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The Greater Purpose
by
A T Jones
Part Five
The church of the living God
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 5
To the people of Israel in the wilderness the Lord said, "Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them."
Yet it was not by the sanctuary itself as such that He would dwell among them; but by the service and ministry of the priesthood in the sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and offerings for sin on behalf of the people. This service and ministration was that of The Gospel in their day: the Gospel through which by confession and forgiveness of sins the people were brought to God in atonement: the believer and God being made "at one:" the believer dwelling in God and God in him.
Thus God would dwell among them by dwelling in them.
But they, trusting only the forms of the things, held that it was by the sanctuary itself that God would dwell among them; and that just by the sanctuary itself being in the midst of their camp, and the temple in the midst of their land in Jerusalem, the Lord was dwelling in the midst of them.
This was the use that was made of the sanctuary and of the temple in Jerusalem that followed it. And by this formalism that kept God far off from any real place in themselves, their iniquities ruined themselves and the nation and the temple in which the Lord dwelt as best He could among them. The Lord had first to destroy the sanctuary, and next to scatter them abroad out of their own land and utterly to destroy the temple, to get their minds and hearts away from that formalism and formalistic idolatry. Jeremiah 7:3-14.
And even all of this was only partially effectual; for still in the time of Christ they held that perfection was by the Levitical priesthood and law; and both Jesus and Stephen were killed because these cast what they considered to be reflection on the temple and customs. Hebrews 7:11; 10:1; Matthew 26:61; Mark 14:58; Acts 7:48-50; 6:13-14.
The true worship
But all of this and all other formalism and all formalistic worship, the Lord Jesus swept away with the truth that the time had come when neither in the mountain and temple of Samaria nor in that at Jerusalem should be the place for men to worship God; but that "the true worshipers" are those who worship God in Spirit and In Truth.
In the spirit of formalism,
the temple and the worship make the worshiper.
In the Spirit of God and of His Truth,
the worshiper makes both the temple and the worship.
"Your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God." 2 Corinthians 6:19.
"Ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." 1 Corinthians 3:16.
"Ye are the Temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them." 1 Corinthians 6:16.
"To Whom coming as unto a Living Stone, . . . chosen of God indeed and precious, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house." 1 Peter 2:4-5.
"In Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. In Whom ye also are builded for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Ephesians 2:21-22.
This "holy Temple," this "habitation of God," that is composed of Spirit-filled Christians "builded together" by the Lord Christ Himself, - this is "The Church of the Living God."
This Temple - "The Universal Assembly and Church of the high-born" - is not composed of a promiscuous gang, gathered by men, but of particularly "called out" and prepared ones by the Spirit and word of God: each one a living stone reflecting the image of the Builder, and the whole building reflecting the perfect image of God and radiating all the fulness of the manifold glory of God.
Now who only and alone could be the Builder of this Temple, this Church? Certainly none but He Whom the Scripture names and calls all the Universe to behold. "Behold the Man whose name is The Branch! He shall build The Temple of the Lord: even He shall build The Temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the glory." And to this divine appointment and proclamation He Himself responds, "I will build My Church, - and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
The sanctuary
See how completely and how exclusively this is certified in the Scriptures:
When the sanctuary and the tabernacle in the wilderness was to be built, which was only "a figure," and only "for the time then present" - while the word was, "Let them make Me a sanctuary," they were not left to make as the sanctuary whatever Moses or they might think would be the sanctuary. No: both Moses and they were particularly charged.
"According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Exodus 25:9.
"And look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount." Verse 40.
"And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount." 26:30.
"As it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it." 27:8.
Thus all was showed to Moses in "pattern," and strictly according to that "in all things" it must be made.
Yet this was not all: neither was Moses nor were they allowed to proceed according to the pattern as he might hold it in his mind from what he had seen and as he might tell them. He was required to write out in utmost detail, by the Spirit of God, each and every particular item of the sanctuary and all of its appointments. Read Exodus 25:9 to 30:38.
