All these precious stones were originally mere pieces of clay. Medical research has shown that we humans are basically a composition of dust. Our body consists of certain amounts of salt, copper, iron, sulphur, and other elements of this earth. How then did Peter, John and the ten other Apostles become such precious stones? By the work of transformation.
There are three kinds of precious materials in God’s building: gold, pearl, and precious stone. Gold requires no transformation, for it is an element in its original state as created by God. A precious stone, however, is a compound of several elements which have been pressed together under intense heat. It is not an entity in its original state; it requires a work of full transformation. The other material in God’s building, pearl, also needs some work of transformation. Pearl, as we have seen, clearly signifies regeneration; thus it constitutes the entrance, the gates, to the city. By regeneration we enter the sphere of the kingdom of God. But once we are in, we need to press on to the goal. By regeneration we receive the divine nature. From that time onward we need to be pressed and burned. But do not be frightened! We all appreciate Peter, John and the other disciples, but most of us little realize how much pressure they experienced. They are no more pieces of clay, but precious stones. They have been transformed through intense heat and pressure. Read the histories of Peter and John; see the sufferings through which they passed. They were pressed and burned till they became strong and precious. Consider Peter and John at the day of Pentecost: at that time they were no longer pieces of clay; they had become pieces of stone, so strong and precious.
For the church life today we need God’s life, God’s divine nature of gold. We also need the pearl of regeneration of life by Christ’s death and resurrection. Eventually, we must become precious stones through the transformation work of the Spirit. All the members of Christ’s Body must be transformed that God may have the foundation and the wall of His city.
The twelve foundations of the city are composed of twelve kinds of precious stones (Rev. 21:19-20). This signifies oneness in variety. Not one stone is the same: Peter is one color, and John is another. Altogether, there are twelve colors seen in the Apostles-a real variety. Yet there is also oneness in this variety. The Peter and John of today never seem to be one, and this is the real problem. John does his work, and Peter does his. There is a variety, but no oneness. So many gifted brothers today do not agree to be one. Even brothers who are supposed to be working together are not one. Each one tries to convince the other to be the same as himself. Suppose that I am a stone of green jasper and you are a red sardis. The problem is that I will try to convince you to be green, and you will attempt to make me red. If I fail to convert you, then I will have nothing to do with you. This is pitiful! Can we respect someone else whose ministry is totally different from ours? We must. We must hate narrow-mindedness and the urge to convince and convert others to be like ourselves. Never forget that Peter is Peter and John is John. The Lord Jesus is too great and wonderful: He needs many different persons to express Himself; one individual Christian is not sufficient. It is a real mercy to be one of the stones and yet be different from others. There is no need to convince others to be the same as we are.
Our thirty-fourth point concerns the Lord Jesus, as He is portrayed in the New Jerusalem. He is manifested in at least four items. First, He is the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). Even in eternity, the Lord Jesus will always be remembered as the Lamb who died for our redemption, who shed His blood for us, and who gave Himself as the very food of life to satisfy us. Secondly, this Lamb is also the lamp, in whom God is the light. (See Rev. 21:23; 22:5. In the King James Version, the word translated light is lamp in Greek.) The lamp is the very vessel of God, containing God and expressing God. God has embodied Himself in Christ, and this Christ as the embodiment of God is the center of the entire city. Even so, the church today must have Christ with God embodied in Him as the very center. Thirdly, this very Christ is the tree of life (Rev. 22:2), the source of all life supply. In the church life we must have Christ as the Lamb, the lamp, and as the tree of life. Fourthly, Christ is even the temple of the city (Rev. 21:22).
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