BUILDING
Tim VanderHoek
1 Corinthians 1: 18, 21; Genesis 2: 18, 21-24; Matthew 16: 15, 16, 18
(to assembly); 1 Peter 2: 3-5; Matthew 7: 24-27
I have before me the thought of building. It is a great thought of what God is building and how He is building it. I began with that verse in 1 Corinthians 1 which is not on the theme of building, but I was thinking about it as to how God is building. He is building by the preaching of the word of God, the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of sinners, and this gives us how it is received. It is received in one of two ways: we either receive the message of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and are saved, brought into the knowledge of the Lord as Saviour, brought to God, or we view it as foolishness. We know how that, as it is presented to men, they would view the preaching of the gospel as foolishness and if they do not come to know the Lord as their Saviour, that view takes them into a place of eternal judgment.
I thought the verse in 1 Corinthians was introductory to the thought of how we would go about in God’s way of building and of how God is building: He is building by the preaching of the word of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. “For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness”. It is “the word of the cross”, the first thing that we have to come to as we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, come to the realisation that the Lord Jesus in His death on the cross was the sacrifice of sin. We would come to know Him as our Substitute, as the One who went into death for me. We have to be able to say that the Lord Jesus Christ died for me, otherwise the preaching of “the word of the cross” is but foolishness. So in what He is building, God is bringing us to the beginning point of blessing, that is, our introduction into blessing is by hearing “the word of the cross”, hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
I would begin speaking of what God is doing in building in the great type that we find in Genesis 2. We have Adam being alone, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see in God’s purpose, how He would bring in a helpmate. A helpmate would include those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see in this type that there is a need for “a helpmate, his like”, someone who would be consistent with Him, someone who would be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
So here we have Adam who was caused to go into a deep sleep and as he slept, one rib was taken and his helpmate was built. It is a very interesting expression that “Jehovah Elohim built the rib that he had taken from Man into a woman”. It is the initial thought of building, what has been built and what God is building. It is in contrast, of course, to what man builds later on. We know that what man builds would not be for God. In fact, it is said of Cain that he went out and built a city. He went out from the presence of God. But here we see God’s purpose, in type, of building what would be a companion to the Lord Jesus Christ, Adam a type of the Lord Jesus Christ going into this deep sleep, no doubt a type of the Lord Jesus Christ going into death. We would think of that time when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross into those three hours of darkness. The world was clothed in darkness. It was such an awful scene that man’s eyes had to be shut out. We think of that time as that deep sleep. The Lord Jesus Christ went into death and was laid in the grave, but we know Him as living Saviour and that is what gives us the ability to speak to Him as our Saviour, that He is not in the grave, but He is risen and we can speak of Him as our Saviour, my Saviour.
So it is like Adam here, the type of the Lord Jesus Christ who went into this deep sleep but did not stay there and when he awoke from this deep sleep, God could bring to him “a helpmate, his like”. It is such a great thought of what is built and what is being built. We know it is a current thing: the Lord Jesus Christ has not yet come for us; His companion, His helpmate is still being built. The word of God goes forth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of sinners and we are thankful we know that ones are still coming to know the Lord as Saviour. We have no knowledge as to the time when the message will no longer go forth because the house will be full. The Lord Jesus Christ will come for us and we will be taken up to be with Him but as to our knowledge at this time, we know that we would still go on in the preaching of the word of God whether it is in a public place like this room or to co-workers or neighbours or companions at school or whatever. The work is still going on and God is still building this companion, this “helpmate, his like”. He brings to Adam here this one that was taken out of his side, the woman, and Adam says, “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”. Just think of that as a type of how the Lord Jesus Christ views the One who is being built, that bride for Himself.
And we see the strength of the words, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh”. That is a strong word, “leave his father and his mother”: it is not just go away for a time, but “leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh”. Think of the greatness of the thought that in type here we have the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride as being “one flesh”. There is no one else in this relationship spoken of here. He has left h is father and his mother and he cleaves to his wife; “and they shall become one flesh”. Think of the greatness of the thought of the Lord Jesus Christ and how He would cleave to His wife, how He would have His bride before Him as being one. We think of what God is building in this way, back to that expression, “Jehovah Elohim built the rib that he had taken from Man into a woman”; and so that building in type is still going on today through the preaching of the word of God.
We see then perhaps another aspect of building in Matthew 16, another expression where the Lord Jesus Himself says, “And on this rock I will build my assembly”. Well, there is quite a bit in this portion. I will not attempt to say that I understand all of the portion, but we know how we even referred to it recently where Peter answers this question, “But ye, who do ye say that I am?” And Peter was given this revelation of the Father, and Peter’s response was, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. The Person of Christ was before him. He could make this statement: “Thou art the Christ”. He was the anointed One. The Lord Jesus Christ was the One who came into this world, was walking amongst men. He was the only One who could satisfy God in His righteous requirements. He was that perfect Man.
Divine perfection in a Man! (Hymn 20)
It is an expression that I hold very dear because it expresses who the Lord is:
Divine perfection in a Man!
And here Simon Peter could express that, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”.
