Job, David VS the New Jerusalem — God’s Building

 

Job, David VS the New Jerusalem — God’s Building

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome her.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ might make his home in your hearts by faith, that you might be rooted and established in love.

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

Aspect	Job	David	The New Jerusalem — God’s Building
Theme	The highest achievement of human perfection	A man according to God’s heart	The ultimate consummation of God’s eternal economy
Meaning	A representative of human integrity, uprightness, and fear of God	A representative of loving God and responding to His will	The mingling of divinity and humanity as one corporate entity
Reason	To expose the limitation of human virtue apart from God Himself	To reveal that loving God is not sufficient without God wrought into man	To fulfill God’s desire to build Himself into His redeemed people
Lesson	God strips man of all achievements to gain man Himself	Being after God’s heart still requires Christ living within	God’s goal is not behavior but building
Function / Effect	Shows that human perfection cannot satisfy God	Shows that outward faithfulness can still fail	Produces a corporate man as God’s mutual dwelling place
Explanation	Job was perfect outwardly, yet lacked God inwardly	David loved God but fell because God was not built into him	The New Jerusalem is God and man dwelling in one another
Relationship	Reveals the limit of natural human life	Transitional figure pointing to Christ within	The ultimate completion of Job’s and David’s experiences
Example	God questioned Job, bringing him to self-nullification	God promised to build David a house (2 Sam. 7)	The city with gates and foundations bearing God’s people’s names
Application	Stop trusting spiritual achievements	Seek Christ living in us, not merely loving God	Allow God to build Himself into us daily
Burden	Let go of “how perfect I am”	Let go of “how much I love God”	Receive God to become our intrinsic constitution
Prophesying Guidance	Human virtue cannot replace God Himself	God desires inward reality, not outward devotion	God’s goal is a built-up corporate expression
Conclusion	Job ends with gaining God Himself	David points to the need of Christ as life	The New Jerusalem consummates God’s building work
Related Scriptures	Job 1:1; 42:1–6	2 Sam. 7:12–14; Ps. 51; Gal. 2:20	Rev. 21:2–3, 12, 14, 22; John 14:23; 1 Cor. 3:12; Eph. 2:21–22

 

Core Summary:

Job and David reveal the highest human spirituality, yet both fall short; only the New Jerusalem fulfills God’s heart by producing a corporate entity where the processed Triune God and redeemed humanity are mingled and built together.

 

*Please refer to the 2025 Thanksgiving International Symposium on Christ, the All-Inclusive Christ Revealed in the Gospel of Matthew, Part Four: Christ as the Center of the Processed Triune God.