And even this was not all: All those, both men and women, by whose hands the sanctuary or any part of it or its appointments was to be made, must be specially called and endowed with wisdom from God for that particular thing.
"See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding and in all manner of workmanship.
"And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded them." Exodus 31:2-3, 6.
Also of Bezaleel, "He hath put in his heart to teach, both he and Aholiab." 35:30, 34.
"Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded." 36:1.
By the Spirit of God to see the pattern, then by the Spirit to have written out in complete detail a description of the pattern, and then by the Spirit's endowing every worker with "wisdom and understanding to know how to work" in what was to be done strictly according to the instructions in the written description of the pattern that was showed - only thus was built the sanctuary that was only "a figure" and only "for the time then present."
The temple
When the temple was to be built in Jerusalem, to take the place of the sanctuary and the tabernacle, it was so again. By the Lord Himself, Solomon was chosen to be the builder of the temple. Yet Solomon was not allowed to build according to what might be his view of what should be the temple. Nor was he left to gather from the description of the sanctuary what he might think that the temple would be like, and build according to his deduction from that. No: this was a large advance upon that, and must be known itself and for itself. And so God gave to David "by the Spirit" "the pattern" of the temple and of every thing connected with it. And then, "said David, The Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."
And this writing, as that concerning the sanctuary, was in fullest detailed description of every part. Read in 1 Chronicles 28:11-19 the statement about it, and think of what must have been the description itself as given in the writing given to David. And this writing, as now the blue-prints of a building must be followed precisely in every detail.
And when the pattern had been shown, and when the full description in writing had been given by the Spirit of the Lord, then men endowed by God with wisdom for the purpose were to be the workmen in the construction of it all: Solomon, with wisdom beyond all other men (1 Kings 4:29-34); the men "whom David did provide." (2 Chronicles 2:7); and that son of the widow of the daughters of Dan who was the "master-craftsman" of the king of Tyre. 2 Chronicles 2:12-13.
Thus was built the temple that was only "a figure of the true" and only "for the time then present."
How the true itself
Now, when thus it was twice in the building of the figure of the true, how alone must it be in the building of The True itself? Who only could possibly build The True - who but "the Man whose name is The Branch" who is named to do it? Remember that the men were "called by name" who were to build the sanctuary. None other could do it. Solomon was chosen by name to be the builder of the temple. No other could do it.
And when this is true of only the figures of the True, how much more is it true of The True itself? When only "the Man whose name is The Branch" is named to be The Builder of The True, then only He can do it. No other could possibly do it.
"He shall build The Temple of the Lord: even He shall build The Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory."
To nobody but to Him has the building of The True ever been committed. None but Him has ever been named in that connection. And where is the pattern showed of The True, as to be built by Him, as was showed of each of the two figures of The True? Where is any written description of The True, in full and precise detail, as to be built by Him, as was given of each of the two figures of The True? Nowhere. Not in all the Scriptures is there any hint of any such thing.
Is it asked, How then could He build The True without any pattern or written description? The perfect answer is, He can do it perfectly without either of these -
Because from eternity He is one with God and one of God.
Because His mind is the very and express reflection of the mind of God. Because it was in Him that there was purposed "the eternal purpose" of God, of which The Temple of God, of which He is the Builder, is the manifestation.
And He from eternity being all of this -
Being one with God and of God,
Being the One in whom The True was eternally purposed,
His mind being the mind of God,
when He builds The True He is only giving expression to the thought of God with which from eternity He has been familiar, and in the purpose which in eternity was purposed in Him. In this as in all else He is "The Word" - the expression of the thought - of God. He no more needed a pattern of the True Temple than He needed a pattern of Creation. And this again tells how utterly is excluded everybody but Christ Himself from being the Builder of "The Temple of the Lord" which is The True.
And when that Temple, that House of God, is the Church of the Living God, this also tells how utterly is excluded everybody but God in Christ by the Holy Spirit from being the Builder of The Church.
The building begun
Christians are the "built" ones, not builders: except as "workers together with God" through the ministry of the Gospel to bring to Him the "stones" with which He builds the House. 1 Peter 2:4; I Corinthians 12:18.
