CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF FIRST AND SECOND KINGS
Message Six
Going On with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life for the Building Up of the Body of Christ as the Temple of the Living God
Scripture Reading: Matt. 12:3-4, 42; John 14:21, 23; Rom. 8:28-29; Psa. 27:4; 36:8-9; 43:4; 84:4-5
I. The Lord within us is aspiring to go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of the soul to the temple church life with Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, as the reality of the good land in our spirit—Heb. 6:1a; Josh. 3:14-17; Deut. 8:8; Eph. 2:21-22; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7.
II. The tabernacle and the temple typify two aspects of the church:
A. First Kings 8:1-11 shows that the tabernacle was merged with the temple; the tabernacle was a portable precursor moving through the wilderness, whereas the temple was the consummation of God's building in typology.
B. The temple as the enlargement of the tabernacle signifies the strengthening and stabilizing of the church, and the renewing and enlargement of the furniture in the temple signify the renewing and enlargement of the saints' experience of Christ; the dimensions of the temple and of the Holy of Holies in the temple were twice those of the tabernacle; furthermore, with the exception of the Ark, the size and number of the furnishings and the utensils were greatly enlarged for His enlarged expression—6:2, 20; 2 Chron. 4:1-8; cf. Exo. 26:3, 16, 18, 22-24, 33.
C. The tabernacle typifies God's church on earth, or His church in the localities, whereas the temple signifies the church as the reality of the Body of Christ; the local churches are the precious procedure to bring us into the reality of the Body as the glorious goal of God's economy—Eph. 1:22-23; cf. Rev. 21:10-11.
D. The unique ministry is for God's unique testimony, and God's unique testimony, the reality of the Body of Christ, is realized in the local churches—Exo. 25:22; 38:21; Rev. 1:2, 9; cf. Eph. 4:4; John 16:13.
E. The Body described in 1 Corinthians 12 is the testimony that a local church should have; it is the testimony of the Body; the local church today must be a testimony that expresses the reality of the Body of Christ—vv. 14-18, 20.
F. The church exists for the testimony of oneness; when we refer to the "local church," our emphasis is on the church and not on the "local-ness"; the life that the churches possess is a life of oneness—John 17:11, 21, 23; Rev. 1:10-12.
G. The testimony of the reality of the Body of Christ is God's final recovery—the recovery of God's eternal economy with Christ being everything to us, with the oneness of the Body of Christ, and with all the members of His Body functioning—1 Tim. 1:3-6; 6:3-5; Heb. 13:9; Eph. 1:17; 3:2, 8-11, 16-21; 4:1-6, 16.
III. The Gospel of John is the gospel of Christ as life for the building up of the church as the temple of the living God; this building work is carried out through our experience and enjoyment of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life—Rev. 2:4-7; 1 Pet. 2:24; John 11:25; 6:57, 63; 2 Cor. 6:16:
A. The principle of life is to change death into life (John 2:1-11), and the purpose of life is to build the church as the house of God, the temple of God (vv. 12-22); thus, the Lord declared, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (v. 19).
B. Through His death, the destruction of His physical body on the cross, He bore our transgressions and iniquities to redeem and justify us, and His death was for the healing of our diseases—Isa. 53:4-6; Rom. 3:23-26; 1 Pet. 2:24.
C. The destruction of the Lord's physical body was also the destruction of the devil, who has the power of death; when He died on the cross, the old creation, the old man, the flesh, Satan, sin, sins, and the world were crucified on the cross; thus, in the eyes of God, after Christ's crucifixion, the entire universe has been cleared up—Heb. 2:14; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; 5:24; John 1:29; 3:14; 6:70-71; 12:31; Matt. 16:23; 1 Cor. 15:3.
D. The destruction of the Lord's physical body and His being raised up in three days were also His dying as a grain of wheat and resurrecting to release and dispense the divine life of God as the divine fire of God into His many believers to make His many believers the reproduction of God—John 12:24; Luke 12:49-51.
E. Through Christ's death and resurrection, His physical body has been increased to be His corporate and mystical Body, which is the universal temple of God, the church as the house of the living God—1 Cor. 3:16-17; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:21-22.
