THE CHURCH AS THE TEMPLE OF GOD—THE GOAL OF GOD’S
ETERNAL ECONOMY
Message One
Going On with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple
Church Life
I. The meaning of the name Habakkuk (“embracing,”
or “clinging to”) reveals that God became a man in Christ to embrace us, to
gain us, so that we might cling to Him and gain Him; Christ has gained us that
we might gain Him so that He can be built into us and we can be built into Him
to be a corporate God-man, the new man, the church as the temple, the house, of
the living God, the mutual abode of God and man.
II. The work, behavior, and person of God’s people
must match the church as the house of God, according to His design and pattern.
III. The tabernacle and the temple typify two
aspects of the church.
V. In the midst of Israel’s degradation, God
raised up Samuel to be a person in whom God’s heart was duplicated and who
cared only for God and for God’s interest and profit; God raised up Samuel to
gain David and, through David, to gain Solomon for the building up of His
temple.
VI. The history of the Ark and the tabernacle
prefigures the history of the church.
Message Two
The Intrinsic Significance of the Materials of the Temple (1)
I. In order to become materials for God’s
building, we need to experience Christ in His death (signified by cypress),
Christ in His resurrection (signified by cedar), and Christ as the Spirit
(signified by olive wood.
II. Cypress signifies the crucified Christ.
III. Cedar signifies the resurrected Christ.
IV. Olive wood signifies the transformed Christ as
the lifegiving Spirit.
V. The real Christian life for the building up of
the church as the temple of God is a life of the crucified and resurrected
Christ as the life-giving Spirit being built into our being so that we are
being conformed to His death by the power of His resurrection to be renewed day
by day and transformed from glory to glory for His glory in the church.
Message Three
The Intrinsic Significance of the Materials of the Temple (2)
I. With the exception of the Ark (1 Kings 6:19),
the size and number of the furnishings and the utensils were greatly enlarged
in the temple from that of the tabernacle; this indicates that although Christ
Himself (signified by the Ark) cannot be enlarged, our experience of Christ in
all His riches, as signified by the temple and its furnishings and utensils,
should be greatly increased and enlarged to match His enlarged expression.
II. In the vision given to him by God, David saw
not only the sizes of the vessels but also their weight; the size and weight
signify that in the church the different aspects of the experience of Christ
and the different gifts and functions of the members must be properly
roportioned and balanced.
III. We need to take heed that we build the church
as the temple of God with the proper materials; at the judgment seat of Christ,
each one’s work will be proved according to “what sort it is”; we will be
judged at the judgment seat of Christ not according to the quantity but
according to the quality of our work.
IV. The major parts of the temple were made of
wood overlaid with gold, signifying man being overlaid—united, mingled, and
incorporated.
V. The altar, the molten sea, and the lavers of
the temple were made of bronze.
VI. The pillars of the temple were built of
bronze, signifying God’s judgment.
VII. The stones of the temple signify Christ’s
humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ.
VIII. The Bible tells us that it took seven and a
half years and the labor of myriads of men to complete the building up of the
temple; this indicates that our experience of Christ being renewed, deepened,
stabilized, strengthened, intensified, and enlarged in order for us to enter
into the reality of the Body of Christ is a gradual “day by day,” “little by
little,” and “brighter and brighter” experience in the Body until the day dawns
and the morning star rises in our hearts.
Message Four
The Economy of God, the Temple of God, and the High Peak of the Divine
Revelation
I. The high peak of the divine revelation is that
God became man so that man may become God in life and nature but not in the
Godhead to produce and build up the organic Body of Christ for the fulfillment
of God’s economy to close this age, to bring Christ back to set up His kingdom,
and to consummate the New Jerusalem.
II. The Scriptures reveal that God’s intention is
to make His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people the reproduction of Christ
for the temple of God, the Body of Christ, as the corporate expression of the
Triune God.
III. The temple of God is the goal of God’s
eternal economy.
Message Five
The Way Christ Builds the Church as the Temple of God
I. Christ builds the church as the temple of God
by building Himself into us.
II. Christ builds the church as the temple of God
by the mingling of divinity with humanity.
III. Christ builds the church as the temple of God
through the believers’ growth in life and their being joined together in the
divine life.
Message Six
Becoming Divine and Mystical Persons Living in the Divine and Mystical
Realm for the Building of the Divine and Mystical Temple of God
I. The Triune God Himself is a divine and mystical
realm.
II. Christ, the first God-man, is a divine and
mystical person; to be divine is on God’s side, and to be mystical is on man’s
side.
III. The divine and mystical realm into which we
may enter is the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit and the
pneumatic Christ.
IV. We need to enter into and become part of the
divine and mystical realm.
V. Every believer should be a divine and mystical
person, one who is human yet lives divinely.
VI. As believers in Christ, we should live in the
divine and mystical realm.
VII. As divine and mystical persons, we live in
the divine and mystical realm for the building of the divine and mystical
temple of God.
