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THE HOUSE OF GOD :

TRACED THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

BY

EDWARD DENNETT

REPRINTED FROM

“THE CHRISTIAN FRIEND AND INSTRUCTOR”

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1 JOHN

1 JOHN 1:3 29

REVELATION

3439

5,7,40-44

MALACHI

MAL3:1

MATTHEW

MATI 16:16-18MATI 21MATI 21:12.13MATI 23:38MATI 23:38.39MATI2S:14

LUKE

LUKE 2:22,24LUKE 14:16.17LUKE 19:12LUKE 20:23LUKE 24:49

JOHN

JOHN 2JOHN 2:13-16JOHN 2:19-21JOHN 20

ACTS

ACI'S 1:4,5ACI'S2:1-4ACI'S2:2ACI'S2:4ACI'S2:5ACI'S 2:16-21ACI'S 2:22-32ACI'S 2:33·36ACI'S 2:37-39ACI'S2:42ACI'S2:47ACI'S 10ACI'S22:16ACI'S28

ROMANS

ROM 1:2ROM 5:2ROM 6:3ROM 10:1-5

44

1936181836

370

1427372619

36018

9,1917

19194627232424242S28

21,22272631

35272S34

1 CORINTHIANS

1 COR 1:21 COR 31 COR 41 COR 61 COR 6:191 COR 10:1-51 COR 10:32

2 CORINTHIANS

2 COR 12COR6

EPHESIANS

EPH 1EPH 1:3.4EPH 1:22,23EPH 2:10EPH 2:11·13EPH2:19-22EPH2:22

COLOSSIANS

COLICOL 2:20

2 TIMOTHY

211M211M 2:16-18211M2:19-22

HEBREWS

HEB 3.4

1 PETER

1 PET 2:5

REV 1REV 18:8REV 21

3529,43

3441,43

203423

2741,43

274

41370

2740ff

20

3526

394040

35

28

THE HOUSE OF GOD:

TRACED THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES.

BY

EDWARD DE..YNETT.

UPRINTED FROK

"THE eHB/STUN FRIEND AND IGSTBUt-70Il.·

Made and Printed in USA2010

PRESENT TRUTH PUBLISHERSpTp~~~~~~~~~~~

825 HARM:ONY ROAD· JACKSON I\~ 08527 • USA

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SCRIPTURE INDEX

TABLE OF CONTENTSGENESIS 1 CHRONICLES

GEN3:8 3 1 CHRON9:33 28

The Tabernacle in the wilderness 7 GEN3:15 4 1 CHRON 28:11.12 11

The Temple of Solomon 10 EXODUS 2 CHRONICLESThe Temple after the Return from Babylon 15 EX 15 5 2 CHRON 2:4-6 10The Church: Acts 2 18 EX2S:2.8 4 2 CHRON 3:3 11The Church as built by Man: 1 Cor 3 29 EX2S:8 46 2 CHRON 5 21

The Final Aspect of the Church:EX2S:22 8 2 CHRON 5:1-7.10 12EX 29 5,6 2 CHRON 5:11-14 12

Eph 2:19·22; Rev. 21:2,3 40 EX 29:42,44 8 2CHRON5:14 46Scripture Index 47 EX 39 27 2 CHRON 6:41,42 &

.EX 40 5,21 2CHRON7:1 17EX 40:34.35 7 2 CHRON 7:1,2 13

• • • • • LEVITICUS 2 CHRON 26 152 CHRON 36:16-19ff 44

LEV 11:44 9 2 CHRON 36:21 15LEV 14 29 EZRA

This Table of Contents and also the Scripture Index on pp. LEV 16 7

NUMBERS EZRA 1:l.2 1547.48 have been added to this dlion which is photo-offset EZRA 3:10-13 16printed from the W. H. Broom edition, n.d. NUM5:1·3 9 EZRA 6:15-22 17

NUM29: 11 PSALMSDEUTERONOMY PSA 78:60,61 43

DEUT16 14.15 PSA 80:1 7

JOSHUA PSA 122:3,4 14PSA 132 13

JOSH 18:1 10.43 PSA 134 14

1 SAMUEL ISAIAH

1 SAM 1:3 10 ISA 66:1-6 451 SAM 2:22 10 LAMENTATIONS1 SAM 3:3,15 101 SAM 4:4 7 LAM 2:15 16

2 SAMUEL EZEKIEL

2 SAM 7:6 10EZEK37:27 44EZEK40-42 45

1 KINGS EZEK43:2-7 46

1 KINGS 6:7 20EZEK45:35 46

HAGGAI

HAG 2:9 17

46 THB BOUSB or GOD.

peet is toward the east. So the Spirit took me up, andbrought me into the inner court; and, behold, the gloryof the Lord filled the house." (Compare Exod. xl 35;2 Cbron. v. 14; .Acts ii. 2.) If .And I heard him speak­ing unto me out of the house; and the man stood byme. .And He said unto me, Son ~f man, the place ofmy throne, and tbe place of the soles of my feet, whereI will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no moredefile," &eo (Ezek. xliii. 2-7; see also chaps. xliv. xlv.)

We thus see that God has had, and will have, Hishabitation on earth in every age or dispensation on theground of redemption. Having brought His people outof Egypt, He spake to Moses, saying, If Let them makeme a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."(Exod. xxv. 8.) Thence onward, as we have traced fromthe Scriptures, He continued to dwell on the earth.The temple took the place of the ta~rnacle, the Church.superseded the temple, the temple will once more be re­built in the millennium; and last of all, when theformer things have passed away, and all the purposes ofGod in grace and redemption have been accomplished,the Church is seen on the new earth as the tabernacleof God. The same thought, in one aspect, is expressedby the house in every dispenSation; viz., God's joY, insurrounding Himself with His redeemed people, andGod's delight in being the source of their joy and theobject of their adoration and praise. His habitationson earth, however, are but the anticipations of His per­fected house in the etern&l state-of that temple whichis even now silently growing, as stone after stone is laidin their appointed place upon the living Foundation,and which, when completed, will, after the close of allearthly dispensations, become His tabernacle throughouteternity. .

l.onclOll: W. B. Broom, 23,Pa~ eq.......

THE HOUSE OF GOD.

L

THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDEBNESS.

MANy questions having been addressed to us concern­ing the formation, limits, &c., of the house of God,we propose, if the Lord will, to trace out the subject,in several successive papers, from the word of God.There is really no difficulty, if our minds are butsubject to the Scriptures, and our hope is that someat least may be helped to a clearer understanding ofthe question by a dispassionate presentation of theteaching of the Spirit of God.

It is evident to every reader of the Bible that Goddid not, in any sense, dwell on earth before the re­demption of Israel out of Egypt. He visited .Adam inparadise, and walked in the garden in the cool of theday (Gen. iii. 8); He appeared to .Abraham, Isaac, andJacob, and communicated freely with them. In likemanner He revealed Himself to Moses in the desert,.atthe mount of God, when He commissioned him toreturn to Egypt as the deliverer of His people; butsearch the record as closely as you .may, not a trace isfound so far of His having a habitation on the earth.But after the redemption from Egypt the Lord said toMoses, .. Speak unto the children of Israel, that theybring me an offering: of every man that giveth itwillingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.. . •

4 THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE 0' GOD. 45

And let them make me a sanctuary j that I may dwellalDong them." (Exodus xxv. 2, 8.)·

The thought of dwelling in ihe midst of His peoplecame thus first from God Himself. And this is inharmony with His own purposes of grace in redemp­tion. We read that the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ II hath chosen us in Him before the founda­tion of the world. that we should be holy and withoutblame before Him in lave." (Eph. i 3, 4.) In that pastf'temity God dwelt in the perfection of His own bliss;but in the fulnessof His grace and love He purposedto surround Himself with a redeemed people thatshould be for His own joy, and for the glory of Hisbeloved Son-a people who should find thf'ir joy in thepresence of Him who bad redeemed them. and re­deemed them at the infinite cost of the death of Hisonly begotten Son. This purpose was first declared, inits germ at least, in Eden, on the failure of Adam as theresponsible man. (Gen. iii, 15.) Consequent upon hissin and judgment God announced the Mau of Hiscounsels, the One in and by whom all the purpo8PS ofHis heart were to be accomplished, in the redemption ofthose who were to be conformed to the image of His Son,that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.(Rom. viii. 29, 30.) Gradually His purposes were un­folded in ty~s and shadows, in His ways with Abel,Enoch, Noah. and the patriarchs, aud finally in thedeliverance of the children of Israel, on the ground ofthe sprinkled blood of the Passover lamb, out of Egypt,

• This is really the flnt mention of a dwelling for God 011 earth.'l'he words in E:r.odUII :ltv., .. I will prepare Him a habitation." areoften cited, but the reading is very doubtful. The Septuagint,Vulgate, Luther, and the French VlII'lIiOIl, all agree in I'llDdering it-" He is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father', God, and Iwill aalt Him."

result of the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ.John the Baptist had aunounced our Lord as theLamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world;and here we find that the work is done. Hence weread, .. And God shall wipe away all tears from theireyes; and there shall he no more death, neithersorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any morepain: for the former things are passed away." Sinhaving been put away, death, its bitter fruit, with allits sorrows, has also disappeared; and thus God has forever wiped away the tears of His people. A furtherconsequence, moreover, is that He can now dwell in thisperfec.t way in the midst of the redeemed. He is nowall in all; He Himself in all that He is, as Father, Son,and Holy Ghost, fills the scene, the eternal source ofthe eternal happiness of His glorified saints.

