We need to highly regard the Triune God and His work, and we need to reverence God’s sanctuary by regarding with reverence all that God is and has accomplished in Christ as God’s dwelling, embodiment, and expression, and in the church as the enlargement of Christ for God’s dwelling and eternal manifestation.
To keep God’s Sabbaths means that we need to know that the work of God was done entirely by Himself so that we might enjoy it, and so there’s absolutely no need for us to do any work.
Even when we enter into the jubilee and enjoy the return to our divine inheritance and being delivered from bondage and slavery, we should still have a high regard for God’s work, enjoy it, and enter into His rest.
This means that we need to deny our own work and desire to do things for God, and we even need to stop ourselves with all our doing, so that we may enjoy God’s work, know it, enter into His rest, and be one with God.
We should not try to do something for ourselves but rather have a regard and respect for God’s work, and we should receive and enjoy what the Triune God is doing for us and in us.
When we stop our doing, our living, and our activity, and receive Christ as our life, our person, and our replacement, we will be inwardly transformed and we will soar in the heavens, far above any earthly frustration.
We need to know what the Triune God has done for us, and we need to highly regard the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
In eternity past, God the Father made the divine economy, chose the believers and predestinated them before the foundation of the world, and made a counsel among the Trinity of the Godhead concerning the coming creation and redemption.
Then, in the old dispensation God the Father created the universe, created man and appointed mankind’s appointed seasons and boundaries of dwelling, dealt with fallen mankind from Adam to Noah, called Abraham, promised him the blessing of the gospel, condemned Sodom and Gomorrah, chose the children of Israel, gave the law and made the old covenant, promised David the king that Messiah will come as his seed, and promised the coming gospel of the new dispensation. Hallelujah!
Then, in the new dispensation, the dispensation of grace, God the Father sent John the Baptist, sent His son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, was incarnated, came in the Son and worked on the Son, anointed the Son, demonstrated Jesus by works of power, passed through death in the Son, forsook the Son economically on the cross, and condemned sin in the flesh.
Furthermore, God the Father wiped out the handwriting in ordinances, stripped off the rulers and authorities, rose Christ from the dead, sent the Spirit essentially, seated Christ in the heavens, made Jesus both Lord and Christ, exalted Jesus to be a Leader and Savior, made Christ the High Priest, poured out His Spirit economically, called and forgave the believers, gave life to the believers, and made the believers grow in life.
These are just some of the many things that the Father did. Then the Son did many more works, as recorded in the Bible, and today we will see the work of the Spirit. Today we want to see our need to reverence God’s sanctuary and what does it mean.
We need to Highly Regard the Work of the Spirit in us, among us, and with us
There are many aspects of the work of the Spirit as seen throughout the Bible, and in the New Testament alone there are at least 103 aspects of the work of the Spirit. Our God is precise and concrete; He doesn’t use the Father, the Son, and the Spirit interchangeably when it comes to the work that each one of them does.
They do work together as one, and wherever the Father is, there the Son and the Spirit are also; however, God the Father does a specific work, God the Son does a particular work, and God the Spirit also does a special work.
Today we want to see some of the works that the Spirit does, so that we may highly regard the work of the Spirit and enjoy His work in us, with us, and among us. The work of the Spirit includes:
The Spirit is convicting the world (John 16:8-11). The Spirit always convicts the world concerning the matter of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Concerning sin, we need to know that sin entered into man through Adam (Rom. 5:12); concerning righteousness, we need to know that righteousness is the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 1:30); and concerning judgment, this is for Satan, who is the author and source of sin (John 8:44)
The Spirit regenerates the believers (John 3:5-6). We are regenerated by the Spirit coming into our spirit to impart the divine life of God into our spirit. When we repent and believe into the Lord, the Spirit regenerates us; the work of the Spirit includes His regenerating us.
Regeneration is God’s dispensing of Himself in His life and nature into our being, and this happens in and as the Spirit.
The Spirit is supplying the believers with His bountiful supply (Phil. 1:19). Paul was in prison, but he was assured that all situations – including his incarceration – were working out for his salvation through the petitions of the saints and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Wherever we are, whatever our situation is, we can turn to the Lord, and the Spirit will bountifully supply us so that all things may turn out to our salvation.
The Spirit is sanctifying the believers (2 Thes. 2:13). The Spirit sanctifies us wholly – both spirit and soul and body – so that our whole being may be preserved and presented complete at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit sanctifies our spirit by regenerating it with the divine life, He sanctifies our soul by adding the divine element to transform our soul, and He will also sanctify our body by imparting the divine life into it to make it into a body of glory!
The Spirit is transforming the believers (2 Cor. 3:18). As we behold the Lord with an unveiled face, we reflect Him, and we are inwardly being transformed by the Spirit; the Spirit transforms us inwardly by infusing the elements of what He is and has done into us.
The more we are infused with the divine element, the more we are transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence.
The Spirit is guiding the believers into all the reality (John 16:13). God the Father sent Christ in another form, which is the Spirit, and this Spirit guides us in all the reality of what Christ is and what He has done.
Reality is the Triune God being realized and experienced by us to be our genuineness and sincerity; when we turn to our spirit, the Spirit guides us in all the reality, bringing us to be real, genuine, and true, and making us the same as God is.
The Spirit is pouring out God’s love in the believers’ hearts (Rom. 5:5). We may be touched by the Lord’s love when we hear the gospel, but this is as a result of the Spirit pouring out God’s love into our hearts.
