Will you please turn to Exodus, Chapter 25?
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it.
Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch of the temple, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper rooms thereof, and of the inner chambers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat;
And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Rooted and builded up in Him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together again this morning. We believe that Thou hast something to say to us.
We acknowledge that in ourselves there is no ability. When we touch spiritual things, we are lost. So we are totally at Your mercy.
Lord, we look to Thee to grant to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We look to Thee to open the eyes of our heart.
We pray that Thou wilt create within us a thirst and hunger for Thyself. Take away from us anything that may be a veil upon our heart. We pray that Thy light, the word of Thy light, will shine into our heart.
Give us vision. Draw us after Thyself, that by Thy grace we may touch reality this morning. Deliver us from anything that is superficial.
Lord, we want Thee and Thee alone. Fill our hearts with Thyself. Draw us closer to Thee. Prepare us for Thy return.
We ask in the name of our dear Lord Jesus. Amen.
Yesterday morning we mentioned that it is God’s desire to have a house. He who created the heaven and the earth is not satisfied in His heart. He is looking for a house for Himself, and He wants to dwell among men.
But in order that man may be His house, there is much work that has to be done. Not only must He bring us back to Himself; He must work within us to recreate us, so that we may be fitted to be His house, that He may dwell at rest among us.
We also mentioned yesterday morning that we need to ask the Lord to create within us the same desire, that we may desire what God desires. If it is His desire to have such a house, and we are that house, then the same desire should grasp our hearts.
We need to respond to God. We need to offer ourselves totally to Him and ask Him to transform us and conform us to the image of His beloved Son, transforming us from Jacob to Israel, so that our God may rest among His people and we too may rest in Him.
This morning we would like to go a step further. We would like to consider together this matter of the pattern of the house of God.
The house of God has a pattern. Whenever you want to build a house, the first thing you do is draw a blueprint. You do not just randomly put things together and build without any plan or blueprint.
If it is a house of importance, then it is extremely important to have the layout beforehand. So, when you think of building a house, the first thing that comes to you is this matter of the pattern.
Our God is the greatest Architect in the whole universe. It is so evident when you look at the heavens and the earth and all the things that He has created. You can see His wisdom, His power, and His divine nature. He builds everything that it may glorify Himself.
In this matter of the new creation, you find that He does an even greater work in the building of the house of God. We believe that He must have a pattern. He must have laid down His plan beforehand.
This is illustrated again and again in the Old Testament.
We remember the children of Israel. They were God’s chosen people, and at that time they were slaves in Egypt. But God sent Moses to deliver them out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai.
In Exodus 19, God said, “I brought you to Myself, as on eagles’ wings.” If they would keep His covenant, He would make them a people of His own possession. Out of all the nations, He would separate them unto Himself. They would be His people, and He would be their God.
God gave them the Ten Commandments. Why did God give the children of Israel the Ten Commandments? He gave them the commandments in order to make them His own people, to separate them from all the nations. By keeping the law, they would become God’s own possession.
As God revealed the law to the children of Israel, He began to reveal something else. When we read the book of Exodus, we often think that Moses went up to the mount only to receive the law. Indeed, he did receive the law from God, but more important than the law, God revealed to Moses His heart’s desire: “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
The law was only a preparation. It was given to prepare the people and make them ready for His coming. The purpose was not the law; the purpose was the sanctuary. The law was given to prepare them so that God could dwell among them.
The real purpose of the deliverance of the children of Israel was that God wanted to dwell among them. If you read the book of Exodus, you will find that only five chapters are devoted to the law, while seven chapters are devoted to the tabernacle. God’s purpose is to dwell among His people.
Even with the law, though they were separated from all the nations, they were not holy enough for God to dwell directly among them. Therefore, God asked them to prepare Him a house, a tabernacle, so that He might dwell among them through the tabernacle.
God not only revealed to Moses that they should build Him a tabernacle; He revealed every detail of that tabernacle. God showed Moses a pattern on the mount, because everything was patterned after the heavenly reality. The tabernacle Moses was to build was a physical replica of the spiritual reality in heaven.
