The Dwelling of the Holy Ghost in the Church.
Whatever intercourse God was pleased to hold with Abraham and others, we never read of God dwelling among people till they had been under the shelter and blessing of the blood of the lamb. When the people of Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, and the tabernacle was set up, with its altar and priesthood, then Jehovah said, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them.” (Exod. 29:44-4644And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office. 45And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:44‑46).) Thus God took His place among His redeemed people.
Again we read, that when Solomon had built the temple, “the cloud filled the house of Jehovah; so that the priests could not stand to minister, because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah. Then spake Solomon... I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide forever.” (1 Kings 8:10-1310And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. 12Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. (1 Kings 8:10‑13).)
In the days of our Lord, He Himself was the temple. He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up... He spake of the temple of his body.” (John 2:19, 2119Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)
21But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:21).) The Holy Ghost had come down in bodily shape as a dove, and abode upon Him, so that Jesus was then the temple of God.
But when Jesus was raised from the dead, He taught His disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Ghost, by whom they would be baptized and receive power. Therefore, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down, as a rushing mighty wind, and filled the house where they were sitting, and filled ail the waiting believers. Then the believers were, and still are, God’s dwelling place—His habitation. The appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire sitting upon each of them, plainly showed that the ministry of the word, with power, would be the special character of their testimony.
Two things, we find, then took place. The body was formed by all the believers being united to Christ and to one another, and thus became “members of his body,” and “members one of another;” there was also then a vessel on earth set in responsibility to the Lord. Both the church, or assembly, looked at as the body of Christ, and the assembly looked at as in the place of corporate responsibility to the Lord—the house, were identical at first; but it soon became otherwise.
“The body” then is formed by the Holy Ghost, and composed only of true believers: “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” It is the assembly in its true sense, that which Christ builds. We do not read in scripture of the Holy Ghost dwelling in the body, but dwelling in each individual child of God that forms the body, and energizing every activity of it, as well as dwelling in the church on earth.
But when sin came into the assembly, did the Holy Ghost leave it? Certainly not; instead of leaving it, He gave power to judge the evil and put it away. (Acts 5) And when men brought in, as at Corinth, the greatest disorder, false people, and flagrant sins, both moral and doctrinal, did the Holy Ghost leave the assembly on earth? Certainly not. For in 1 Cor. 3 the Apostle says to these very people, when looking at the assembly on earth in the place of responsibility, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” And then he solemnly adds, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” (Vers. 16, 17.) It is obvious that this responsible assembly on earth is a widely different aspect from “the assembly which is his body, the fullness of him which filleth all in all.” (Eph. 1:2323Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23).)
We find then in scripture two aspects of the church: one as God’s workmanship living members of Christ’s body, always perfect before God, which no power of evil can sever or destroy; the other, the assembly in man’s hands, into which he has brought wood, hay, and stubble, and much that denies. This is evidently the house, which is already being judged, for “judgment must first begin at the house of God; it is Christ’s witness on earth, which has proved so unfaithful that He will spew it out of His mouth. There is an important and wide difference between “the body” and “the house”—“the habitation of God through the Spirit.”
It is interesting to notice that while Peter speaks of “the house of God” as where judgment begins, he also speaks of the house in a good sense, as composed of living stones and built up “a spiritual house” a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. Paul also, who is the only inspired writer on “the body,” not only speaks of the temple in a bad sense, and capable of being defiled as we have seen, but he also uses the figure of a temple for the assembly in a good sense, as growing into an holy temple in the Lord. (1 Pet. 4:17; 2:517For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)
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 2:5); 1 Cor. 3:16, 1716Know 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 3:16‑17); Eph. 2:2121In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:21).) In this paper, however, we shall confine our remarks on the house as profession, or the assembly on earth in the aspect of what it is in man’s hands; and “the body” as God’s workmanship.
