Scripture Reading: Gen. 28:18, 22a; Prov. 4:18; 1 Kings 7:17-20; Rev. 3:12
Ⅰ
Jacob's dream unveils that God desires to have a house on earth, and His intention is to transform His called ones into stones, pillars, material for His building—Gen. 28:10-22; Matt. 16:18; 1 Pet. 2:4-5; Rev. 3:12:
A
In the book of Genesis, there are two kinds of pillars—the pillar of salt (19:26), which indicates shame, and the pillar of stone (28:18; 35:14), which indicates building in strength (1 Kings 7:21).
B
In Genesis 28 Jacob was a supplanter, but by the time we come to chapter forty-eight, this supplanter has been thoroughly transformed into a man of God; this man of God is the pillar—28:18, 22a; cf. Prov. 4:18.
C
"He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name"—Rev. 3:12; cf. v. 8:
１
The word "make" is very significant, meaning to constitute into something, to construct in a creative way; the Lord makes us pillars by transforming us, that is, by carrying away our natural element and by replacing it with His divine essence—2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2.
２
For the overcomers to be pillars in the temple means that they will be pillars in the Triune God, for the temple is "the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb"—Rev. 21:22; cf. Psa. 90:1; John 14:23.
Ⅱ
The life and experience of Jacob reveal the way that we can be transformed into pillars for God's building:
A
Since our selection was according to God's mercy, we need to continually depend on His mercy, enjoying His new mercies day by day to become vessels of mercy, honor, and glory—Rom. 9:11-13, 16, 21, 23; Lam. 3:21-24.
B
We need to enjoy Him as the All-sufficient God—Gen. 48:3; 17:1; Phil. 1:19.
C
We need to enjoy His continual shepherding until the end of our days—"the God who has shepherded me all my life to this day"—Gen. 48:15b; cf. Rev. 3:8.
D
We need to behold God's face (Gen. 32:30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6-7), seek His face (Psa. 27:8, 4), and enjoy His face as our serving supply (Exo. 25:30; 33:11a), doing everything in the face, the person, of Christ for our transformation from glory to glory (2 Cor. 2:10; cf. 13:14); when the Triune God is dispensed into us, we have the face of the Triune God as our grace and His countenance as our peace (Num. 6:25-26):
１
Seeing God equals gaining God to be constituted with God—Job 42:5-6.
２
Seeing God transforms us because in seeing God we receive His element into us and our old element is discharged—2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2.
E
In the Scriptures the pillar is a sign, a testimony, of God's building through transformation in practicing the Body life—Gen. 28:22a; 1 Kings 7:15-22; Gal. 2:9; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 3:12; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:11-12:
１
According to Genesis 28:18, Jacob took the stone that he had made his pillow and set it up as a pillar:
ａ
The stone becoming a pillow signifies that the divine element of Christ constituted into our being through our subjective experience of Him becomes a pillow for our rest (cf. Matt. 11:28-30).
ｂ
The pillow becoming a pillar signifies that the Christ whom we have experienced and on whom we rest becomes the material and the support for God's building, God's house—1 Kings 7:21; 1 Tim. 3:15.
２
The pillars of the temple were built of bronze, signifying God's judgment— 1 Kings 7:15; cf. John 3:14:
ａ
Those who are useful to God are constantly under God's judgment, realizing that they are men in the flesh, worthy of nothing but death and burial—Psa. 51:5; Exo. 4:1-9; Rom. 7:18; Matt. 3:16-17.
ｂ
We must judge ourselves as nothing and as being only qualified to be crucified; whatever we are, we are by the grace of God, and it is not we who labor but the grace of God—1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20; 1 Pet. 5:5-7.
ｃ
The reason for both division and fruitlessness among believers is that there is no bronze, nothing of God's judgment; instead, there is pride, self-boasting, self-vindication, self-justification, self-approval, self-excuse, self-righteousness, condemning others, and regulating others instead of shepherding and seeking them—Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:54-55.
３
On the capitals of the pillars in the temple were "nets of checker work [like a trellis] with wreaths of chain work"; these signify the complicated and intermixed situation in which those who are pillars in God's building live and bear responsibility—1 Kings 7:17.
４
On the top of the capitals were lilies and pomegranates—vv. 18-20:
ａ
Lilies signify a life of faith in God, a life of living by what God is to us, not by what we are; the bronze means, "Not I," and the lily means, "But Christ"—S. S. 2:1-2; Matt. 6:28, 30; cf. 2 Cor. 5:4; Gal. 2:20.
ｂ
The pomegranates on the wreaths of the capitals signify the fullness, the abundance and beauty, and the expression of the riches of Christ as life—1 Kings 7:20; cf. Phil. 1:19-21a.
ｃ
Through the crossing out of the checker work and the restriction of the chain work, we can live a pure, simple life of trusting in God to express the riches of the divine life of Christ for God's building in life.