Christians as thus "builded together" are "God's Building." 1 Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:22. Thus it was that at and in Pentecost "the Man whose name is The Branch" began to "build again the Tabernacle of David which was fallen down, and to raise up the ruins thereof."
Note it: the eleven of the apostles whom the Lord left to begin under the New Order the preaching of The Gospel, were men who, each one, had been personally selected and called by the Lord Himself to follow Him. They had all been in close relation to Him and taught by Him for more than three years. They had been ordained by Him unto and in and for this ministry of The Gospel as "workers together with God" in His building of "The Temple of the Lord."
And yet, with all of this, they were not yet allowed to preach a word nor to do a thing in that ministry to which they had been chosen and called and taught and ordained and commissioned; but were to "tarry" in Jerusalem "until endued with power from on high," "to wait for the promise of the Father in the baptism with the Holy Ghost" by whom they should "receive power" - the power from on high for which they were to "wait." Then, then, "ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Until then they could not be true witnesses unto Him, nor true ministers of Him, nor workers together with Him.
And so it is yet and forever.
Being chosen and called and taught and ordained and commissioned by the Lord Himself - all of this does not qualify for the ministry of The Gospel as a "worker together with God." All of this is good. Indeed all of this is necessary. But any of it or even all of it, does not qualify. The enduement [endowment?] "with power from on high" in "the promise of the Father" of the "baptism with the Holy Ghost" - this qualifies.
And this alone qualifies.
This is how in the New Order the building of The Temple of the Lord, The Church of the Living God, was begun by "the Man whose name is The Branch," the true and divinely appointed Builder. And this only is how it ever can go on.
The falling away
And thus alone it did go on, and gloriously, at the beginning. But there came "a falling away." The Holy Spirit was not received and held and courted above all. The "first love" was lost. Men and man's thoughts and purposes and ways were promoted. Men, even men of sin, arose "speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." These ministered to themselves, not to Christ. Their disciples must minister to them, not to Christ. These all were workers together with men, not with God. These supplanted Christ as the Builder, and made themselves the "builders" of "the church:" and thus the "building," "the church," was their own, not God's. The conception, the design, and the purpose, were all their own, not the Lord's at all.
No person having "the mind of Christ" could ever even think in such a line or of such a course as that. These could see the invisible and could "see Him who is invisible:" and having His mind that is the emptying of all self that God may appear, they could easily and continuously have God's purpose always in mind and be truly "workers together with God."
But these others, having not the Spirit and so not the spiritual mind, but only the carnal or natural mind that "is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be" - the mind that is of Satan - could not in spiritual things think any otherwise than in the conceptions and purposes of Satan; and so were but ready instruments of Satan in his perpetual opposition to the building and to the Builder of The Temple of the Lord.
The false temple
And these having no pattern nor description of the True Temple, nor of any other building that they should build, were necessarily left to the conjurations and vain imaginings of their own carnal minds that were "enmity against God." And the best that they could do was to steal from the Mosaic order what they would have for their perverse conception of "temple," "priesthood," "sacrifice," "altar," "tabernacle" and "sanctuary." And this resorting to Moses was in itself the forsaking of Christ: for in the Mount of Transfiguration, with Moses personally present "in glory," the "Voice out of the bright cloud" "from the excellent glory" had proclaimed of Christ to all in the world forever, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him."
And again, on this very subject there stood the plain word of God that it is just because He is the Builder of the House, "His own House," "that "this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses." Hebrews 3:3. Thus, even if they could have had really Moses and the Mosaic order, this would have been the certain rejection of Christ, and of God's command to "hear Him." It would have been the rejection of the excellent glory itself, for only its reflected glory.
But they could not in truth, but only in pretense, have either Moses or the Mosaic order: that was "abolished" and "done away." 2 Corinthians 3:7-15. And when they forsook Christ for Moses, and didn't get Moses, then in the nature of things they had nothing - nothing but the perverse notions of unspiritual men led by the mind that is enmity against God.
