Firstly, God’s glory, God’s presence, is manifested in and through the finished building. Then, Leviticus 1:1 says, “The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tent of meeting.” Prior to this time, the Lord had always spoken to Moses in the cloud and in the fire on the mountain. But after the tabernacle was erected, God spoke in the tabernacle, in the tent of meeting. We must realize that God’s speaking is in and through His dwelling-place. In other words, God speaks in the church and through the church. From the time that God’s first dwelling-place was completed, God spoke in that building. Anyone desiring to hear the word of God must come to the tabernacle. This is exceedingly clear. If we would receive the word of God, we must come to the church. But the church must be one with the tabernacle and the tent of meeting. God must be in the church, speaking all the time.
We can personally testify and prove that when a local church is properly built, God is always speaking there. A Christian may spend much time in personal Bible study, but he can never receive such a living word from God as when he is in the church. The word spoken by God in His dwelling-place can never be substituted by any other kind of word. We must come to the church. We must be clear, however, that God’s living word is spoken only in the real building of the church, the real tabernacle. We do not want the old word, the old doctrine. We want the fresh, living word of God. Therefore, we must come to the real building of God to receive His word in full.
Leviticus is a book of service and the priesthood. The third major point is that the service of God is entirely related to the building of God. First Peter 2:5 says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices” (King James Version). This word clearly reveals that the service of the priesthood is totally related to the building of the house of God. Following the words “spiritual house” there is a comma, with the words “an holy priesthood” following. This means that the spiritual house is the priesthood. Christians are the living stones which are built up as a spiritual house, that is, the priesthood. In the Old Testament, boards were used for the building of the tabernacle, and the priests served within the tabernacle. This gives the semblance of two categories of things. But in the New Testament, the living stones of the house, which correspond to the boards of the tabernacle, are the priests. The spiritual house and the priesthood are one and the same thing. The priests are the material of which the house is built. The priesthood is not an individual matter. All the priests formed together as one compose the priesthood. This is the house and also the priesthood. It is a corporate matter, a collective body. Strictly speaking, service to God is not an individual matter, but something of a corporate body. In typology, not one priest could serve God individually. All the priests served in coordination with one another as one body.
We must all realize that we cannot serve God by ourselves individually. We must serve in coordination with others. One stone can never be a house: it must be built up together with other stones to form a building. It is impossible for an individual Christian to constitute the priesthood. I can never be a house by myself; I must be built up with others. This means, strictly speaking, that if there is no building, there is no real service to God. How many Christians there are who think that as long as they love the Lord, they can serve Him individually, irrespective of the church. They take the attitude that they can serve the Lord regardless of whether the church is built up or not. This is wrong. It is only when we are built together that proper service can be rendered to God. Real service to God is something of the building.
Romans 12 speaks clearly of the Body of Christ functioning together in all kinds of ministries and services. Prior to this chapter, which introduces the Body life, there is no mention of service. This clearly indicates that the service of the Lord’s people must be in the Body, the building, the church. In principle, this is why the book of Leviticus follows Exodus. Exodus is a record of building, and Leviticus is a book of service. Service always follows building. If there were no tabernacle, there could be no priests to serve. They certainly could not minister in their homes, for real service is a coordination with others in the tabernacle, in the building of God. As Christians, we are individual persons, but we cannot be individualistic Christians. We cannot serve the Lord independently of others. Each individual priest must be coordinated with all the other priests. It is a dreadful thing to attempt to serve the Lord apart from the proper church life, apart from being built up with others. I have witnessed too many Christians attempting to do this. Eventually they failed God. We must be built together as the priesthood to serve God in the building, the church, in a coordinated way.
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