CHRIST AND THE CHURCH IN FOUR FIGURES
In the previous chapter we looked at the Church as the object of Christ's love and devotion to her. Precious as this is we would miss the big picture if our thoughts stopped there. Ephesians is the epistle of the Church and affords us a composite picture of the union of Christ and the Church in four figures the body of Christ, the Holy Temple, the Tabernacle, and the Bride. When the Lord was on earth He fulfilled three of these figures in His Person the Body, the Tabernacle and the Temple. He will one day be the bridegroom of the bride the complement of the remaining figure. But that is future in heaven, not earth. On earth "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14). This gives us His body and the Tabernacle ("dwelt" is literally "tabernacled"). Then in the following chapter the Lord states that His body is the Temple John 2:19-2119Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:19‑21). However the teaching implicit in these figures could not be understood until Christ was glorified and the Holy Spirit sent down to earth to become our Teacher John 14:2626But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26). Just as the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, so is the Ephesian letter our textbook.
Ephesians is the epistle of the Church not in its practical setting that is Corinthians but as God sees it. Paul spent much time in Corinth and Ephesus laying the foundation of His Church work in Corinth and attaining the zenith of that work in Ephesus, where he taught the elders "all the counsel of God" Acts 20:2727For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (Acts 20:27). In his letter to the Ephesians we find four views of the Church the object of God's counsels in Christ which we have considered one at a time as they arose in the text. The Church was viewed as the body and bride of Christ figures of living things and as the Holy Temple and Tabernacle figures of buildings, but specifically of buildings associated with worship and God's presence.
While it has pleased God to give us four separate figures of the Church, it was clearly not His thought that we should look at them in isolation from one another. For there is another way to look at these four figures that is to group and compare them. When they are related to one another and to their setting in the display of God's purposes, still further instruction is afforded us. In this connection our approach will be to study the origin of the four figures of the Church following which we will see what we can learn from grouping and comparing certain of the figures. May this deepen our understanding of our union with Christ, our longing for His presence, wean our affections from this present evil world, and cause our hearts to burn with love for Christ.
“O Jesus Christ, most holy
Head of the Church, Thy bride
In us each day more fully
Thy Name be magnified.
O may in each believer
Thy love its power display
And none among us ever
From Thee, our Shepherd stray.”
The Origins of the Four Figures of the Church
The Tabernacle (tent) stands apart from the other three figures on several counts. It is the only figure of the Church not conveyed to an Apostle by the Lord. Further, it is not confined to the Church as the others are. It is used as a figure both in time and in eternity which the others are not. It is God's earliest thought of dwelling with man, conveyed to Moses on the mount, and God's last thought when we are on high Rev. 21:33And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3). The Tabernacle is taken up in 2:22 as a figure of the Church being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Thus it is used as a figure first of God dwelling with the Jews and then with the Church which is predominantly Gentile. The only basis on which God can dwell with man is the shed blood of Christ. God looked ahead to this when He sheltered Israel from His hatred of sin by providing a provisional sacrifice the blood of the Passover Lamb in Egypt. The final view of the Tabernacle is the dwelling of God, not with Israel or the Gentiles, but with men the race in a future eternity. This is the closing thought of the Church the Tabernacle of God with men.
This leaves us with the three figures of the Church which the Lord conveyed to His Apostles. Peter received his figure of the Church from the Lord on earth the figure of the Holy Temple. Paul received his figure of the Church from the Lord in glory the figure of the one body.*1 These revelations agree with the roles of each Apostle. Peter was the Apostle to the Jews the man of the earth Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles the heavenly man. John, received his figure of the Church as the bride of Christ by vision in the isle of Patmos Rev. 1:11The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: (Revelation 1:1). This too was fitting, for John lay in Jesus' bosom when He was on earth. Additionally, all four figures of the Church are found in Paul's writings, since he was a minister of the Church Col. 1:2525Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; (Colossians 1:25). In Ephesians he presents his own distinctive line of truth first the body 1:23 then Peter's line the Holy Temple 2:20, 21 next what came to us through Moses the Tabernacle 2:22. He presents the bride last in the fifth chapter. Partly this is because the bride is the last of the three figures in time sequence. Partly too it leaves room for the more detailed coverage of the bride in Revelation. So it is excluded from the doctrinal part of Ephesians and presented in the practical part, with the emphasis on Christ's love to the Church.
