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The blueprint for God’s building is revealed in the Scriptures. The Old Testament presents a picture of the building of the temple of God. First Chronicles 28:11-14 says, “David gave Solomon his son the pattern of the portico of the temple and its buildings and its storehouses and its upper rooms and its inner rooms and the building for the expiation cover; and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of Jehovah, and for all the chambers around, and for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated gifts; and for the divisions of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and for all the vessels of the service of the house of Jehovah; and for the gold, by weight of the gold for all the vessels of each kind of service; for all the vessels of silver, by weight for all the vessels for each kind of service.” Verses 20 through 21 say, “David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and be bold and do it; do not be afraid or dismayed, for Jehovah God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until the completion of all the work for the service of the house of Jehovah. And here are the divisions of priests and Levites for all the service of the house of God, and with you in all the work will be every willing man with wisdom for any service; also the leaders and all the people will be wholly at your command.”
These verses show how the temple of God was built. The first point is the pattern (vv. 11-12, 19). The word pattern indicates a certain standard. It is not according to your will or according to my will. The revealed pattern became the standard of the work of the service. How and what the service carried out were based on the pattern.
Next, according to the pattern, there were various needs, and based on the needs, work was assigned. The divisions of the priests and Levites were according to the assignments (vv. 13, 21). Third, all the vessels of the service had certain weights; there could not be too much or too little material (vv. 14-18). Therefore, everything in the building of the temple of God was done according to the pattern, including the divisions of the priests and Levites and the quantities of the vessels. Nothing was added to the pattern. Moreover, willing men with wisdom for any service came to help (v. 21). Because the Lord was with the children of Israel, they had wisdom and were willing to serve. Finally, the leaders and all the people were wholly at Solomon’s command (v. 21). Command here indicates that authority is involved. All the people being wholly at Solomon’s command is a matter of being in one accord—the hearts of the many were as one.
In the New Testament 1 Peter 2:5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” In this verse the spiritual house is the holy priesthood, and the holy priesthood is the spiritual house. Some may think that the spiritual house refers to a thing and that the priesthood refers to a group of people. In the Old Testament the house and the priesthood were separate, but in the New Testament the house is the priesthood, and the priesthood is the house. All of God’s children, that is, all those who are being built up, are, on the one hand, the house of God, and on the other hand, priests of God. We are priests, and we are also a house. Therefore, 1 Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood. We are the habitation of God and also the ones who serve God. Furthermore, we are not individual priests; we are a corporate priest, a holy priesthood.
In the Old Testament the priesthood was associated with the temple. Whether in relation to the tabernacle or the temple, the priests were not separate; they were in coordination. They served as a corporate entity, a “-hood,” according to divisions and orders. Thus, the priesthood was not separated from the temple. The priesthood with the temple shows that the temple is a body of priests and that the building of the temple involves the coordination of the priests. The priests’ being coordinated into one corporate entity is the building of the temple into one entity.
Although 1 Chronicles 28 speaks about the pattern and method for the building of the temple, a depiction of the priestly divisions, work, and services is integrated into the chapter as well. Thus, the Holy Spirit indicates that these two are one. This is the same principle in Exodus. The priesthood—the priestly service, work, and garments—is integrated into the section concerning the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings (25:9—40:17).
If we start from the inside of the tabernacle, the furnishings are the Ark, the incense altar, the golden lampstand, the table of the bread of the Presence, the laver, and the altar. When we start from the outer court, the furnishings are the altar, the laver, the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, the incense altar, and the Ark. However, the sequence given in Exodus 25, the pattern for the building, is the Ark (vv. 10-22), the table of the bread of the Presence (vv. 23-30), the lampstand (vv. 31-40), the coverings and the standing boards of the tabernacle (26:1-37), the altar of burnt offering (27:1-8), and the hangings for the court (27:9-19). The pattern for the incense altar and the laver are omitted in this section. The pattern for the incense altar (30:1-10) is given after the priestly garments (28:1-43) and the sanctification of Aaron and his sons, the priests (29:1-46). The pattern for the laver (30:17-21) is given with the instructions concerning the priests’ going into the Tent of Meeting to serve God (v. 20). Hence, two items, the incense altar and the laver, are linked with the priests and are not spoken of with the furniture of the inner and outer courts of the tabernacle. We need to consider these matters. In this portion of the Scriptures the Holy Spirit indicates that the building of God and the coordination of the priests are one, and in the New Testament the two are one and inseparable.