Such is the final revelation of the Church as God'sdwelling-place. But during the thousand years, aftertlie Church has been caught up in the clouds to meetthe Lord in the air, God will once more dwell upon theearth. The temple will first be rebuilt in unbelief, andnot be owned by the Lord (see lea. b:vi. 1-6); but thiswill be superseded by one built by divine direction~,

and accordiog to divine measurements. (See Ezek.xl.-xlii) To this God returns, as seen in vision by theprophet: "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israelcame from the way of the east: and His voice was likea noise of many waters: and the earth shined with Hisglory. And it was according to the appearance of thevision which I saw, even according to the vision that Isaw when I came to destroy the city: and the visionswere like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar;and I fell upon my. face. And the glory of the Lordcame into the house. by the way of the gate whose pro&-

44 THE BOUSll: OJ' GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 5

the messengers of God, and despised His words, andmisused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord aroseagainst His people till there was no remedy. ThereforeHe brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, whoslew their young men with the sword in the house oftheir sanctuary. . . And all the vessels of the house ofGod, gre!lt and small, and the treasures of the house ofthe Lord, and the treasures of 'the king and of hisprinces; all these he brought to Babylon. And theyburnt the house of God," &e. (2 Chron. xxxvi 16-19.)After seventy years the remnant that returned fromBabylon built again the house of the Lord; but whenHe suddenly came to His temple (Mal. iii. 1), Hispeople refused and crucified Him, and finally this temple,together with Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans.

God could not therefore dwell in the midst of Hispeople, as He desired. Accordingly we find the prophetEzekiel, speaking of a future time when Israel shallhave been restored to their own land, and when the trueDavid shall be king over them, delivering this message­CI My tabernacle alsO shall be with them: yea, I will betheir God, and they shall be my people" (Ezek. xxxvii.27); and this promise was not more than partially ful­filled. It is evident therefore that the term tabernacle inRev'. xxi. has reference to these scriptures; that, in fact,the first outward expression of God's purpose to have Biseternal habitation in the midst of His people is seen inIsrael's encampment; that His tabernacle in the wilder­ness, surrounded by the twelve tribes, was both a typeand a prophecy, and that once again the more perfecthabitation of the millennium becatne also a figure ofHis perfected tabernacle in eternity.

The scene therefore in Rev. xxi is the consummationof God's eternal purpcses of grace, and hence the full

and from the claims and power of Satan, as well asfrom death and judgment, as set forth in their passagethrough the Red Sea. Henceforward they were a re­deemed people. The Lord had become their strengthaud song, and their salvation. In His merey He hadled forth the people which He had redeemed; He hadguided them in His strength unto His holy habitation.(See Exodus xv.),

Having now chosen and redeemed a people for Him­self, the Lord announces, as we have shown, His desireto come and dwell among them. And it will beseen in due time that His taking up His abode in themidst of Israel, while it indicated the whole truth ofredemption, was but a shadow of the fulfilment of Hisentire counsels of grace in eternity; that, in a word, theencampment in the wilderness was but an anticipationof the time when, after the appearance of the newheaven and the new earth, the tabernacle of. God (theChurch, the holy city, new ~erusalem, prepared as abride adomed for her busband-the Lamb's wife) shallbe with men, and He shall dwell with them, and theyshall be His people, and God Himself shall be withthem, their God. (Rev. xxi) The erection of the taber­nacle in the wilderness was the response to the Lord'scommand to:Moses. The people offered willingly; forthe Lord had stirred up their hearts, and the tabernaclewas made in all things according to the pattern whichhad been shown to Moses in the mount, even as theLord had commanded him. (See Exodus xl.)

There are two things especially to be considered.The first is the ground on which God took up Hisabode in the midst of His people. This is made veryclear from Exodus xxix. Aftn' the directions had beengiven for the construction of those sacred vessels and

6 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 'J'IR BOUD OY GOD.

the furniture which set forth in type and figure somedisplay or manifestation of God, and after the con­t'ecration of the priests who were to act for God inJDinistry on behalf of the people, and before thedirections are given for the vessels oJ. approach-thosevessels which were necessary for drawing near to God-there is a break, a parenthesis. And this is occupiedwith directions concerning the continual burnt-offering.Thereon it is added, .. The tabernacle shall be sanctifiedby my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle ofthe congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify alsoboth Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in thepriest's office. .And I will dwell among tM children ofIsrael, and will. be their God. And they shall knowthat I am the Lord their God, that brought them forthout of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell amongthem: I am the Lord their God." (w. 38-46.)

This account shows three things most clearly. First,that the ground on which Jehovah was able to dwellwith His people was the perpetual ascension of thefragrance of Christ as the burnt-offering. Typicallythe children of Israel had been redeemed, and now invirtue of the continual burnt-offering they stood beforeGod in all the acceptance of Christ. Hence Jehovahcould dwell in their midst. Secondly, as a furtherconsequence, the tabernacle was sanctified by Hisglory-the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests alikewere claimed in virtue of the same sacrifice, andset apart to God according to all that He was as re­vealed-the claims of His glory having now been met,that glory became also from that moment the standardfor everything devoted to His service. Thirdly, thepeople should know the One who dwells in their midstas the On~ who had brought them out of Egypt, as, in

house, temple, and tabernacle. The term ..house," aswill be apparent to the most simple reader, alwayecarries with it the idea of a dwelling-place. The Churchas the house of God is thus Hie habitation~lIi8 habi­tation on earth, as cannot be too frequently JeCa11ed.The thought connected with ;, temple" in the threeplaces in which it is found (1 Cor. iii., vi.j 2 Cor. vi.)is that of holinese j as for example, "The temple of Godis holy, which temple ye are." But what conetitotes theholiness of the temple is the fact of the divine presence,and then, together with that, theIe may be perhapsassociated the further thought of what is due to theOne whose temple it is. God, who inhabits the temple,is holy, and those who form it muat be loly, as ipdeedwe read in the PWme, .. Holin8B8 becometh Thine house,o Lord, for ever." And again, .. Worship the Lord inthe beauty of holinesa." Then there is doubtless avery special reason for the use of the wOl'd taber­nacle in Rev. xxi. The language 1IlIEId supplies thekey. Turning back to Leviticus we read, .. I will aetmy tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhoryou. And I will walk among you, and will be yourGod, and ye shall be my people." (xxvi. 11, 12.) Thiswas the desire of God's heart-a desire which for thetime was frustrated by the sin and iniquity of Hispeople. Thus He .. fonook the tabemacle of Shiloh"(see Joabua xviii. 1), "the tent which He placed amongmen, and delivered Hie strength into captivity, and Hisglory into the enemy's hand." (Pa. lxxviii. 60. 61.) Andafter that Solomon's temple had been built, tJie Lordspake by Jeremiah concerning it, "Then will I makethis house like Shiloh, and will make this city a CIlI88

to all the natious of the euth." (Chap. xxvi. 6.) TheLord was faithful to Hie word. for His people .. mocked

42 TO BOUSB 0.. GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 7or any such thing; but that ·it should be holy andwithout blemish.

If we now turn once again to Rev. xxL we shall findthe same two aspecte-the Church as the bride ofOhrist, and as the tabernacle (not here the temple) ofGod. ..And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as abride adomed for her husband. And I heard a greatvoice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle ofGod is with men, and He will dwell with them, andthey shall be His people, and God Himself shall bewith them, their God" (w. 2, 3.) The first heavenand the first earth had now passed. away, and anew heaven and a new earth had come into existenceat the word of God;. a scene in which righteousnesscould eternally dwelL The new creation, in a word,both within and without, had been consummated. TheChurch, the Bride, the Lamb's wife, which had beenassociated with Him in the heavens, in the perfectenjoyment of the intimacy of His love, now descendsupon the new earth, and in connection with this it isthat the proclamation is made, .. Behold, the tabernacleof God is with men." On earth it had been Hishabitation through the Spirit, and now, completed asthe temple, it has become His tabemacle for etemity, aspecial privilege, which the saints of other dispensa­tions--" the men" of this scripture, blessed to the full,and perfectly, as they will be-are not permitted toshare. They surround the. tabernacle, and God willthus dwell with them, and bring them into the enjoy­ment of relatiouship with Himself as His people, andHe will manifestly be with them, and be their God

The question may be raised as to the significance ofthe different appellations on which we have touched-

fact, the God of redemption. If these three points arecomprehended, the whole truth of God's habitation onearth, in any age or dispensation, will be understood. Itwill be then seen that, while a consequence of redemp­tion, it is dependent upon what Christ is in the efficacyof His death, and upon what God is as so re'Vea1ed.