F. The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ, which is God's temple—John 14:2, 23; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 3:16-17.
G. As the many grains produced by Christ's life-releasing death and the many abodes of Christ's mystical Body produced by Christ's life-dispensing resurrection, we must be those who love Him to the uttermost in our living a crucified life for the manifestation of the resurrection life by the power of the treasure in our earthen vessels—John 14:21, 23; Rom. 8:28-29; 2 Cor. 4:7-18; 12:7-9.
IV. David and Solomon typify Christ in two aspects for God's building:
A. David typifies Christ from His incarnation with His God-man living and sufferings unto His death (from the manger to the cross)—Matt. 12:3-4; 22:41-46.
B. Solomon typifies Christ in His resurrection in glory as the life-giving Spirit in us (including His enthronement and His second coming to rule over His kingdom on earth) speaking God's word of wisdom to build up the church as the temple of God—12:42; 2 Chron. 1:10; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; 12:8.
C. God "testified and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who will do all My will" (Acts 13:22); David "served his own generation by the counsel of God" (v. 36); he was a man according to God's heart (1 Sam. 13:14) because, as Solomon testified, "It was on David my father's heart to build a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel" (1 Kings 8:17-20; cf. Eph. 1:5, 9; 1 Cor. 12:12-27—see footnote 2 on v. 13).
D. David suffered from his youth, yet through his suffering he prepared the materials, gained the proper ground for the building of the temple, and prepared Solomon, the builder, and all the helpers—1 Chron. 21:18-30; 2 Chron. 3:1; 1 Chron. 28:9-11, 20-21.
E. David's preparing of the materials in abundance for the building up of the temple of God typifies Christ's providing for the building of the church of God with His unsearchable riches—18:7-11; 22:2-5, 14-16a; 28:2; 29:2-9; cf. Eph. 3:8-10.
F. David's preparation in his affliction (1 Chron. 22:1, 14), in his trials, and in the victory of his fightings typifies Christ's rich provision for the building of the church of God in His trials and in His victory in His life of fighting against Satan with his power of darkness (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
G. The pattern of the temple given to David was "the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit" (1 Chron. 28:12); "all this, said David, has He made clear by a writing from the hand of Jehovah upon me, all the details of the pattern" (v. 19; cf. 2 Cor. 3:3); the temple built by Solomon was according to this pattern (1 Chron. 28:11).
H. David's arranging in order Israel's services to God related to the temple of God (6:31-48; chs. 23—26) typifies the Spirit's arranging in order the church services in the New Testament (1 Cor. 12:4-27) and typifies that Christ as the Head of the Body has set up an order in His Body for all His members to keep (v. 18; 14:40).
I. The blueprint of the church is the Spirit of resurrection—the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound, indwelling Spirit; when we live in the Spirit of resurrection in our spirit, the reality of Solomon's building of the temple according to David's design (with all the ingredients of Christ's God-man living, death, and resurrection) is fulfilled within us—John 2:19; Phil. 1:19; Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18.
J. Solomon's name means "peace," meaning that the church is built by Christ as "a man of rest" in peace, without any noise—1 Chron. 22:9; Acts 9:31; Eph. 4:29-32:
1. Every piece of stone used for the building of the temple was, in principle, already cut and dealt with in the mountains; thus, the sound of hammer, axe, and iron tool was not heard, and the temple was built quietly—1 Kings 5:15-18; 6:7.
2. If a brother who is not dealt with by the Lord (who talks incessantly, who is not a good listener, and who thus has an un-renewed mind) becomes an elder, the church will be filled with the noise of the hammer, axe, and iron tool; some "noise" can be certain saints fighting with one another by praying to nullify another one's prayer—cf. Isa. 50:4-5; Eph. 4:23.
3. In the church, if we hear others' criticism, judgment, arguing, and opposition, we should withdraw into the Holy of Holies, that is, retreat into and turn to our spirit; the temple is built in quietness—Gal. 6:17-18; Isa. 30:15a.
