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Body, Soul and Spirit
We who have been redeemed by God’s mercy and grace think of Him in many ways; He is our Father, our Lord, our Savior. His power, glory and love for us are beyond our comprehension, and His ways are past finding out. However, there is another significant attribute of God that we don’t often think of; He is an architect and builder!
The Bible begins with the creation of man, body, soul and spirit, and it ends with the holy city that God has built for His eternal place of rest, His tabernacle among men. In a sense the Bible is a history of how the building blocks of redeemed men are assembled together by the Holy Spirit to become the dwelling place of God.
God began His covenant relationship with mankind through Abraham, a covenant established on the basis of faith; Abraham believed what God told him concerning His purpose among men. What was this purpose? What was the vision that God built into the heart of Abraham?
… he (Abraham) was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God,
God’s purpose was centered in a city that He would design and build; a place of His presence and glory.
God gave further revelation of His purpose through Moses. He gave explicit design details to Moses for a tabernacle that he was to build. It would be the place where God dwelt among His people of that day, the nation of Israel. The structure of this tabernacle was a type or shadow of His heavenly sanctuary, and the Lord emphasized that it must be built according to the pattern that He gave to Moses (Exodus 25-40). The pattern contained symbolic revelations through the material used, the dimensions and structural details of the walls, the holy place, and the most holy place, all of which pointed toward a future reality. In the same way, every piece of furniture in its construction, material, service and location were also types of the future tabernacle that God would build. Indeed, much of the truth required today to properly build local churches is symbolically hidden in the pattern and structure of the tabernacle.
Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.
Because of his intimacy with God, David is called a man after God’s own heart. The desires of his heart reflected what was also in the heart of God. When we read the Psalms, we find them filled with revelations on the house of God. The following are some examples:
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple.
O Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house, the place where Thy glory dwells.
Glorious things are spoken of you, O City of God.
How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts ....
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King. God in her palaces has made Himself known as a stronghold.
How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!–How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. How blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the highways to Zion
(Psalm 84:1, 4-5)
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.
For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Through the words of David, we discover many new truths concerning the house of God. For example:
It is both a mountain and a city.
It is a place of His glory.
It is a place of worship and prayer.
It is a place of great supply, abundance, joy, strength and defense from evil.
It is to become the place of God’s everlasting habitation, which He refers to as the place of His eternal rest.
It is a place to behold the beauty of the Lord, to meditate, to be nourished and strengthened by an abundance of goodness and lovingkindness from His presence.
What was pattern and shadow in the Old Testament began to take on reality when the Builder Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth. He came as the precious, tested cornerstone firmly placed by His Father to be the foundation for our salvation, and thus, for the house of God (Isaiah 28:16).
He is the foundation for the house of God, the Son over His Father’s house, the High Priest in the house and is the builder of the house (1 Corinthians 3:11; Hebrews 3:1-6).
The Greek word for “administration” in Ephesians 1:10 is OIKONOMIA which literally means “management of a house or household” (OIKOS, a house; NOMOS, a law). This verse of scripture clearly expresses the place of Jesus in His Father’s house.
… in all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him (Christ) with a view to “a management of (His) house” suitable to the fullness of times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth ....
Jesus is the center focus of all things in the house of God!
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…. that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.
Jesus has promised to prepare a dwelling place for each child of God in His Father’s house.
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Although we are saved by the mercy and grace of God, and not by works, our rewards will be based on our works while here on earth (1 Corinthians 3:10-14). It appears that the glory of our future dwelling place will depend upon the “spiritual material” that we send up from our life here below for the Lord to build with.
One cannot separate the glory of God from His house. God is not building a structure to contain Himself; He is building a place to fully express Himself, where the full glory of His presence and government will be visible to all creation. This is evident in the scriptures that describe the city He has built coming down to earth (Revelation 21:2-3, 9-11, 23).
When the tabernacle was completed by Moses, the glory of His presence filled the place. The same appearance of His glory occurred when Solomon’s temple was completed. These incidents were but shadows of the full glory of His presence that will one day mark the place of His eternal rest, the city that He is building today.
