THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH
AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
CHAPTER ONE
WEEK 1 - MONDAY
Read and pray: "I did not see a sanctuary in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary." (Rev 21:22)
THE BUILDING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
May the Lord grant those of us who serve together a deep sense of His need for a prevailing restoration. He needs a restoration concerning building. Building goes beyond instruction.
Our work is not only to instruct the saints in a general way but to build up a Body, a spiritual house. Eph 4:11-12 states: "And He Himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ." People with their gifts are for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord declared, "I will build My church." Ephesians 2:22 affirms that in Christ, Jews and Gentiles are together "being built up into a dwelling place of God in spirit" (lit.).
First Peter 2:5 says that as living stones we are being built up into a spiritual house. First Corinthians 3:10 tells us that Paul, as a wise master builder, laid the foundation and that we must be careful how we build upon it. We must build with gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12).
Chapter fourteen emphasizes that we must earnestly seek the gifts for building up (vv. 1, 3-5, 12). This means that all gifts must be used for building up the church. According to the verses above, God's desire in this age is to build up the church, which is the house, the Body of Christ.
A human being dwells in his body and also in a house. Both are dwellings for human beings. When someone departs from the world, he is stripped of his body. This means that the person leaves the body, the earthly dwelling place. God's work in the present age is to build a dwelling place for Himself.
THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH IS THE BUILDING UP OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
Hebrews 11:10 says that Abraham "awaited the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God." The city which has the foundations is the coming New Jerusalem. It is the tabernacle of God with men (Rev 21:3). In other words, the New Jerusalem is God's dwelling place. This does not mean that He has two buildings in this age. He does not have the church on earth as His building and the holy city, the New Jerusalem in the heavens as another city. God does not temporarily dwell in the church today only to discard it and move into the New Jerusalem in the future. The church and the New Jerusalem are one and the same.
When God builds the church, He builds the New Jerusalem. These are two aspects of the same work. The church is the temple of God, the house of God, but in the New Jerusalem we will not see a temple (v. 22), because the temple will have been enlarged to become the city. The building of the temple is not one work and the building of the city another. The coming New Jerusalem is the consummation of the church. The temple is enlarged to become a city.
In this age, God's only work is building. Though it is on earth, His building work is heavenly. Though it is carried out in time, it is eternal. Even though God builds the church on earth, this building takes place in a spiritual realm. Even though He builds it in time, this building is eternal. The New Jerusalem is heavenly; it is full of heavenly nature and heavenly flavor.
The ultimate goal of God's work in this age is to build a dwelling place for Himself. In its initial state, this dwelling is a house, and in its mature state, it will be a city, which will be the tabernacle of God with men. In the Old Testament, God's tabernacle is His temple. In the New Testament, the church is the tabernacle and temple of God. The New Jerusalem, therefore, will be the tabernacle of God with men. There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem because everything will have reached maturity. Thus, the city is both a tabernacle and an enlarged temple.
Enjoy more: Hymn 95
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