The building up of the church
is the aim
of God’s eternal purpose and plan;
it is
the central point, the ultimate aim,
of God’s purpose
according to all the visions and revelations
in the Scriptures:
Visions in the Scriptures
are related to God’s building.
There is
a principle of first mention
in the Bible;
that is,
the principle of a matter
is set forth
when it is mentioned
for the first time:
The first vision in the Scriptures
is a vision of God’s building.
According to the principle of first mention,
the visions in the Bible
are therefore related to
God’s building.
The first vision in the Bible
is a dream,
the central point of which
is the house of God, Bethel,
built with human beings
mingled with the Triune God.
The final vision in the Scriptures
—an enlarged vision, a vision in full—
is the New Jerusalem:
The vision at Bethel
is the seed of the vision,
and the vision of the New Jerusalem
is the harvest of the vision.
Between the vision of Bethel
and the vision of the New Jerusalem,
there are
a number of visions
in the Bible;
these visions
are the growth, the enlargement, the recovery,
and even the enlargement of the enlargement
of the seed of the vision:
Moses saw a vision of
the building of the tabernacle;
he saw
a genuine vision of
the heavenly pattern for God’s building
—a vision that was
the growth of the seed.
David saw
the next major vision,
the vision of the temple
as the enlargement of the tabernacle.
According to Ezekiel 40 through 48,
the temple that Ezekiel saw
was an enlargement
of the temple seen by David.
Zechariah’s vision
was related to
the recovery of the temple,
and Daniel’s visions
were related to
the temple in the end times.
The Epistles show us
the vision of the church
that the apostles, mainly Peter and Paul, saw
in their own time.
The final vision, the consummate vision,
was seen by the apostle John.
We need a vision
to see God’s building;
if we are open to the Lord and seek Him,
eventually
the vision will be open to us,
and we will see it
in our spirit,
and the building of God
will become a vision to us.
In order to carry out
the vision of
the building up of the church
as the Body of Christ,
there is the need
for a remnant
to go outside the camp
unto Christ:
Hebrews 13:13 indicates
that the believers
are to follow Jesus
outside the camp:
Both in the book of Hebrews
and in typology,
the camp signifies
the organization of religion,
which is human and earthly.
To go outside the camp
means to go outside
the human organization of religion.
Whereas the camp
signifies the human organization,
the city
signifies the earthly realm;
every religion
is both a human organization
and an earthly realm
that keeps God’s people from
the New Testament economy.
Any religion
—Judaism, Catholicism, or Protestantism—
which has rejected the Lord
is a camp, a human organization,
given up by Him.
In principle,
Christianity as a religious system
comprises a group of religious people,
belonging to the Lord in name
and honoring the Lord with their mouth
but having their hearts set on
something other than the Lord.
Today
God needs
a remnant, a small group of overcomers,
to take the stand
that was lost by the whole church
and, seeing a vision of God’s original purpose,
go outside the camp unto Christ:
Today
some are still considering
how to identify themselves with
all the members of the Body.
Those who try to do this
will not succeed,
for this is
not the nature of the present age:
The age today
is a time
for some overcomers
to listen to the voice of
the rejected Lord,
the One who is outside the camp.
Instead of trying to “identify” with
the ones still in the camp,
we should come out of the camp
and go unto the Lord
to follow Him
for His purpose.
We must not go along with
the religious concept and the human thought
but go along with
the heavenly vision
of the building up
of the church
as the Body of Christ
and go outside the camp
unto Christ.
God’s building
is the test of our spirituality:
The building is
the test of every kind of spirituality:
We ourselves are not the standard
by which our spirituality is tested;
our spirituality must be tested by
God’s building, the Body of Christ.
Individualistic spirituality
is not the genuine spirituality:
If someone thinks
that he is spiritual,
yet he is
independent, individualistic, and isolated
from the Body,
his spirituality
is a deception.
Real and genuine spirituality
is for the building up of the church
as the Body of Christ.
In God’s concern
what matters
is not our spirituality
but the building;
the building of God
is our standard and test.