Well, that brings before us this thought of living, the living God. We do not speak of a Lord Jesus who is in the grave. We speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as ascended and on high, at the right hand of the Father. This is a living matter that we speak of. The Lord Jesus is still building His assembly. He speaks of it: “on this rock I will build my assembly”. The assembly is not complete and we can be very thankful for that. The assembly is still being built and it is this testimony as to the Person of the Christ, who He is, that the Lord Jesus could speak of – “on this rock I will build my assembly”. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is before us in this testimony as to His Person and the belief on Him as our Saviour is how this is being built: “I will build my assembly”. There is no one else before us but the Lord Jesus Christ. We think about that expression, “my assembly”. We think of the feelings of the Lord Jesus and how He would have His assembly before Him – it is “my assembly” – and the nearness that there would be to the Lord Jesus. When we say that is my something-or-other, there is a thought of possession, that comes into it, and the assembly is for Christ. Think of what is being built through the preaching of the gospel and souls coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour! This is what is being built. It is His assembly. And when we think of how He would view the assembly, how He would value the assembly, His love goes out to the assembly, how we would reciprocate with our own love because we are His assembly: “I will build my assembly”. There is a sweetness when we think of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and how we have been brought to Him and know Him as our Saviour.
Peter was in the good of that. It is touching to read his epistles from that standpoint. We know, of course, his failures and yet Peter brings before us someone who was very feeling. Perhaps his emotions got him in trouble but he was very feeling and you can see in his epistles how he would have a real sense of this living entity that was being built: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. And so in 1 Peter 2 when he is writing, he speaks of who the Lord is, “that the Lord is good” – “if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”. The way we do that is to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We would not know the Lord Jesus in any other way as good unless we come to know Him as our Saviour. There will be a time when He will be the Judge and it would be a terrible thing to have to stand before the Lord Jesus as Judge. But now we can stand before Him as His own if we accept Him as our Saviour.
We have in 1 Peter 2, “To whom coming, a living stone”, speaking of the Lord Himself, “cast away indeed as worthless by men”. This is how the Lord Jesus was received in this world and it is a very sad comment. When the Lord Jesus comes back in the future, He will be rejected again. It is very sad when all the activities of men so often bring His name in and yet it is done in a very commercial way. We think of the season just passed and how commercialised things have become, using the Lord’s name, and yet He is the One who was “cast away indeed as worthless by men”.
Well, those of us who have come to know Him as our Saviour can value Him, to know Him as “the preciousness” and it is put here in verse 7, that the living stone is our Saviour. Now those of us who have come to know Him are referred to as “living stones”. We think of what is being built, a house, a spiritual house. It is a different thought form the assembly, but my thought before us this afternoon was just to have what God is building and how He is building it: He is building it through the preaching of the word of God so that we might come to know Him, the Lord Jesus, as Saviour and we might then be referred to as “living stone”, those that “are being build up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”.
Think of the greatness of that house! In a sense you could say that there would be nothing else capable of bringing these spiritual sacrifices to God except as those living stones who have come to that place by Jesus Christ. Through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, we then can look on to that time when God will be all in all. There is a hint here of eternity when we will be able “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”, in a complete way, unhindered. We do that today, as having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”. It is a living thing. I think this thought of life is a very important thought to get hold of. It is not something that is abstract. It is not something distant from us but something that we live, something that is our every day thought-process, that we are living stones as those who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
I thought of this parable – from the youngest to the oldest we can understand this building that is spoken of in Matthew 7. We are building on a rock or we are building upon the sand. These two different ones are put in contrast to one another. Ultimately the message of the word of God goes out, the testimony as to the Lord Jesus Christ goes out, and each one of us will make the decision to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. And so we have these two persons that are building, building in different ways. This is not from God’s side now. What we have had before us has been from God’s side, but this is from our side. What are we building and where are we putting our foundation? We have this one who built his house upon the rock. Well, in type, and I would like to apply it that way, we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. We have come to know Him as that One who would be the living stone. We have come to put our trust by faith in Him. We know Him as our Saviour. We know Him as the One who went into death and was our Substitute. We can say, He is my Saviour, and so that is the rock upon which we will build. So this one who built his house upon a rock stands. Think of all that will occur in judgment. As to the preaching, we take up this type as our salvation and that which would secure us a firm foundation. We have in one of our hymns that we have a secure foundation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here it is in contrast to those that reject the Lord Jesus Christ. What they are building on is sand. We have all been at the seashore, I am sure, and built sandcastles and perhaps in other ways know that sand is not stable. So when the judgment comes, there will not be the ability to stand. I think that is what is indicated when the Lord says, “and its fall was great”. There are really no other words to describe what the lost soul will come into – “its fall was great”. It is really beyond words in a sense. I would like to apply it just in that way. But those that do not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour will come under a great judgment, be cast into the lake of fire. Now the person who is a great hope that we hold out to lost souls is the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The place of eternal judgment was, as we read, prepared for Satan and his angels. So there is a way of escape: the Lord Jesus Christ went into death that there might be a basis for the forgiveness of sins. So the good news of salvation goes out to every soul in this world so that there would be the ability to come to know the Lord as Saviour and come into eternal blessing, to become part of what God is building in type in Genesis 2, “a helpmate, his like”, to become part of what, we might say, the Lord is building in these living stones, built upon Himself as the great foundation, the building being that which could offer up acceptable praise, and then become that great display in the millennium. And then in the eternal day in Revelation 21 it speaks too of God tabernacling with men. We can only get to that point as having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
At the end of Ephesians 2 we have what we can enjoy today, as being “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, (v 22). Perhaps we should read from verse 19 for the full connection because this is a lovely thought of building as well, “So then ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. Just think of the greatness of what God is building in this day and how we have the privilege of speaking of the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. The One who is the basis for the place of blessing as we are brought into this building, and as a living entity, we are being “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. The greatness of what God is doing now we can be part of as having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
So we are encouraged as we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and that we in some way contribute to that building, contribute to what God is doing, building that which would be not only pleasurable to the Lord Jesus but a habitation for Himself. May God bless His word!
DENTON
14 March 1999