The house, as we have seen, good at first and identical with the body, is the habitation of God through the Spirit. It is not correct then to say that the Spirit is only with us when gathered together in the Lord’s name, for He is always dwelling in the whole church; but it is quite true that the Lord, who loved us and gave Himself for us, is specially present when so gathered in His name. Neither is it scriptural to say that when thus gathered we wait on the Spirit; but it would be truer to say that we wait on the Lord who acts among us and in us by the Spirit. Of this we have examples in scripture. In the epistles to the seven churches in the Revelation, the Lord is the speaker, and the One who gave John authority to write to the different assemblies, and yet they were all enjoined to hearken to what the Spirit was saying to every one of the assemblies. Seven times it is said, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches or assembles. Again, in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts, we find saints who were before the Lord, looking to Him, for we are told that they “ministered to the Lord and fasted” and then and there “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” May we not then, if waiting on the Lord, expect the guidance of the Holy Ghost?
Scripture speaks of each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ having the Holy Ghost, and a member of the body of Christ; but when we consider the indwelling of the Holy Ghost collectively, we have a sphere wider now than the “one body,” for a state is contemplated where there are bad materials as well as good, such as wood, hay, and stubble, as well as gold, silver, and precious stones. It is that too which man is capable of defiling, and which is going to be judged—the house. We find these two aspects of the church constantly recognized in the epistles. 1. What it is in the Lord’s hands, what He has formed for His glory, called “the church,” or assembly, “which is His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” (Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22).) Here there is no failure, and can be no separation, it is always intact before God, and by faith to us also. 2. What the church is in man’s hands as God’s laborers and workmen who have brought in bad materials, and much that is for the Lord’s dishonor. This is what we understand by the house. Those who have been baptized by the Holy Ghost and thus united to Christ are in the “one body;” but those who are merely professors belong to the house. We are all in the house, and are called, at the discovery of being associated with vessels to dishonor, not to leave the house (how can we till Christ comes?) but to purge ourselves from such vessels by separating from them.
It has been sometimes said, Can it be possible that the Holy Spirit dwells where there is evil? It is not an unreasonable question, and one which is easily answered. Going back to the time of God’s dwelling among the people of Israel, did He leave them when evil came in? He might rebuke it, as He surely did, and execute discipline; but notwithstanding all this unbelief, their lustings, murmurings, and rebellions, the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day remained “with them throughout all the journey.” We read, “Thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest, them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withholdest not Thy name from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness.” (Exod. 40:3838For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:38); Neh. 9:19-2119Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. 20Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. 21Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. (Nehemiah 9:19‑21).) Even after ten tribes had been given into their enemies hands, and a handful of the two tribes who had been in captivity returned in Ezra’s time, the word of the prophet Haggai to them was, “I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you, when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you; fear ye not.” Again. Look at an individual believer; does the Spirit leave him who has, like the Galatians, got away from the ground of divine grace, and who is practically manifesting the works of the flesh? On the contrary, did not Paul appeal to their consciences by this very truth, saying, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” That the Spirit may be so grieved and quenched, that there may be little consciousness of His indwelling and power, no one doubts; but the clear teaching of scripture is that each believer is sealed with the holy Spirit of promise until he is brought home to glory. (See Eph. 1:14; 4:3014Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)
30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30).) Even when a believer sins, does the Holy Ghost leave him? Though we are enjoined not to sin, yet where is there an idea in scripture that the Holy Ghost leaves the believer because he sins? Are we not told that “If any man [child of God] sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”? And in connection with His gracious Advocacy, does not the Holy Spirit in the believer lead him to self-judgment, and confession of his sins? No doubt the Spirit of God is “holy,” and cannot look on evil with any allowance, yet, as born of the Spirit, and cleansed and perfected forever by the one offering of the body of Christ, the child of God must ever be an object of His gracious ministry and care.
And if so with the individual believer, why should we expect Him to leave God’s church on earth because of its evil associations and dishonor to the Lord? On the contrary, does He not rebuke the evil, enable the faithful soul to discern it, and to purge himself from vessels to dishonor by separating from them? All through the dark ages, His power was seen every now and then put forth. His habitation on earth is His habitation still. That the Holy Ghost remains among us is a most cheering and encouraging truth. Having been given consequent upon the accomplished work and glorification of Jesus, He abides, and will do so until the members of the body are taken to glory at the coming of the Lord. Then that which remains behind will be judicially dealt with. Η. H. S.