How Certain Figures of the Church in Combination Illustrate Rejection, Rule and Rest.
Rejection the Church on Earth Under the Figures of the Body of Christ and the Holy Temple the Body and the Holy Temple Go Together. Since Both Are Viewed As Growing and Therefore Incomplete, the Linkage Is Obvious. Growth Comes From the Continuous Addition of Saved Souls to the Church in the Period From Pentecost to the Rapture. During This Period the Things Which Characterize the Body and the Holy Temple in Combination Are the Rejection of Christ and His People by the World, Our Physical Distance From Christ Who Is in Heaven While We Are on Earth, but Our Union With Him in Spite of This.
The rejection is very pointed in the figure of the body, for Christ our Head is in heaven because man crucified Him. They cried 'away with this Man,' seeking to banish Him from the world. He is still here though, in the members of His body, the Church, but we share His rejection in the world for we are one with Him. So too with the figure of the Holy Temple. Every temple has a priesthood and Peter tells us that we are royal priests that is rulers in a kingdom. The Holy Temple in its future setting will be the seat of our rule but for the present we cannot exercise our royal priesthood as it is intended because the world has rejected the Cornerstone of the Holy Temple Christ.
Next there is the thought of our physical distance from Christ. In the figure of the body He is pictured in heaven whereas we His members are on earth. The figure of the Holy Temple suggests worship at a distance for there are barriers to temple worship. Not that there are any hindrances to our worship, of course, but simply that we are not physically present before the Lord as worshippers as we will be in Rev. 4:4,10,14And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4)
10The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (Revelation 4:10)
1After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. (Revelation 4:1)1 That is the thought.
Finally there is the compensation for rejection and physical separation in the common thought of union. In the figure of the body we gaze into heaven as Stephen did and see our glorified Head in heaven. We see ourselves united to Him and represented there in the dignity of sonship. In the figure of the Holy Temple we see ourselves united to Christ our Cornerstone on earth and to the other living stones in the Holy Temple. To complete the golden chain of unity think of it as a divine system in action. First there is Christ the Head of the body in heaven. From heaven He directs His members on earth. Then on earth those members worship Him in the Holy Temple as His holy priests. This completes the cycle, for the worship ascends to Christ our Head in heaven. While figurative, this sketches in our minds a picture of how the Church operates now it affords us a vision of the linkage between heaven and earth while we are left here awaiting the return of our absent Lord.
Rule the Church in heaven during the millennial reign of Christ under the figures of the holy temple and the Bride As soon as the rapture takes place the body and the Holy Temple, which were both growing on earth, cease to grow. We are in heaven the Church is complete. Furthermore, the physical distance which separated us from our absent Lord has ended we are present before Him. To indicate this a new figure is introduced to replace that of the body. This figure is the bride, which speaks of union in nearness as the body spoke of union at a distance. The figure of the Holy Temple is retained. It assumes a new and more important role than when it was on earth.
The Temple in Scripture is figurative of divine rule. Solomon's temple in Jerusalem was God's throne on earth. Every temple has a priesthood and so has the Holy Temple. Peter tells us that believers are holy priests for worship 1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5) and royal priests for rule 1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9). There is no change in our role as worshippers in glory, but there is in our royal priesthood. When we were on earth our royal priesthood was confined to the discernment of events in the world as they related to prophecy a passive role for we are not to reign as kings now 1 Cor. 4:88Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. (1 Corinthians 4:8). When we take our place in the Holy City God begins a series of divine judgments on the earth which end with the crushing of all Christ's foes and the introduction of His millennial kingdom. Then we actively become royal priests wielding authority over the earth from the seat of power the Holy Temple in the heavens. The inheritance of 1:10 our rule with Christ over the universe has its center in the Holy Temple.*2 How we should covet the reward of the overcomer in Philadelphia in that day to be made a pillar "in the Temple of My God" Rev. 3:1212Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. (Revelation 3:12).
