Scripture Reading: 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Matt. 16:18; Rev. 3:18; Psa. 51:1-19; Eph. 3:16-19

Ⅰ　

We must buy the anointing Spirit as the eyesalve to anoint our eyes that we may see the central thought of God, the desire of God's heart, and the goal of God's economy, which are the meaning of the universe, the meaning of man, and the fulfillment of the aspiration, longing, and desire in man's heart for eternity—Rev. 3:18; Eccl. 3:11; Hag. 2:7; cf. Gen. 3:9:

A　

We buy the Spirit as the eyesalve by being poor in spirit, which is to be willing to become nothing, to be nobody, realizing that we have nothing, know nothing, and are nothing, and to be an empty vessel available to be filled with Christ for the building up of the church; this is the real denial of the self for the best enjoyment of Christ today and the highest enjoyment of Christ in His millennial reign— Matt. 5:3; 16:18, 24-26; 25:21, 23; 19:24; Phil. 2:5.

B　

We buy the Spirit by buying the truth as the reality of the shining word of God, buying gold refined by fire as the riches of God, and buying white garments that we may be clothed with Christ as the weapons of light; to put on Christ is to live by Christ and to live out Christ, thus magnifying Christ—Prov. 23:23; Rev. 3:18; Luke 12:21; Rom. 13:11-14; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:20-21.

Ⅱ　

Second Samuel 7:12-14a reveals that the central thought of God, the desire of God's heart, the goal of God's economy, and the meaning of the universe are God's building; God's building is a divine-human person; God's building is a God-man—Gen. 2:22; Matt. 16:18; Rom. 1:3-4; 1 Tim. 3:15-16; Acts 9:4-5, 15; John 14:23:

A　

God's building is God becoming man that man might become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead:

１　

In His humanity Christ became a joining ladder, to join heaven (God) and earth (man) into one for the building of Bethel, the house of God—Gen. 28:12-17; Rom. 1:3-4.

２　

God became man through incarnation (bringing heaven to earth), and man be-comes God through transformation (joining earth to heaven)—John 1:1, 51; Rom. 1:3-4; 5:10; 8:28-29; 2 Cor. 3:18.

B　

God's building in the Gospels is the individual God-man, Jesus, who is the taber-nacle of God and the temple of God—John 1:14; 2:19.

C　

God's building in Acts and the Epistles is the corporate God-man, the new man, the church, as the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, the house of the liv-ing God, and the masterpiece of the Triune God—Acts 9:4-5; 1 Tim. 3:15-16; Eph. 2:10, 15, 21-22; Col. 2:19; 3:10-11.

D　

God's building in Revelation is the ultimate, consummate, great, corporate God-man, the New Jerusalem, the "bride-building," the eternal mutual abode of God being built into man as the tabernacle of God and of man being built into God as the temple of God—Rev. 21:2-3, 9-10, 22.

E　

God is building Himself into man and building man into God for the building up of the church as the house of God for His expression and as the kingdom of God for His dominion to fulfill His original intention for man—Gen. 1:26; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17; John 14:23; Luke 17:21; Dan. 2:35, 44.

Ⅲ　

We are God's farm, and Christ is the seed of life, the seed of David, planted into us to grow in us so that we may be transformed, "sonized," into precious materials for God's building—1 Cor. 3:9-12; 2 Sam. 7:12-14a:

A　

If a seed dies by being buried in the soil, it will eventually sprout, grow, and blos-som in resurrection; in resurrection Christ "blossomed" to become the life-giving Spirit to sow Himself as the seed of life, the seed of David, into our being—John 12:23-24; 1 Cor. 15:31; Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 3:18; Mark 4:14, 26-27.

B　

According to the Bible, growth equals building; this takes place by the growth of Christ as the seed of life within us—1 John 3:9; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16.

C　

The life of the Son of God has been implanted into our spirit; now we, like the seed that is sown into the earth, must pass through the process of death and resur-rection, the process of breaking and building—Rom. 8:10, 15-16; Gal. 4:6; Titus 3:5; John 12:24-26:

１　

David signifies a life of brokenness issuing in Solomon, a life of building:

ａ　

If the church is to be built up today, we must live a life according to God's heart, a life willing to learn the lessons of the cross, a life fully exposed and humbled, a life that knows the mercy and grace of God and that has no trust, no boast, in its own human nature—Acts 13:22.

