The Lord today wants to advance: He wants to gain the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches so that He may have not only a “tabernacle church life” but a “temple church life”, a more solid, permanent, and even eternal expression of Himself in the church to the whole universe.
We need not only to mentally understand and apprehend such a concept or appreciate such an idea but cooperate with the Lord today so that He may actualize these things in our daily life.
Christ today works to build the church as the temple of God, and we need to cooperate with the Lord. He appears to us to call us to move out of the realm of the soul and truly remain in the realm of the mingled spirit. We should not be stuck in the realm of the wilderness but go on to enter into the good land, because only in the good land can we labor on Christ to obtain Him as the rich produce, and only here we can build the temple for us to have the testimony of God.
It is in the good land of our spirit that we have Jerusalem, where we have Zion, the unique place where God chose to put His name as His dwelling place on earth. The dwelling place of God today is the church, and the church as revealed in the New Testament is not primarily a “tabernacle” but a temple; God wants something permanent, stable, and even eternal.
The church is the goal of God’s eternal economy. The church is God’s organism, His masterpiece, His new creation, His dwelling place, His household, the new man, and the bride of the Son.
This week we want to see the way Christ builds the church as the temple of God; Christ said, I will build My church (Matt. 16:18), and we want to see HOW He builds His church and how we can cooperate with Him. The whole universe exists for the producing and building up of the church, and the explanation of everything is that God wants the church.
We need to put aside our concepts, our previous religious knowledge and have a single mind and pure heart, and with an attitude of being poor in spirit we want to see how Christ actually builds the church as the temple of God today.
Before David could Build a House for God, God had to Build Himself into David
At the beginning of the New Testament Christ is introduced first as the Son of David; as the Son of David, Christ came to fulfill God’s covenant with David in 2 Sam. 7 (see Matt. 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42, 45). David was a man after God’s heart, and he realized that he himself lived a great and nice house, but God’s ark lived in a tent in the wilderness; therefore, he desired to build God a house, and he told the prophet Nathan about it (2 Sam. 7:2-3, 5).
God’s answer was very interesting: He said, in principle, that before David could build God a house, he had to allow God to build David a house and give him a seed (which shall be called, the Son of God), and this Seed will have an eternal kingdom, and this seed will build God’s temple.
Whilst David wanted to build a house for God, God wanted to build Himself into David first; the way God builds His house is not by David doing it but by David letting God work Himself into him so that he can build God a house.
Solomon is a type of Christ as the son of David, the One who inherits the throne and kingdom of David (2 Sam. 7:12-13; Luke 1:32-33). Solomon, as a type of Christ, did mainly two things: he built the temple of God in the kingdom (1 Kings 6:2) and spoke the word of wisdom (1 Kings 10:23-24; Matt. 12:42). Christ, in fulfilling this type, is now building the real temple of God, the church, in the kingdom of God and has spoken the word of wisdom. (Matt. 1:1, footnote 3, Recovery Version Bible)
Christ is the real Solomon, and His kingdom shall never end (Luke 1:32-33); He came to speak the word of wisdom by speaking God’s word and to build up the church as the temple of God. Christ came as the real seed of David to fulfill God’s covenant with David in 2 Sam. 7 so that God’s people may be brought into the kingdom of the heavens and participate in the divine authority. Hallelujah, Christ is the One who actually builds up the church as the house of God, the temple of God (Matt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:21).
On the one hand, David had a good heart to build God a house; on the other hand, David had to first allow God build Himself into him so that out of David would come a seed (who was Solomon and later the real Solomon, Christ) who will build up the temple of God as God’s habitation on earth.
It is the same with us today: before we can build up the church as the temple of God we need to first allow God to build Himself into us by making His home in our heart every day. Before we can build up the church, we need to let God work Himself into us more and more each day!