Through these pictures in the Old Testament the Lord shows us two sides of one matter. One aspect of our work is to be built up, and another aspect is to build. We are building by being built up. This is to genuinely serve God as priests. Some may think that to serve God is to do the work of God and to live for God. This is the general understanding in Christianity. However, to serve God as a priest is to build the temple of God, which also is to be built up. We are proper priests carrying out the genuine building work only when we are genuinely built up. We cannot separate the priestly service from building. A believer who serves as a priest apart from the temple of God has an improper priesthood. Any priestly service that is separated from the building, that is, from the temple of God as the ground for the priestly service, is improper. This is a tremendous light that we must see: our priesthood must be in the building and for the building. For us to serve as priests is for us to build.
First Peter 2:5 says that the proper service cannot be apart from the building. When we are built up as a spiritual house, we become a priesthood. To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God refers to our work. When we are built up into a priesthood, we can have work that is acceptable to God. For centuries those who love God have known that they should serve God. But few believers have seen that the basic matter of serving God depends on being built up. If we are not built up as the spiritual house of God, there will be no priesthood. The priesthood is based on the building. When God’s children begin to love God, they are very willing to serve God. However, they neglect the matter of being built up. Once a person becomes zealous, he wants to serve, but God speaks of being built up into a spiritual house as the basic condition for service. We cannot serve if we are not built up.
We can see from the picture presented in the Bible that building involves coordination. For a Levite to be a priest, zeal was not enough; he also had to be coordinated in the priestly divisions. This is a type of passing through the process of being built up in the building and habitation of God. The habitation of God is the priesthood; the two are one. We need to be built into and coordinated into the building. Then we will have the proper ground to serve. We are not individuals who serve alone; we serve in a corporate body, the priesthood.
Whether in the service according to the pattern revealed in Exodus 25, which is the Old Testament priestly service, or in the New Testament apostolic service, there is no individual service. Some may say that in Acts Philip served alone. However, a careful reading of Acts 8 shows that Philip was not doing a work by himself. Philip seemed to be led to do a work by himself; however, Philip was actually in a corporate body. Verses 4 through 13 speak of Philip’s preaching in Samaria, and verses 14 through 25 speak of the confirmation by the apostles.
In the Old Testament service, only one priest went into the temple to burn incense, but the burning of incense was the responsibility of the priesthood. Similarly, Philip’s work was within the service of a corporate entity. He was led to go alone but was joined to the corporate entity. There are no incidents in the Scriptures of individual service, either in the Old Testament or in the New Testament.
The kind of work that God wants on the earth today is consistent in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He wants to build a habitation for Himself. The Tent of Meeting that the children of Israel built in the wilderness was an initial work. The tabernacle had three sections. The outer court contained the altar, the laver, and the hangings. In the Holy Place there were the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar. The innermost section, the Holy of Holies, had the Ark. This was the building work of the tabernacle. The building of the temple occurred at the time of fullness after the children of Israel entered into the good land. The same furnishings were still present in the temple, but the temple was stabilized and enlarged with materials such as valuable stones, cedar, cypress, and olive wood (1 Kings 6:7, 15-16, 23).
The principle involved in building the tabernacle and the temple was the same: the building was done according to the blueprint given by God, and it was linked to the service of the priesthood. This shows that our service cannot be lacking in these two things. We must have the full vision of what God wants on the earth, and under this vision those in the service need to be built together as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood. On the one hand, we need a full vision of what God wants. On the other hand, we need to be built together with those in the service into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood to carry out this vision.