And since the Mosaic organization of "the church in the wilderness" was of and for a people of distinct and definite tribes all dwelling close together in a very limited area, it was literally impossible for even these perverse minds to make this organization applicable to individuals or "two or three" or other small congregations far apart and of different countries and languages and distributed all over the world. Therefore for their "church organization" their natural minds naturally were pleased with and readily adopted the political form and order of organization of the earthly and worldly and heathen governments of Greece and Rome: Greece first and Rome shortly afterward as their natural and worldly ambitions grew.
And this was at once, and in itself, to espouse the Satanic. For Rome was "where Satan dwelleth" and where "Satan's throne is." Revelation 2:13. And the Roman government was Satan's mightiest weapon in his perpetual war against God and against all that is of God. And that false temple, their "church" thus conceived and constructed, the Lord Jesus twice designates as only what it inevitably is, "The synagogue of Satan." And the Scripture further distinguishes it as "the temple" wherein, "in the place of God," sits "the man of sin, the son of perdition opposing all that is of God or called God, showing himself that he is God or called God, and passing himself off as God." Revelation 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:3:4. Read also Revelation 12 and 13.
And when the Satanically devised Romish imperialized "church" and that Satanically inspired and controlled Roman imperial State were united in the iniquitous combine that composed the harlot-inspired and harlot-ridden "Beast," again the Scripture states the exact fact and tells the perfect truth when it says that to the Beast "the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan," gave "the power of himself and the throne of himself." Revelation 13:2; Greek [translation of] 17:3.
And for more than sixteen hundred years that Roman imperialized "church" demonstrated to all the world its essentially Satanic character and rule. And in this there was also demonstrated in perfection to all the universe what, and only what, can be done by human "builders" of The Temple of the Lord, The Church of the Living God.
The false builders
At the very beginning, Peter gave to that sort of thing a thrust and a slam that ought to be sufficient forever to everybody but Satan. When the "church" officials of the Jews assumed authority to dictate and to manage in the building of The True Temple of the Lord, Peter, "filled with the Holy Ghost," told them that it was "by the name of Jesus Christ" that the things were done that they were opposing, and added:
"This is the Stone that was set at naught of you builders, which is become the Headstone of the corner." Acts 4:11.
"You builders!" "you builders!" You, assuming to be builders when you know so little of what you are about that the very first thing that you do is to reject and "set at naught" - count as nothing - the one Stone that is the all essential of the whole Building!.
But in spite of all that in the Scriptures the Lord could say of and against that sort of thing, and in spite of all the demonstration of the Satanic character and working of that sort of thing from the days of the apostles until now, men, uninspired men, carnally minded men, have continued to assume to be "builders" of God's infinite House, The Temple of the Lord, The Church of the Living God! And every such attempt has been only a blind, bungling, blundering, procedure: and the result only a contrivance that time has proved, in every instance, to be so arrogant, so overbearing, so despotic - so unchristian, so Satanic - as to make utterly tired every Christian spirit that it could reach.
Even professed Protestants who saw the Satanic character and enormities of that original false "church" and were glad to denounce it as the Satanic thing that it is - even these [the Protestants] have gone about to build "the church!" And in every instance, in principle and in form and in practice, they have followed the course of that original false "church." And when these in their place and turn made themselves unbearable to better-wishing people, and cast out all dissenters, then even these cast out ones [offshoots] in their turn have repeated the same old dismal story and have assumed to build "the church."
And this has been repeated over and over till the world is afflicted and Christianity disgraced with as many of them as there are days in the year, or more, each one of them claiming to be "the church" - "the only true church."
And now these all, compelled by the truth and the facts of things to recognize the falsity of that claim, set up the other equally false claim that it is all of them together "as one" that is "the church." And so they now go about by compromises and mutual recognitions and federations and confederations and inter-relations and councils to have all molded into one, United World Church. And then this "one body," including the old original false Satanic one, in combination and co-operation with a United World Nations, [want] to establish this world-combine of Satanic falsities as "the Kingdom of God," and to compel all people to accept it as "the Kingdom of God" and the ultimate and final "true church," and to worship according to the will and dictation of that second Satanic thing of the kind - or rather the same thing the second time - to rule the world. Revelation 17:7-8.
