THE CHURCH AS THE TEMPLE OF GOD— THE GOAL OF GOD'S ETERNAL ECONOMY
Message Four
The Economy of God, the Temple of God, and the High Peak of the Divine Revelation
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 6:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21; Rev. 21:10-11, 22
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 pro-duce 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—John 1:12-14; 1 John 3:1-2; Rom. 8:3; 12:4-5; Rev. 11:15; 21:2-3, 22:
A. God's economy is His intention to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and nature so that they may be the same as He is for His corporate expression—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:3-23.
B. God's economy as recorded in the Scriptures is that God became man to make us God in life, nature, and expression so that we may have a God-man living and become the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; 8:4, 14, 29; 12:4-5:
1. God sent His Son to be a man and to live a God-man life by the divine life— John 3:16; 1:14; 6:57a.
2. This God-man living issues in a universal great man that is exactly the same as Christ—a corporate God-man living a God-man life by the divine life for the manifestation of God in the flesh—v. 57b; Eph. 4:24; 1 Tim. 3:15-16.
C. God redeemed us for the purpose of making us God in life and nature so that He can have the Body of Christ, which consummates in the New Jerusalem as God's enlargement and expression for eternity—Eph. 1:6-7; 4:16; Rev. 21:2.
D. The One who is God yet man dwells in the one who is man yet God, and the one who is man yet God dwells in the One who is God yet man; thus, they are a mu-tual dwelling place—John 14:2-3, 20, 23; 15:4a.
E. It is only by God's becoming man to make man God that the Body of Christ can be produced and built up; this is the high peak of the divine revelation given to us by God—Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; 8:14, 16, 29; 12:4-5.
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—John 1:12-14; 12:24; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:3, 29; 12:4-5:
A. The deep thought in Romans is that God became man so that, in God's complete salvation, sinners may be redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, trans-formed, conformed, and glorified to become the sons of God, who are the same as God in life and nature, to be the members of the Body of Christ—8:3; 1:3-4; 3:24; 5:10; 8:14, 29-30; 12:4-5.
B. The book of Hebrews reveals that through the function of the law of life, we be-come the reproduction of Christ as the firstborn Son of God to be the church, which is the living composition of the many sons of God—1:6; 2:10-12.
C. In Revelation the living person of Christ is the expression and testimony of God, and the church is the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of Christ; as such, the church, the enlarged Christ, is the reproduction and expression of God— 1:2, 5, 9, 12, 20.
III. The temple of God is the goal of God's eternal economy—Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; John 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21; Rev. 21:2, 22:
A. The temple in the Old Testament typifies both the individual Christ and the corporate Christ, the church—1 Kings 6:1-2:
1. The temple first typifies the individual, incarnated Christ as the dwelling place of God on earth—Col. 2:9; John 1:14; 2:19-22.
2. The temple also typifies the corporate Christ, the church, as the enlarged tem-ple, the unique building of God in the universe; this enlarged temple includes all the believers, the members of Christ, as the enlargement of Christ to be God's dwelling place—Matt. 12:6; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 12:12; Eph. 2:21.
B. In His resurrection the Lord Jesus rebuilt God's temple in a larger way, mak-ing it a corporate one—the mystical Body of Christ—John 2:19-22:
1. The body of Jesus, the temple, that was destroyed on the cross was small and weak, but the Body of Christ in resurrection is vast and powerful—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 4:16.
2. Since the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus has been enlarging His Body, the temple, in His resurrection life; He is still working for the building of His Body under the process of resurrection—John 2:19-22.
C. The church is the temple of God; as such, it is the sanctuary of the holy God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells—1 Cor. 3:16-17:
1. The temple of God in verse 16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, whereas the temple of God in verse 17 refers to all the believers uni-versally.
2. 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.
D. There is no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple—Rev. 21:22:
1. In the new heaven and new earth the temple of God will be enlarged into a city.
2. The city as a whole will be the Holy of Holies; hence, there will be no temple in it—v. 16.
3. The Greek word for temple in verse 22 denotes the inner temple; this inner temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
E. The temple of God is filled with the glory of God—2 Chron. 5:13-14; Ezek. 43:1-5; Hag. 2:1-9; Psa. 29:9b; Eph. 2:21; 3:21; Rev. 21:10-11, 22.
F. The economy of God to have the temple of God filled with the glory of God involves the high peak of the divine revelation—God becoming man so that man may become God in life, in nature, and in expression—John 1:14; Col. 1:27; 3:4; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:10-11, 22.