Crystallization-Study of First and Second Kings
Message Six
Going On with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life
to the Temple Church Life for the Building Up of the Body of Christ
as the Temple of the Living God
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Eph. 2:21-22 In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.
2 Cor. 6:16 …For we are the temple of the living God…
Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.
Word of Appetizer
Why do we need to go with the Lord from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life?
The Lord within us is aspiring to go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of the soul to the temple church life with Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, as the reality of the good land in our spirit.
The tabernacle typifies God’s church on earth, or His church in the localities, whereas the temple signifies the church as the reality of the Body of Christ; the local churches are the precious procedure to bring us into the reality of the Body as the glorious goal of God’s economy. The testimony of the reality of the Body of Christ is God’s final recovery—the recovery of God’s eternal economy with Christ being everything to us, with the oneness of the Body of Christ, and with all the members of His Body functioning.
Spiritual Burden
God’s thoughts and ways to build up the church as the temple of the living God are higher than ours; we need to forsake our ways and our thoughts and return to Jehovah our God to take the way of enjoying Him in the church as the temple of the living God.
The secret of living the Christian life so that we may be overcomers is for us to take the way of enjoying God as the tree of life; God does not intend for us to do anything for Him; His only desire is to give Himself to us as food for our enjoyment.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The Lord within us is aspiring to go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of the soul to the temple church life with Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, as the reality of the good land in our spirit.
The tabernacle and the temple typify two aspects of the church.
The Gospel of John is the gospel of Christ as life for the building up of the church as the temple of the living God; this building work is carried out through our experience and enjoyment of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life.
David and Solomon typify Christ in two aspects for God’s building.
God’s thoughts and ways to build up the church as the temple of the living God are higher than ours; we need to forsake our ways and our thoughts and return to Jehovah our God to take the way of enjoying Him in the church as the temple of the living God.
The Experience of Life
We “dwell with the King for His work,” enjoying Him as the crucified and resurrected Christ to build Himself into us for our being perfected into pillars in the church as the house of God.
By enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the resurrection power and the resurrecting and life-giving Spirit of the processed Triune God (the real and greater Solomon), we can participate in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings with His God-man living as a man of prayer to be conformed to His death (as the real and greater David) for the sake of His Body (the real and greater temple).
Practice and Application
As the many grains produced by Christ’s life-releasing death and the many abodes of Christ’s mystical Body produced by Christ’s life-dispensing resurrection, we must be those who love Him to the uttermost in our living a crucified life for the manifestation of the resurrection life by the power of the treasure in our earthen vessels.
In the church, if we hear others’ criticism, judgment, arguing, and opposition, we should withdraw into the Holy of Holies, that is, retreat into and turn to our spirit; the temple is built in quietness.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Out of the wilderness and into the good land, out of the soul and into the spirit (Heb. 6:1; Eph. 2:21-22)
(Why do we have to go on from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life?)
T2 All the utensils in the temple are the enlargement of the tabernacle (Eph. 3:18; Col. 2:19)
(Please illustrate that our spiritual experience must match the stature of the church.)
Day 2
T1 The goal of God’s economy is the church, which is Christ’s Body (Eph. 1:23)
(Please illustrate that the relationship between the local church and the body of Christ.)
T2 Although the church appears in different localities, the spiritual reality of the church is still one Body (Eph. 1:23; Rev. 1:11)
(Please illustrate that what are the two aspects related to God’s habitation in the Bible.)
Day 3
T1 The purpose of life is to build the house of God (John 2:19, 21)
(The Lord said, you destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. What does that mean?)
T2 The Lord builds the temple “in three days,” signifying that He builds it in resurrection (John 2:19; 2 Cor. 6:16)
(Please illustrate that the unique sign for the building up of the church is life in resurrection.)
Day 4
T1 Of all the kings in Israel, David and Solomon, most adequately typify Christ (1 Chron. 28:11-12)
(Please illustrate that the design for the building of the temple was revealed to David, the execution of that design was carried out through the hands of Solomon.)
T2 All the revelations in the Bible can be fulfilled only in the Spirit of resurrection (Eph. 1:17, 22)
(Please illustrate that the revelation seen by David was executed by Solomon.)
Day 5
T1 For the building of the temple, there was the need for a design and for consecration (1 Kings 6:7)
(Please illustrate that why was the sound of the hammer and axe was not heard, and the temple was built quietly at the time of the building.)
T2 Everyone who serves in the church must be a cut stone (1 Kings 6:7; Gal. 6:17)
(Please illustrate with experiences that what attitude we should maintain in the church, if we hear others’ criticism, judgment.)
Day 6
T1 God’s only desire is to give Himself to us to be our enjoyment (John 6:35, 57)
(Take Lazarus as an example to explain that the Lord has no intention for us to do anything for Him. His only intention is that we learn to absorb and enjoy Him.)
T2 Spending days before the Lord, fellowshipping with Him and absorbing Him (Psa. 27:4; Exo. 33:14)
(Please illustrate the inner meaning of Moses spending forty days and forty nights on the mountain before Jehovah.)
