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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Mystery of the Gospel, continued
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (I Peter 2:5—NIV)
The purpose of having Christ formed in us, of bringing us to spiritual maturity, is to create a house, a resting place, for the Father and Christ.
"What house will you build Me? What is the place of My rest?" In this question we find the central purpose for the creating of man as a race distinct from the other creatures of God.
God needs a house, a place of rest for Himself. Only Jesus Christ meets the specifications for the eternal house of God. Therefore God dwells in His fullness in Christ.
But in God's House there is not just the chief Cornerstone there are many places of abode for God, many living stones. The Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, is composed of these numerous places of abode. This is the mystery of the Gospel—Christ in us, the hope of the Glory that will be revealed when we all have been brought to the unity of the faith, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Are you with me thus far? Isn't God's plan stupendous?
As far as I know, the first indication of God's intention appeared soon after the Jews left Egypt.
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. (Exodus 15:17—NIV)
"The place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling."
Think about this. We are speaking of a dwelling place for God.
When the Lord Jesus spoke of many rooms in the Father's house we, being self-centered, began to plan on going to a mansion in Paradise. The emphasis is not on a mansion for us, the emphasis is on the Father's house. This is what is important.
The Lord Jesus returns to us in the Spirit and brings us to where He is in the Father. Jesus is the way to the Father. We need to get more concerned about the Father's need for a house and place of rest than we are about having a mansion and a backyard full of diamonds. Do you agree?
The place You made for Your dwelling. This is what is important.
A little further in Exodus we find these words:
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8—NIV)
For whom was the Tabernacle of the Congregation prepared? For God!
Then in the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Leviticus we find seven feasts of the Lord. The fourth feast, as we have said, is Pentecost. The last and greatest of the feasts is that of Tabernacles, or Booths. This tells us that the program of salvation will proceed past Pentecost until a house, a booth, has been prepared for the Lord.
This is where we are today. God is ready to move past Pentecost.
The following passage reveals that the purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Body of Christ is to prepare a house for God, a place of rest for Him.
When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious—that you, O LORD God, might dwell there. (Psalms 68:17—NIV)
To be continued.