God gave Moses all the details—not only the materials, but also the measurements, the weight, and the form of everything. Then God warned Moses again and again that he must build everything according to the pattern on the mount.
Moses had been raised in the Egyptian palace and had learned all the learning of Egypt. He was mighty in words and deeds. Moses was a great architect. Egypt was already famous for its architectural achievements; look at the pyramids. They are not only majestic, but they are also astronomical wonders.
Moses was well learned in building. God could simply have said, “Moses, build Me a tabernacle,” and Moses might have said, “That is easy.” Surely he could have built something beautiful. But instead, God gave Moses every detail. He would not allow Moses to use his own wisdom to change anything.
God wanted Moses to do everything according to the pattern on the mount. We know that Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Where was his faithfulness? He was faithful in following every order of God. He did not deviate from anything, and he did not change anything.
This must have been difficult for Moses, because he certainly had brilliant ideas. Yet this was the humility and meekness of Moses: he built everything according to the pattern revealed to him.
When we come to the last chapter of Exodus, we find that the tabernacle was set up according to God’s command, and every utensil was placed in order. Then the glory of the Lord descended upon the tabernacle and took possession of that house. God claimed the house as His own, and God came into rest.
You find this repeated again in the building of the temple. David had a heart for God. He wanted to build God a more permanent house.
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they had to travel continually. They could not have a permanent building, and the tabernacle moved with them. In other words, God moved with them.
But after the children of Israel entered the promised land, it was God’s will that there should be a settled place, something more permanent. Yet for hundreds of years, the place was unknown and God’s ark remained in the tabernacle. It was largely ignored.
It was not until David that someone afflicted himself because he wanted very much to find God a settled place, a habitation for God Himself. Although David was not allowed to build the temple because he was a man of war and had shed much blood, God told him that his son would build it.
Because David’s heart was toward God and toward God’s house, the pattern of the temple was revealed not to Solomon but to David. By His Spirit, God showed David all the details of the coming temple. God’s hand was upon him, guiding his hand to draw the blueprint.
David commanded his son Solomon to build the temple according to the pattern revealed to him by the Spirit of God. Solomon was the wisest of all men, but his wisdom was to follow faithfully the pattern revealed to his father.
After the temple was built, Solomon prayed, “The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built.” Yet he asked that God would set His name there, that His eyes and ears would be upon that house, and that whenever the people prayed toward the temple, God would hear and answer.
After he prayed, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, and the glory of God filled the house, because everything had been done according to the pattern.
We know the history. Gradually, the children of Israel rebelled against God. Even Solomon, in his later years, seemed to deviate. The children of Israel began to worship idols. God sent His prophets to bring them back to their senses, but they persisted in their rebellion.
Finally, God allowed His temple to be destroyed and allowed the children of Israel to be taken into Babylonian captivity. Physical things are not the reality. If they begin to misrepresent God and to rebel against reality, God would rather see the temple destroyed.
Yet God, in His mercy, promised that after seventy years of captivity He would allow them to return. In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the children of Israel were allowed to return from Babylonian captivity.
But only a remnant returned. Most of the children of Israel preferred to remain in captivity because they had built up their businesses and homes and had been given a considerable degree of freedom.
During that period, the system of synagogues developed. If ten men were willing to give some time to God and were of one mind, they could organize a synagogue. They would read the Torah and the prophets, sing, pray, and there was liberty for people to give a message.
Religiously, they had almost everything they needed. The one thing they could not do was offer sacrifices; and without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. So most people remained in Babylon, while only a remnant whose hearts were stirred by God returned to Jerusalem because they were concerned for the name of God.
In difficult days, they rebuilt the temple. Later, during the time of Christ, this temple had been greatly enlarged. It was glorious, adorned with beautiful stones and gifts from all the world. There were priests, sacrifices, and scribes who made the study of the Scriptures their life.
But in actuality, it was not so glorious. In the second temple, something most essential was lacking. First, there was no ark. In the holy of holies, there was nothing.
The ark is the center of the tabernacle. It is where the glory of God rested upon the mercy seat and where He spoke to His people. Yet in the second temple there was no ark.