4. After the Ark was at rest, those whom David set over the service of song in the house of Jehovah ministered before the Tent of Meeting with singing until Solomon built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem—1 Chron. 6:31-32.
K. We "dwell with the King for His work," enjoying Him as the crucified and resurrected Christ to build Himself into us for our being perfected into pillars in the church as the house of God—Hymns, #904; 1 Chron. 4:23; 1 Kings 7:17, 21; Rev. 3:12.
L. By enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the resurrection power and the resurrecting and life-giving Spirit of the processed Triune God (the real and greater Solomon), we can participate in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings with His God-man living as a man of prayer to be conformed to His death (as the real and greater David) for the sake of His Body (the real and greater temple)—Phil. 3:10; Rom. 8:11; Matt. 12:3-4, 42; John 2:19-22; 2 Cor. 6:16.
V. God's thoughts and ways to build up the church as the temple of the living God are higher than ours; we need to forsake our ways and our thoughts and return to Jehovah our God to take the way of enjoying Him in the church as the temple of the living God—Gen. 2:9; John 6:35, 57, 63; Isa. 55:6-13; 57:20; John 1:14; 2:19; 3:34; 17:17; Eph. 5:26; 2 Cor. 3:15-18; 6:16; Rom. 8:28-29; Rev. 22:1-2:
A. As God's children, we need to change our concept and realize that God's desire is to give Himself to us for our enjoyment—Psa. 36:8-9; 16:11; 19:8; 27:6; 42:4-5; 48:2; 63:7; 66:1-2; 81:1; 89:15-18; 95:1-2; 100:1-2; 126:1-6; Neh. 8:10; 1 John 1:3-4:
1. Fruit-bearing is to enjoy God—John 15:7-11.
2. Prayer is to enjoy God—Lam. 3:55-56; Hymns, #255.
3. Ministering the word is to enjoy God—John 6:57, 63; 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 3:1-6, 18; 2:17; 13:3; Eph. 3:2; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 3:1-4; Isa. 55:8-11.
4. Preaching the gospel is to enjoy God—John 4:10, 13-14, 31-34.
5. Receiving His leading is to enjoy God—Exo. 33:14.
B. The secret of living the Christian life so that we may be overcomers is for us to take the way of enjoying God as the tree of life; God does not intend for us to do anything for Him; His only desire is to give Himself to us as food for our enjoyment—Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7.
C. We taste and see that Jehovah is good (Psa. 34:8) in the house of God, the temple of God, that is, in Christ (John 2:19-22), in the church (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 6:16), in our spirit (Eph. 2:22), and ultimately in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22).
D. We should love the habitation of God's house, the temple, and the place where His glory abides, remains, to be manifested—Psa. 26:8; 84:1; 29:9b; Eph. 3:20-21a.
E. "One thing I have asked from Jehovah; ? That do I seek: ? To dwell in the house of Jehovah ? All the days of my life, ? To behold the beauty of Jehovah, ? And to inquire in His temple" (Psa. 27:4); the house of Jehovah is the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation for the Father's manifestation, satisfaction, and rest (John 14:2, 20, 23).
F. In Christ, in the church, and in our spirit, we enjoy "the located God" as the fatness of His house to saturate us, as the river of His pleasures to quench our thirst, and as the fountain of life and light to feed us and enlighten us—Psa. 36:8-9.
G. "I will go to the altar of God, ? To God my exceeding joy; ? And I will praise You with the harp, ? O God, my God"—43:4.
H. In the house of God, the temple of God, we enjoy the salvation of God's countenance, God's presence (42:5), so that He can be the salvation of our countenance (v. 11).
VI. "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; ? They will yet be praising You. Selah ? Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, ? In whose heart are the highways to Zion"—84:4-5:
A. "I will praise Your name forever and ever"—145:2b.
B. "I will praise Jehovah while I live; ? I will sing psalms to my God while I yet have being"—146:2.
C. "You are holy, You who sit enthroned ? Upon the praises of Israel"—22:3.
D. "Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name"—Heb. 13:15; Phil. 2:11.