The second thing to be noted is the actual takingpossession of the tabemacle when completed. Moses.. finished the work," ~d eight times it is recorded thatall was done as the Lord had commanded him. Jehovah'sapprobation was now expressed in another way; for,together with the statement that Moses finished thework, it is added, .. Then a cloud covered the tent ofthe 'congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled thetabemacle. And Moses was not able to enter into thetent of the congregation, because the cloud· abodethereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabemacle."(Exodus xl 34, 35.) God thus took possession of thehouse which had been built according to His word, andhenceforward dwells in the midst of His people, andwas known as dwelling between the cherubim (1 Sam.iv. 4; Psalm lxxx. 1, &c.); i.e. between the cherubimovershadowing the mercy-seat. The mercy-seat wasHis throne, the throne on which He sat, whence Hegovemed His people, and from whence He dispensedmercy according to the efficacy of the incense and theblood of the sacrifices that were presented before Himon the great day of atonement. (See uv. xvi)

It shonldbe most distinctly observed that thetabemacle, and not. the congregation of Israel, formedthe house of God in the wildemess. To lose this diS­tinction would be to confuse the typical teaching of thewhole encampment of Israel, as already pointed out inrelation to Rev. x~ .The people, as such. were. not

8 THE HOUSE or GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 41

permitted to enter into the tabernacle j God met. withthem at its entrance. (Exodus xxix. 42-44.) Mosesalone had access at all times (the high priest only oncea year) to the mercy-seat (Exodus xxv. 22), and this inhis capacity as mediator, and as such a type of Christ.It is most important to bear these distinctions in mind.At the same time, it is equally of moment to remarkthat all the· people-all. the people with their families;all, in a word, who were on the ground of redemption(typically)-were grouped around the tabernacle. Godwas in their midst, and all the people had been broughtinto a known relationship with Himself as theirRedeemer, all alike could enjoy the privileges of thepriesthood which had been instituted on their behalf,and all could approach the brazen altar in the appointedway, and with the appointed sacrifices. It was theonly spot on the earth where the Lord had Hissanctuary; and as we remember all that this involved,we may understand a little of this place of blessinginto which the children of Israel had been brought.Whether they themselves apprehended or enjoyed it isnot the question. There were, as we know, stubbornand ungodly souls among them; still, the character ofthe place remained unchanged. God toa8 in theirmidst, and on this account, because of what He was inHimself, and because He had opened up a way intoHis own presence, the camp of. Israel was such a placeof blessing as was found nowhere else upon the face ofthe earth. It was therefore no mean privilege to be foundnumbered with those who sUrroDndedthe ta.bemacle.

But if, on the one hand, it was a place of blessing, itwas most surely, on the other, a place of responsibility... And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Commandthe cbildrenof Israel, that they put out of the camp

of the temple. From 1 Cor. vi. we learn that the bodyof the believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost, andfrom 2 Cor. vi. that believers collectively are the templeof the living God; but the temple in Ephes.ii. differsfrom these in that it is not yet completed. The apostlesays that the saints .. are built upon the foundation ofthe apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself beingthe chief comer-stone j in whom all the building fitlyframed together, groweth unto an holy temple in theLord: in whom ye also are builded together for alihabitatiou of God through the Spirit." Thus they werebuilt together as God's habitation, but the temple wasin the process of building-it was growing.

This shows very clearly that the temple, in this aspect,includes all the saints of God of this dispensa.tion,from the day of Pentecost until the Lord's return;wheress, the house or the habitation of God, 88 has beenbefore explained, is regarded as complete at any giventime. So indeed with respect to the Church as thebody of Christ. In Ephes. i. 22, 23, we read that Godhath put all things under the feet of the risen Christ,and hath given Him to be head over all things to theChurch, which is His body, the fulness of Him thatfilleth all in all. In other scriptures, where the bodyof Christ is mentioned, it is composed of all believersexisting at any given time; but in this place it isviewed as comprising all the saints of the dispensation­the Church in its totality and completion. The temple.. growing " therefore reminds us that Christ is stillbuilding His chureh, and that He will continue to builduntil the time of His patience ends in His rising fromHis seat, when He, having DOW ended His work '88

boilder, will fetch His bride, and will present her toHimself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle,

40 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 9

honour, and some to dishonour. If a man thereforepnrge himself from these, he shall be a vessel untohonour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use,prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthfullusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace,with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."(ii. 19-22.) Man may put bad materials on the foun­dation, but he cannot disturb the foundation itself; hemay confound the distinction between the saved and theunsaved, but the Lord is not deceived, He knows themthat are His; and the responsibility that lies upon everyone who names the name of the Lord, while waiting forthe day which will manife_st everything, is to departfrom iniquity. Then the apostle reminds us that throughthe activity of teachers of evil doctrines (see verses 16­18, etc.) the Church, in its outward presentation to theworld, has become like to a great house which containsvessels both good and bad. The Lord's servants are topurge themselves from the vessels of dishonour if theywould be qualified for the Master's approval and service.Moreover, they are to flee youthful lusts. In otherwords, they must be separate both from ecclesiasticaland moral evil; and they must be found in the practiceof every C~..istian grace and virtue, together with thosewho call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Such is thepath for the saint amid the abounding and increasingcorruption of this evil day. May the Lord give moreand more of His beloved people wisdom to discern it,and strength to walk in it to the praise of His holyname.

VI.THE FINAL ASPECT OF THE CHURCH.

EPH. ii. 19-22; REV. xxi. 2, 3.

The final aspect of the Church as the house of Godon earth is that presented in this scripture i-viz., that

every leper, and every one that hath an issue, andwhosoever is defiled by the dead: both male and femaleshall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put t.hem ;that they defile not their camps, in the midst wheTeoj Idwell." (Num. v. 1-3.) Again," I am the Lord yourGod: ye shall therefore' sanctify yourselves, and yeshall be holy; for I am holy." (Lev. xi. 44.) In oneword, as these scriptures show, holiness, and holinessaccording to the nature of the One who dwelt in theil'midst, was incumbent upon every Israelite who sur­rounded the tabernacle. Jehovah, as revealed, was thestandard for the whole camp (compare 1 John ii. 6), forevery individual, whatever his state, who formed partof it. Being numbered with God's people was to bebrought therefore into a place both of blessing and ofresponsibility.

Into the typical significance of the sanctuary in themidst of Israel we do not propose to enter.'" It willsuffice to point out here that as its primary idea wasGod's habitation, so every part of it, together with allits sacred vessels and furniture, was fraught with somemanifestation of, God and of His glories as hereafterdisplayed in Christ. This was so, indeed, on twogrounds; first, because it was a pattern of things shownto Moses in the mount, and therefore a revelation ofheavenly scenes; and because also it told in every part-boards, curtains, ornaments, hangings, and vesseIs­of the glories of Christ, inasmuch as He Himself ina later .day took the place of the temple of God.(See John ii. 19-:.n.) But it may be added, that themore thoroughly God's thoughts concerning His habi­tation in the midst of Israel are understood, the

• ThOle who desire to do 80 may consult TIN Typic4l TeachillgB oj1kDd.lU, (Broom), p. 216.

10 THE HOUR or GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 39

more fully will the character of the Church as God'shouse be comprehended.

II

THE TEJlPLE OF SOLOMON.

The tabernacle, which had been the house of God inthe wilderness, together with its sacred furniture, wascarried by the children of Israel into Canaan, and waspitched in Shiloh. (J08SU8 xviii 1.) It was accordinglyto this place that the childreD of Israel resorted withtheir yearly sacrifices (1 Sam. i. 3), and it was stillcalled "the tabemacle of the congregation II (1 Sam.ii 22), but also "the temple of the Lord," and .. thehouse of the Lord," (1 Sam. iii. 3, 15.) These latternames did but foreshadow the house which should here­after be built in Jerusalem. While the children ofIsrael were pilgrims in the wilderness, and dwelt intents, God Himself abode in a tent (2 Sam. vii 6),suiting Himself, as He has ever done in His preciousgrace, to. the condition of His piElOple; but when Hehad established His chosen in .the glory of the kingdoma house was erected-" exceeding magnifical "-whichin some measure should be the expression of His majestywho deigned to make it His dwelling-place in the midstof Israel (2 Chron. ii. 4-6.)