According to the book of Ezekiel,
the requirements of the indwelling Christ
are according to the house;
everyone must be measured and checked
according to the measurement of God’s house:
Our living, conduct, and service
should be examined
not merely according to
moral regulations and spiritual principles
but also according to
the house of God,
the church as the Body of Christ.
Our main concern
should not be with
improving our behavior
or becoming spiritual
but with fitting into the house.
If what we are and what we do
cannot match God’s building,
it amounts to nothing
in the sight of God.
Because the Lord cares so much for the church
—the house of God and the Body of Christ—
we also should care for the church
and fashion ourselves according to it.
If we see this,
we will not care
merely for teachings
from the Bible and about the inner life;
instead,
we will care absolutely for
the building up
of the church as the Body of Christ.
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7 replies on “The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality”
Prophecy note, 8 February 2015
If we have a vision “from a mountaintop,”
we can look down and see
the actual situation.
True and genuine spirituality
is for the building.
Strictly speaking,
God is concerned
not for spirituality
but for the building.
How much are we
in the building?
How much are we
built up and related with others?
God’s aim is
not to have a group of nice Christians.
His aim is
to build us up together.
He does not want
precious stones in a museum
for an exhibition.
He wants to have a house
built up with the precious materials.
You may be precious
but still not built up with others.
If this is the case,
you are good
only for an exhibition;
you are not good
for the building.
The test of our spirituality
is the building.
It is
not a matter of
right and wrong
but of whether or not
we are built up together.
What God is seeking after today
is not that we keep
the requirements of the law
but that we fulfill
the requirements of the building.
We must be built up.
This is
the real test of our spirituality.
Our concern
should be
with fitting into God’s house,
that is,
with how we conduct ourselves
in God’s house.
The Lord charged Ezekiel
to show His house
to the house of Israel.
A person,
who is extremely independent,
does not know anything
about God’s house.
He does not care at all
for the church.
Everything he does
is for himself individually;
nothing is
for the church,
the Body,
Christ’s corporate expression.
If this kind of person
is measured by the house,
he will realize
that he is lacking in many ways.
We all need to be checked
by the building, the house,
in our comings in and goings out.
If we would come into the church life,
we must come in
through one gate.
Then
we need to progress
inward and upward,
ascending higher and higher.
Once we reach
the rear of the third story,
we realize
that we cannot escape,
for there are no gates
through which we can go out.
Day 6
According to Ezekiel 43:10
God wanted Ezekiel
to show the temple
to the house of Israel
so that the people
would be ashamed of their iniquities.
The temple of God
is a pattern,
and if the people would examine themselves
in light of this pattern,
they would know their shortcomings.
It was God’s intention
to check
the living and conduct
of the people of Israel
by His house, His habitation,
as a rule and pattern.
The living of the people of God
must match the temple of God.
Most believers today
feel that moral regulations and spiritual principles
are sufficient
as rules of behavior and conduct.
Few realize
that our behavior and conduct
should be examined
not only according to
moral regulations and spiritual principles
but also according to
the church, the house of God.
The common, or lower, teachings
in today’s Christianity
tell the believers
how to behave,
that is,
what to do
and what not to do.
There are also higher teachings
which encourage the believers
to be spiritual.
These teachings
are an improvement
over the teachings regarding behavior.
The Lord did not tell Ezekiel
to show the law or spiritual principles
to the house of Israel.
Rather,
the Lord charged Ezekiel
to show His house
to the house of Israel.
Because the house was to be their regulation,
the Lord charged Ezekiel
to show them
“the design of the house, the arrangement,
its exits, its entrances,
its whole design,
and all its statutes
—indeed its whole design
and all its laws”
(Ezek. 43:11).
Our concern
should be
with fitting into God’s house,
that is,
with how we conduct ourselves
in God’s house.
The Lord did not command Ezekiel
to show the law, the Ten Commandments,
to the house of Israel;
neither did He command him
to show the spiritual principles
to the house of Israel.
On the contrary,
the Lord charged Ezekiel
to show His house
to the house of Israel.
