Taking Christ as our person and living Him in and for the church life
Message Two
Becoming Pillars and Pillars Builders in and for the Building of God
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day：
Reading the main points in the outlines：
Pray-reading the verses:
And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.—Gen.28:18
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
Word of Appetizer
Rev.3:12 He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore…… What’s the meaning of “make”?
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.
In today’s church life the Lord is making and constituting us to be pillars in the temple of God.
Spiritual Burden
The need in the church today is for the Lord to gain pillars and pillar builders; in order for this need to be met, we all must pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, for the sake of Your building, make me a pillar and a pillar builder.”
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
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.
The life and experience of Jacob reveal the way that we can be transformed into pillars for God’s building.
Solomon, the builder of the temple, is a type of Christ (Matt. 12:42), and Hiram, the builder of the pillars (1 Kings 7:13-15), is a type of the gifted persons in the New Testament, who perfect the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The Experience of Life
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.
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.
Practice and Application
the way that we can be transformed into pillars for God’s building:
- We need to continually depend on His mercy, enjoying His new mercies day by day to become vessels of mercy, honor, and glory.
- We need to enjoy Him as the All-sufficient God. 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”.
- We need to behold God’s face (Gen. 32:30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6-7), seek His face (Psa.27:8, 4), enjoy His face as our serving supply (Exo. 25:30; 33:11a), doing every-thing in the face, the person, of Christ for our transformation from glory to glory.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.—Gen.28:18
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, ……and My new name.—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.
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 48, 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…. 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.
Key Verses (2)
And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.—Rom. 12:2
I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.—Gal.2:20a
I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters.—Song of Songs
II The life and experience of Jacob reveal the way that we can be transformed into pillars for God’s building:
- We need to continually depend on His mercy, enjoying His new mercies day by day to become vessels of mercy, honor, and glory.
- We need to enjoy Him as the All-sufficient God. 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”.
- We need to behold God’s face (Gen. 32:30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6-7), seek His face (Psa.27:8, 4), enjoy His face as our serving supply (Exo. 25:30; 33:11a), doing every-thing in the face, the person, of Christ for our transformation from glory to glory.
- In the Scriptures the pillar is a sign, a testimony, of God’s building through transformation in practicing the Body life. The pillars of the temple were built of bronze, signifying God’s judgment. On the capitals of the pillars in the temple were “nets of checker work [like a trellis] with wreaths of chain work”; On the top of the capitals were lilies and pomegranates.
Key Verses (3)
And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph.4:11-12
And King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali whose father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; and he was full of wisdom and understanding and skill to do all kinds of work in bronze. And he came to King Solomon and did all his work.—1 Kings 7:13-14
III. Solomon, the builder of the temple, is a type of Christ (Matt. 12:42), and Hiram, the builder of the pillars (1 Kings 7:13-15), is a type of the gifted persons in the New Testament, who perfect the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ.
A. That the work of building was not done by Solomon directly but by Solomon through Hiram indicates that Christ builds up the church not directly but through the gifted persons.
B. Second Chronicles 2:14 says that Hiram’s mother was “a woman of the daughters of Dan”; the tribe of Dan is the tribe of idolatry that caused God’s people to stumble and fall from God’s way (Gen. 49:17); the fact that Hiram’s mother was of Dan indicates that Hiram’s origin, like that of all men, was of sin.
C. Hiram “was the son of a widow and of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; and he was full of wisdom and understanding and skill to do all kinds of work in bronze”. Thus, in order to be useful to God for His building, we must gain secular skills, live in resurrection, and come to the proper ground, the ground of the church.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 In the book of Genesis there are two kinds of pillars—the pillar of salt and the pillar of stone (Gen. 28:18; 19:26),
(Please explain 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.)
T2 “He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God…”(Rev.3:12; 2Cor.3:18)
(Please explain that the Lord makes us pillars by transforming us.)
D2
T1 We can be transformed into pillars.(Rom.9:11-13;Gen.48:3)
(Please explain what is the way that we can be transformed into pillars for God’s building that the life and experience of Jacob reveals)
T2 Jacob took the stone that he had made his pillow and set it up for a pillar(Gen.28:18)
(Please explain by your experience that this stone depicts Christ as our rest.)
D3
T1 The stone upon which we lay our head must become building material.(Gen.28:18)
(Why the very stone upon which we lay our head for rest must become a pillar.)
T2 The pillars of the temple were built of bronze, signifying God’s judgment.(1 Kings 7:14-15;Gal.2:20)
(Please explain that if we would be a pillar, we must realize that we are those under God’s judgment.)
D4
T1 Those who are useful to God are constantly under God’s judgment.( Psa. 51:5;Rom. 7:18)
(Please explain by our experience that our problem is that we do not condemn ourselves. Rather, we vindicate, justify, approve, and excuse ourselves. )
T2 Lilies signify a life of faith in God.(1 Kings 7:19;Gal.2:20)
(Please explain that the bronze means “not I,” and the lily means “but Christ”)
D5
T1 The pillars of the temple were built by Solomon through Hiram.(Eph.4:11-12)
(Please explain that we must submit to the hands of the gifted persons, just as the bronze was subject to the skilled and gifted hands of Hiram.)
T2 being regenerated and transformed in Christ’s resurrection(1Peter 1:3;2Cor.3:18)
(What does it indicate that Hiram’s mother was of Dan while Hiram became one who was “of the tribe of Naphtali”?)
D6
T1 “Naphtali is a hind let loose; / He gives beautiful words”.( Gen. 49:21)
(What does “a hind” and the “beautiful words” refer to ?)
T2 We continue to possess the learning and the skills without the source.(1King 7:14)
(Please explain the significance of that Hiram’s father died, leaving his mother a widow)
