The union of the Lamb and His Wife, which is the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles, is proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John.

"In my Father's house there are many abodes." The house, the dwelling place of God, is a major topic of the Scriptures. The eternal house, the temple, the tabernacle of the Father is Christ—Head and Body. There is no other house of the Father.

God dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the hearts of the saints. He never again will dwell in temples made with hands. Christ is the chief Cornerstone, and we are the living stones, of the eternal Temple of God.

In Christ there are many abodes. Because there is a double abiding (we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us), both Christ and we must be prepared. A place must be prepared in Christ for us and a place must be prepared in us for Christ.

While the Lord Jesus Christ walked as a man on the earth it was impossible for us to dwell in Him or Him to dwell in us. He was not prepared and we were not prepared.

Christ went to the cross. His side was pierced, symbolizing the opening to us of the way into the House of God. He ascended into Heaven, there to sprinkle His atoning blood before the Presence of the Father. The sprinkling of the atoning blood made it possible for sinful man to enter the Most Holy Place in prayer.

By means of Christ's atoning death and triumphant resurrection, a place in Christ, in the Father's Temple, has been prepared for the believer. No such place was available prior to Christ's death and resurrection.

Now the Lord Jesus is coming to us, in the spiritual fulfillment of the Levitical Day of Atonement, in order to prepare us for His dwelling in us. Christ is our dwelling place and Christ is the Father's dwelling place.

We enter the Father's House when we enter Christ. Christ, and only Christ, is the Dwelling Place of Almighty God. By becoming a living stone in the eternal Temple that is Christ, we become an abode in the House of God.

The new Jerusalem is the eternal Tabernacle of God. There is no temple in the new Jerusalem because the glorified city itself is the House of God, the Church, the Wife of the Lamb, the fullness of Christ.

. . . I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)

The coming of the Lord begins the moment we first are drawn to the Lord Jesus by the Father, and will be fully revealed when the Lord appears in and with us at His appearing to the world. Receiving us to Himself to the extent we are able to dwell with Him where He is, in the bosom of the Father, requires the works of formation and reconciliation we have mentioned already.

The immature believers of today are hoping they suddenly will be caught up into God's Presence. It is the Father's love that prevents this from happening. Christ is a consuming Fire. Were we suddenly to be drawn into His Presence, our human personality would be burned up in a moment.

To be continued.