It is not within 0UF present purpose to call attentionto the characteristic differences between the tabernacleand the temple, but rather to point out their similarityboth as to origin and object. As in the case of theformer, 80 in the latter, the plan was divinely commu­nicated. It was David who was honoured to becomethe depositary of this design; and inasmuch as· he wasnot permitted, according to the desire of his own heart,himself to build the temple, he communicated it to

because he had corrupted (~8EtPfA» God's temple. Whata warning for the teachers of Christendom, as indeedfor all who take the place of service in connection withthe Church of God! Mayall such lay it to heart, andseek, in anticipation of the time when every man's workshall be made manifest, to form a true estimate of theirservice in the light of God's presence, and of His word.

Two observations. have yet 1 lEI made; the first ascaution, and the second as guidance. The fundamentalerror of popery, as indeed of high-churchism and sacer­dotalism, if not inherent in the principle of all Statechurches, lies in the attribution to the house of God asman's building of that which belongs only to the Churchwhich Christ Himself builds. The Church which Christbuilds is indestructible; the gates of hell shall notprevail against it. Not so popery (or the church asbuilded by man anywhere); but" her plagues shall comein one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and sheshall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LordGod who judgeth her," (Rev. xviii. 8.) It is thereforealways necessary, when speaking of the Church of God,and what is said of it in His word (if we would be pre­served from error, or misconception as to its privilegesand claims) to carefully distinguish between the twoaspects which are given in the Scriptures. Secondly,we find in 2 Timothy all needful direction for our pathand conduct in the midst of all the corruptions whichman has brought into the house of God. "Nevertheless,"says Paul, .. the foundation of God standeth sure, havingthis seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And,Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ II (Lord,is the correct reading) .. depart from iniquity. But ina great house there are not only vessels of gold and ofsilver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to

38 TnE BOUSE OF GOD. TB'I BOUSE OJ' GOD. 11

or &tubule, is himself saved, yet 80 as through (oux) 6rt',but he suft'el'll loea. He bad been led astray, thougha rt'al believer-led utray by human thoughts andreasonings, and, labouring after man's methods, he hadlost sight of the true character of the house of God,and thus all his service was in vain, and is not onlycounted as worthless, but draw-s -down upon itself theconsuming fire of judgment. The servant thereforesuffers lolis; he not only receives no reward, but he hasalso to see that all the energies of his professed life oflabour for the Lord have been misdirected and in utteropposition to his Lord's mind. The third case is sadderstill; it is that of an evil servant who corrupts tbetemple of God. He had taken the place of a builder,and he had laboured, it may be earnestly, according tohis own thoughts; but by his preaching he had cor­rupted Christianity, denying its fundamental doctrines.and adapting it to the tastes of the natural man.HiInself unconverted. he might yet have been a wiseteacher, a man of progress and intellectualit.y. one whohad shaken oft' the traditions and superstitions of pastages (as men speak), and known bow to harmonize theteachings of the Bible with the speculations of scienceand phi.losophy; a man ool;lsequently of a broad andcatholic spirit, who would look upon all men. in such aland as this, as Christians, denying the distinctionbetween the saved and the unsaved, bringing all alikewithin the pale of the Church. But the time of judg­ment has at length come, when his work is examined,not by the light of reason and man's ideas. but in that ofthe fire of the holiness of God; and what is the result tNot only are the wood, hay, and stubble consumed whichsuch a workman had put upon the foundation of thehouse of God, but he himself is also destroyed (ep(J~tfJfl')

Solomon. .. Then David gave to Solomon his IOn thepattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and ofthe treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambersthereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of theplace of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that hehad by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord.and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuriesof the house of God," &0. (1 Chron. xxviii. 11, 12.)Everything that Solomon did and made, in connectionwith the work to which he had been called, was in ac­cordance with the instructions he had received. Thesite itself had been divinely indicated, as well as thedesign and manner of the building. (1 Kings vi. 38;2 Chron. iii. 3.) Though entrusted to human hands toerect, the building was divine; for human thoughts andhuman conceptions must not intrude themselves intothe things of God.

The connection between the tabernacle and thetemple, as being both alike God's dwelling-place, maybe seen in two ways. When Solomon had completedthe house, he assembled the elders of Israel, and all theheads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the chil­dren of Israel; and we read that .. all the men of Israelassembled themselves unto the king, in the feast whichwas in the seventh month" (i.e. the feast of the blow­ing of trumpets, a figure of the restoration of Israel inthe last days-Num. xxix. 1). "And all the elderscame; and the Levites took up the ark. And theybrought up the ark and the tabernacle of the congrega­tion, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle,these did the priests and the Levites hring up," Andthen, after they 'had sacrificed sheep ll.Dd oxen withoutnumber, «the priests brought in the ark of the covenantof the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house,

12 THE BOUSE OF GOD. TBE BOeSE OF GOD. 37

into the most holy place, under the wings of the cheru­bim." (llChron. v. 1-7.) It was the ark that gave itscharacter to the house; for it ',Vas God's throne in themidst of Isxael, from whence He governed His peopleoil the basis of His holy law, as is noted here by thestatement that "there was nothing in the ark, save thetwo tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when theLord made a covenant with the children of Israel, whenthey came out of Egypt." ('/]o 10.)

And now, secondly, the Lord endorsed the work ofHis servants by taking possession of the new house,even as He had formerly done with the tabernacle... And it came to pass, when the priests were come outof the holy place: (for all the priests that were presentwere sanctified, and did. not then wait by course: alsothe Levites, which were the singers, all of them of Asaph,of Heman, of J eduthun, with their sons and theirbrethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbalsand psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of thealtar, and with them an hundred and twenty priestssounding with trumpets:) it came even to pass, as thetrumpeters and singers were as one, to make one soundto be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; andwhen they lifted up their voice with the trumpets andcymbals and instruments of music, and praised theLord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endurethfor ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud,even the house of the Lord; so that the priests couldnot stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for theglory of the Lord had filled the house of God." (2 Cbron.v. 11-14.) -Following upon this description, we findSolomon reciting the circumstances by which he hadbecome the divinely-appointed instrument in building" an house of habitation" and" a. place of dwelling" for

it worthless; but all must remember, we again add,that we are not the judges, that the Lord in Hisown time will make manifest every man's wvrk ofwhat sort it is, and that in the meanwhile we mustnot refuse what the Lord has not rejected; that is,we must likewise acknowledge this aspect of thehouse of God on earth. Salvation is not secured, asthis scripture shows, by being in the house of God.Wood, hay, and stubble are there equally with gold,silver, and precious stones. And moreover it mustnever be forgotten that the fire will test every part ofit. It is therefore a solemn thing-solemn both in theview of present responsibility and of future judgment­to be·within. It is also a precious privilege tu be withinthe sphere of the abode and action of the Holy Spirit;but this very privilege neglected and slighted becomesthe ground of judgmen~ in a future day. Christendom-for Christendon1 for all practical purposes expressesthe extent of the house of God-will on this veryaccount be the scene of unparalleled judgments. ThelUeasure of light is the measure of responsibility, andthe history of Babylon in the Apocalypse reveals thecharacter of the awful judgments that will descend upona Christless church, on that which still claims to be thechurch,but from which the Holy Ghost has long departed,aud which Christ has long since spued out of His mouth.

The judgment spoken of here, however, is moreespecially that of the builders. The one whose workabides receives a reward. Called and qualified by gracefor His service, and indeed sustained in it by divinepower and grace, the same grace rewards him for hisfaithful labour.· He whose work shall fail to standthe test of the holy fire, and is consumed as wood, hay,

• See (or the principle Matt. xu. 14, etc.; Luke six. 12, etc.;Ephes. ii. 10.

36 THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 13

government judge them now. He does, for judgmentbegins at the house of God, but public judgmentbetore all is left until the Lend's appearing.

Another proof of the above principle is found in theLord's attitude, during His life, towards the temple atJerusalem. The Jews had profaned it in many ways­made it a house of merchandise (John ii.) and a den ofthieves (Matt. xxi.), but He still called it His Father'shouse; and He continued to recognize it as such, until,finally judging it, He said, "Your house is left unto youdesolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see m~

henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that comethin the name of the Lord." (Matt. xxiii. 38, 39.) Andimmediately we read that "Jesus went out, and departedfrom the temple." Until that moment, spite of theabuses and corruptions that had grown up around it,He had borne with His people, and regarded the templeas His Father's house; but now, having judged it andthem, the bouse was desolated by His own departurefrom it. In the same way-whatever the unfaithfulnessof His servant.'l, and however indeed they may corruptthe temple of God-He waits in His long-suffering andgrace before He pronounces judgment upon it; and, asalso in the case of the Jewish temple, He still treatsit as God's house on the earth.