The building service first includes the work of the gospel, as indicated by the altar (Exo. 27:1-8). The altar typifies the cross of Christ. On the cross He accomplished redemption for us. The gospel needs to spread and be preached far and wide. The altar in the tabernacle was five cubits square (v. 1) and was enlarged in the temple to be twenty cubits square (2 Chron. 4:1). Thus, the gospel must be widely spread.
The next item of service is related to the laver (Exo. 30:17-21), which denotes the Holy Spirit’s dealings with us. These dealings remove all our uncleanness and dross by the Holy Spirit’s shining, purifying, and purging. Third, the hangings for the outer court of the tabernacle (27:9-19) are produced. This causes our walk to be separated from the world. Worldly people are numb concerning sin and are defiled in their walk. Through the redemption accomplished on the cross and the dealing of the Holy Spirit, we are made clean and separated from the world in our conduct, living, and work. We preach the gospel of the vicarious death of Christ on the cross and of our co-death with Christ. We also preach the shining, purifying, and purging of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we preach a life and walk that are separated from the people of the world and worthy of our calling and the grace that we have received. This is the work that we do.
Our work should also cause others to know the inner life. We should bring the saints to know Christ within them and to know how God in His Son can be our life and our treasure within. The Ark, which typifies Christ, was in the Holy of Holies (25:10-22). Today Christ lives in us. Within the Ark were the commandments of God. The commandments of God being within the Ark indicates that God is in Christ. The commandments within the Ark signify the revealed God, the manifested God, and the expressed God, because the commandments are the expression and revelation of God. We should not regard the commandments as something negative. On the contrary, the significance of the Ten Commandments is very deep and spiritual. The commandments are the explanation of God, telling us what God is.
The Ten Commandments are an explanation of God. The fact that the Ten Commandments were placed inside the Ark indicates that the explanation of God is in Christ. The Ark was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, indicating that Christ has both divinity and humanity. His humanity is signified by acacia wood; however, what is expressed from Him is divinity, as signified by the gold that overlays the acacia wood. The frame of the Ark is wood, but the expression is pure gold. The frame and framework of the Lord Jesus is humanity, but divinity is manifested in Him. One of the many items related to the Ark is the expiation cover. We need to have a clear understanding of the many items not only for ourselves but also for us to bring others to know these items in their experience.
Furthermore, we need to know the Holy Place. In the record of Exodus, following the Ark is the table of the bread of the Presence, which is also wood overlaid with gold (vv. 23-25). The table of the bread of the Presence indicates that Christ, who dwells within us with both His divinity and humanity, is our life supply. The Lord Jesus has both divinity and humanity. His humanity is the framework to express His divinity. This One who dwells in us is the table of the bread of the Presence. His being in us as the life supply has not only the aspect of humanity but also the aspect of divinity. Furthermore, He is our light, as indicated by the golden lampstand (vv. 31-40). The golden lampstand emphasizes divinity, because God is light. In the Holy Place there is also the incense altar (30:1-10), which indicates that Christ is the Intercessor who causes us to be acceptable to God.
These are the items that we should preach: the altar, the laver, the hangings, the Ark, the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar. Saying that we must preach these things does not mean that we have not done such a work in the past but that we have been inadequate. We do not necessarily need to explain the types, but we should preach the redemption of the cross, the shining and renewing of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord’s holiness and righteousness saturating our living. In addition, we should speak more concerning the glorious Christ and His riches becoming our inner life and life supply. We need to learn to receive His supply, live by this supply, and stand before God, enjoying Him in the light. In this way our inner being will be bright, full of God’s light. Under His shining, we will have the incense altar and be acceptable to God. Our preaching should have the New Testament as its basis and be confirmed by our experience.
Moreover, our work has a goal, an ultimate consummation, which is to build up the church. The work of the cross, the work of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s being in us as the testimony of God to be our life supply and light of life, and our being acceptable to God are for a glorious issue, a glorious goal. This goal is the building up of the dwelling place of God. Therefore, we also need to speak about the building of the church so that God can gain a glorious dwelling place.