There was also no glory. The glory of God did not descend upon that temple. There was no fire from heaven, and the high priest did not have the Urim and Thummim. In other words, they could not find the will of God.
All the most fundamental things were lacking. It was an empty temple. Everything went on as usual, but there was no reality there.
But thank God, in the fullness of time, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
When our Lord Jesus came upon this earth, there was a temple which was supposed to be the Father’s house. But they had already made it a house of merchandise. You remember that our Lord cleansed the temple twice: at the beginning of His ministry and toward the end of His ministry. The temple was unclean.
But where was the reality of the house of God? The reality was in our Lord Jesus. He was the real temple of God, the house of God at that time. The glory of God was with Him. He was Emmanuel, God with man.
Throughout His days on earth, people looked to the physical temple, but the reality was in this Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God-man. Three times during His earthly days, heaven opened and the heavenly Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Unfortunately, the children of Israel had their eyes upon the physical, the material, and the external. They gloried in their temple, but they did not see the reality in Christ. They even rejected Him.
In John 2, when the Lord cleansed the temple, they challenged Him. The Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He spoke of His body, because His body is the real temple of God. God dwelt there and found His rest there.
They destroyed His body. They crucified Him, and He was buried. But on the third day, He rose from the dead. For forty days He appeared to His people, and then He ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, waiting until all His enemies are made His footstool.
On the day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem. They prayed for ten days and prepared themselves for the power from on high. Then the Holy Spirit came into this world. In one Spirit they were baptized into one body.
From that day onward, the house of God has been upon the earth, because all who belong to the Lord are being brought into one body. Christ is the Head, and the church is His body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
Gradually, God added many to this body, and the body is still growing. Thank God, by His grace we are in that body. The church on earth is the house of God.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither bondman nor freeman. All these earthly distinctions are gone. It is Christ, all and in all.
What is the church? The church is the body of Christ. The Head is in heaven, but through the body the Head continues to speak and to work.
Now we would like to ask one question. If, in the types and shadows, God revealed a pattern for the tabernacle and for the temple, where is the pattern for the church, for the house of God in reality?
Is not the reality more important than the shadow? Can you believe that God would reveal His pattern for the shadow but not for the reality?
There are different ideas about this matter. Many people think that the church, the real house of God on earth today, has no pattern. They say that the early church was very simple, with almost no organization, and that it was merely primitive.
They say that, as time went on, the church developed because it is a product of history. They look at the early church and say, “How could it be maintained without organization?” Then they look at church history and see increasing development.
They point to the Roman Catholic Church and say that it has become a country above countries, a tremendous tree, a great institution. They consider this development the glory and success of the church. They say the church has no pattern; it simply develops through history.
But, brothers and sisters, is the church the product of history? Is the church the expression of the ingenuity of men? If it is of men, surely men should organize it. But if it is of God, if it is God’s house, can you believe that God does not give us His pattern?
Others say that the church does have a pattern and that we can find it in the Old Testament, just as God gave the pattern for the tabernacle and the temple. But in a very real sense, Christianity today is increasingly going back to the Old Testament.
Judaism was the development of a living faith. In the beginning it was living faith, but gradually the Jewish people developed it into a system. In Paul’s time, the Judaizers were already a great problem. They tried to twist the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Finally, they succeeded—not only in Judaism, but in Christianity. Consider the distinctive features of Judaism. They had a system of law. Today, we develop creeds. People say that you cannot have a church without a creed, as though the Bible itself is not enough.
In Judaism, there was a definite place of worship. The Jews went to Jerusalem to worship. Yet the Lord said that God must be worshiped in spirit and truth. Today Christianity also has its designated places of worship, treated as sacred places or temples, as though one must go there in order to worship.
In Judaism there was also a holy priesthood, a family set apart to serve God exclusively, while others were considered laymen and could not come directly to God. Do we not find the same thing in Christianity—a specially trained group treated as a sacred class, while the rest simply support them?
When I was a boy, I was raised in the Methodist Church. At that time, pastors did not wear robes and all these extras. But today they do. Where did they get the clue? From the Old Testament.