We c0!1clude therefore, on the ground of this scrip­tural teaching, that the house of God includes, in thiswider aspect, all who have been brought upon theground of Christianity, not only the living ston8ll, as in1 Peter ii., but also all whom the Lord's servants, intheir individual responsibility as builders, have intro­duced, whether believers or only professors. With theword of God in our hands, we may be tempted torefuse the work of this and that servant, deeming

the Lord "for ever;" and then he knelt down on abrazen scaffold (which he had prepared) before all thecongregation of Israel, and spread forth his handstowards heaven, and prayed with respect to the housewhich he had built, and he concluded his intercessionswith words cited from Ps. cxxxii.: " Now thereforearise, 0 Lord God, into thy resting-place; thou, and theark of thy strength. Let thy priests, 0 Lord God, beclothed with salvatiQn, and let thy saints rejoice ingoodness. 0 Lord God, tum not away the face of thin"anointed: remember the mercies of David, thy servant."And thereon we read, "Now when Solomon had madeat?- end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, andconsumed the bumt-offering and the sacrifices; and theglory of the Lord filled the house. And the priestscould not enter into the house of the Lord, because theglory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." (2 ehron.vi. 41, 42; vii 1, 2.)

In this maDner and under such circumstances did theLord take up His abode in the temple-the wholescene, the white-robed priests, and their glorifying Godwith one mind and one mouth, being no dim fore­shadowing of the glory of a later day, when the trueSolomon shall come to His temple and surround Him­self with a righteous and willing-hearted people. Butthe one point to be observed is, that we find once againGod dwelling in His hOUle in the midst of the peoplewhom He had chosen. The difference between thetemple and the tabemacle, as before remarked, ia shownby the contrast between the wildemeaa and the land;by th~ pilgrim oharacter or Israel's passage through theformer, as distinguished from their settled abode in thelatter. But in both alike God had His habitation, Hiehouse. God dwelt in the midst of the Whole of Israel.

14 TIlE HOUSE OF GOD. TIlE HOUSE OF OOD. 35

and, as seen again from the fact that the fire came downin response to Solomon's prayer and consumed theburnt-olfering and sacrifices, did so on the ground of re­demption-on the ground of redemption through thevalue of all that Christ was in His sacrificial work. Ithad not been possible on any other ground; but becauseit was on the foundation of all the sweet savour ofChrist in His death, He could, spite of what the peoplewere practically, dwell iu their midst, aud all the people,on their part, could come with the appointed sacrifices,in the appointed way, and at the appointed times.

Tbent'8forward Jerusalem was the one holy placeon earth, the one spot, therefore, to which the heartof every tme Israelite turned with thoughts of worshipand praise. "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth,for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my fleshcriethout for the living God. . . • Blessed are they thatdwell in Thy ROuse: they will be still praising Thee."CPs. lxxxiv.) And there on the recurrence of the feaststhe people assembled. " Jerusalem is builded as a citythat is compact together: whither the tribes go up, thetribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to givethanks unto the name of the Lord:' (Ps. CUll. 3, 4.)There all the first-born children were carried and pre­sented to the Lord (Luke iL 22-24), and there too thefamilies of His people assembled three times a year.(See Deut. xvi.) Jerusalem, therefore-because ofJehovah's house-was the "one place of blessing in thewhole world, and it -was no meq privilege to be per­mitted to form part of ~_!'8sembly that gathered therefrom time to time in obedience to the WOM. "Andthou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thyson,- and thy daughter, and thy manservant. aQd thy

object had the apostle ill citing these facts of Israel'shistory' It was to apply the teaching they afforded tothe Church of God in Corinth, and to all that in everyplace call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,both theirs and ours. (i. 2.) He expressly says thatthese things happened to Israel as type~types forbelievers in all ages; and hence he warns the saints oftheir danger-the danger of lusting after evil things,of tempting Christ, of murmuring, etc. The" ifs "of the epistles, as they are called, teach the same lesson.We thus read in Col. i.: .. And you, that were sometimealienated and enemies in your mind by wicked worb,yet now Jiath He reconciled • • • • if 1/e continue in tM14itk." This is not that the reconciliation is dependentupon our perseV(lring in the faith; but rather that ifwe continue in the faith we are shown (not to God,who knows the secreta of all bearts) to be real believe~,and if genuine believers, and not merely professors, weare reconciled. These and other passages of the samekind abundantly prove that God accepts all accordingto the ground they take. If brought upon the groundof Christianity, professedly associated with Christ inHis death, they are spoken to as Christians, they havecome under the responsibility to walk as such, and theyare warned of the consequences of sin, of departingfrom the living God, as the children of Israel did inthe wilderness. (See Heb. iii., iv.) God does not say tothem, "You are only professors, deceiving yourselves andothers;" but He meets them where they are, suppliesthem iu His word with tests by which such may easilydiscover the troth of their condition, warns them of theobligations they have incurred by being numberedamongst His people; but exposure and judgment Hedefers until .. the day:' Not that He does not in His

34 rHB BOUSE 01' GOD; mE BOUSE or GOD. 15

as the sun sbineth in his strength:' (Rev. i.) To II theday" therefore which will be revealed by fire everyman's work must be left, to be pronounced upon afterthe perfect standard of fire has been applied to it bythe Lord Himself. Knowing this, in the very nextchapter Paul tells the Corinthians that it was a verysmall thing that he should be judged of them, or ofman's day, and he reminds them" that he could not evengive a true judgment about himselC, that the Lord isthe Judge, and hence nothing could be truly estimateduntil the Lord should come, II who both will bring tolight the hidden things of darkness, and will makemanifest the counsels of the hearts," etc. (1 Cor. iv.)

In conuection with the truth that all the work ofthe Lord's servants will be left for judgment until Becomes, there is another important principle to beremembered. It is that the Lord in the meanwhilebears with the work of His servants. We do notmean that He approves of it, only that as the time ofjudgment has not yet arrived He allows the work toremain, and does not pronounce upon its character.Thus if souls are brought wrongly into the house ofGod, He deals with them according to their profession,and holds them responsible for the ground they are on.The epistles everywhere bear 01lt this statement. Takefor example 1 Cot. K. Paul reminds the saints II howthat all our fatherS were under the cloud, and all passedthrough the sea; al,1d were all baptized unto Moses inthe cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the samespiritual meat; and did aU drink the same spiritualdrink: for they drank of that "spiritual Rock thatfollowed them: and that Rock was Christ.· But withmany of them God was not well pleased: for they wereoverthrown in the wildern." (w. 1-5.) Now what

maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates,and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, thatare among you, in the place which the Lord thy Godhath chosen to place His name there." (Deut xvi. 11.)

III.

THE TEMPLE AFTER THE RETURN FROM BABYLON.

The temple of Solo~on lasted until its destruction byNebJ1chadnezzar (2 Chron. xxxvi.); and Ezekiel de­scribes the departing of the glory of the Lord from it,on account of the abominations of His people, ere it wasconsumed with fire by the Chaldees. (See Ezek. viii.-x.)During seventy years Jerusalem was desolate (2 Chron.xxxvi. 2f; Dan. ix. 2); and then, II that the word ofthe Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,that be made a proclamation throughout all his king­dom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrusking of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given meall the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath chargedme to build HiJD an house at Jerusalem, which is inJudah." (Ezra i. 1,2, &c.) The government, because ofthe sin of Judah and Israel, had been now transferredto the Gentiles, and God therefore wrought, in the firstinstance, through the instrumentality of Cyrus. Thereader will find all the details of the return of a rem­nant of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, withpriests and Levites, in response to ~he proclamation ofthe king, recorded in.the book of Ezra. Not until thesecond year of their return did they II set forward thework of the house of the Lord." II And when thebuilders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,they set the. priests in their apparel with trumpets, and

16 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD.

the Levites the sons of .Asaph with cymbals, to praisethe Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.And they sang together by course, in praising andgiving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, forHis mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. .And all thepeople shouted with a great shout, when they praisedthe Lord, because the foundation of the house of theLord was laid. But many of the priests and Levitesand chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that hadseen the first house, when the foundation of this housewas laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; andlliany shouted aloud for joy; so that the people couldnot discern the noise of the sho~t of joy from the noiseof the weeping of the people; for the people shoutedwith a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar oft"(Ezra iii. 10-13.)

They praised the Lord with cymbals; while thepriests blew with their trumpets, and sang the samesong when they laid the foundation as had been sung atthe dedication of Solomon's temple. But many wept­the old men who had been eye-witnesses of the splen­dour of the former house. The contrast was indeedgreat. That was built amid the glories of the kingdom,and at a time when that kingdom Wll.8 pre-eminent-atime also of peace, prosperity, and blessing; a periodwhich typified the reign of the Messiah, when all kingsshall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serveHim. This was commenced by a feeble remnant amidthe desolations of the once-glorious city, which mencalled the perfection of beauty, the joy of the wholeearth (Lam. ii. 15), themselves the subjects of a Gentilemonarch, dependent on him, by the will of God, forpermission to build, and surrounded on every hand byadversaries. Still they builded; and finally, after much

building in connection with the Church of God, and atthe same time learn that the character of the work doneis of far more importance than its extent. Even as inthe parable of the talents, fidelity and not success is thatwhich elicits the commendation'of the Lord, so here itis the nature, not the quantity, of the work which willmeet with reward.

