Church is the Temple of God expressed in Many Localities Consummating the New Jerusalem

The church is the building of God, and all the building is growing into a temple in the Lord; the church is the temple of God, and each local church is the expression of the temple of God in that locality. Hallelujah!

On one hand, each of us individually is the temple of God for God to dwell in us; on the other hand, we corporately are the temple of God for Him to dwell among us and with us.

In order for us to build up the church as the temple of God we need more than natural wisdom and understanding; we need God as our wisdom, that is, we need God in Christ to be our wisdom.

Also, we need to have the proper growth in life, for the church is an organic building that grows and is built up in life, the divine life.

Christ is the wise Architect and Builder of the church as the house of God, and the consummation of this building is New Jerusalem, the holy city as the mingling of divinity with humanity.

Christ is everything in God’s building; Christ is everything to God’s building, for God’s building is simply Christ enlarged, expanded, and reproduced.

Initially, when Christ came, He was the tabernacle of God with man; He was mobile, movable, and temporary on earth in His physical form.

Then, He passed through death and, in His resurrection, He was enlarged, expanded, and reproduced, for millions of believers were regenerated in Christ’s resurrection to be the many members of the Body of Christ, the church.

We are the reproduction of Christ, the enlargement of Christ, to be the many members of the Body of Christ, part of the Body-Christ, the church.

We are the continuation of Christ on earth, and we are part of God’s organic building on earth, the church as the Body of Christ.

The way the church is built up is not by human organization, planning, or wisdom; it is by the growth in life of all the members of the Body of Christ.

The sad situation in Christianity today, however, is that there is not much growth in life and very little functioning of the members of the Body of Christ.

In order for the church to be built up, each member of the Body needs to grow in life by holding the Head, out from whom all the Body is richly supplied and knit together to grow with the growth of God.

This is what we need: we need the growth of God. The building of God, the church, the holy temple in the Lord, grows with the growth of God.

We all need to grow in life unto maturity; our growth is the building up of the church.

May we come to the Lord day by day, even many times during the day, to simply contact Him, enjoy Him, and receive the growth from Him.

May we take His grace every day, partaking of His riches to be inwardly supplied with everything we need for the living of Christ and for our growth in life.

May we all grow little by little, day by day, until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and the church is built up to be the one new man expressing Christ and representing Him with His authority.

The Church is the Temple of God being Expressed in many Localities on the Earth

Eph. 2:21 says that all the building of God is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

The Greek word rendered “temple” in this verse refers to the sanctuary, the inner part of the temple, the Holy of Holies.

The church is the temple of God, even the Holy of Holies to God, the holiest of all where His presence dwells.

Where does God dwell today? Yes, He dwells in the heavens, but He wants to dwell in man and with man; He wants to dwell in the temple of God, the church.

God with His shekinah glory dwells in the church as the temple of God.

The church is the temple of God; as such, the church is the sanctuary of the holy God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells.

1 Cor. 3:16-17 tells us that we are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us; the temple of God is holy, and so are we.

On one hand, each individual believer is the temple of God, for the Spirit dwells in us individually.

The Spirit of God dwells in our spirit, for we are mingled with the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit, and we are joined to Him as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

On the other hand, the church is the temple of God, for God dwells in the church as God’s temple today.

The church is the Holiest of All, the sanctuary of God; therefore, the church is being sanctified, being made holy, to match the holy God that dwells in it.

The temple of God in 1 Cor. 3:16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, such as Corinth, and the temple of God in v. 17 refers to all the believers universally, the church as the temple of God.

The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expression in many localities on earth; each expression is the temple of God in that locality (Eph. 2:21-22).

God’s building is not an ordinary building; it is the sanctuary of the holy God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells, and we are a holy temple in the Lord.

As believers in Christ, we are both part of the church as the temple of God and builders of such a holy temple.

May we take heed of how we build the church as the temple of God so that we don’t destroy, corrupt, mar, or ruin the temple of God.

If we try to build the church with worthless materials of wood, grass, and stubble of our natural man, the flesh, and the self (1 Cor. 3:12), we damage the building of God, and God Himself will withstand us.

If we bring into the church elements of Judaism, philosophy, and religion, we corrupt, ruin, defile, and mar God’s temple.

We need to remain in the healthy teaching of the apostles as revealed in the New Testament and build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones, with our experience of the Triune God in our daily living.

On one hand, we are the temple of God individually; on the other hand, we are the temple of God corporately.

There is only one unique spiritual temple of God in the universe, the universal church of God; it is this church that Christ builds (Matt. 16:18).

This unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expression in many localities on the earth – these are the local churches, one church in each locality, each church being the expression of the temple of God in that locality.