If you do not have a choir, some people think you do not have a church. Where did they get that idea? From the Old Testament. In everything, gradually, we are going back to the Old Testament.
If we have lost the reality, we grasp the shadow. Is that not sad?
There are some people who say that we should not find a pattern in the Old Testament because that is only a shadow; we should find it in the New Testament. In the 1960s, there was quite a movement to build “New Testament churches.”
How do you build a New Testament church? Where do you find a pattern for it? People read the book of Acts and find that elders were appointed and deacons were chosen. Then they say, “If we have elders, deacons, and laity, we can organize a church.”
Suppose there are ten people. They may say that there must be two elders, perhaps three deacons, and five laymen. Then, they say, “Now we have a New Testament church.” You may laugh, but it did happen, and it was a disaster.
Everything may be according to the New Testament outwardly, but it does not come out as a New Testament church. People began to wonder why.
The church is a spiritual house. It is not something material or physical. It is spiritual in nature, heavenly in nature, and of life. That is the reality of the church.
It is true that the Bible has organization. Some people say that the church has no organization; that is wrong. Others say that the church is all organization; that also is wrong. The church is the body of Christ—an organism.
Basically, it is an organism, not an organization. But does an organism have no organization? No. An organism has organization, and it is even more orderly. Look at your body: it is wonderfully organized. But this organization comes out of life; it comes out of the growth of life. It is not something added on. It is living, not dead.
Where, then, can we find the pattern of the church today? When you open the New Testament, what do you find? You find the four Gospels, followed by the book of Acts. The book of Acts tells us of the church, the house of God on earth today. The Gospels tell us of our Lord Jesus.
Is this not the clue? Where is the pattern of the church? The pattern of the church is in a Person. It is not in rules or regulations. It is not in outward organization. All these are temporary.
The pattern of the church is a living Person. It is the living Christ. He is the pattern of the church. The body is patterned after the Head. The body is the fullness of the Head.
That is why 1 Corinthians 12:12 says that the body is one and has many members, and that there are many members but one body; “so also is the Christ.” We may think there is a mistake and that it should say, “So also is the church.” But the Holy Spirit made no mistake.
“So also is the Christ.” In other words, His body is Christ in His corporate expression. Every member of that body belongs to Christ. Every member of the body is Christ formed in them—Christ in you and Christ in me.
When Christ in every one of us is joined together in the Spirit, there you have the church. There is the pattern.
The church is the church of the living God. Many years ago, I visited Westminster Abbey, and the impression it left on me was that it is a church of the dead. But the church is the church of the living God.
We have a pattern. It is the heavenly pattern. It is the spiritual pattern. It is the pattern of the living Christ. As Christ is, so is the church—nothing more and nothing less.
Everything that is not of Christ is not in the church. Wherever there is only Christ, there you find the church. Every item and every detail must follow Christ—not according to the world and not according to man, but according to Christ.
Only then will the glory of the Lord fill the house. There will be the presence of God, and He will reveal His mind.
When we think of the building of the church, let us not look to the world and try to imitate the world. Let us not look to ourselves, as though everything can be solved by our wisdom. Let us not look for philosophy, as though these things are reality.
Only in Christ is the reality. The more you know Him, the more you are built into the house of God. You know Him not merely mentally; you know Him in life and in the Spirit.
In the measure of your living knowledge of Christ, you will be built into the house of God. It is extremely spiritual, extremely heavenly, totally of life, and wholly of Christ.
What a responsibility we have today. The beauty of the house of God depends upon our living knowledge of Christ. How much do we know Him experimentally? How much do we know Him in life? How much do we allow the Spirit of God to transform us? How much are we conformed to His image?
The image of the church is Christ. If that is the case, it is very living. It is not rigid or merely formal. As the life grows, the church grows.
Thank God, He has given us that pattern. May we do all things according to the pattern revealed to us.
Dear Lord, as we wait upon Thee, do reveal. It pleased the Father to reveal the Son in me. Wilt Thou not please do it this morning?
We give Thee all the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.