ｂ　

David failed to the uttermost, and he repented, confessed his sin, and God forgave him; then he begot Solomon; hence, Solomon is the issue of man's transgression and repentance plus God's forgiveness—2 Sam. 12:1-13, 24; Psa. 51:1-19.

ｃ　

If we are those who repent, confess our sins, and ask God for His purging (1 John 1:9), we will have the enjoyment of God in Christ in His house for the building of Zion, Christ's overcoming bride—Psa. 51:18.

２　

David typifies Christ from His incarnation to His crucifixion; Solomon typifies Christ from His resurrection to His enthronement and His coming back; today Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit as the real and greater Solomon, building Himself into us and speaking the word of wisdom to us and through us for the building up of the church as the real temple of God—Matt. 12:42; 1 Kings 10:23-24; 1 Cor. 12:8; 14:4b.

Ⅳ　

For the growth of the seed of life within us, we need to have a fresh, up-to-date, daily consecration to Him of our human spirit, our human heart, and our mortal body so that the divine seed of life can grow in us with the full supply of all the human nutrients of our inner being for Christ to be mag-nified in our mortal body and for us to be swallowed up by life for the build-ing up of Christ's Body—Matt. 5:3, 8; 13:17-23; 1 Thes. 5:16-19; Prov. 4:23; 20:9; 22:11; Phil. 1:20; 1 Cor. 6:20; 2 Cor. 5:4; Eph. 4:16:

A　

We need to take time to absorb God so that we may grow with the growth of God for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God— Col. 2:19; Isa. 50:4-5; Mark 1:35; cf. Luke 8:13.

B　

Those who serve the Lord must see that their service must originate from God:

１　

"Whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God"—M. E. Barber.

２　

Although David had the opportunity, saw the need, and had the ability to build the temple of God, he stopped when God's word came to him—2 Sam. 7:18, 25, 27; cf. Luke 1:38.

３　

David's stopping established a twofold testimony in the universe: first, all the work in this universe should come from God, not from man; second, all that matters is what God does for man, not what man does for God—Rom. 11:36; cf. Num. 18:1.

４　

The builder of the temple and the site of the temple both came out of David's being forgiven of his sins, out of what God did for David—2 Sam. 12:24-25; 24:1-10, 18-25; 1 Chron. 21:18; 2 Chron. 3:1; Psa. 51:1-19.

５　

We need to let God speak to us, command us, and we need to cooperate with Him because we fear Him and love Him—Exo. 21:1-6; Psa. 86:11; 1 Cor. 2:9.

C　

We must be strengthened into our spirit so that we worship God in and with our spirit and with Christ as our truthfulness for Christ to make His home in our heart—Eph. 3:16-19; John 4:23-24.

D　

Our heart needs to be established blameless in holiness; we need to ask the Lord to direct our heart into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ; and we need to deal with our heart so that it may be the good earth in which Christ can grow in an unhindered way—1 Thes. 3:13; 2 Thes. 3:5; Matt. 13:8.

E　

We need to forgive others from our heart by the indwelling Christ as our forgiving life and as our arbitrating peace, allowing Him to rule in us for the reality of the kingdom and allowing Him to preside in us for the one new man; we need to release others by forgiving them so that we may be released to be forgiven by God for the freedom of the growth of the seed of God in us—6:15; 18:35; Col. 3:12-15; Luke 6:37.

F　

We need to give our material possessions in secret for the sowing and spreading of the seed of life, giving our material supply to the church of God, to the needy saints of God, to the full-time servants of God, and to the poor people in the love of God and with the kindness of God for the gospel of God—v. 38; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Matt. 6:1-4, 19-21; 19:21; Acts 11:29; Rom. 15:26; Phil. 4:16-17.

G　

We need to sow the seed of life as the word of God by preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God in the whole inhabited earth, both to the unbelievers for their conversion to Christ and to the believers for their growth in Christ; this is the sowing, planting, and watering of the seed of life by announcing the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and by prophesying for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Matt. 24:14; Rom. 1:1; Eph. 3:8; 1 Cor. 3:6; 14:4b, 31.