God’s purpose is fulfilled in the church as the God’s house and the God’s city; His house speaks of His dwelling place for His expression, and His city speaks of His representation with His authority in His kingdom.
The issue of our enjoyment of the all-inclusive riches of Christ – the reality of the good land – is the church as the temple and the city of God. The issue of our enjoyment of Christ is nothing else but the church as the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God.
On one hand, as we enjoy the Lord we become the dwelling place of God, the place where God makes His home and where He is exhibited, expressed, and domiciled.
Christ makes His home in our heart, housing Himself deep down in our heart; this is for Him to gain a home in and among men; the result of our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ is that He gains a home on earth, a corporate dwelling place, the church as the Body of Christ.
On the other hand, as we enjoy the Lord as the all-inclusive One, the reality of the good land, we become the kingdom of God; there’s the authority of God among us, we submit to God’s rule, and He is represented in the church.
The more we enjoy Christ, there’s a spontaneous submission that takes place – we submit to God and we also submit to one another; this is the kingdom of God being real and practical among us, and this is the authority of God manifested among us.
Christ is the reality of the good land, and as we enjoy the riches of Christ and are constituted and filled with His riches, we become the fullness of Christ, the church, which is His Body.
The spontaneous issue of our genuine enjoyment of the riches of Christ as the good land is that we become the temple of God for His dwelling place and expression, and we become the city of God for His representation and His kingdom.
May we all enjoy Christ to such an extent that the church meeting will be filled with God, and all the activities of the church will convey and transmit God to people, infusing man with all that God is.
Also, may we enjoy Christ to such an extent that we spontaneously submit to one another, and the authority of Christ is among us.
The Church today is God’s House for His Expression and God’s City for His Dominion
The issue of our enjoyment of Christ as the good land is the church as the house of God, His dwelling place for His expression, and as the city of God, the kingdom of God for His dominion on earth. This fulfills God’s original purpose in creating man.
The main aspects of God’s house – His dwelling place for His expression – speak of God’s presence.
God’s house signifies Christ (Col. 2:9, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily), the church (1 Tim. 3:15, the church is God manifested and dwelling in the flesh in the church), the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:3, 22, God dwells in the New Jerusalem), and our spirit (Eph. 2:22, our spirit is God’s dwelling place.
God’s house is the place of God’s presence, which is God’s glory (Psa. 26:8; 29:9), God’s beauty (Psa. 27:4, 8), and God’s riches (Psa. 36:8-9).
Whenever we meet together, we are the church as the house of God and here we behold God’s glory, we enjoy His beauty, and we are drawn to His loveliness, attractiveness, and pleasantness.
God’s house is the place of revelation and God’s answer (Psa. 73:16-17; 3:4; 18:6).
We may be perplexed and wondering why the evil seem to prosper while we, who seek God, may not succeed, but when we enter into the church as the dwelling place of God and contact God in our spirit, we receive God’s revelation and have His answer.
We call out to Him, and He answers to us in the church as His house. Even when we’re in distress, we call upon the Lord and cry out to our God, and He hears our voice in His temple, in His house.
God’s house is our hiding place (Psa. 27:5; cf. 31:20; 84:3). In the church as the house of God He hides us in the hiding place of His tent, He conceals us in His shelter in the day of trouble, and He hides us in the hiding place of His presence apart from the conspiracies of men, laying us secretly in a shelter apart from the contention of tongues.
It is here, in His house, that we find our home, and here we can bring our young ones, the new ones we care for in the Lord. God’s house is the place where we may be planted, where we flourish, and where we bear fruit (Psa. 92:13-14).
We are planted in the church as the house of God, we flourish in the courts of our God, and even in our old age we bring forth fruit, for we are full of sap and green. Hallelujah!
God’s house is the place of springs (Psa. 87:7); here we sing and dance with joy, and we declare that all our springs are in the Lord! God’s house is the place where we are strengthened (Psa. 68:35; 96:6).
In the church as the house of God He gives us strength and power, and in His sanctuary we find strength and beauty. In God’s house we are mingled with God (Psa. 92:10); here He anoints with fresh oil to mingle us with the Spirit more and more. God’s house is the place where God is our portion (Psa. 73:26).
Our heart and our flesh fail, but God is our portion and also the rock of our heart forever! The church is also the city of God, His kingdom for His dominion; the aspects of the church as God’s city speak of God’s authority.
The church as God’s city is a strong city, the city of the great King (Psa. 31:21; 48:2). The church is like a fortified city, beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King!
Hallelujah, there is a river with gladdening streams in the church as God’s city (Psa. 46:4-5), and when we come to the meeting, we are supplied and made glad, even filled with gladness!
God is known in the church as God’s city, and we find a high retreat in her (Psa. 48:3). The church as God’s city is like palaces to us, a place of high retreat; the local churches are like palaces – here we know God and we find a high retreat.