For example, if we live in London, UK, we are part of the local expression of the universal temple of God in London, one with Christ the Head and one with all the believers in Christ living in London, for all believers living in London are the temple of God in London, the local church in London. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, grow in us for the building up of the church as the holy temple in the Lord! Grow in us more today. Add Yourself to us and give us the growth. May we realize that we are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. May we really see that the church is the temple of God and may we build the church with precious materials and not damage it. Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are the temple of God, and both individually and corporately we are a temple for God to dwell in! Praise the Lord, the church is the sanctuary of God, the holiest of all where God’s glory dwells! Sanctify us, Lord, and increase Yourself in us. May we all grow in life so that all the building of God would grow into a holy temple in the Lord!

The New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies, and the Temple is God Himself and the Lamb!

Rev. 21:22 says that there’s no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

There’s a history of God’s building from Genesis to Revelation. In Exodus, we see the tabernacle of God, the precursor or forerunner of the temple of God seen in 1 and 2 Kings.

The church is the temple of God in the New Testament, and the church grows into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21).

At the end of the Bible we see the New Jerusalem, the holy city, with equal dimensions in its length, breadth, and height; the whole city is the Holy of Holies enlarged and expanded.

There’s no temple in the holy city, for God and the Lamb is the temple; for eternity we will dwell in God and God will dwell in us, and we will serve God in God.

The New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God for God to dwell in and God and the Lamb are the temple for us to dwell in.

This sounds very similar to John 17:20-21, the mutual indwelling and coinherence of God and man – I in them, You in Me, and them in Us.

This is the building of God, the temple of God: the mutual dwelling place of God and man.

We have been brought into the building of God through regeneration; we are being transformed to be living stones that are precious and fit in God’s building, and we will become part of the building of God in full – we will be one with God for eternity.

The holy city is called the tabernacle (Rev. 22:3); the tabernacle is the precursor of the temple, and when the tabernacle comes into its fullness, it becomes the temple.

It is amazing to see that the whole city of New Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies, that the temple is God Himself and the Lamb, and that the whole city is the tabernacle.

Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the redeemed ones of God throughout the centuries.

On one hand, God is the entire city, and on the other hand, the city is a living composition of the redeemed ones of God.

This may blow our mind, for we may not be able to comprehend what this means and how can this be.

This is similar to the church being the Body of Christ; on one hand, the Body of Christ is Christ Himself, and on the other hand, the Body of Christ is Christ the Head and the believers in Christ as the members of the Body.

The church is the enlargement of Christ; Christ is the Head of the Body and we are the enlargement, expansion, and increase of Christ.

The church is Christ, and the church is the Body of Christ.

The church is the temple of God growing in the Lord and expanding, enlarging, until it becomes the New Jerusalem, the eternal Holy of Holies for God to dwell in as His tabernacle and for man to dwell in with God as our temple. Hallelujah!

This is mysterious, wonderful, and glorious, for we are growing into a holy temple in the Lord to become the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem will be God and the Lamb.

We are becoming God in life, nature, expression, and function, just as He became us in every possible way.

Today in the church life we have a foretaste of this union, mingling, and incorporation of God with man when we exercise our spirit and grow in life.

When we live in the mingled spirit, God is working Himself into us, we grow in the Lord, and we have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem.

As we contact the Lord in the mingled spirit and live in Spirit, we live in the mingling of God with man, and we are the enlargement of God, the temple of God.

We are holy, for the temple of God is holy because of the Holy One dwelling in it.

The entire building of God’s house, His sanctuary, is in Christ the Lord.

Our growth is in Christ, and in Him, we grow until we arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us members of the Body of Christ to be part of God’s building, God’s sanctuary, the dwelling place of God. Hallelujah, we are the temple of God, and this temple grows in Christ the Lord until it becomes the New Jerusalem! Lord, grow in us more today for the enlargement of God, the increase of God, in man! Grow in us for the bringing in and manifestation of the New Jerusalem as the eternal temple of God. Hallelujah, for eternity we will dwell in God as the temple and He will dwell in us as the tabernacle of God! Praise the Lord, our destiny is to be fully one, mingled, and incorporated with the Triune God to be New Jerusalem, the mutual dwelling place of God and man, the eternal temple of God! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, pp. 731-735, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 8, entitled, Growing into a Holy Temple in the Lord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days. (Hymns #840 stanza 1)
  – Not the person spiritual / In an individual way, / But the corporate life expressed / Will Thy heart’s desire display. / Members separate and detached / Ne’er express Thee perfectly, / But Thy Body tempered, built, / Ever shall Thy fulness be. (Hymns #839, stanza 4)
  – Thru all the transformation work / The triune God performs in them, / The Church a corporate vessel is / And like the new Jerusalem. / How precious she in each respect, / Transparent too in every phase; / Christ with God’s fulness she contains, / Christ with God’s glory she displays. (Hymns #821 stanzas 6 and 7)