Having pointed out the different characters of build­ing, the next thing to be observed is, that the revelationof the character of the work is left to a future day-infact to "the day," a term, we apprehend, which signifiesthe appearing of the Lord. Whatever the' sort ofbuilding His servants may carry on in the meantime,all abides until the fire-the fire, as usual, being asymbo\ of the holiness of 'God as applied in judgment-tries every man's work of what sort it is. We maythink or judge that certain builders are doing theirwork badly; but who are we to judge another mlln'sservants 1 To their own Master they stand or fall.Besides the fact that we are not the judges, we cannotdetect the true nature of any work. We may test themethods employed by the word of God, but as to thework itself there is One only who· has the necessarydiscernment, the infallible knowledge, and the unerringstandard to obviate all possibility of mistake; and Heis the One whom John (law in the Revelation, who was.. clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girtabout the paps with a golden girdle. His head and hairswere white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyeswere as a flame of fire; and His feeiwere like untofine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and Hisvoice as the BOund of many waters. And He had inHis right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth wenta sharp two-edged· sword: and His countenance was

32 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 17

God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in :rou 1) Ifany man defile the temple of God, him sball Goddestroy; for the temple of God is holy, which templeye are." (11V.12-17.) There are then, as has often beenobserved, the good workman, and his work good, and whoreceives a reward; the workman who is himself saved,but whose work is bad and is therefore burut up, and whoconsequently suffers loss; and lastly there is the badworkman and his bad work, and both alike are destroyed.

What is meant· by the "works" or "building" ismanifest from the context. 1t is putting wood, hay, orstubble on the foundation, instead of gold, silver, orprecious stones; i.e. bringing souls into the assemblyof God who are without divine life. This may bedone in two ways; by the proclamation of false d~ctrines

-doctrines which are subversive of the truths ofChristianity, setting aside, for example, the necessity ofthe new-birth, or the need of cleansing by thE: preciousblood of Christ, so that natural men, men not having theSpirit of God, are introduced into the Church as theresult of such teaching; or it may be done by openlyand avowedly bringing into the assembly those whoare not saved through fait~ in the Lord Jesus, includingin the Church of God other than those who have thetitle to be within. A third case is possible; viz., theworkman. being deceived as to the true character of.those he may introduce. In one or in all of theseways the workman may fail in responsibility to Christas to the character of his building. He may seemingly,outwardly to the eyes of men, be a most prosperousand successful builder, while he may in reality be butpiling up upon the foundation wood, hay, or stubble,for future and certain destruction. Surely all sh~uld

perceive what· a solemn thing it is to be engaged in

unfaithfulness on their part, the house was completed,and they "kept the dedication of the house of Godwith joy." (Ezra vi. 15-22.)

This house took the place of that which Solomon hadbuilt. There were, however, important differences. Nocloud, no glor:r of the Lord filled this house, as in thecase of the tabernacle and the first temple; and no firedescended from heaven to consume their sacrifices, aswith Moses (Lev. ix. 24) and with Solomon. (2 Chron.vii. 1.) It is this fact which makes the parallel betweenthis remnant and the Church so interesting. Thomasbelieved when he saw; but the Lord announced theLl!lssedness of those who should believe without seeing.(.John xx.) This was the position of this feeble remnantas well as that of ourselves. That God accepted theirsacrifices and dwelt in His house was with them entirelya matter of faith-faith as based upon God's word, inthe same way,·for example, as the presence of the LordJesus Christ in the midst of those gathered to Hisname is apprehended only by faith, faith begotten andsustained by His own word. (Matt. xviii) But so com­pletely did the Lord regard this as His house, that Heeven identified it with the one it succeeded. Speakingthrough Haggai, one of the prophets He had used to stirup the people and encourage them in their building, Hesays, "The glory"of this latter house," or, as it should betranslated, .. The latter glory of this house shall begreater than the former." (Haggai ii. 9.) The housewas but one-whatever its outward circumstances-inthe divine mind, and hence God's habitation equallywith Solomon's temple.

'l'hi8 house existed until the time of Herod theGreat, who rebuilded it (though we have no account orthis in the Scriptures) on a scale of surpuaing grandeur

18 TBE BOUSE OF GOD. .THE BOUSE OF GOD. 31

and magnificence, and it was this temple to whichJoseph and Mary carried the infant Saviour when theypresented Him before the Lord. And it is a most note­worthy fact that, built as this temple was by an alienking-for while he professed the Jewish faith he wasprobably of Idumean descent-the Lord Himself recog­nized it as His Father's house. Surrounded, and evenfilled, as itwas with corruptions He yet owned it (Matt.xxi. 12, 13; John ii. 13-16, &c.); and not until Hisrejection by His people had been made manifest didHe abandon it. Then He pronounced the··1Jentence,.. Behold, your 'house is left unto you desolate" (Matt.·xxiii. 38); and thereon He departed and went out of thetemple. In patience and long-suffering God bore withHis people, and with the corruptions of His house, untilthere was no remedy, and then He abandoned it, as Hehad done before with Solomon's temple. On His partthere had been judgment mingled with grace and mercyagain and again exprt',ssed; on His people's part sin andcorruption, which reached their climax in the rejectionand crucifixion of their Messiah-Jehovah indeed, whohad condescended through so many centuries to haveHis habitation in their midst.

This closes up until millennial days the period ofGod's earthly house j but even so it was only pre­paratory to the accomplishment of His purpose todwell on the earth in a more excellent way.

.. IV.

THE OHUROH.

ACTS ii.

We have already traced the history of God's housefrom Exodus until the close of the Mosaic dispensation.Dl1ring the liie of our Lord on the earth there were,

and others as building upon it. This is a very differentthing from that contained in the Lord's words to Peter,II Upon this 1'Qck I will build my Church." And it isthis difference which explains the two aspects .of the.house of God. The work of Christ in building HisChurch must of necessity be perfect. Himself in Hisdeath and resurrection, the Son of the livmg God(declared to be the Son of God with power, according to.the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead),the foundation, every stone He lays upon it,like Peterhimself, must be a living stone. But, as this scripturein 1 Cor. teaches, He also entrusts the work oC buildingto His servants, and holds them responsible for thecharacter of their work. Paul can thus say, "I havelaid the foundation"-as he was the first to proclaimthe gospel in Corinth, and thus was the means of Cormingthe assembly of God in that city. (See Acts xviii.) Hehad laid the foundation as a wise master-builder, and hewarns others as to the manner in which they might buildupon it, reminding them in this way of their responsi­bility to the Lord for the character of their work.

And looking more closely into the details of thisscripture, we find that there are, or may be, three classesof builders, and that the testing of their work will takeplace at a future day. The apostle says, "If any manbuild upon this foundation gold,silver, precious. stones,wood, hay, stubble; every man's work aball be mademanifest: for the day shall declare it, becauee it (theday) sball be revealed by fire j. and the fire ~ba1l tryevery man's work of what sort it is. If any man'swork abide wbich he hath built thereupon, he shall.receive a reward. If any man's work shall be blU'Ded,he shall suffer loss: but be himself shall be saved j yetso as by fire. (Know ye not that Je are the temple of

30 THE BOUSE OJ' GOD. TBE BOUSE OF GOD. 19

had sent. The apostle seizes the opportunity to developthe true position, both of the servants and of the saints,Bod of both alike in relation to the Lord. "Who then,"he exclaims, " is Paul; and who is Apollos, but ministersby whom ye have believed, even as the Lord gave toevery man 1 I have planted, Apollos watered; but Godgave the increase. So then neither is he that plantethanything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveththe increase." It was intolerable to Paul-a heart-rend­ing sorrow, we might say, that the name of a servant,however eminent, should come between the. Lord andHis people. For what were the labourers 1 God'sworkmen-labouring in unison and fellowship, but allbelonging to God.· And what were the saints 1 " Ye,"says the apostle, "are God's husbandry, ye are God'sbuilding." ('V. 9.) The servants were God's workmen,the saints were God's building- God in His grace wasthus everything, servants and saints alike owed every­thing to Him. All things were of Him, and He alonemust therefore be magnified, whether by saints or servants.

