We need to treasure and highly regard the church as the result of the work of God, for the church is God’s house, the dwelling place of God, and the church is the house of the living God, the household of God, and the Father’s house.
First, what we have is the Triune God who has been processed and consummated, and then there’s His work; the result of His work is that we have the church as the expression and the enlargement of Christ.
Once the church is built up and the reality of the Body of Christ is seen in the local churches, this built-up Body is the prepared bride for whom Christ is coming.
In three and a half years the bride – who now is the wife of the Lamb – is the bridal army returning with the Lord to deal with the enemy’s armies on earth.
Then, this corporate person with Christ becomes the corporate smashing stone to remove human government from the earth. That stone becomes a great mountain filing the whole earth – the kingdom of God.
Once the Body is built up, that equals the preparation of the bride; then, this will be the greatest dispensational change, because the bride – consisting of the overcomers – is rapture, shortly thereafter, there is the great tribulation, and the wedding feast starts; and three and a half years later, we return with Him, deal with human government and bring in the kingdom.
It all hinges on the local churches as the procedure to bring in the reality of the Body of Christ, which will be the prepared bride of Christ.
Where is the reality of the Body of Christ on earth today? We may have many local churches, there may be many lampstands all over the earth, but where is the reality of the Body of Christ?
God wants us to build Him a sanctuary that He may dwell among us (Exo. 25:8), and the goal of His salvation is the building of God’s dwelling place on earth.
God saved us from the usurpation of the world and brought us all the way through baptism, reconstitution, and the vision of His heart’s desire so that we may become His dwelling place on earth.
We were saved for the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God, and we need to be built up in the church as the household of God, the Father’s house.
The sanctuary of God is God’s dwelling, embodiment, and expression in Christ and God’s dwelling and eternal manifestation in the church. God is embodied in Christ and manifested in the church; the church today is the result of God’s work, the dwelling place of God.
Treasuring the Church as the House of the Living God, the Manifestation of God in the Flesh
What is the church? The church is the result of God’s work; the result of God’s work in His economy is the church as the house of the living God, the household of God (see 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19).
On the one hand, the church is the house of God (1 Pet. 2:5), and on the other, we are the Father’s house. The fact that the church is the house of God means that we are the dwelling of God and the household of God.
We are both the house of God and the family of God; we are a group of regenerated, called ones, who are indwelt by God Himself. The church is more than an assembly; the church is more than an organization of people – the church is something organic in the divine life, in the divine nature, and in the Triune God.
The reason we call one another brothers and sisters is because we really are brothers and sisters: we have the same Father (God) and the same mother (Jerusalem above).
Just as Christ is not separate from the members of His Body but He dwells in them, so the Father is not a separate member of His household but He is all the children.
The house of God is organic in God Himself, and therefore the church grows with the growth of God (Eph. 2:21).
The whole house of God is growing – the family of God is growing, and whenever someone is saved, there’s great rejoicing in heavens! It is so wonderful when another brother or sister is added to the household of God, the house of the living God.
In speaking of the church as the house of God, Paul refers to God as the living God; our God is not just almighty, all-knowing, and everywhere – He is a living God, and we are His living church (1 Tim. 3:15).
The living God, who lives in the church, must be subjective to us; we need to know God subjectively, enjoy Him, experience Him, and live one with Him.
Because God is living, the church as the house of God is also living in Him, with Him, and by Him; our God is living, and we as His church are the church as the house of the living God!
A living God and a living church live, move, and work together. We may be getting older physically, but if we experience the living God, we are spiritually getting younger day by day, and we are more living spiritually to be the house of the living God!
The church as the house of God – the Father’s house – is the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation as the issue of Christ’s being glorified by the Father with the divine glory (John 12:13; 13:31-32; 14:2).
The Father’s house in John 14 is not heavens but the church as the house of the living God, and we all have a place prepared there.
And in 1 Tim. 3:15-16 we see that the church as the house of God is the manifestation of God in the flesh. First, it is Christ who came to manifest God in the flesh in an individual way, but then through His death and resurrection He was enlarged to be the church.
The church today is the enlargement of God as the manifestation of God in the flesh, and we can manifest God because in fact we are God in life, nature, expression, and manifestation, but not in the Godhead.