Rule too is the leading thought of the bride in association with Christ. The woman is to rule the house 1 Tim. 5:1414I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. (1 Timothy 5:14) in the sense of managing its affairs. That is why the bride is called the Holy City Jerusalem in Rev. 21:9, 109And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9‑10). The Holy City Jerusalem IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST ASSOCIATED WITH HIM IN UNIVERSAL RULE. A city is a system of administration and this is "the administration of the fullness of times" 1:10 that is the millennium, when the heavenly city is to rule over the world with Christ. The thought is a simple yet profound one.
Rest the Church in heaven and earth in the eternal state under the figures of the Bride and the Tabernacle We have pointed out that during the millennium the figure of the body on earth yields to the figure of the Bride in heaven, although the figure of the Holy Temple remains. The Holy Temple remains as the seat of rule because man in the flesh does not willingly submit to Christ's millennial rule, even though Satan is not there to tempt him Rev. 20:2, 32And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:2‑3). Man is a fallen creature in his own right. When Satan is released from the abyss at the end of the millennium, man rebels against the kingdom, but his rebellion is quickly crushed Rev. 20:7-97And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7‑9). In quick succession the earth and the works in it are burned up 2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) and the Great White Throne is set up in space to judge the unsaved dead who are then cast into the lake of fire. Having perfectly administered the kingdom as Man for one thousand years, Christ delivers it up to the Father "that God may be all in all" 1 Cor. 15:24-2824Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:24‑28). Time ceases. Eternity begins. This is what Peter calls "the day of God" 2 Peter 3:1212Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2 Peter 3:12) when God finds perfect rest. In vision John sees a new heavens and a new earth. Righteousness dwells there 2 Peter 3:1313Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13) it is not enforced as in the kingdom it dwells, because all who are counted worthy of that blessed scene have eternal life. Their portion is to enjoy God forever. In the eternal state the Church is seen coming down from God out of the new heaven to the new earth Rev. 21:22And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2) for the range of the universe is ours in Christ Hallelujah!
The consequence of this is that the Holy Temple fades from the scene as a figure of the Church, for rule is not needed where righteousness dwells. The figure of the body on earth (distance) yielded to the figure of the bride in heaven (nearness); the figure of the Holy Temple in heaven (rule over the earth) yielded to the figure of the Tabernacle (God's dwelling with man). The bride finds rest in the home of her husband see Ruth 1:99The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. (Ruth 1:9); the Tabernacle of God is with men. Thus at the end God has returned to His original thoughts a bride for Christ Gen. 24 and the tabernacle Ex. 40. The two final figures of the church then the Bride and the Tabernacle are the same as God's original thoughts of Christ and the Church in type at the beginning.
God's original thoughts of Christ and the Church are important because, as we have just seen, they shine forth in all their beauty in a coming, future eternity. They could not be understood by Moses, even though he was inspired to write the story of the call of the bride in Gen. 24 and to set up the tabernacle after the pattern revealed to him on the mount. For the secret of Christ was hidden in God now it is revealed. But he told us how Abraham, figure of God the Father, instructed his servant Eliezer of Damascus, figure of God the Holy Spirit, to seek a bride for Isaac his risen son, figure of God the Son as Man risen from the dead. The bride, Rebecca, is a figure of the Church, the bride of the risen Son. We use the expression "the risen son" because it is the key to a great truth. In Gen. 22 Abraham obeyed God, bound his son Isaac to the altar, and prepared to slay him. The explanation of Abraham's act is given us in Heb. 11:17-1917By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. (Hebrews 11:17‑19). It was that God had promised him that his only son Isaac would have children and he knew that God could not lie. If God then told him to sacrifice Isaac he was confident that God would later resurrect him from the dead. His risen son Isaac, therefore, would begat children. God prevented Abraham from slaying his only begotten son, although He Himself gave up His only begotten Son for us all. Only after Abraham had received Isaac from the dead as in a figure could Abraham's servant Eliezer seek a bride for the risen son. It is remarkable that Eliezer came from Damascus, the city to which Paul, the great Apostle of the Church, was traveling when Christ arrested him. So the Holy Spirit could not seek a bride for Christ until He too was a dead and risen Man.
