The New Testament clearly reveals that in this universe God has focused all His activities on a building project. He has undertaken many other tasks, but the work that is central to all His other work, and the work that is the ultimate to which all His other work is directed, is the structure of which the Lord speaks in Matthew 16—"I will build my church." All the divine activity in the universe is directed toward this, the building of the church.
The church is a mystery, a great mystery. If we know our Bibles, and if we know something of fellowship with God, then we will know that the church was a secret long hidden in the heart of God. To state it briefly, this mystery is God Himself wrought into humanity, God Himself wrought into the lives of His creatures—and fallen creatures at that. But through redemption these creatures have become partakers of divine life and have thereby experienced two creations—creation "in Adam" and creation "in Christ" (2 Pet. 1:4). By the first creation they have received created life; by the second creation they have received uncreated life. By the first creation they have become possessors of a human nature; by the second creation they have become possessors of a divine nature. Not only has man become possessed of two dispositions, the human and the divine, but God Himself has taken up His abode in man. Man in his outer being remains unchanged. He is still man, truly man but into his inner being has come the heavenly nature, for the God of heaven has come to dwell within him.
God is now working upon this humanity that men should not be separate units, but be coordinated into one. He wants many men to become one organic whole, one Body. He wants the many to be built up into one structure, one house. He wants them to be brought into such harmony with Himself that they may become His dwelling place. He wants them to be brought into such correspondence with Christ. that they shall become His Body. When the work of God is perfected, what we now see as Christ's Body, and what we now see as God's dwelling, we shall then see as the Bride of Christ and the city of God, which is His governmental center. Call this as you will—the Body of Christ, or the house of God, or the family of God, or the kingdom of God—it is here that all God's fullness dwells. This is what God planned in eternity past before the creation, and when in time God began His creative work, this was the goal He had in view. Though there was satanic interference, God did not suspend His activity, but brought in redemption that the work might continue. When His Son came to earth He plainly stated that His desire was this building (Matt. 16:16-19).
Brothers and sisters, I trust you have caught a vision of the church. I trust you see how sacred a thing the church is, how mysterious, how immense. God has laid hold of men and has imparted Himself into them. He is now working to make them one corporate whole, so that in and through them He may manifest Himself in all His glory. This is the task to which God has been bending all His energies, and it is in the light of this that we must read again the words of the Lord Jesus: "I will build my church."
Once, when I went to Hong Kong, a fellow-worker drew my attention to the high buildings everywhere. But what are those buildings compared to the church? They are mere worthless structures. God is putting up a great building in the universe, and He is using Himself and man as building material. He is putting Himself into the building; He is putting heaven into the building; and He is also putting into it numbers and numbers of men who have been saved through the generations; and He is building all that material together. He was referring to this when He said, "I will build my church."
But how did He set about this task of building the church? It was by sending the Holy Spirit, and by giving gifts to the church. "He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers...unto the building up of the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-12). While much evangelistic work goes on, and much work for the edification of believers goes on, there is little evidence of church building, yet God has given evangelists, prophets, and teachers for the specific purpose of building up the church. I hope you realize that this is the one thing in the universe God is after, and all who are seeking to work for Him should have this goal before them.