But this temple of God needs enlargement. How can it be enlarged? It is enlarged by Christ as the authority of God. We not only need Christ as our enjoyment but Christ as the authority of God. This is exceedingly real. When you and I enjoy Christ together in the way that we have shown, the reality of the authority of Christ is among us. In such an enjoyment and out of such an enjoyment, we will be very submissive to God and to one another. We will be full of submission. Can you believe that after enjoying Christ in such a way we could quarrel with each other? Can you believe that in such an enjoyment we could hate one another? It is impossible. Is it possible for us to be formed as an army to fight the enemy and yet within the army to be fighting with each other? It is possible if this is not an army. If we are a group of bandits or gangsters, it is possible. Without submission there is no army. When we enjoy Christ to such an extent, every one of us will be submissive to each other. We cannot do otherwise. True love is in submission. When we submit one to another, we are really loving one another. True love does not exist in my taste, my choice, or my desire but in my submission. If there is submission among us, the authority of Christ is among us. It is the authority of Christ that enlarges the habitation of God, the temple of God.
What is the enlargement of the temple of God? It is the city of God. By the authority of Christ, the church is not only God’s home but also His city. Not only is the presence of God there but also the kingdom of God and the authority of God. When people come in, they will sense God’s presence, and they will also sense God’s authority. They will say that this is not only the house of God but the kingdom of God. Then there will be the city with the temple. The city and the temple are where there is a group of people who experience and enjoy Christ to such an extent that they are mingled and blended with Him in every way. When they come together, they enjoy Christ before God and with God. Everything with them is Christ. If we are in such a situation, praise the Lord, we have the house of God and we have the city of God. We are in God’s home, and we are in God’s kingdom. All who come into our midst will sense the presence of God as well as the authority of God. They will say, “God is not only dwelling here, but God is ruling here.”
Brothers and sisters, this is what God is seeking today. He is looking for such a situation on this earth, in the very place where you are living. If you are living in Louisville, God is seeking this in Louisville. If you are living in Sacramento, God is seeking this very reality in Sacramento. Wherever we are living, God is seeking His house and His kingdom, His temple and His city, among us. But we must experience Christ. Starting with the passover lamb and passing through so many experiences, we must come together with the saints into the land, the all-inclusive Christ. Then we must labor diligently upon the land to produce the abundant riches of Christ. We must become “Christ Incorporated,” the group of Christians who produce Christ, enjoy Christ, share Christ, and offer Christ to God in worship. Everything with us must be Christ. This is the real expression of the Body of Christ. Here is the house of God and the kingdom of God. If we have such a reality, we have the land, we have the temple, and we have the city.
We cannot now go into detail concerning the temple and the city. But at the present we do know something about the land—how to get into it, how to take possession of it, how to enjoy it and live within it, how to labor upon it, how to worship God in it, and how to have the temple and the city built upon it. We are clear that the land is Christ Himself, and the temple and the city are the fullness of Christ. Christ is the Head, and the fullness of Christ is the Body, the church. In these messages we have been speaking of the land with the temple and the city. This is Christ with the church, His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
This is what God is seeking today. May we be faithful to Him and learn by His grace how to enjoy Christ, how to experience Christ, and how to apply Christ to our daily lives. Then we will continually grow in our experience and enjoyment of Him until that time when with the saints we enter the good land, labor upon it, and the temple and the city come into being.