What is in God’s heart, and what is the desire of God’s heart? We all must realize that God’s heart’s desire is the Body of Christ. This is very clearly depicted in the type of the tabernacle and the ark. The ark is a type of Christ who is the testimony and embodiment of the invisible God. With the ark there is the need of the tabernacle. Without the tabernacle, there is no place for the ark. Without the tabernacle, the ark becomes homeless because the tabernacle is the dwelling place for the ark. All the people of Israel realized this, so they did their best to offer something for the tabernacle and to work together to build up the tabernacle. Then after the tabernacle was built, the glory of God filled it immediately. This is the heart’s desire of God. God is seeking a tabernacle for the ark. God is seeking a Body for the Head. God is seeking the church, the real church, for Christ. Christ is the ark, and the church, the Body of Christ, is the tabernacle.
Today people pay attention to many so-called spiritual works, but most of them neglect the heart’s desire of God. What is God’s heart’s desire? God’s heart’s desire is the building up of the church, the building up of the Body of Christ. King David was called a man after God’s heart because he was always seeking to obtain a dwelling place for God. When he became king, there was no tabernacle for the ark. The ark was like a wandering homeless person. David had a heart to seek a dwelling place, a place of rest, for Jehovah, for the ark. This matter was so pleasing to God, because this is God’s very heart’s desire. Moreover, David not only prepared a tabernacle, a tent, for the ark of God, he also intended to build a temple, a house, for the ark. Although David did not do the building work directly, he prepared nearly all the materials for the building of the house of God. He knew the desire of God’s heart, so he was a man after God’s heart.
Today God is seeking the same thing—a tabernacle, a temple, a house. Today God is seeking after a Body for Christ. However, although there are so many Christians on the earth, it is very difficult to meet a good number of Christians in any one place who are built together as the real expression of the Body of Christ. Everywhere you go, it is easy to meet Christians. However, it is very hard to find the real expression of the Body of Christ anywhere on earth today. This is what the Lord is after; He is seeking to have the real expression of His Body on this earth in this age.
Since God’s desire is the Body of Christ, all the work of Christ and all the work of the Spirit are for the Body of Christ. Moreover, all the gifted members, all spiritual growth, and all the functions, ministries, and gifts of all the members of the Body are for the building up of the Body. Everything that God does in Christ and as the Spirit is for the Body, and everything that He gives to the church is for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The work of Christ includes His incarnation, death on the cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension. All of this work is for the Body of Christ. For example, Ephesians 2 tells us that Christ created in Himself one new man. This new man is the Body of Christ. When I was young, I had the thought that in redemption and through regeneration, the Lord created thousands of new men. This was my thought until I received the light from Ephesians 2 that the new man created by Christ in Himself is not many but one. Ephesians 2:15 says, “That He might create the two in Himself into one new man.” Of the thousands and thousands of people included in the two—the Jewish and Gentile people—the Lord created in Himself just one new man. Then immediately following verse 15 we are told that this one new man is a Body (v. 16). Christ is the Head, and with one head there can be only one body. Thus, the new man cannot be thousands of individual new men. The new man is a collective man, a corporate man, a universal man. The new man is too, too big, but it is still one. The creation of this new man is the reason that the Lord Jesus died, resurrected, ascended, and came down as the Holy Spirit. All of the Lord’s work is for the creation of this new man, which is His Body.
All of the work of the Holy Spirit is also for the Body of Christ. This work includes at least two aspects, which can be seen in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: “For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” On one hand, we are baptized into the Holy Spirit; on the other hand, we are given to drink of Him. In both cases the Spirit is likened to water. We are baptized into this “water,” and we also have to drink this “water.” The Holy Spirit is like water that we can be immersed in and a living stream that we can drink into us. These verses also reveal that we have been baptized in one Spirit into the one Body. Thus, we can realize from these verses that we are baptized in and are given to drink of the one Spirit in order to realize the Body life. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring the Body of Christ into reality. Ephesians 2 shows us that the work of Christ is to create the Body and 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring the Body of Christ into reality.
After the work of Christ to create the Body and the work of the Spirit to bring the Body into reality, why is there still the need for the work of the gifted members? The work of the gifted members is necessary because the Body still needs to be built up. All the gifted people who are given to the church—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers—and all of their work are for the building up of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The work of Christ is to create a Body for Himself, the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring this Body into reality, and all the gifted persons are given to the church for the building up of the Body of Christ.
All our growth in the spiritual life is also for the building up of the Body of Christ. Your growth, my growth, and the growth of every believer in the spiritual life is for the building up of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:16 says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Here we see that we are being built up by growing up. We are built up by growing up in the life of Christ. What are we growing for? We are growing up to be built up. The more we grow up, the more we will be built up. The building up of the church depends upon the spiritual growth of every member of the Body.
All the functions, ministries, and gifts of all the members of the Body are also for the building up of the Body (Rom. 12:1-6). If you have the gift of healing, you must realize that even divine healing is for the building up of the Body. All gifts, including the gift of teaching, the gift of speaking in tongues, and even a little gift of love, are for the building up of the Body. According to Romans 12, even the love that we show to other members of the Body is a gift that is for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Thus, the Word of God clearly reveals that the work of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, all the gifted persons, all the growth of the spiritual life, and every function, ministry, and gift of every member of the Body are all for one thing—the building up of the Body of Christ. The work of Christ is to create the Body of Christ in Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring the Body into existence. The gifted members—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers—are given to the Body for the building up of the Body. Furthermore, all growth in life and every gift, ministry, and function of every member of the Body are for the building up of the Body.