Spring 1991

Living Stones
Selected

Only as in a mirror dimly do we see the high calling to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and the purpose of God when He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish before Him in Christ.

Many of the Lord's people are still lingering at the first principles of Christ and have scarcely progressed beyond the satisfaction of having come into the possession of eternal life. These have not bestirred themselves to find the purpose that God had in His wonderful plan of Redemption, which was established in the eternal ages before the world was made.

Paul exhorts us "To walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called" Eph4:1b. But only as we prayerfully seek to know what this high calling is, can we walk worthily of it. Only through the Word, with our hearts open to the illumination of the Holy Spirit, can we reach any real conception of the height, depth, length, and breadth of the eternal purpose of God, which He purposed for us in Christ unto His own glory.

As we draw closer to the Lord, go deeper into His Word, and begin to comprehend the thoughts which He had to usward, we will exclaim with the inspired Apostle, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Rom 11:33. And in adoration our hearts will cry, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Psalm 8:4

All of the Lords dealings with His ancient people, all of the ways in which He communicated to them His will and plans were crude as compared to His revelation of Himself through His only begotten Son. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds" Hebrews 1:1-2.

Through many instruments and in many ways, God spoke in those days. He did not speak clearly, it was as in a mirror darkly; nor did He speak in only one way and fully, but in different ways and in part. Here a thought, there a prophecy; and a further revelation through another prophet. And those, through whom He spoke, did not understand with fullness that which God was saying through them; for they sought and searched diligently concerning this Salvation, that they might know the meaning of the Spirit of Christ who testified beforehand of His sufferings (I Peter 1:10-11).

The light which God gave them concerning His eternal plans for Christ and His Body, was as the dimmest twilight, compared with the light which has been revealed to His Saints. For the Mystery of Christ and of the Gospel was hid in God through all ages and generations. "Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" Eph 3:5. However precious were His revelations and workings among His ancient people, they were as shadows to sunlight, compared with the revelation of the Mystery of the Gospel, and the light and privileges of the Dispensation of Grace. Though we read and re-read the Word, we scarcely touch "the fringe of His ways." Only dimly do we see a faint outline of His plan. The vision of His eternal purpose towards us in Christ Jesus has hardly commenced to break in upon our souls.

The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, reminds us that we are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. The word "household" not only means the members of God's family, but is from a word which has the deeper significance of house, or temple. "And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Chief Corner Stone" Eph 2:20. We are not only foreordained unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself from the foundation of the world; but we are the very stones of the building, the stones which are growing up into a temple of God! We are the living stones! "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" I Peter 2:5.

God has built "the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets," and made Jesus Christ Himself the Chief Corner Stone. And now the glorious, stately building, not made with hands, is going up! Every stone is being cut out and chiseled by God's own hand. He is shaping it and will fit it into the place which He purposed for it, before the foundation of the world. Each stone and pillar, each individual part, however great or small, however seen or unseen, however prominent before the eyes of man, or hidden away, will be cut out and chiseled by the hand of the great Builder; though unseen by human eye, unheard by human ear, not understood by human heart, save in a small measure realized by the soul upon which He is working. Every part must be shaped and polished by the divine Potter. All that is unsymmetrical must be brought into perfect outline; all the sharp angles must be cut away, and every living stone must be polished until it shall shine forth in glistening light and glory, and shall reflect a sin a mirror the glory of the Lord.

But God's great and final purpose is far more than the revelation of what He can do with poor earth-born, sinful humanity. His supreme purpose is, that in Christ the whole building fitly framed and joined together, should grow into a holy temple in the Lord; and that in Him we also should be builded together for a Habitation of God in the Spirit. A dwelling place for God! Oh wondrous love that brought to birth this great plan of Salvation! How great is the destiny to which we are called, even to be a habitation for the Almighty God! A dwelling place for Him, "Thou art clothed with honour and majesty; who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters; who maketh he clouds His chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever" Psalm104:1b-3,5. A habitation for Him "whose Glory endureth forever!"

He has revealed Himself through the Incarnate Word, even our precious Lord, even the Chief Corner Stone, and through Him alone. He is the first fruit of all the workings of God in carrying out His plan of Salvation. He is the channel through which God is working out His eternal purposes. But now He is building into Christ and upon Him, the stones, the living stones of a structure, through which the glorious revelation and manifestation of God to the universe may go forth from glory to glory, from manifestation to manifestation, throughout never-ending ages. All of these living stones are held together by Christ, through whom all things consist. He is bringing many sons to glory, and they are the stones which are being fitted for this supreme destiny, to be to the glory of God.

Not only will the structure be perfected and glorious, but every stone, every pillar, ever part, however small, will receive the same careful, loving process of molding, polishing, shaping. Not one of His jewels will He leave dull or unsightly; not one will get His best, who has not gone through every preparation which is needed to make them to His glory. We are in the quarry now, in the place of preparation by the hand of God. There is dust and lack of symmetry; there is lack of grace and polishing; there is an incompleteness of form and fiber, and many of us are so large, that much must be cut away before God can fit us into the place He has chosen for us. There is a lack of unity and fitting together, and we appear to be lying apart and alone.

But God's hand will remove all that He has not planted, and which cannot be to His glory. Every part which resembles solid stone, but is in reality only hardened dust, He will cut away; every stone, which is enlarged by an outer coating of dried clay, will be hammered until only the real stone shall remain. Though we may fear sometimes, that all will go under the "Divine Hammer" and nothing remain, when He is through, He will get glory to His Name through that which remains, however small it may be. Those that are real stones, but do not appear so attractive to the human eye, those that look rough and like clay rather than like stone, will shine forth as real stones as He polishes them, and they will be manifested as they reflect His own image.

He will burn out all the dross, He will shake out all that can be shaken, He will blow away all the chaff. He will polish each several part, until He sees" that it is good."

Not only are we destined to be His habitation in eternity, but each stone is a "lively stone," filled and indwelt by God here in this mortal body. This is the high calling with which we are called, to have the presence of God dwelling in us; and this is, as it were, an earnest of that great fulfillment of the will of God to usward, which will shine out before the universe throughout Eternity. ONLY AS WE ARE FILLED WITH HIM NOW, can He inwardly work and put us into the building. And it is through this individual indwelling and possession by God, that it is possible for Him to build that habitation for Himself out of living souls.

He is working out His will upon every part of this wonderful, eternal building, and when each part has been prepared, they will all come together, they will fit together; and into that building will He set every stone in the place He has purposed for it. Each part and pillar, each stone and particle filled to the uttermost with God; and thus the whole building indwelt by Him. No place of joining will ever appear between one stone and another, when His work is one. No place of joining will appear between each stone and the glorious Corner Stone, for in Him shall we "grow together!" In Him and to one another shall we be cemented by the divine cement of His power and divine nature, through living union with Him.

Not only are there stones in this building, but there are pillars. Strong, stately, polished pillars, which are the overcomers. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name " Rev 3:12. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" Rev 21:2-3. "And the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there" Ezekiel 48:35b.

Then shall His hosts in heaven and upon the earth, and all of His enemies, behold every stone moved forward by His unseen hand and put into its place. And the eternal habitation of God will shine forth in glory, purity, and perfection, without the sound of a hammer. An eternal habitation for God in the Spirit, "That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" Eph 2:7.

"Seeing that these things are so, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God" II Peter 3:11.