There is another great thought in the call of the bride. This is that Abraham's command to his servant was that the bride must be "of his own kindred" other women, no matter how fair, were unsuitable Gen. 24:3,43And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: 4But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. (Genesis 24:3‑4). So we, the Spirit-born, are "of His own kindred" sharers of Christ's own life eternal life, which life is in the Son. "He who believes on the Son has eternal life" John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36). After Rebecca was found to be "of his own kindred" she mounted a camel and started on an unknown way to an unseen man, guided by Abraham's servant. So we go through this world on an uncharted pathway, guided by the Holy Spirit, to a Christ whom we have not yet seen, but love see 1 Peter 1:88Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (1 Peter 1:8). At the end of the journey Rebecca dwells in a tent as Isaac's wife, the object of his love, just as the Church does at the end Rev. 21:33And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3).
It is beautiful to see, in this account, how God was visualizing the completion of His purposes in a future day the bride and the Tabernacle (tent) God dwelling in love with man and man with Him all founded on the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Great Thought of the Church—God Dwelling With Man and Man With God
We are now ready to summarize what we have learned from the four figures of the Church. Three of the figures, those conveyed to the Apostles, all have one common teaching union with Christ. In the figure of the body the Head and members are united in the Holy Temple the living stones are united to Christ the cornerstone and to one another in the bride the bridegroom and the bride are united. The body as a figure of the Church at the present time gives us union with a rejected Christ who is in heaven (Paul's line). The Holy Temple carried on to its ultimate in the glory gives us the answer to the rejection of the body rule with Christ (Peter's line). The bride gives us union in glory union in nearness and affection (John's line).
These three figures then, with their varying truths, stand as one highlighted against the Tabernacle. The three figures all speak of one thing union with Christ. The figure of-the Tabernacle links up with the great thought of union with Christ, though different from it. The thought of the tabernacle is that God dwells with man and man with God. If we link all four figures together, then, this truth emerges that as the result of our union with Christ (the first three figures) God dwells with us and we with-God (the Tabernacle the fourth figure). Such is the great thought of the Church which we can never repeat too frequently, because it is so little understood THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR UNION WITH CHRIST GOD WILL DWELL WITH MAN AND MAN WITH HIM wondrous thought.
Note that this great thought of the Church does not emerge in time but in the future eternity. John saw it in vision. The rejection of the body is answered by rule in the Holy Temple. But that is time in both cases. In the eternal state we find only the Bride and the Tabernacle. Why should the figures of the Church lead up to this great thought only in eternity? The answer is that THE CHURCH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TIME IT BELONGS TO ETERNITY. It was destined in a past eternity to dwell with God and God with it in a future eternity.
Thus the figurative teaching, elaborately scattered throughout Scripture and brought together here in our deliberations, agrees with Ephesian doctrine. This is that AS A RESULT OF OUR UNION WITH CHRIST GOD DWELLS WITH US 2:22 AND WE DWELL WITH HIM 1:4. The only reason God can dwell with us and we with Him is our union with Christ. This union is a holy union SO THAT GOD DWELLS WITH US IN HARMONY WITH HIS OWN NATURE WITHOUT ANY LOSS OF HIS GLORY.