But not one of them alone is The Church, and not all of them together "as one" can be The Church. Each one of them alone is a false "church," and all of them together, "as one," only intensifies the falsity. There is not one of them that has not been used, and that does not stand ready to be used, in its degree, to usurp the place and authority of God, after the example of the original false "church," and in that place to act altogether unlike God.
There is not one of them that has not been used, and that does not stand ready to be used, to oppose the truth of God and to condemn and cast out and persecute true Christians.
There is not one of them in the world, that any person and every person does not need to be saved from to be Christian.
And is not the absolute Babylonish confusion of all the would-be builders and buildings of "the church," from first to last, with the first definitely designated by the word of God as "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" - is not all of that sufficient demonstration that no one other than The One named, "the Man whose name is The Branch," could ever build it?
When will men ever learn this, and let Him do it?
The Christians
This does not say that there are not now any Christians in any of them. There are some Christians in all of them. But this is not by any virtue or merit in these "churches," but in spite of the falsity of them and in them.
Note it: the Samaritans were a
mixed and mingled heathen people.
The Samaritan temple was the result of an apostate Jew joining
with that mingled heathenism in its Satanic opposition to the
true temple in Jerusalem, and so was all and always absolutely
false. Yet in setting before the Jews and all people for all time
the model "neighbor" of the Law of God, the Lord Jesus
cited "a certain Samaritan." Now this Samaritan was not
what he was, by any virtue or merit of or in that temple or its
worship; but altogether in spite of it. And so it is with all
these other false temples. The Christians in them, as that
Samaritan, are what they are as Christian, not by any virtue or
merit or good of or in any "church" itself, but
altogether in spite of it.
See it again: the heaviest denunciations that Jesus uttered, the heaviest that He had, were spoken to and of the high ones, the leaders and officials, of "the church" - the "church organization" of the time. Even their "missionary work" was a curse to all who were brought under their power: "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves." Read the whole of Matthew 23, with Isaiah 3:12; 9:16.
But as these carried the Scriptures with them everywhere, those who received the Scriptures and not that "church," and followed the Scriptures instead of that "church," were true worshipers and free, and escaped the destruction and annihilation that came to that whole "church" and temple and city.
And so it is now with these "church organizations" and "temples" and "great city Babylon." The farther from them a person is, the better he is off, and the better chance he has to be a true worshiper, and a true Christian and Free in the glorious Liberty wherewith Christ makes Free; and the more surely he escapes the destruction and annihilation of the whole series and combination of their whole "church" and "temple" and "great city."
And the truth of all of this is told in the brief but mighty word of the "Voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her My people: that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." Revelations 18:4-5.
The time of the finishing
The Satanic opposition to the True Builder and to His building of The Temple of the Lord has prevailed long enough. The Satanic succession and array of false "temples" has deluded and deceived and cursed the world long enough. It is time - high time - that "the Man whose name is The Branch" should have His own place as really and actually The Builder of The Temple of the Lord. It is time that this Temple shall be seen and studied and known as what it is in truth and in the truth.
For now is the time when the building of this Temple of the Lord, The Church of the Living God, is to be finished: and it will be done. It will be done by "the Man whose name is The Branch" His own Personal Self as the Builder and Finisher, by the Holy Spirit, and presented to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish.
Now is the time of the finishing of all things. And in this time of the grand finishing, the grandest finishing of all is the finishing of The Temple of the Lord, The Glorious Church of the Living God, by "the Man whose name is The Branch," and the grand and glorious Presentation of it to Himself and before the delighted universe of God. And in the building and in the finishing and in the grand Presentation of this Temple of the Lord, the Glorious Church, by the Builder and Finisher, the Man whose name is The Branch - in all and through all and over all,
"He shall bear the Glory."
oooOooo
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