(Read 1 Chron. 22.; 1 Cor. 3:9-179For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Corinthians 3:9‑17); 1 Peter 2:4, 54To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye 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 2:4‑5).)
IN these Scriptures we find the figure of the temple used by the Spirit of God as illustrating the present work of God in the Church. It may be we are somewhat more familiar with the types of the tabernacle than with those of the temple. Believers may be looked at as seen in the Epistle of Peter, as “strangers and pilgrims” here, or we may look at them in the light of Ephesians, as raised up together with Christ and “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Again, the temple may be regarded either in preparation and progress or in perfection. We find that there was a David-provision time for the temple, afterward a Solomon-preparation time, and then a Solomon-building time. In the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians we read―
“In whom (that is, in Christ) all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”
It is a progressive work. In type, the work was begun and the preparation made for it by David, and it was completed by Solomon. So there is a work going on now, to be completed in glory.
The site having been fixed upon where judgment had been executed for sin, and the sacrifice offered and accepted, then comes the word:
In gathering together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our first object should not be simply our own edification. Not to find, as it were, a place where we may meet together for our souls’ blessing as our first object, but to meet together in obedience to the will of the Lord Jesus and for His glory. We often aim too low. I am persuaded we should have more real blessing if we had a higher object in view―if it was not simply seeking our own edification, but doing the will of Christ, seeking His presence, and keeping the glory of God in view as our ultimate object. Now, David―blessed type as he is of the Lord Jesus, the beloved One―points out and fixes the spot: “This is the house of the Lord God.” When the disciples would keep the Passover they do not look out for the most convenient spot for themselves. They go to the Lord; they say to Him, “Lord, where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee?” We want more of that spirit. David says, “This is the house of the Lord God.” He does not simply say, “This is the place for Israel,” but for “the house of the Lord God.”
There is another thought connected with that. If it is the house of the Lord God, it takes in all God’s people It is here that the narrowness of human thought manifests itself. Take any sectarian system you please: it is necessarily circumscribed. But when we say, “This is the house of the Lord God,” then comes, “This is the altar,” the place of accepted worship― “the altar of burnt-offering for Israel”; not for Judah simply: it takes in the whole. That is what we want―to meet in obedience to the will of Christ, as “builded together”― “living stones”― “a habitation of God through the Spirit,” upon ground that will embrace every child of God, and every obedient, devoted disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the second verse is David’s provision:
“David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.
“And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joining’s; and brass in abundance without weight.
“Also cedar trees in abundance; for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.
“And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.”
There we find David, a type of the Lord Jesus, making provision. What was it that consumed the Lord Jesus when He was here upon the earth? The glory of God in the redemption of our souls. As He says, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten Me up.” He lived and died and gave His life a ransom for many. He redeemed our souls by His own precious blood. But what did He want to do with those living stones? What was His object in getting them? When David prepared, and when Solomon afterward employed quarrymen to get those stones out, and, as it were, to honeycomb the ground under Jerusalem for that purpose, what was the object in getting those stones out of the quarry?
Simply to get stones out of the quarry? That was a means to an end; but what was it for?
To build a house for God.
“Ye, also as lively (or living) stones, are (being) built up a spiritual house.”
“Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants,
And Thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
And establish Thou the work of our hands upon us
Yea, the work of our hands, establish Thou it.”
(Ps. 90:16, 17).