In this message we want to continue to see the vision concerning the building of the church in the New Testament. At the beginning we said that the Old Testament is focused on the tabernacle and the temple. Now we come to the New Testament, which is also centered on the tabernacle and the temple. The New Testament tells us that the Lord Jesus was the Word who became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14). This turns us back to the story of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. In His coming to the earth the Lord Jesus was a tabernacle pitched among men.
Later, the disciples remembered that the Scriptures said that the Lord Jesus would be devoured by the zeal of God’s house (2:17). Following this, He told them that His body was the temple of God. He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). What He meant was that one day the Jews would nail His body on the cross but that on the third day He would be resurrected. Afterward, this word of His was fulfilled. Furthermore, the Lord regenerated us who have believed into Him, and He imparted Himself into us as our life, thereby making us His mystical Body, the church. Both Paul and Peter tell us clearly in their Epistles that the church is the temple of God and the house built by God. Although the New Testament is composed of twenty-seven books, its center is still the tabernacle and the temple, which at the beginning denote Christ Himself but after Christ’s death and resurrection denote the church as the enlargement of Christ.
In this message we will try to look briefly at the vision of the building of the church in the entire New Testament.
The Bible truly is a marvelous book. If we read it with spiritual insight, the more we read it, the more we will discover that the Bible’s line of thought is very meaningful. Now we want to consider the first four books of the New Testament—the Gospels—from the perspective of the types in the Old Testament. The four Gospels first speak about the Ten Commandments in the Ark, the Ten Commandments being the embodiment of God, and the Ark simply being Christ Himself. In other words, the central subject of the four Gospels is the embodiment of God in Christ. This is the story of Jesus the Nazarene.
We all know that the four Gospels begin by telling us that the Lord Jesus who came to be our Savior was called Emmanuel. The literal meaning of the name Emmanuel is “God with us.” This does not merely refer to God being with us in an outward way by being among us. It also refers to God being with us by coming into us to be mingled with us. The end of the four Gospels shows us that this Emmanuel was transfigured after His death and resurrection into the Spirit so that He could enter into those who belong to Him and be united with them.
The Lord Jesus was truly Emmanuel. The record of the four Gospels, which concerns His living, speaking, action, and work, as well as all the miracles and wonders that He did, shows that He had two particular characteristics. On the one hand, His living was truly in the fashion of a man. One simply cannot deny that He was a man. He was the same as any ordinary man—He ate when He was hungry, He drank when He was thirsty, and He slept when He was tired. Moreover, He shed tears and wept when He was sorrowful. His countenance was no different from others, except that His visage and form were more marred than that of any man (Isa. 52:14). He was like a root out of dry ground and did not have an attracting form or beautiful appearance that people would desire Him (53:2). When people saw Him, they asked, “Is this not a man from Galilee? Is not this the carpenter’s son?” He appeared to be a very common man among the people. On the other hand, however, His living, actions, and words often manifested something extraordinary. His words were simple, yet they contained the highest wisdom. For instance, He said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). This statement is very simple but very profound. In all of human history not one philosopher has dared to say such a thing before men. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (7:37-38). This statement is also extremely great and wise. He also said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger,” and “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (6:35; Matt. 11:28). These words seem to be very simple, yet the meanings behind them are very rich. One must admit that the Lord Jesus was a most extraordinary man. No wonder a great philosopher once spoke of Him, saying that if the Lord Jesus recorded in the four Gospels had been fabricated by someone, then this fabricator would have been qualified to be the Lord Jesus! This is right.
The Lord Jesus was a very ordinary man on the one hand and a most unusual one on the other. No wonder those who followed Him often asked behind His back, “Who is this One?” On the one hand, He truly was a normal man, but on the other hand, He was quite extraordinary! Everyone who saw Him was perplexed, asking, “Who is He? Why is He so mysterious?” He was mysterious because He was the God-man, Emmanuel.
One day when the Lord went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:13-16). This meant that the Lord was God expressed and the One who would accomplish the will of God in man. We can know God in this Nazarene. God expressed Himself bodily in this man. He was a hybrid, a mingling of God and man. This was typified by the Ten Commandments hidden in the Ark made of wood overlaid with gold, and this is what is recorded in the four Gospels.