Even though we have heard many messages on building, we cannot speak about building without the altar, the laver, the Ark, the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar. We do not want the building to be like the tabernacle at Gibeon (Shiloh) (1 Sam. 4:3, 11; 2 Chron. 1:3-13). During the two thousand years that the church has been on the earth, she has at times been like the tabernacle at Gibeon—an empty shell. The church may have the work of the cross and the work of the gospel and yet be an empty shell. This is the case among some believers today. They do not have the Ark, the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar. They lack Christ as life, and they do not have the manifestation and expression of Christ in His humanity as their life supply and light of life so that man in God and in resurrection can be acceptable to God. Many Christian groups are just congregations; they lack Christ as their content and are an empty tabernacle.
Other believers know Christ in a deep way, but they have not brought anyone to salvation, and they cannot be built up with others. They seem to have the presence of Christ in terms of the Ark, but they cannot be built with others. May the Lord have mercy on us and open our eyes so that our work would not miss the mark. We must never lack the knowledge of Christ when we preach the gospel or speak of the cross. We should never have the Ark, the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar without the tabernacle. We need to bring people to salvation and to the dealings of the Holy Spirit. We also need to bring people to know Christ, experience Christ, live in Christ, receive Christ as light, and live before God in resurrection so that we will produce a testimony and have the building of the church.
Our preaching of the gospel must include the dealing of the Holy Spirit and sanctification. We also need to bring the saints to know Christ, who is the God who has entered into man to be man’s life so that man can receive the shining of the light of life. Besides these, we need to speak of the resurrection of Christ. We should live before God and be acceptable to God in the resurrected One. Furthermore, we should cause the saints to see that all this is for the building of God’s glorious church. This is the blueprint for our work. As God’s fellow workers, our work is building God’s dwelling place. No matter what we do or what the extent of our work is, we must work according to this blueprint. This is the vision of our work. We must all work according to the blueprint.
A brother who is commissioned to preach the gospel should never do an individual gospel-preaching work. Instead of isolating himself, he should join himself to others when he preaches the gospel. His attitude should be that the more he preaches the gospel and brings people to salvation, the more the believers will have one heart toward the church and be joined together. If he has learned the lessons of fellowshipping with the Lord, being acceptable to God, and always interceding, these new believers will be the riches of the church; his work should continue. A brother who leads believers to fellowship with the Lord must guard against becoming isolated and producing an isolated sect in the church. In the past we have had this shortcoming. Our ministry is particular, but we need to have a proper attitude, and we need a spirit that is in harmony with and joined to others. If the fruit of our labor can be joined with the labor of others so that the saints who are helped are one in heart toward the church, the church will be built up.
A brother who is gifted in leading others to study the Scriptures should realize that these riches have been given to him by the Lord for the church. He should not neglect his service but be proper. He should also guard against forming a sect. Rather, he must be joined to others, coordinated with others, and in harmony with others in his service. This is what the apostle Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthians. He did not allow the Corinthians to be divisive. There was division among the Corinthians. Some were helped by Paul and said that they were of Paul, and others were helped by Apollos and said that they were of Apollos (1:12). Paul pointed out this mistake and said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (3:6). Both Paul’s planting and Apollos’s watering were for sustaining the growth of the saints; their labor was coordinated.
We must not have a spirit that divides and separates. Such an attitude is fleshly (vv. 3-4). If the service of a brother produces saints who support him and listen only to him, then his service and their support are fleshly. The saints should receive the perfecting of all the brothers, just as the Corinthians should have received Paul’s portion, Apollos’s portion, and Peter’s portion. We should tell those who support only us that their support is of the flesh. If one brother says this concerning the service of another brother, it will cause contention; therefore, we should say this concerning ourselves. We should never help the saints with the intention of gaining their support. Our ministering should care for the saints, help them, and cause them to receive the perfecting of all the brothers. The ministering of the many brothers should mutually perfect the saints. In the church the saints should be harmoniously coordinated and built together.
