living stones (1 Pet. 2:5). In the New Testament we are told clearly that the building material for the church is not wood, hay, and stubble; it is gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12).
I believe the Lord’s testimony in Europe will be subjected to more tests than His testimony in the United States because Europe is the territory of the mother prostitute and her older daughters. The local churches in this territory must be strong, and every one in them must be a stone. When Peter was brought to the Lord, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Cephas, which means a stone (John 1:42). In Matthew 16 Peter received the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the Lord Jesus said to him, “Thou art a stone, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18, Gk.). Here we see that the church is built with the stone on the rock. The only way we can become stones is by enjoying Christ and eating Him. When we eat, a metabolic change takes place in our being. By eating we take food into us. Eventually, this food is digested and assimilated into our very fibers. This brings about a change, a transformation, of our being. It is not sufficient to have the doctrine of Christ. We must open our being, exercise our spirit, and take Christ into us. We should not take the doctrine of Christ into our mentality; we must take Christ as the life-giving Spirit into our being and let this Spirit be the transforming element that will change us metabolically. This is not a matter of the outward correction of our behavior, but of the inward transformation of our being. In this way we become stones. This is what the Lord desires today.
I am not interested in merely teaching you or edifying you. I am doing my best to minister the element of Christ into you. I do not like to pass on knowledge. Instead, I would minister the transforming Christ into you. If you take this Christ into you, you will never be the same. Each of these messages is an injection. After you have received these injections, you could not be the same even if you wanted to. Hallelujah for the injections of Christ! I have the full confidence that these heavenly injections will make us stones for the church today and ultimately for the New Jerusalem.