Scripture Reading: Heb. 11:10, 16; Matt. 16:18; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-11, 18-20; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:9-10, 12; John 14:1-12, 23
Ⅰ
When God builds up the church, He is building up the New Jerusalem; we need to grow unto maturity to become the New Jerusalem, the city of life, as the ultimate consummation of the church, the house of the living God—Matt. 16:18; Heb. 6:1a; 11:10, 16; Rev. 21:2-3, 9-11, 18-20; 22:1-2; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:9-10, 12; John 14:1-12, 23; 1 Tim. 3:15:
A
In order to grow in life unto maturity, we must keep our heart with all vigilance—Heb. 6:1a; Prov. 4:20-23; Matt. 13:18-23:
１
First, God wants our heart to be soft; to be soft means that the will of the heart toward God is submissive and yielding, not stiff-necked and rebellious—2 Cor. 3:3; Ezek. 36:26; Psa. 86:11.
２
Second, God wants our heart to be pure; a pure heart means a heart that sets its mind specifically on God; it is also a heart in which the emotion is exceedingly pure and simple toward God; it only loves God and wants God; besides God, it has no other love, inclination, or desire—Matt. 5:8; 2 Cor. 11:2-3; 2 Tim. 2:22.
３
Third, God wants our heart to be loving; a loving heart means a heart in which the emotion loves God, wants God, thirsts after God, yearns for God, and has affection toward God—Mark 12:30; S. S. 8:6-7; John 21:15-17.
４
Fourth, God wants our heart to be at peace; a heart at peace means a heart in which the conscience has no offense, no condemnation or reproach; it is safe and secure—Acts 24:16; 1 John 3:19-20.
B
The goal of the work of God is to gain the New Jerusalem; our Lord is today's David preparing us as transformed material for God's building; the difficulties in all of our environments strike us to deal with us and to prepare us as living and precious stones for God's building—1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:12a; 1 Kings 6:7; cf. 1 Chron. 6:31-32.
C
The New Jerusalem is the mingling of God, man, and heaven; the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God implies that the New Jerusalem is filled with the element of heaven and is absolutely heavenly—Rev. 21:2-3, 22; Eph. 1:3; 2:6; Gen. 28:17.
D
According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal and ultimate issue of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem, as the ultimate consummation of the church and as the ultimate goal of God's eternal economy; an overcomer's goal should be uniquely and ultimately the goal of God's eternal economy, that is, the New Jerusalem.
Ⅱ
We can see the conditions of a built-up church by seeing the conditions of the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of the church:
A
A built-up church, like the New Jerusalem, has the presence of God—Ezek. 48:35; Rev. 21:3; 22:3:
１
That God and the Lamb are the temple of the New Jerusalem means that God and the Lamb Themselves become the center of the city; in other words, God is with the city, and the city has the presence of God—21:22.
２
When we are built together with all the saints, we have God's presence, and whenever we are individualistic, we immediately lose God's presence.
３
We must hold on to this principle: God's presence is the criterion for every matter.
４
If we touch the presence of God in all things, we will see that God will be there as the temple, and the building of God will be with us; reasoning, arguing, and criticizing cause us to lose the presence of God; God's presence is altogether due to the oneness and harmony among the saints.
５
God's presence is the center of the New Jerusalem; therefore, in the church we must have the presence of God; we must have God as the temple.
B
A built-up church has the ruling of God:
１
If the church is built up, it will have the throne of God and of the Lamb, the ruling of God—22:1.
２
If we want to know whether the saints in a certain church are built up, we have to see whether the throne of God, the dominion of God, is among them.
C
A built-up church has the flow and supply of life:
１
In the New Jerusalem there is a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne, and on both sides of the river there is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits and yielding its fruit each month—vv. 1-2.
２
In a built-up church there is the water of life that quenches people's thirst and causes people to be watered, and there are the fruits of the tree of life that enable the hungry people to be satisfied.
D
A built-up church has light:
１
In the New Jerusalem the God of glory is the light, and the Lamb is the lamp— 21:23; 22:5; cf. Jer. 2:11.
２
In a built-up church God in Christ expressed through the saints is the light; when we go to the meeting of a built-up church, we will feel enlightened—John 8:12; Matt. 5:14; Psa. 73:16-17.
E
A built-up church has the mingling of God and man and has passed through death and resurrection:
１
That there are three gates on each of the four sides of the New Jerusalem, three times four being twelve, implies that the Triune God is mingled with man, the creature (the number four signifies the creatures)—Rev. 4:6.
２
That the twelve gates of the holy city are twelve pearls signifies that regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-secreting resurrected Christ is the entrance into the city—21:21.
３
Anyone who enters into the city through the gate has to be the product of three times four—the issue of the mingling of God and man—and a new creation in Christ through death and resurrection—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.
４
This shows that we cannot bring anything natural, anything of the earth, into the church; the pearl gate shuts out all the naturalness of man.
５
Whenever we bring in something natural, something of human effort, something "ingenious," something resulting from human schemes and methods, or something that has not passed through the cross, then we have not come to our end, and God cannot provide us with a way out—cf. 2 Cor. 4:7-8.
６
In the building up of the church everything must pass through the cross, must be in Christ, and must be the mingling of God and man; this is the entrance into the New Jerusalem, the entrance into the church; only that which corresponds with the nature of this entrance can be brought into the building of God.
７
Only a vision can rescue us; we have to learn to bring all our natural thoughts, discernment, schemes, abilities, and strength to the cross to be dealt with; after all these items have been broken, have passed through death and resurrection, and have become pearls, then they can be brought into the building of God.
F
A built-up church is full of God's divine nature:
１
There is only one street in the New Jerusalem, and it is pure gold, signifying God's divine nature—Rev. 21:21b.
２
That the river of water of life proceeds "in the middle of its street" signifies that the divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God's redeemed people—22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4; John 14:6.
３
Whenever we completely deny ourselves and live in the nature of God, our service will not only issue in the building of the church but also lead people to the way of God when they come into our midst.
G
A built-up church has the expression of God:
１
Revelation 21 says that the wall of the city is jasper, the first foundation is jasper, and the light of the city is also like jasper stone (vv. 18-19, 11); furthermore, the One sitting on the throne has the appearance of a jasper stone (4:3); thus, the appearance of the city is the appearance of God.
２
The New Jerusalem is the enlargement and full expression of God in man; if the church has been truly built up, it will also have the full expression of God.
H
A built-up church is constituted with the transforming Spirit and with people who are in the process of being transformed:
１
The wall of the city is built with precious stones (21:19-20); precious stones are not created but are produced by the transforming of the things created, after having passed through years of constitution through much pressure; pressure, burning, and constitution are necessary for the transformation into precious stones.
２
In the church life the transforming of Christ's lover is carried out by the transforming Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God (2 Cor. 3:18) with the coordination of the lover's companions, the gifted members of the Body of Christ, who do the work of perfecting the saints (Eph. 4:11-12; S. S. 1:10-11).
I
A built-up church must have a boundary, "a great and high wall"—Rev. 21:12:
１
The wall is for separation and protection; the New Jerusalem will be absolutely separated unto God and will fully protect the interests of God.
２
The more God builds Himself into us and constitutes us with Himself, the more we are separated unto God and protected from everything of the evil one; if the saints have been built together in the church life, it will be easy to distinguish what belongs to God from what belongs to man, what is heavenly from what is earthly, and what is of the new creation from what is of the old creation.
３
All believers need such a great and high wall for their separation and protection— v. 17.
J
May the Lord have mercy on us that the churches everywhere may manifest all these conditions of being built up!