The church as God’s city is a terror to the enemy (Psa. 48:3-6; 75:2-3); the enemies flee and tremble at the church as the city of God.
In the church life God promises that He will crush Satan under our feet; the crushing of Satan is related to the church life. It is when we live in the Body and practice the church life as the kingdom of God that we can corporately deal with Satan.
The church as God’s city is the perfection of beauty (Psa. 50:2); out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
The church is the goal of God’s good pleasure (Psa. 51:18); if we repent, confess our sins, and ask God for His purging (1 John 1:9), we will have the enjoyment of God in Christ in His house, the local church, and in His city, the universal church!
The thrones of judgment are set in the church as God’s city (Psa. 122:5), and the Lord blesses others out of her and is blessed out of her (Psa. 134:3; 135:21). Amen!
Praise the Lord for the church as the house of God and the city of God, the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God! Thank You Lord, in the church we enjoy God’s presence, we receive God’s revelation, and we have God’s answer to our problems. Thank You for the church as God’s house which is our hiding place, the place where we may be planted, flourish, and bear fruit. Amen, Lord, here we have a place of springs, we are strengthened, we are mingled with God, and God is our portion! Hallelujah for the church as God’s city, His kingdom for His dominion! There’s a river with gladdening streams in the church as God’s city, and God is known in her and is a high retreat to us in her! Amen, Lord, in the church as God’s city we become a terror to the enemy, we are the perfection of beauty, God is pleased, He judges all things through the church, and He blesses others out of her! Hallelujah for the church as God’s House and God’s city!
God’s Purpose is Fulfilled in the Church as God’s House and God’s City for Him to Recover the Earth
In the church as the house of God we enjoy the presence of God, and in the church as the city of God we enjoy and are under His authority, His ruling power, His reign.
The church is both the house of God for the expression of God, and also the city of God for the dominion of God. In the church as God’s house and God’s city the purpose of God is fulfilled, for the house of God is for the expression of God, while the city of God is for the dominion of God.
This fulfills God’s original intention in creating man, as seen in Gen. 1:26.
Through Christ and with Christ we have the house of God for His presence and expression, and we also have the city for God’s authority as His dominion.
In the church as the house of God we enjoy God as our Father, and in the church as the city of God we have Him as our King. In the local churches we enjoy both the aspect of God’s house and the aspect of God’s city.
We all like to enjoy God in His house, for He is our Father, He is so pleasant and full of riches for us to enjoy, and here we delight in Him as He dwells with us.
The result of enjoying God in His house is that we become His corporate expression. The city of God, however, is the enlarged house of God, the strengthened house of God, even the safer house of God.
On one hand in the church life we express God and those who come among us realize that God is among us, and they worship God; on the other hand, when others come among us they need to sense not only the presence of God but also the divine rule and authority of God.
Our enjoyment and experience of Christ in the church needs to be enlarged and strengthened so that we may be not only God’s house but also God’s city, the place where He can exercise His divine government and heavenly authority.
This is what God desires today. When God gains the church as the God’s house and God’s city, He can have a beachhead to return and recover the whole earth through Christ in the church.
This is what the Psalms shows us; in the Psalms we see God’s intention to recover His title, His legal rights, over the whole earth through Christ in the church, through Christ in the house, through Christ in the city.
So we need to become not only God’s house God’s house but also God’s city, the enlarged, safer, stronger city of God, so that God may have a beachhead, a stepping stone, for Him to take over the earth through Christ in the church.
If we see this, we will realize that the building up of the church is not a small matter, for when the church is built up to be God’s house and God’s city, God will have a landing strip, a beachhead to launch back and recover the earth.
The building up of the church is for the fulfillment of God’s original intention to regain the earth and bring in His kingdom.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You for the building up of the church, for You to gain the church as God’s house and God’s city. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we all enjoy and experience Christ to such an extent that the church becomes the house of God and the city of God for God’s expression to be seen and for His dominion to be exercised! We give ourselves to You for You to gain a beachhead in the church as God’s house and God’s city so that You may return and recover the earth through Christ in the church! Amen, Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, “Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,” ch. 24, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 6, Life in the Land and the Issue of the Land — the Church as the Temple, the Dwelling Place of God, and as the City, the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– ’Tis by His ruling from within / His fulness vast is testified; / ’Tis when His inner kingdom rules / His Body’s blessed and edified. / ’Tis by His heav’nly rule within / As heav’nly citizens we live; / ’Tis by submission to His rule / Expression of His reign we give. (Hymns #942)
– In God’s house and in Thy Body / Builded up I long to be, / That within this corporate vessel / All shall then Thy glory see; / That Thy Bride, the glorious city, / May appear upon the earth, / As a lampstand brightly beaming / To express to all Thy worth. (Hymns #840)
– This is for Thy house and city, / This is for Thy kingdom, Lord; / To subdue the earth before us / We are all in one accord. (Hymns #1267)
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