Suppose a certain young man
gets saved.
Before he was saved,
he treated his parents and his sister
quite poorly.
Now that he has been saved,
he learns
how to treat them with respect
and to behave rightly and properly
in relation to
his father, mother, and sister.
Later,
he learns
to be spiritual
and to do things
such as reckon himself dead.
He is good in conduct,
and in certain matters
he is even spiritual;
however,
he is altogether independent.
He is so independent
that he is not willing
to pray with others.
Such a person,
who is extremely independent,
does not know anything
about God’s house.
He does not care at all
for the church.
Everything he does
is for himself individually;
nothing is
for the church,
the Body,
Christ’s corporate expression.
If this kind of person
is measured by the house,
he will realize
that he is lacking in many ways.
We all need to be checked
by the building, the house,
in our comings in and goings out.
If we would come into the church life,
we must come in
through one gate.
Then
we need to progress
inward and upward,
ascending higher and higher.
Once we reach
the rear of the third story,
we realize
that we cannot escape,
for there are no gates
through which we can go out.
In the book of Ezekiel,
God measures His people
by the temple.
For example,
in the temple
the number six
is used many times.
As we have pointed out,
the number six here,
which is used with
the wall,
the entry,
and other parts of the temple,
signifies the humanity of the Lord Jesus.
This indicates
that we need to check our humanity
by the building
and take the humanity of the Lord Jesus
as our humanity.
Day 5
This is
the age for God’s building.
The building of God
is our standard and test.
We need to test ourselves
not concerning right or wrong
but by how much we have been built up.
This is the test,
and it is also
the solution for all of our problems
and the answer to all of our questions.
How much have we been related to
our dear brothers and sisters?
How much are we one with them
in the spirit in love, life, and reality?
Satan hates this oneness and harmony.
He endeavors to do whatever he can
to damage the oneness.
Once we lose this oneness,
we lose our impact.
Our impact
is in the oneness of the building.
When we are truly one, in harmony,
and built up together as one Body,
we have a real impact.
We need to see
the vision of God’s building,
and we need to test
our life, work, move, motive,
intention, desire, and point of view
by the building up of the Body.
If we apply the building as the test,
we will be
fully and thoroughly revolutionized,
and we will have
a real turn.
A particularly important point
is that in the building
there are no independent pieces.
Every piece of material
has been built in.
Every piece is related to others,
and no piece is independent.
What about you?
Are you independent?
Have you been built into the building?
Do your form and fashion fit into the building?
You may say
that you like this and not that,
but the question
is not what you like or do not like
but whether or not
you fit into the building, into the church.
Does your way fit in with
the church life?
Today
we should behave ourselves
not according to certain teachings
but according to the church.
The church has to be our regulation.
We need to be regulated
by the fashion of the church,
by the comings in and goings out of the church,
by the ordinances, statutes, and laws of the church.
This means
that we should be God’s people
not according to the law of Moses
but according to the form of the temple in Ezekiel.
Today
the Lord’s concern
is not the law
—it is the house.
The Lord cares for the church,
that is,
for the place of His throne,
for the place of the soles of His feet,
for the place where He can dwell
for rest and satisfaction.
Because the Lord
cares so much for the church, His house,
we also should care for the church as His house
and fashion ourselves according to it.
If we realize this,
we will not care
merely for teachings
from the Bible or about the inner life.
Likewise,
we will not care for speaking in tongues
or for a particular way to pray.
Instead,
we should care absolutely for the church
and fashion ourselves
according to the church, God’s house.
The church life, or the Body life,
is the greatest test
of real spirituality.
If we cannot pass
the test of the church life,
our spirituality is not genuine.
We need to see from the book of Ezekiel
that the requirement of the indwelling Christ
is not according to the law
but according to His house.
Everyone must be measured and checked
according to the measurement of God’s house.
We are not under the dispensation of the law;
we are under the dispensation of the house.
This is the age of the church,
not the age merely of being spiritual.
Now is
the time for the church life.
