Besides the matter of transformation, there is also the matter of building in Genesis 2. After these precious materials have been produced, the goal is not to leave them scattered. Rather, they are to be built together and coordinated into a corporate entity as a counterpart. Therefore, Genesis 2, after speaking about gold, pearl, and precious stone, speaks about a counterpart. If you read only Genesis 2, it is hard to see that this counterpart comes from the collective building together of the pure gold, pearl, and precious stones. However, when you read the concluding portion of Revelation, you will see that the holy city, which is the wife of the Lamb and the bride of the Lamb, is built with pure gold, pearls, and precious stones.
Brothers and sisters, now we must conclude this message. I hope that every child of God would see what God wants to do in us. We must see that God wants us to collectively be His image and representative. Although we are persons made of clay, we have a spirit within us. We should receive Him into us, eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him daily as our bread of life, allowing this life to flow and water us as living water. In this way, we will be transformed in God’s life and in Christ. Day by day the earthen nature will be discharged, and we will be changed from glory to glory into the same glorious image of the Lord, eventually arriving at a condition in which we are completely transformed into pure gold, pearl, and precious stone. It seems very good to arrive at this stage, but it is still not sufficient. There is still the final matter of being built up. Even after we have arrived at such a stage of spiritual maturity, we still need one thing—to be built together with all the saints that we may become the counterpart of God and the bride of Christ.
I truly hope that God’s children would all see this vision. I say again that God wants a corporate image for His expression and a corporate authority to represent Him. As those who were created in Adam, we are like earthen vessels, and we are also scattered. If we would like to become God’s image to express Him and be God’s authority to represent Him, we must continually receive Him into us with our spirit and our heart. Then we also have to learn to enjoy Him by eating and drinking Him every day. We also should allow Him to flow in us so that more and more we would have the element of gold in us and be transformed into pearl. Furthermore, we must submit to the burning and pressing in the hand of the Holy Spirit and in the environment arranged by the Holy Spirit so that our worthless being may undergo a glorious transformation to become precious stone. What a glorious matter! Finally, we must see that we, being precious materials, are not to be left scattered around. Instead, we should be corporately built together into a living, built-up entity. Such an entity will be a city, a house, and a Body built by God, and it will also be His glorious, loving counterpart. It is only in this way that God can be expressed and represented and His heart’s desire can be satisfied.