These verses in 1 Tim. 3 imply not only that Christ as the Head is the manifestation of God in the flesh but also that the church as the Body is the manifestation of God in the flesh.
God is manifested in the church, the Body of Christ, and the house of the living God, as His enlarged, corporate expression in the flesh.
Lord, show us a vision of the church, the result of Your work in humanity. Cause us to treasure the church the same You treasure it. Hallelujah, the church is the house of the living God, the manifestation of God in the flesh! Our God is living, our experience of God makes us living, and we are the living church of the living God! Thank You Lord for making us living as You are to be the house of the living God! Amen! May the living God be manifested in the flesh in the church, so that all will see the living God being manifested in a living church!
Seeing the Vision of God, His work, and the Result of His Work constitutes us into the Obedient Ones who will Receive God’s Blessing
The book of Leviticus concludes with chs. 26-27, which follow the matter of the jubilee.
We would think that the jubilee is the climax, the ultimate experience of God, and this is how our Christian life would conclude. However, right after the matter of the jubilee there is the mentioning of highly regarding three important things, and based on our regarding of these things, we will enjoy either the curse or God’s blessing.
If we know and highly regard God (have no other God beside Jehovah), His work (keep Jehovah’s Sabbaths), and the result of His work (have a high regard for God’s sanctuary), what we enjoy is God’s blessing (see Lev. 26:1-13).
But if we enjoy the jubilee, are over-excited about it, and are reckless, we may lose the enjoyment of the good land.
We need to see a heavenly vision of who God is, what are the processes He went through, what is the work that He is doing, and what is the result of His work, and we will enjoy God’s blessing.
Our God is a processed Triune God – He passed through a process to become the life-giving, compound, consummated, all-inclusive, bountiful Spirit of Jesus Christ, who is everything to us whenever we contact Him.
The work that God has done in His Trinity covers all aspects, all time, and all space, and all we have to do is enjoy His work and rest in what He is doing in us.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are working and have done all the work; there’s nothing left for us to do but rest in Him, enjoy the work He is doing in us, and enter into this work by cooperating with what He is doing in us and on the earth.
Finally, we need to see the result of God’s work – the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God, the house of the living God, the manifestation of God in the flesh.
The church is what God is after – He went through a long process to become the Spirit and enter into us to work in us and with us to produce the church.
We need to see this vision and honor God as our Goal, honor the work of the Triune God and rest in it, and reverence the church as the sanctuary of God; when we do this, God will constitute us with Christ as our obedience, and we will receive God’s blessing as the obedient ones.
The end result of this is blessing upon blessing upon blessing everywhere, in every situation, at every time, and for eternity; this is our future.
Our future is the processed and consummated Triune God saturating our being with Himself, becoming our goal, as we enjoy God, reverence Him and His work and His church, and care for and serve in the church where we are….
May the Spirit of reality guide us into the reality of all these things so that we may become the obedient ones who receive blessing upon blessing until we see the Lord face to face and live an eternal married life with Him!
Lord, cause us to see the vision of the processed Triune God, His work, and His church so that we may be constituted into obedient ones who will receive God’s blessing! Grant us to have a governing vision of our God, His work, and the result of His work, so that we may enjoy His blessing for eternity! Amen, oh, Triune God, we open our entire being to Your dispensing, Your saturating, so that You may become our only goal, we would rest in Your accomplished work, and we would reverence the church, the house of the living God! Praise the Lord!
Enjoy the Banners on this Crystallization study – especially the last one, which refers to this week’s topic:
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, msg. 208 (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:
# The church is the house of the living God; / The church is the pillar and base of the truth. / And great is the myst’ry of godliness; / That God was manifested in the flesh. (Scripture song)
# The Church of God—we are the church, / So important to God’s great plan; / Organic, full of God’s rich life, / We’re born into the living church. / Essence, nature of God, not man, / The foundation is Christ, Himself. / The glorious church the glorious church / Is God expressed. Is God expressed. (Song on, The Church of God—we are the church)
# Here God is at rest, / Of His treasures the best— / How His heart is rejoicing all day! / His home is our heart, / Ne’er for Satan a part, / Here His glory He’ll fully display. / God’s home is the church; / Yes, it’s here that He ended His search; / And through all our days / We will shout to His praise, / “Hallelujah for Christ and the church!” (Hymns #1223)
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