Also in the Old Testament there is a prophecy about the temple to come in the book of Ezekiel. In the book of Ezekiel there are three great chapters—chapter one, chapter thirty-seven, and chapter forty-seven. In chapter one there is fire (vv. 4, 27). In chapter thirty-seven there is air or wind, breath, Spirit (vv. 9, 14). And in chapter forty-seven there is water (vv. 1-12). These are the three great chapters of Ezekiel and the contents of this book depend on these three things: fire, air, and water, which are the Lord God Himself. Our God is a consuming fire, our God is the air, and our God is the water.
The first part of Ezekiel reveals to us how God is the fire to judge by burning. God is a burning fire to burn away all things which do not correspond with His divine nature. After this burning, God came in to breathe. After the burning is the breathing. After the fire is the air. The air, the breath, is the divine Spirit. The air came into the dead and dry bones, which were under the judgment of the fire, to quicken them, to make them alive, and to give them all that they need in order to constitute them into a body. The breath (Heb. ruach) put into these dead and dry bones is the very Spirit of God Himself (Ezek. 37:5, 6, 14). The body comes from the air, from the breath, from the life-giving Spirit.
After the dead bones were made alive, they became three things: the body (Ezek. 37:7-8), the army (v. 10), and the dwelling place (vv. 26-28). The body lives for God, the army fights for God, and the dwelling place is for God to rest in. All the dead bones were constituted into a living body, and this living body became a fighting army. Eventually, this fighting army became the very resting place of God. When we can live with God and fight for God, we can be the resting place to God. The temple, the house of God, comes from the enjoyment of the Lord as life, as the life-giving Spirit. When we enjoy the Lord as the breathing element, we will become alive, we will grow, and we will be built up. Originally we may have been pieces of bone, but now we can be built up as a body and formed as an army to become a dwelling place for God to rest in. This building, this temple, this house of God, comes out of the very enjoyment of God as our life.
Many Christians are indifferent to the things of the Lord and are worldly and even sinful, backsliding far away from the Lord. There are, however, some seeking ones among the Lord’s children who have been revived by the Lord and to a certain extent experience the Lord. But many of them have been distracted to pay their full attention to the study of the Word merely for the sake of gaining more knowledge. Teachings and knowledge could not make the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 alive. Do the dry bones need the teachings or the letter of the Word? No! They need the air; they need the breathing; they need the breath. And who is the air? God is the air; He is the ruach, the pneuma. What we need is this life-giving God, this life-giving Spirit.
Fire judges, consumes, and burns; air quickens, generates, energizes, strengthens, enriches, and builds. After the building was set up in Ezekiel, the water flowed out from the building to water others. Before the flowing out of the water in Ezekiel 47, there is a desert everywhere with only death and dryness. But by the flow of this living water out of the house every part will be watered (vv. 8-9). Death is swallowed up and life is ministered to all these dead, dry places. The book of Ezekiel reveals judgment by fire, quickening, life-giving, by air, and ministering by water. These three steps are still with us today in principle. We first have to be judged, to be burned by the Lord as fire. Then the Lord will be as the air to breathe upon us. By this breathing we will be quickened, regenerated, and we will grow up and be built up. After the building is set up, the living water will flow out to water us. The real content of the book of Ezekiel is the Lord as the judging fire, burning and consuming, the Lord as the breathing air, regenerating, strengthening, and building up, and the Lord as the flowing water, ministering Himself to the dry places. All this can only be possible by our eating of the Lord.
In the last chapter of Ezekiel there is a city foursquare with three gates on every side (48:30-35). Three times four equals twelve. Three refers to the Triune God and four refers to the creatures such as the four living creatures. In God’s building there is the number three. The first building of God was the ark of Noah. The ark of Noah had three stories, signifying God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. With God’s building there is always the number three because the Triune God is there. Three plus four means that God is added to man. At the beginning of Revelation are the seven churches; seven is three plus four. But the consummate number in the New Jerusalem is twelve, signifying God multiplying Himself with man, God mingling Himself with man. Addition becomes multiplication. Thus, the outcome of the book of Ezekiel is the number twelve, the mingling of the Triune God with the created man. At the end of Revelation there is the same thing—a city foursquare with three gates on every side, signifying the Triune God mingled with man. This mingling can only be realized by our eating. Many American eggs have been mingled with some of us by our eating of these eggs. We have to learn to eat the Lord to be mingled with Him.
This is why the Lord Jesus, in His last seven epistles to the churches in Revelation, told us clearly that He will give the one who overcomes to eat of the tree of life, which is the Triune God Himself for our enjoyment. He also promises to give the overcomer to eat of the hidden manna. When the church is so worldly and even married with the world like the church in Pergamos, the Lord will give the hidden manna, the private manna, which is the Lord Himself, to the overcomers. Finally, in these seven epistles, the Lord Jesus told us that if we have an ear to hear His voice and open the door, He will come in not to teach us but to dine with us, to feast with us, so that we can enjoy Him and He can enjoy us.
The church life is the enjoyment of the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the divine feast. We feast with the Lord and let the Lord feast with us. From this eating, from this mingling, the building up of the house of God will be realized. Here is the way of the church life. The church life is not something produced by organizing power, by teaching, or even by gifts, but something produced by eating the Lord as the tree of life, as the hidden manna, and as the feast.