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Articles 2014-2017
One key element of God’s amazing work among men is His plan to build a spiritual house made up of living stones, to integrate His people into a single corporate dwelling and expression of His glory. And anything that gets in His way will be removed; our awesome God will not be thwarted in His strategy.
And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
The reason He could speak with such authority and confidence of Heaven’s destiny for His people was because of who He is and where He lives.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
Our God inhabits eternity. By its very definition, eternity has no beginning and no end; it always was; it always will be; it simply is. It is outside and greater than the realm of time, the ages He created as a place for us to live.[48] Therefore, since He dwells there, He is distinct from all that He has created. Nothing and no one can compare to Him; He is higher than all, greater than all, and sovereign over all. And since all creation began when He established it, it cannot be thought of as eternal since it had a beginning; it exists within the realm of time.
And for those who are born of His Spirit, who have received His eternal life, His promise is life everlasting (John 3:16). The words “everlasting” and “eternal” are not identical in meaning. “Everlasting” speaks of life that will never end; “eternal” speaks of life that is not only unending but also had no beginning. Some Bible translations of John 3:16 inform us that we have received eternal life (NASB). Others, that we have received everlasting life (NKJV). Both are correct. The Eternal One who has no beginning has poured himself into us; we have His eternal life. But our experience of Him did have a beginning; it started when we were born again. Thus, our knowledge of Him will be forever or everlasting.
In communicating the ideas of both eternal and everlasting, the New Testament uses the Greek word AION from which we get the English word eon meaning an age. An age is a span of time. It seems that the Lord wants us to know that though time had a beginning, it will be without end because of the invasion of His eternal presence. Indeed, the spiritual house He is constructing in this age will endure forever.
For the One who inhabits eternity to have stepped down into His creation in order to redeem us and fashion us according to His eternal design reveals His amazing humility and mercy. Here is why we are so thankful.
And here is why His perspective is so accurate and ours falls so far short – He holds not only the past and the present in His hand but the future as well. As a result, He can see, experience, and declare the end from the beginning. He is the only One who can say to me, “Son, you and I had a great time together next year.” ☺
Eternity is the original and authentic holy place.
”I dwell in the high and holy place…
Since God defines His eternal dwelling as the high and holy place, the high places where His people worshiped idols were but mere counterfeits. And the holy place of the temple was but a type or shadow. Solomon understood this truth as he contemplated the awesome task of building God’s house on earth.
But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him?
Amazingly, even though our God is greater than heaven itself, His primary choice of residence in this world has not been extravagant and glorious buildings made with hands (Acts 7:48) but with people who are humble, of a lowly spirit, and contrite, wherever they meet – whether in an expensive building, an open field, or someone’s living room.
”I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit…
Whenever any gathering of His people becomes proud because of His choosing them, they have already started down a path of His increasing resistance toward them, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
And one of the primary reasons He reveals himself to the humble is because they constantly need reviving.
…to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
The reason the humble so often need God’s touch of renewal is because the pride of man is so prevalent not only in the world but also among His people. And pride is utterly out of harmony with the nature of His glory and of His work. Whenever He reveals pride in His house, the humble are grieved at what they see, especially if the proud are mighty in their spiritual gifts and presented to young believers as those who ought to be emulated.
The nation of Judah had exhibited great pride and turned away from the Lord. And their actions had provoked Him to anger. But the rebellion of man was not the end of the story.
For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.
If the Lord was simply angry all the time at the failures of His people, and rightfully so, nobody would survive. The spirit of man would grow faint and humanity would ultimately disappear from the earth. There would be no people of God to walk with Him, to learn His ways, and to worship Him (Psalm 130:4). There simply would be no house of God’s dwelling on earth.
Indeed, the condition of the human heart was such that it seemed as though there was no hope. What solution could mankind possibly come up with?
Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
But here is where the light of dawn began to arise. Here is where we see the New Covenant begin to come into focus. It is totally rooted in His amazing mercy.
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips.
The mourners were those who interceded with grief over the sins of God’s people. And His determination to heal what was broken through sin and pride became the basis for the Good News now offered from Heaven to all who would believe. And so we worship. But even the words that we offer up to Him in prayer and praise are the result of His grace, His power. He creates the fruit of the lips. We cannot even take credit for the worship we offer Him. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36).
And this Good News that Isaiah began to articulate had application not only for the Jews but for the whole world as well.
”Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
God was offering His peace first to the Jews – those who were near, and then to the Gentiles – those who were far off, and through this process to then bring salvation’s healing full circle to the Jewish nation (Romans 11:25 - 26). The apostle Paul picked up on this worldwide emphasis of God, and in making reference to Isaiah Chapter 57 revealed his insight to the Ephesian believers. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near (Ephesians 2:17).
All Jews and Gentiles who would repent and be immersed into the Messiah would discover Him as the environment for the destruction of all ethnic hostility and competition.
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Instead of the Mosaic Law being the environment for Jew – Gentile relationships, now the Messiah would be the location, the setting for oneness. God would create His one new man in Him. Indeed, Christ would be the locale where God would reveal His mind to the nations. To succeed in their calling, redeemed sinners would have to gather to Him and find their identity in Him.
Two thousand years ago, God’s plan was a man – Christ Jesus. Today, His strategy is still that same man – Israel’s Messiah, only now revealed in a many–membered corporate body (Ephesians 4:10 - 15). To get to God’s objective, we must move away from organizational thinking where authority is seen hierarchically and expressed in titles and positions. And we must transition to the apostolic mindset of organismic integration where spiritual authority is revealed by grace and recognized by discernment.
Indeed, only one body will be reconciled to God. And it will be made up of both Jews and Gentiles brought into harmony with each other in and through the revelation of our Lord Jesus.
When He came to Israel, Christ’s kingdom message was for the whole earth. God had sent Him to Israel not simply for Israel’s sake but for the sake of all nations.
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off (the Gentiles) and peace to those who were near (the Jews).
Though those in the ends of the earth were not in attendance when He preached, yet our Lord’s timeless words were for all peoples, in all geographical locales, in every generation. And through His death and resurrection, He became the doorway of access unto the Father for all who would believe no matter where they lived.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
This statement removes the need for worshippers to go to a special building, a temple built by the hands of men in order to worship the Lord (John 4:20 - 24, Revelation 21:22). Now from anywhere on earth believers have access to Heaven.
As a result, Gentile believers are in no way outsiders, hampered by distance from God’s work among men. In the Old Testament, if one wanted to hear from the Lord, he generally had to travel to the nation of Israel. It was there that the covenantal activity of Israel’s God was being revealed. But in our day, we see that He has branched out into all the earth. Wherever we reside, believers are His sons and daughters – members of His one household on earth.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
Since the temple of God is now worldwide in its scope, international in its expression, He is now revealing in every nation unique nuances of His purpose, His heart for the lost, and His love for His bride. In Israel as well, the revelation of the Messiah is arising, the sun of righteousness with healing in His wings. Gloriously, the place of His habitation, the holy temple of God, the locale of His glory is emerging across the whole earth through a spiritual maturation process that has been underway for the last two thousand years.
in whom the whole structure (i.e., the Church international), being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
And while the whole structure is integrating into a singular worldwide building according to God’s design, believers must submit at the local level to His strategy of relationally connecting us with one another in the bonds of His love.
In him you also (i.e., the Church expressed locally) are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Let us all thankfully worship Him and also discover in our own locale the unique place in His house that He has designed for each one of us. Construction is under way.
Donald Rumble – July 2017
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