If what we are and what we do
cannot fit into the church life,
it amounts to nothing
in the sight of God
and may even be
an abomination to Him, a kind of whoredom.
Therefore,
we need to fashion ourselves
according to the church
and allow the church
to measure us and check us
in every aspect.
Day 4
In addition to seeing
the vision of God’s building,
we also need to see
what the building is
in practicality.
The building is
the test of every kind of spirituality.
We ourselves are not the standard
by which our spirituality is tested
for its genuineness.
Rather,
we must put our spirituality
on the doorstep of the building
to be tested.
You may be very spiritual,
but you may be too individualistic.
The individualistic spirituality
is not the genuine one.
The genuine, real spirituality
must be for the building.
If someone considers
that he is spiritual,
yet he is
independent, individualistic, and isolated
from the Body,
his spirituality
is a deception.
Someone may be very humble,
but whether this humility is
genuine and spiritual
or false and natural
can be tested
only by the building.
There are many humble persons,
but they are too independent.
They are not related to anyone.
We may have
nice, good, and humble brothers
of this kind
among us,
and we may all
appreciate such persons.
However,
if we have a vision “from a mountaintop,”
we can look down and see
the actual situation.
Let us tear down
this kind of natural humility.
It is
too individualistic and isolated,
and it even damages.
True and genuine spirituality
is for the building.
If we can have the building up,
then
to be proud or humble
does not matter.
We do not want
to be praised by others
for our humility
yet damage the building
with it.
Strictly speaking,
God is concerned
not for spirituality
but for the building.
Regardless of
how good, humble, and spiritual
we consider ourselves to be,
let us be tested.
How much are we
in the building?
How much are we
built up and related with others?
God’s aim is
not to have a group of nice Christians.
His aim is
to build us up together.
He does not want
precious stones in a museum
for an exhibition.
He wants to have a house
built up with the precious materials.
You may be precious
but still not built up with others.
If this is the case,
you are good
only for an exhibition;
you are not good
for the building.
In a certain place
some saints recommended a sister,
saying, “She is so spiritual.
She is quiet
and always so nice to everyone.”
In actuality,
this sister was
nice to everyone,
but she was
not nice for God’s building.
She had been in that city for many years
without being related to anyone.
She was considered very spiritual,
but she was not connected.
She was nice
in an isolated, individualistically spiritual way
that was not
for the building up of the Body.
We must not appreciate
this kind of spirituality.
The test of our spirituality
is the building.
It is
not a matter of
right and wrong
but of whether or not
we are built up together.
Today is
not the day of the law.
Today is
the day of the building up of the Body.
What God is seeking after today
is not that we keep
the requirements of the law
but that we fulfill
the requirements of the building.
We must be built up.
This is
the real test of our spirituality.
Even if we feel
that we have not seen the vision,
we should still put
ourselves and specific things about us
on the test of the building.
If we do this,
we will see the difference.
In order to see things
properly and rightly,
we need to have
the right standing, the right angle.
Without the test of the building
we may have a certain angle,
but if we apply
the test of the building
to many matters,
our point of view
will be completely turned around.
Day 3
The church is
the tabernacle, or temple, of God.
However,
after a certain period of time,
the church changed in nature
from being the tent
to being a camp.
This means
that the church degraded
to become Christianity.
In principle,
Christianity as a religious system
comprises a group of religious people,
belonging to the Lord in name
and honoring the Lord with their mouth
but having their hearts set on
something other than the Lord.
According to the history of the church,
those who really sought the Lord
had to leave organized Christianity,
that is,
leave the camp
and go forth unto the Lord
outside the camp.
Today
God needs
a remnant, a small group of overcomers,
to take the stand
that was lost
by the whole church.
For this reason
we need to see a vision
and not simply consider the situation
according to our natural and religious concept.
We need to see something
according to God’s eternal plan.
We may compare the situation today to
the smog in Los Angeles.
Many days
it is difficult
to see the mountains
through the smog.
We need to be transcendent,
to rise above the smoggy air.
Then
we will see the vision.
Today
some are still considering
how to identify themselves with
all the members of the Body.