That is where our hope and expectations are to lie.
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
It is in our relationship with and obedience to Christ that we can gain His glory (Romans 5:1-5).
… because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel that you might gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The glory of Christ is not simply a resplendent brilliance, it is a visible expression of those virtues that comprise His divine character; virtues that God Himself personally identified to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7). Those qualities of His being are: He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, full of mercy and truth; He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet He is just. These are the same qualities that Jesus exhibited in His life and ministry on earth (John 1:14-18; Hebrews 1:3).
We can gain His glory as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into His image. The choice is ours!
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
It is more than simply being saved and assured of going to heaven. There are rewards to be gained.
…for if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him.
Every believer is promised a future resurrection body that bears the image of Christ; this is part of our inheritance in Christ. However, our rewards will vary, glory for some and disappointment for others (2 Corinthians 5:10). Resurrection glory will vary!
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead ….
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
Before Adam fell into sin, he was apparently clothed in the glory of God. The story of salvation is the great work that God is doing in bringing many sons to glory through the sanctifying work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:9-11). The hope of our reward in the resurrection is to be clothed with the glory of God.
The issue that we all face is how to properly build our personal and corporate lives on the foundation that God has provided for us in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Paul expresses it this way:
... but each man must be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ…. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
The question of how to build begins in finding our place in His body through a life-union with the Lord Jesus; a place where one can be fitted together with brothers and sisters and built together for a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Jesus builds us together through ministries of relationships, spiritual gifts and the five-fold ministries which promote spiritual growth and develop godly character. The key word is always “edification.” The word “edify” is translated from the Greek word OIKODOMEO which literally means “to build a house” (DOMA, to build; OIKOS, a house). All ministry is to edify the church (1 Corinthians 14:12, 26; Ephesians 4:29).
In his first epistle, Peter describes believers as “living stones” who are built together to form the Lord’s house (1 Peter 2:4). His emphasis is not a pile of stones, but of stones carefully selected and shaped to fit a specific place where they will be cemented to other stones according to the Builder’s plan. The goal is not conformity (i.e. like bricks) but diversity where stones differ from one another in size, shape and appearance. This speaks of men and women who are unique in their gifting, grace and service being fitted and built together in a local expression of body life.
Body life is a functioning relationship in the Spirit; it is not simply a religious organization of believers assembled around a set of Bible creeds.
Paul describes the relationship that bonds believers together as “joints and ligaments” (Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:16). Joints and ligaments define the relational interfaces between members that enable them to work together in harmony; a vital part of the building process.
The bottom line in everything, whether it is body ministry, fellowship, worship, teaching, enduring afflictions, etc., is gaining the character qualities from which the glory of Christ emanates. We are not dead stones, we are living stones possessing free wills to cooperate with the Lord in the building process. Christ in us is our hope of glory! Only He can do the work, but we must humble ourselves and yield to Him.
God can only use broken men; those who have laid down human values of greatness to embrace the way of the Spirit. This transition requires the following personal commitments:
Study and obey the word of God to distinguish and separate what is soulish from the spiritual (Hebrews 4:12).
Discipline the use of the window of our natural senses; we must not be led or governed by our physical senses.
Develop a sensitivity to and use of the window of our spiritual senses.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
How does all this fit together in the purpose of God?
The universal body of Christ is made up of the churches in all nations, which includes the nation of Israel (Romans 11:25-26).
The church of a nation is made up of regional churches.
A regional church is made up of local churches.
A local church is made up of house churches.
A house church is made up of families.
A family is made up of individual believers.
An individual believer is made up of body, soul and spirit–God’s building blocks!
In conclusion, grace and mercy are extended to us to enter into the great stream of events that began back in eternity, events initiated by God which will one day consummate in the completion of His purpose, the dwelling place of God among men. I pray that my words will help the reader lay aside soulish things, and be conformed to the image of Christ; a living stone of glory in the house of God!
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