Procl'eding now :further, the apostle shows what theresponsibility of God's workmen is in the work entrustedto their care. He says, .. According to the grace of Godwhich is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, Ihave laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.For other fonndatibn can no man lay than that is laid.which is Jesus Christ." (V'I). 10, 11.) Two things willat once strike the reader in contrast with what has beenconsidered in a former paper. First, the apostle speaksof himself as laying the foundation, and also of himself

• The Eogliah venion givee _1), the correct thought. The,llpoet1e duea not mllldl that the 1181'V1UIte WlIl'8 God', fellow.laboarenoa." with aa.other, ba.t that they belonged to God, and u ,ach .ere:fe1low"laboaren.

however. premonitions of the coming change. Speakingto the Jews He said, "Destroy this temple, and in threedays I will raise it up. . . . But," the evangelist tellsus. u He spake of the temple of His body." (Johnii. 19, 21.) He said to Peter, moreover, on his con­fessing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the livingGod, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh andblood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Fatherwhich is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thatthou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build mychurch; and the gates of hell shall not prevail againstit," (Matt. xvi, 16-18.) If we pass now to the day ofPentecost we shall see that God commenced then todwell on earth in a new and a twofold way: "And whenthe day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all withone accord in one place. And suddenly there came asound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and itjilled all the 1wuse wMre they were sitting. And thereappeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, andit sat upon each of them. And they were all filled withthe Holy Ghost, and begau to speak with other tongues,as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts ii 1-4.)

Now this took place according to the express promiseof the Lord to His disciples: "And, behold, I send thepromise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in thecity of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power fromon high." And again: He" commanded them that theyshould not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the pro­mise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me.For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be bap­tized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence." (Lukexxiv. 49; Acts i. 4, 5.) The Holy Ghost then came downat Pentecost according to the Lord's word, and the effect,was thllt God mad~ His temple by the Spirit in the

20 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 29

individual believer (see also 1 Cor. vi 19); and that Hemade His habitation with believers collectively, even asPaul writes to the Ephesians, "Ye are builded togetherfor an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 22.)Believers therefore now were, as their Lord had beenwhile on the earth, God's temple, and the house of God,which is the church of the living God, was now formed.It is the latter truth which is to occupy our attention,and with this object we propose to examine more closelythe teaching of this chapter (Acts ii.).

Speaking generally, we have in this scripture threethings-the building of God's house, the mode of en­trance, and the occupations of those who are within, or,to speak more accurately, of those who form it.

1. The building of the house. We read concerningSolomon's temple, that "when it was in building, itwas built of stone made ready before it was broughtthither: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, norany tool of iron, heard in the house, while it was inbuilding." (1 Kings vi. 7.) The same thing is seenprecisely in respect of the house of God which wasbuilt at Pentecost. The disciples were all with oneaccord in one place; and who were they? They werethe one. hundred and twenty mentioned in the previouschapter, all of whom (for Judas was no longer of thecompany, having by transgression fallen that he mightgo to his own place) were living stones which had beenby the grace of God brought into saving contact withChrist, and thus made participators of everlasting life.And the same divine power which had saved themthrough faith in the Lord Jesus, brought them on thisday together, and put them silently in their appointedplaces on the one foundation-stone to form the habi­tation of God on the earth through the Spirit. Thus

with the apostles (comp. 1 John i. 3), in which thosenewly-converted souls delighted to be found. Then to­gether they were gatheJ ed around the Lord at His tableto commemorate His death; that death which was thefoundation of all the blessings into which they had beenintroduced; and together also they persevered in as­sembling to pour out their hearts in prayer to God.

As we gaze upon this beautiful picture of the houseof God, of the energy of the Holy Ghost, producingconstant praise and prayer, as well as obedience tothe Word, we can truly say, in the language of thepsalmist, but with another meaning, "How amiable areThy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts! 0 • • Blessed are theythat dwell in Thy house: they will be still. prdisingThee."

V.THE CHURCH, AS BUILT BY MAN.

1 COR. iii.

This scripture demands the most careful consideration,as it occupies an important place in respect of the truthof the Church of God. As is so often the case in theepistles, the Holy Spirit uses the condition of the saintsas the occasion for the unfolding of a new aspect of theChurch. The Corinthian saints were carnal (CTapKlllol),and on this account the apostle could not minister thetruth he would have desired, but was compelled, becauseof their state, to speak to them a.~ "babes in Christ," tofeed them with milk, and not with meat, etc. (wo 1,2'.)The evidence of their" carnality" was the formation ofschools of opinion in the assembly, the existence of"divisions," the saints ranging themselves around theirself-chosen and favourite teachers; some choosing Paul,some Peter, some Apollos, and some even venturing touse the name of Christ to refuse the servants whom He

28' THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 21

built, the gift of grace is proclaimed both to Jews andGentiles, and the way was declared by which the Jewand the Gentile, in the so-vereign grace of God, couldpass out from the two outer circles-both of which werein the kingdom of darkness, where Satan reigned-intothat new sphere which had that day been formed, wherethe Spirit of God acted and dwelt.

3. We call attention now, more briefly, to the occu­pations of those who form, and are within, the house ofGod. For this purpose we may add a passage from1 Peter. The apostle says: "Ye also, as lively" (living)" stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priest­hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to Gooby Jesus Christ." (ii. 5.) Inasmuch as Peter deals withthe priesthood of believers-the new order of priests,who take the place on earth of Aaron's family-adignity which now attaches to all saints without excep­tion, he is led to poiut out their occupation with thesacrifice of praise. It is no longer sacrifices of bulls orgoats, but spiritual sacrifices suited. to the spiritualhouse of which they formed part, as well as to thosewho worshipped God in spirit and in truth. They wereindeed to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually;that is, the fruit of their lips; giving thanks to His name.Perpetual praise and adoration were to be heard in this newand spiritual habitation of God. (Comp.l ehron. ix. 33.)

Turning back to the Acts, we have another aspect ofthe employment of the saints. It says, "They con­tinued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (ii.42.) Theypersevered in learning the mind and will of God ascommunicated by His servants (for at this time none ofthe New Testament scriptures were in existence), andhence they were brought into enjoyment of Mlowship

the building was raised. Christ, according to Hisword, had built His church, and made it ready for itadivine Inhabitant. Hence just as when Moses hadcompleted the tabernacle, and also as when Solomonhad finished the temple, the glory of the Lord filled thehouse of Goo (Exod. xl; 2 Chron. v.), so here, therecame suddenly a sound from heaven as of a mightyrushing wind, and it filled all the house where theywere sitting. Goo manifestly took possession of thehouse which had that day been erected. Others mightcome in, and would indeed be brought in, to form partof the house (" And the Lord added to the church dailysuch as should be saved." (1.1.47»; but still the houseof God was built. The apostle could therefore say to theEphesians, "Ye are builded together fO\' an habitation ofGod through the Spirit;" and to the Corinthians, "Yeare the temple of the living God." In this aspect thehouse of Goo is always looked upon as complete, andyet other believers are continually brought in to o-ccupytheir appointed places in the building. This will be atonce understoo-d if for one minute we change the termand use " church" instead of "house."

And that the Lord Himself looked upon the houseas now built is seen from the connection between thesecond and third chapters. At the commencementof chap. iii. we read of Peter and John going uptogether into the temple at the hour of prayer; butthe Lord had a lesaon for them as well as for us inwhat o-ccurred to them by the way. There was a man;lame from his mother's womb, who was carried andlaid daily, not inside, but at the gate of the temple, tobeg of those who entered for prayer or worship. Heasked an alms of Peter and John, who were, like mauyothers, about to go into the temple. The Spirit of God

22 THE HOUSE 01' GOD:' THE HOUSE OF GOD. 27'

used the circumstance by leading Peter to" heal thelame man, as a testimony to the power of the risenChrist, and for the apostles' and our instruction. Theman, be it repeated, is outside the temple, and it wasthere-outside-that he received the blessing. The newhouse of God had just been formed. and now the HolySpirit testifies that blessing is outside of the old houseand in connection with the new, a le.sson which Peterand John may have failed to apprehend at the moment,but one which has been written for the edification of allwhose eyes have been opened by the' Spirit of God.Yes, there in Jerusalem, and on the least-day, with nosound of hammer or axe or any tool of iron, in themidst of an unbelieving generation, and while Herod'stemple was there before their eyes, and the object of theveneration of their carnal hearts, the true Solomon hadbuilt His Church of precious stone&, whose lustre andbeauty could only be appreciated by Him who had laidthem in their appointed place upon the chiefComer-stone.

It is also to be remarked that here there were none butliving stones, inasmuch as the house in this chapter isof the Lord's own building. (v. 47.) So far therefore,,the body of Christ, although the revelation of thistruth was reserved till another day-until its appointedminister had been called and qualified-and the houseof God are 9Q-eXtensive. That is to say, every stone ofthis building was also, though this was not yet uuder­stood, a member of the body of Christ; for on this day,including the three thousand souls that repented underthe mighty operation of the Holy Spirit through thepreaching of Peter, not one was brought in who wasnot really converted. All were' genuine believers. Itwas they who receiwd the Word who were baptized,and it was those of the same character whom the Lord

Ghost. As we Lave already said, these two thingsare connected. Everywhere in the Scriptures the giltof the Holy Ghost is consequent upon the forgiveness ofsins. Clt'ansed by the precious blood of Christ (as scenin figure also iq the consecration of the priests and thecleansing of the leper-Exod. xxix.; Lev. xiv.), Godst'als (llnoints) those so cleansed with the Holy Ghost.(See Acts x.; Rom. v.; 2 Cor. 1; Eph. i., &c.)