If they try to do this,
they will not succeed.
This is
not the nature of the present age.
The age today
is a time
for some overcomers
to listen to the voice
of the rejected Lord,
the One
who is outside the camp.
Come out of the camp
and go unto the Lord
to follow Him
and accomplish His purpose.
We could never be more inclusive
than the Lord is.
The Lord Himself
went outside the camp.
We must go along
not with the religious concept
and the human thought
but with the heavenly vision.
Go outside the camp unto Him.
May the Lord be merciful to us.
We need a vision.
The Lord can testify
that I am grateful to Him
for the evangelistic ministry in America today.
Thousands of people
have been brought to the Lord,
yet I am not satisfied
only to see
that thousands of lost souls
are saved.
I desire to see
even only a small number of them
listen to the Lord’s voice,
go unto Him,
and be built up together
as a living testimony.
These will be
the bride of Christ
mentioned in Revelation 19:7-8,
the overcomers,
not simply the wife of the Lamb in eternity
mentioned in 21:2 and 9.
We need to see the vision
and not merely have a general concept.
Regardless of how people condemn and criticize us,
we should disregard their speaking.
When the Lord Jesus
was on the earth,
He was always criticized
by the religious people,
by those
who had the Scriptures
in their hands.
He was also crucified
by those people
according to their understanding
of the Scriptures.
We should not be affected
by all the criticisms.
We need
the vision of God’s building.
Without a vision,
all the things
we have spoken here
are in vain.
Once we have the vision,
everything is different;
the whole universe
is changed.
I am limited
in my ability
to speak these things,
but I trust in the Lord
according to my prayer
that what I have spoken here
is not my own word
but the revealing Spirit
unveiling the vision of God’s building.
The Holy Spirit
will unveil these things to you
so that you may see
the vision of the building.
There is
no other vision
in the Bible.
All the visions in the Bible
are for the building,
which is
the very aim of God’s purpose.
Day 2
Because this is
the age of God’s purpose,
we need to have
not a mere teaching or doctrine
but a vision.
Beginning in 1939,
Brother Watchman Nee spent three years
to stress one matter
—our need to see
the Body,
which is the building of God.
He stressed
that we need a vision of the Body.
To hear something about the Body
is one thing,
but to see the Body
is another.
I heard of Los Angeles many years ago
when I was young,
but I did not come here
until 1958.
Now I have a clear view of Los Angeles,
especially when I travel by airplane.
We need a vision
to see God’s building,
not merely to hear, learn, or know about it.
We cannot say exactly
how we can see the vision,
but as we are seeking the Lord,
meeting together,
and fellowshipping about this matter
again and again,
we eventually will see something.
Before that time,
we may have known about the building of God,
but eventually
the vision will be open to us,
and we will see it
in our spirit.
If we are open to the Lord
and seek Him,
sooner or later
the building of God
will become a vision to us.
God’s desire in the universe
is the building.
This is
His aim and His ultimate goal,
and He will obtain it.
If we seek Him and His desire,
we must go along with Him
in this matter.
We cannot be satisfied
until we see His people
built up in a practical way.
David was called a man
according to God’s heart
because he had a genuine concern for
God’s dwelling place.
He was occupied by nothing
other than the building
of the dwelling place of God,
not in heaven
but on this earth and in his age.
Today
we also must have a true concern for
God’s dwelling place
on the earth.
Many Christian brothers and sisters
are very concerned for
lost souls.
Whenever I hear this,
I am very happy.
I too would do
whatever I can
to further the work of the gospel.
However,
today
the Lord is doing something more,
not only to preach the gospel
and save lost souls
but also to bring the saved ones
to be built together.
We must have
a true concern
not only for the lost ones
but also for God’s building
among the saved ones.
This is the purpose
for which we are here.
We do not despise
any kind of gospel work.
We must do
whatever we can
to help the gospel work,
but we also need to see something further.
We need to see
the vision
of God’s purpose
with His building.
We are not here
merely for the gospel
or for spirituality.
We are here
for God’s ultimate goal and aim,
which is
the building up of the church.