We have no love of our own for the Lord; in ourselves, our love is short-lived, preferential, and very picky, but when we turn our heart to the Lord, the Spirit pours out God’s love into our heart, and we can love the Lord and love men with God’s love.
The Spirit is anointing the believers (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27). God has anointed us with the Spirit; the Spirit is a compound ointment that slowly paints us with all that God is and has done.
When we turn to the Lord, the Spirit speaks to us, making God real to us, and adding all that God is and has passed through to our being. The Spirit moves in us, anointing God Himself into us so that the element of God may become our constituent, and we will know God and desire His will in everything.
The Spirit is the oneness of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:3-4). There is one Body and one Spirit; in this Spirit we have been baptized, this Spirit is in us – the Spirit is both in us and upon us, and this Spirit is the oneness of the Body.
If we keep the oneness of the Spirit, we will have the oneness of the Body of Christ. The oneness of the Body is in our spirit, for the Spirit (who is oneness) is in our spirit.
The Spirit is speaking to the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Hallelujah, the Spirit speaks to the churches to both expose their situation and to supply them with God and promised them something to incentivize them to go on with the Lord! May we have an ear to hear what the Spirit speaks to the churches, and may we allow the Spirit to speak to us.
Lord Jesus, we love You as the Spirit who is with our spirit, constantly working in us, on us, and among us to accomplish God’s economy! Thank You Lord for coming as the Spirit to convict the world, regenerate us to be Your believers, and supply us with a bountiful supply to cause all things to work for our salvation! Thank You Lord for being the Spirit in us who sanctifies us, transforms us, guides us into all the reality, anoints us, and pours out God’s love into our heart. Hallelujah, the Spirit is the oneness of the Body of Christ, and the Spirit is speaking to the churches!
We need to Reverence God’s Sanctuary by Regarding with Reverence God’s Dwelling Place in Christ and the Church
What does it mean to reverence God’s sanctuary? This verb, to reverence, is to regard or treat with deep respect, to have a profound, adoring, awed respect toward something or someone.
To reverence God’s sanctuary is to regard it or treat it with a deep respect. In God’s eyes His sanctuary is precious, worthy of the highest honor.
In Exodus we see that God came to dwell among His people, and in Leviticus we see how He is training His people to live with Him a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.
We should regard with reverence all that God has, all that God is, and what He has accomplished in Christ as God’s dwelling and in the church as the enlargement of Christ.
The dwelling place of God is Christ; Christ is the embodiment, dwelling, and expression of God individually (John 1:14; 14:2-3; Col. 2:9). The dwelling place of God is also the church as the enlargement of Christ for God’s dwelling and eternal manifestation (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15-16).
A very practical way for us to reverence God’s sanctuary is making sure we’re at the Lord’s Table Meeting on time, exercising our spirit to praise the Lord and offer worship to the Father. Being habitually late for the meeting, especially the Lord’s Table Meeting, shows that we do not reverence God’s sanctuary but rather hold it as something not so precious.
First, we have the processed Triune God and His work for our rest, and then, as the result of His work, we have the church as the expression and the enlargement of Christ (Lev. 26:1-2).
We need to first contact God, enjoy Him, receive His dispensing, open our whole being to Him, be saturated with Him, be saved in life, and let Him flow through us as we learn to minister Him. We need to be governed by the vision of the completed work of the Triune God and rest in it, simply receiving it.
We need to rest in the work of the Triune God, exercising to receive what the Lord has done and being open to see what He wants to do in us. We may even ask the Lord,
Lord, what is in Your heart concerning me? Please do whatever is in Your heart concerning me; I turn my heart to You, I love You, I believe into You, and I let You do in me what You want to do. Supply me with today’s portion of grace!
Then there’s an issue of this work – the church, the goal of God’s work in man. God wants to gain the church, His dwelling place; the church is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the new man, and the prepared bride, for whom the Lord will return.
We need to have a high regard for this, realizing that God’s desire is to obtain the church, He wants to dwell among us as His sanctuary (Exo. 25:8), and the goal of God’s salvation is the building of God’s dwelling place on earth.
The purpose we were created, saved, regenerated, and brought by the Lord in the church life is for God’s dwelling place, the church; God wants to obtain His house, His home, and for this we live and breathe today.
The church is God’s house, the dwelling place of God (see 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6; 1 Pet. 4:17); it is here that He can make His heart’s desire known, He can open His heart to His family, and He is free to move and carry out what He wants.
Lord Jesus, we want to reverence God’s sanctuary by regarding with reverence God’s dwelling place, Christ and the church. Thank You Lord for regenerating us, transforming us, and renewing us to make us part of Your dwelling place, the church as the house of God. Lord, we highly regard the church, for it is the church that is Your dwelling place, the place where You can make Your desire known. Hallelujah, in the church God can rest, he can put His trust, and He is free to move and carry out what He wants to do!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 87-98 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 12, The Processed Triune God, His Work, and the Result of His Work.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God’s intention is to have us / All conformed to His dear Son; / Thus a work of transformation / By the Spirit must be done. / Lord, transform us to Thine image / In emotion, mind, and will; / Saturate us with Thy Spirit, / All our being wholly fill. (Hymns #750)
# In my spirit the anointing dwells / And ever teaches everything. / It is the moving of the Spirit / Gracious as the ointment pure; / ’Tis based upon the sprinkling of the blood, / And it ever shall endure. (Hymns #266)
# At the closing of this age, / Just before Your kingdom’s dawn, / May You gain a people, Lord, / For Your dwelling place, Your home. / Since for me You gave Your all, / Everything I lay aside; / For Your church my all I’d give, / That You would be satisfied. (Hymns #1238)
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