Hebrews 11:10 says, “For he eagerly waited for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.” This verse mentions the words Architect and Builder. Verse 16 says, “They long after a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God.” The phrase to be called their God means that God belongs to those who are spoken of in this verse. The meaning of this phrase in Greek is very weighty. It means that God is their sole possession. It is not just a title by which God is addressed. Rather, it is a fact indicating that God has become their possession. In other words, God has become the God of those who long after a heavenly country. The end of verse 16 says, “For He has prepared a city for them.” This preparation can be done only when there is building. Hebrews 11 says that He has prepared a city, but Revelation 21 says that the city is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (v. 2). The New Jerusalem is a city, yet it is also a bride. Verse 3 continues, “And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.” The New Jerusalem is a city and a bride, but ultimately, it is the tabernacle of God. The tabernacle of God, according to the Old Testament type, is God’s habitation.
Then verse 3 continues, saying that God “will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” They possess God and own God; thus, God is their God. This very God, whom they possess and own, tabernacles among them. Verse 9 says, “I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” indicating that the bride is the wife of the Lamb, but verse 10 says that this bride is a city, the holy city Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God. Then verse 11 says, “Having the glory of God.” This indicates that God tabernacles within His people. Verse 11 also says, “Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.”
The Bible has a continuous line of thought. Revelation 21 repeatedly mentions the matter of stones in describing the New Jerusalem. It says that the light that the city expresses is like a most precious stone (v. 11). It also says that the twelve foundations of the wall of the city are twelve precious stones and that the building work of its wall is jasper, which is also a precious stone (vv. 18-20). First Peter matches this thought. Verse 4 of chapter two says, “Coming to Him, a living stone.” The Lord as a living stone is precious to God. Verse 5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” When we come to Him, we ourselves also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house. The word built in this verse is related to the word Builder in Hebrews 11:10.
Ephesians 2:20-22 says that we are “being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” These verses also contain the words stone and built. These verses indicate that the “dwelling place of God in spirit,” which is God’s habitation, is being produced.
First Corinthians 3:9 says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” The cultivated land and the building are connected in this verse. On one hand, the Bible says that we are God’s temple, God’s building. On the other hand, it says that we are God’s harvest, God’s land. While the building is something that is built up, the harvest on the land is something that grows up. In this verse the work of God is connected with these two matters of the building and the harvest. In other words, God comes to build the building so that the harvest may grow.
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” Those who understand Greek know that the name Peter means “a little stone.” In revealing the church, this verse also mentions the matters of building and stones. Christ is a big stone, the rock upon which the church is built, while Peter is a little stone. Peter, the little stone, had to be built on Christ, the big stone, so that they could become the church, God’s habitation. John 14:1-12 is the word that the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples before He was crucified. The Lord told the disciples that He was going to leave them. The disciples were troubled upon hearing this, but the Lord comforted them by saying, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me” (v. 1). The Greek phrase translated believe into God, believealso into Me also has the meaning “believe into the inside of God, believe into the inside of Me.”
The Lord continued, saying, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be” (vv. 2-3). Here the Lord mentions that He is preparing a place, that He is coming again, and that He will bring us to the same place where He is. This is the work that God is doing throughout the generations.