A final matter for us to learn from God’s way of recovery and enlargement is seen in the pattern of the temple. When God gave Moses the vision of the tabernacle, He revealed mainly the size of the tabernacle and its utensils, with the weight of a few of the items included. But in the pattern of the temple, David was given all the sizes and weights of the vessels within the temple (1 Chron. 28:11-19). David saw in the vision not only the sizes of the vessels, but also their weight. The principle we must learn here is that in the church life there are all kinds of gifts and functions, and all must be properly proportioned. The different aspects of the experiences of Christ must be in very good proportion and balance. Some Christians today just stress one thing, such as speaking in tongues. They make the tongue bigger than the whole body! This is a real problem. Other Christians pay attention only to knowledge, studying Hebrew and Greek day by day. They have a giant head, entirely out of proportion with the rest of the body. Some so-called churches emphasize the need of going to the mission fields, thus lengthening their feet out of all proportion. Others stress all kinds of activities-all they have are two big hands which work and toil strenuously. In all these cases some part is overly enlarged and the body is diminutive. The situation today among the Lord’s people and in the so-called churches is all out of proportion and balance.
In some places I have observed a few dear brothers who have really learned something of fellowshipping with the Lord. To them nothing is more important than one’s fellowship with the Lord. Whenever they see others studying the Scriptures together they tell them to forget that, for study is useless. If they should observe some serving as ushers in a meeting, they would tell them to abandon that and just learn to fellowship with the Lord. They emphasize fellowship to such an extent that they care for nothing else. Everything in the Body, in the church life, must be balanced and in proper proportion. Consider our wonderful human body: it has so many different members, yet it is so balanced. We have two hands, two ears, two eyes, etc., yet everything is properly proportioned. If a man only had two eyes like the headlights of an automobile, he would be a monster. Praise the Lord that in the vision given to him David not only saw the size of the vessels, but also their weight. All the spiritual experiences of Christ in the church life must be balanced and in good proportion. There is a place for speaking in tongues, for knowledge, for serving the Lord and for going to the mission field, but all these experiences must be in good proportion.
David and Solomon, the two men vitally related to the building of the temple, were both types of Christ, representing Him in two aspects. David typified the suffering Christ, and Solomon typified the resurrected Christ, the Christ of glory. Christ from His incarnation to crucifixion was typified by David, and Christ from His resurrection to His enthronement was typified by Solomon. Everything necessary for the building up of the temple was prepared by David-this means that everything necessary for the building up of the church was prepared by the suffering Christ. The actual building of the temple was accomplished by Solomon-this means that the real building of the church is accomplished by the resurrected Christ. In chapter 2 of John’s gospel, Christ told the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). This means that Christ builds the church in resurrection.
Some Bible teachers give the wrong impression by saying that Solomon typifies only the Christ who will come again in glory. Others teach that when Christ returns, He will then build the church. Such teaching strongly implies that this present age is not the era for the building up of the church, but instead the time for the preparing of the materials. The result of this teaching is that no attention is given to the present building up of the church, since that is expected to be accomplished in the future. This kind of teaching is seriously mistaken. Solomon not only typifies the returning Christ, but also the Christ of resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is not future; it has already been accomplished. We are indeed waiting for the second coming of Christ, but we are presently in the period of the resurrected Christ. If the building of the church is to be accomplished in the next dispensation, then what was it that took place on the day of Pentecost? Was that just the preparation of the materials? No! There was a real building up of the church at that time. The apostles in their writings were very definite and strong at that time concerning the building up of the church in this age (1 Cor. 3:10, 12; Eph. 2:22; 1 Pet. 2:5). We must be clear that by His suffering and death, Christ prepared all the materials; and now, in His resurrection, Christ is building the church.
All the degradation and failure of the church could not and will not defeat the Lord. It just opens and paves the way for the Lord to accomplish something even more wonderful. Praise the Lord, we are not disappointed! Many have come to me lamenting the degradation existing among the Lord’s people today. I have reminded some of them of the principle shown in Genesis 1. There it does not mention morning and evening, but evening and then morning. If every morning brings us only to an evening, we would really have ground for disappointment. But the Lord’s work is always in the evening and then in the morning. To us, evening just ushers in a morning! Oh, may we read the Scriptures again! The Lord is not backsliding; He is marching on, from Genesis to Revelation! Of course, the marching takes us through some valleys, but we must not remain in the valleys. We must continue marching on with the Lord-eventually we will hit the glorious goal. Regardless of the disappointments, we have full assurance that we will reach the goal. Regardless of how many evenings there are, we will finally have a full, eternal morning!
Praise the Lord for these Old Testament pictures. By the time of the building up of the temple, God was marching on more gloriously than at the time the tabernacle was completed. By comparing these two phases of building, we see God’s way of recovery and enlargement. The Lord is still marching on!
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