Lord, thank You for coming as the real Solomon to speak the word of God, bring in the kingdom of God, and build up the church as the temple of God. Lord, it is our desire that Your heart’s desire would be fulfilled, that is, the church as Your temple would be built up. Amen, Lord, work Yourself into us and build Yourself into our being so that something may come out of us for the building up of the church as the temple of God. Lord, build Yourself into us and build us into You so that You may gain Your house, the church as the temple of God!
Christ Builds the Church as the Temple of God by Building Himself into us daily
How does Christ fulfill the word He said in Matt. 16:18, I will build My church? Christ builds the church as the temple of God by building Himself into us. By building Himself into us, Christ builds up the church. There’s no methods or techniques – there’s only the building of God into man.
To build a building has the meaning of assembling the parts and materials as a whole according to some instructions and regulations so that an edifice may be constructed; however, building also refers to a constitution (God constitutes Himself into us), formation (Christ is being formed in us), the increasing of the amount or element of something (Christ is being increased in us and He is enlarging Himself in our being).
There is the element of the numeric increase, but we need to pay more attention to the building of the church as the building of Christ into our being. Christ builds up the church by adding Himself to us, by increasing Himself in us, by developing Himself in us, by forming Himself in us, and by constituting and enlarging Himself in us; this is the building up of the church.
Eph. 2:21-22 and 3:16-17 go together – 3:16-17 is the carrying out of 2:21-22 in our subjective experience. How can we be built up as the church? It is by being strengthened into our inner man, that is, by having our whole person strengthened into our mingled spirit, where Christ dwells and is mingled with us, and where His life and person is.
Our inner man needs to be continually strengthened into so that Christ may make His Home in us by building Himself, spreading Himself, and increasing Himself in our heart. How much has Christ made His home in your heart?
The intrinsic significance of 2 Sam. 7:12-14 is that the Triune God is working Himself in His processed and consummated Trinity into His chosen people to make them His dwelling place, His house, and His temple. We simply need to let God work Christ as the Spirit into every part of our being so that we will be constituted with Christ (1 Cor. 15:45b; Eph. 3:16-17).
Through His death and resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit, and today we need to let God work Christ as the Spirit into our being so that every part of our being would be constituted with Christ. We don’t need to “do” many things; we simply need to LET God work His Christ into our being as the Spirit every minute of every day. When you’re up or down, happy or sad, in a good or in not-so-good situation, just let God work Christ as the Spirit into your being.
The real building work God is doing is working Christ into our being, and this happens when we let Christ make His home in all our heart through faith. How much has Christ been built not only into your spirit but also into your heart in order to make His home there?
Lord Jesus, make Your home in our heart more today for the building of Your dwelling place, the church as the house of God. Oh Lord, work Yourself into us as Your chosen people so that we may be built up together as Your dwelling place, Your temple, the church. God, we simply want to let You work Christ as the Spirit into every part of our being so that we will be constituted with Christ. May every minute of every day be filled with God working Christ as the Spirit into every part of our inner being!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 24 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Church as the Temple of God – The Goal of God’s Eternal Economy (2015 Thanksgiving Conference), week 5 / msg. 5, The Way Christ Builds the Church as the Temple of God.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version. Recommending the footnotes on Matt. 1:1 and 2 Sam. 7:12-14.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The processed and consummated Triune God, / According to the good pleasure of His desire / And for the highest intention in His economy, / Is building Himself into His chosen people / And His chosen people into Himself / That He may have a constitution in Christ / As the mingling of divinity with humanity / To be His organism and the Body of Christ. (Song on God’s good pleasure)
# There’s nothing that we are / Or have or do well-pleasing; / We need Thee, glorious Christ, / Inwrought into our being. / O Lord, our heart’s still vacant now! / Come in and settle down. / Come saturate and permeate / And fill us with Yourself. (Song on Christ making His home in us)
# Into my heart, into my heart, / Spread into my heart, Lord Jesus; / Make home today and have Your way / In all of my heart, Lord Jesus. (Hymns #1134)
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