In this message we need to see what the building of the church is. This matter has been neglected by today’s Christians. Neither fundamental Christians nor Pentecostal Christians care for it. To some degree, certain teachers have been concerned about this. However, their concept of the building is not accurate according to the New Testament. These teachers say that the building of the church is typified by the building of the Old Testament temple. The period of David was for the preparation of the building materials and the period of Solomon was for the actual building of the temple. They go on to point out that Christ is typified by both David and Solomon, David typifying Him in His suffering and Solomon typifying Him in His reigning. According to their application of these points to the church, during the time of Christ’s suffering, the materials for the building of the church are being prepared. Then when Christ comes again to reign, these materials will be brought together, and the building of the church will be realized.
If you do not consider the teaching of the New Testament, you may be influenced by this teaching concerning the building. Any interpretation of the Old Testament types, however, must correspond to the New Testament teaching. In this light we see that there are two major mistakes in the understanding held by these teachers. The first mistake is that they say that Solomon represents Christ only after Christ’s second coming. But according to Matthew 12, Solomon typifies Christ from the time of Christ’s resurrection. In Matthew 12:42 Christ even said that He was greater than Solomon. Because the greater Solomon was there already, it is not accurate to say that only after His second coming is Christ typified by Solomon. Immediately after His resurrection, Christ entered into His reigning, and today He is the King of kings. Therefore, today is not the time of Christ’s suffering. His time of suffering is over; it ended with His crucifixion.
David typifies Christ up until His crucifixion, and Solomon typifies Christ beginning from His resurrection. The materials for the building of the church were prepared, not before Christ’s resurrection, but after His resurrection, beginning no later than the day of Pentecost. This means that the materials are prepared after Christ’s resurrection, not in the period of His suffering.
The second major mistake made by these teachers regarding the building of the church is that they say that the building of the church does not take place today. But according to Ephesians 2:22, we are being built into God’s dwelling place right now. Therefore, it is not accurate to say that we are being prepared today and that we shall be built only after Christ comes again. Ephesians 2:22 says that we are being built, not that we are being prepared. According to the concept of some teachers, the building of the church is not yet; only the preparation of the materials is taking place today. This concept, however, is wrong. Although these teachers did have a concern for the building of the church, their understanding of it was not accurate.
In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus spoke about the building of the church. After Peter received the revelation concerning Christ, the Lord said, “On this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). In saying these words, the Lord certainly did not mean that the building of His church would begin at the time of His second coming. At the latest, the Lord began to build the church on the day of Pentecost. In 1 Peter 2:5 Peter says that we are living stones being built up a spiritual house. This indicates that the building of the church is taking place today, not only in the future.
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