Hebrews 13:13 indicates
that the believers
are to go outside the camp
to follow Jesus.
In the book of Hebrews and in typology,
the camp signifies
the organization of religion,
which is human and earthly.
To go outside the camp
means to go outside
the human organization of religion.
While the camp signifies human organization,
the city signifies the earthly realm.
In the book of Hebrews,
both the gate and the camp
signify the Jewish religion
with its earthly and human aspects.
Judaism is
both earthly and human.
Every religion is
both a human organization
and an earthly realm
that keeps people away from
God’s New Testament economy.
Hebrews ushers us
into the Holy of Holies
and then directs us
to go outside the camp.
Everyone who has gone outside the camp
has experienced
what is within the veil.
The goal and ultimate consummation of this book
is that we would all
enter within the veil
and go outside the camp.
Day 1
The building up of the church
is the aim
of God’s eternal purpose and plan.
It is
the central point, the ultimate aim,
of God’s purpose
according to all the visions and revelations
in the Scriptures.
The first vision mentioned in the Scriptures
is Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10-19.
Before that time
the God of glory
appeared to Abraham,
but that was
not a vision to Abraham.
The first vision in the Scriptures
was Jacob’s dream.
The central item of that vision
was Bethel, the house of God,
built with two kinds of material,
stone and the oil poured upon the stone.
The stone signifies man,
and the oil signifies the very God
who comes to us as the Spirit.
After Jacob poured the oil upon the stone,
he called the name of that place Bethel.
The stone with the oil poured upon it
became the house of God.
This is
the mingling of God with man.
The Spirit, who comes to us,
is the third person of the Triune God.
The Father was far away from us,
and the Son was once among us
yet not in us.
It is the “oil,” the person of the Spirit,
in whom and by whom
the very God comes into us
to be one with us,
producing Bethel, the house of God.
Therefore,
the first vision in the Scriptures
is a dream,
the central point of which
is the house of God
built with human beings
mingled with the Triune God.
Today
Christians often talk about
heavenly or spiritual visions,
but it seems
that they are not clear
concerning the central visions in the Bible.
Visions in the Scriptures
are always related to God’s building.
There is
a principle of first mention
in the Scriptures;
that is,
the principle of a matter
is set forth
when it is mentioned for the first time.
The first vision in the Scriptures
is a vision of God’s building.
Accordingly,
the visions in the Scriptures
are always related to
God’s building.
The final vision in the Scriptures
is the New Jerusalem
in the last two chapters of the Bible.
This is
an enlarged vision.
The vision at Bethel
is the seed of the vision,
and the vision of the New Jerusalem
is the harvest of the vision.
Between these two ends,
there are a number of visions
in the Bible.
Moses saw
a vision of the building of the tabernacle.
That was a genuine vision of
the heavenly pattern for God’s building.
As the vision of Bethel
was a seed,
Moses’ vision on Mount Sinai
was the growth of the seed.
After Moses,
the next major vision
was that of David,
the vision of the temple
as the enlargement of the tabernacle.
Following this
were the visions of Ezekiel.
According to Ezekiel 40 through 48,
the temple that Ezekiel saw
was a further enlargement of the temple
seen by David.
Zechariah’s vision
was related to
the recovery of the temple,
and Daniel’s visions
were related to
the temple in the end times.
The next great vision
was that of the apostles,
represented mainly by Peter and Paul.
The Epistles show us
the vision of the church
that the apostles saw
in their own time.
The final vision
was seen by John.
Many Christians do not realize
that all the visions
are for the building.
Some brothers have studied the Scriptures
in seminaries and Bible institutes,
but they may have never heard of
the vision of God’s building.
If we take away the above visions
from the Scriptures,
there will be none left.
With these visions
we have
the seed,
the growth and enlargement,
the recovery,
and even the enlargement of the enlargement.
In the New Testament visions
we have the genuine article, the church,
and in Revelation
there is
the ultimate manifestation of God’s building,
the New Jerusalem.
All these visions
are related to
one item—the building of God.