Let us recall the divine order here presented. Onl'f'pentance towards God there was baptism ;n the nameof Jt'sus Christ, whereby those so baptized were broughtout from among the Jews who had l'f'jected theirMt'ssiah. and brought into the number of those whoformecI the house of God. Forgiveness of sins wasannounced to them froin God, and, now in the spherewhere God dwells by the Spirit, they themselves re­ceived the Holy Ghost; and then they were not on]y apart of the house of God, but also, as we s~. with thedisciples in the beginning of the chapter <"'.':4), theywere indwelt by the Spirit. The Lord's words to Hisdisciples were in this way fulfilltl~: "And I will praythe Father, and He shall give jbh another Comforter,that He may abide with you for ever ; [even] the Spiritof truth; whom the world cannot receive, because itseeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye knowHim ; lor He dwelleth with 1/0'-', a.nd skall be in 1JO'l.p(.John xiv. 16, 17.)

There was yet more in the abounding grace of 'God.II For," said Peter," the promise (the promise'of theseblessings which have been considered) is unto you (youJews), and to your children (these were not to be ex­cluded), and to all that are afar off (the Gen~i1es--eee

Eph. ii. 11-13), eVt>n as many as the Lord our God shallcall" The Church-the habitation of God-having been

26 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OP GOD. 23

their identification with Him in His death; so that,accepting death for themselves, they would thereby, infigure, be dissociated from man, and brought upon theground of association with Christ's death, so that theyhenceforward would accept for themselves the place ofbeing dead-dead with Cl.rist-in this world. Theapostle, therefore, could write to the Colossians-" If yebe dead with Christ .... why, as though alive in theworld?" &c. (Col. ii. 20.) And this death with Christis Christian ground, and inasmuch as baptism is thedivinely-appointed mode of entrance upon it, there isconsequently no other way into the house of God onearth. It was therefore necessary that these J p-wsshould repent and be baptized in the name of the LordJesus. The former would be produced by the Spirit ofGod working through the testimony they had heard;by the latter they would be publicly separated fromthe nation that had crucified the Lord Jesus-wouldfrom that moment cease to be Jews, and be brought intothe number of those who were His followers on earth;and these, as we have seen, composed the house of God.

Upon their repentance and baptism two blessingswere promised. The first was remission of sins, and thesecond was the reception of the Holy Ghost. Thesetwo things are connected, as a word or two will show.The remission of sins here is, we apprehend, thatwhich the apostles were empowered to R.dmirister onrepentance towards God and faith toward our LordJesus Christ. On the profession of this, and beingbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sinswas not only entered upon as before God, connectedby Him with repentance and faith, but also authori­tatively declared by His servants. (See John xx. 2a;Acts xxii. 16.) Further, there was the gift of the Holy

afterwards daily added. This fact must be distinctlystated, and firmly maintained.

2. The house of God having been built, we find theway very plainly indicated by which BOuls were to bebrought into it. One simple remark may perhaps clearaway a difficulty for souie before we enter upon thispart of our subject. It is often hastily assumed thatGod brings souls secretly, as it were, into His house; i.e.that if He converts a BOUI, that soul is thereby broughtinto His habitation on earth. Let us then for otiemoment change the term II house" for a "company ofbelievers," for rememher it is the company of believerswho have a very distinct and separate existence inActR ii. that form God's house, and then w.e may askif a soul who is born again is brought thereby into thecompany of believers? Nay, he may La unknown tothem, and in that case could not be said to form one oftheir number. That God knows such an one as a be­liever is another thing; but the question is, as we haveseen, concerning God's habitation on earth. And since itis on earth, there is, as we shall also see, an appointedway into the company which compose this habitation.

Let us look, in the first place, at the different classesbl'ought before us. There are the one hundred andtwenty who have this day been formed into the Church-God's assembly. There are the Jews standing roundabout them-the "Jews, devout men, out of everynation under heaven" (v. 5), those to whom Peter afU!r­wards preached. Then, lastly, there were those to whomPeter refers in his address-" All that are afar off," awell-known scripture term for Gentiles. We ·have thenthat threefold division which the Spirit of God elsewheremakes-the Church, the Jews, and the Gentiles (1 Cor.x. 32), a representation therefore of the whole world.

24 THE HOUSE OIl' GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 25

Now it was in connection with this inner circle, thiscentral company. the church of God, that Peter, stand­ing up with the eleven, rendered his testimony to Christ.The manifest operations of the Spirit-manifest evento the unbelieving Jews-had produced perplexity inthe minds of some, and became for others an occasionof derision and mockery. Peter then, as led of theHoly Ghost, addressed himself to' the multitude thatcame together. First of all, he explained from theScriptures the character of the manifestations they hadwitnessed (11V. 16-21); then, he testified of "Jesus ofNazareth, a man approved of God among you bymiracles and wonders and signs, which God did byHim, in the midst of you, as ye yourselves ~so know."He told them of God's counsel as to His death, andtheir wickedness in His erucifixion; of His resurrec­tion, which had been foretold in their own scriptures,and of which Peter and those with him were witnesses.(tl'V. 22-32.) Then he concluded with these remarkablewords: "Therefore, ,being by the right hand of Godexalte<l, and having received of the Father the promiseof the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which yeDOW see and hear. For David is not ascended into theheavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto myLord, Sit Thou on m~ right hand, until I make Thy foesThy footstool. Tberelore let all the house of Israel knowassuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whomye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (w. 33-36.)

This was a very distinct testimony. Jesus of Naza­reth, rejected and crucified by man, had been raised fromthe dead, exalted hy the right hand of God, and madeboth Lord and Christ. What a contrast between themind of God and th~ mind of man! And what couldmore plainly demonstrate man's ,guilt and man's con-

dition? Truly the cross of Christ brought everythingto the test, and not only told out what was in the heartof God,lbut what was also in the heart of man. Thistestimony of Peter was carried home to the consciencesof those who heard, and, pricked in their heart, theysaid unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "Menand brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said untothem, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in thename of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, andye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for thepromise is unto you, and to your children, and to allthat are afar off, even as many as the Lord our Godshall call." (vv.37-39.) Now it is this answer of Petertu these penitent Jews that requires our careful atten­tion. Two things were then to be done, and consequenton this there were two blessings to be received. Theywere to repent, and be baptized in the name of thel.ord Jesus. Let us suppose for one minute that theseJews had truly repented, and yet refused to be baptizedin the name of the Lord Jesus. Is it not plain on thevery face of this scripture, that in suoh a case, what­ever their state of heart before God, and notwith­standing that they might be truly born again, theycould not have been received into the company ofbelievers that stood before them-that, in othp.r words,they could not be brought into the house of God onearth? For what was involved by their baptism in thename of Jesus Christ? .. Know ye not," says theapostle Paul, "that so many of us as were baptized unto.lesus Christ" (Christ Jesus, really) .. were baptizedinto" (untO-fir) .. His death 1" (Rom. vi. 3 )

It would be, therefore, not only to 1x>lieve the testi­mony concerning His death, resurrection, and presentplace at the right hand of God, but it would be also

24 THE HOUSE OIl' GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 25

Now it was in connection with this inner circle, thiscentral company. the church of God, that Peter, stand­ing up with the eleven, rendered his testimony to Christ.The manifest operations of the Spirit-manifest evento the unbelieving Jews-had produced perplexity inthe minds of some, and became for others an occasionof derision and mockery. Peter then, as led of theHoly Ghost, addressed himself to' the multitude thatcame together. First of all, he explained from theScriptures the character of the manifestations they hadwitnessed (11V. 16-21); then, he testified of "Jesus ofNazareth, a man approved of God among you bymiracles and wonders and signs, which God did byHim, in the midst of you, as ye yourselves ~so know."He told them of God's counsel as to His death, andtheir wickedness in His erucifixion; of His resurrec­tion, which had been foretold in their own scriptures,and of which Peter and those with him were witnesses.(tl'V. 22-32.) Then he concluded with these remarkablewords: "Therefore, ,being by the right hand of Godexalte<l, and having received of the Father the promiseof the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which yeDOW see and hear. For David is not ascended into theheavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto myLord, Sit Thou on m~ right hand, until I make Thy foesThy footstool. Tberelore let all the house of Israel knowassuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whomye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (w. 33-36.)

This was a very distinct testimony. Jesus of Naza­reth, rejected and crucified by man, had been raised fromthe dead, exalted hy the right hand of God, and madeboth Lord and Christ. What a contrast between themind of God and th~ mind of man! And what couldmore plainly demonstrate man's ,guilt and man's con-

dition? Truly the cross of Christ brought everythingto the test, and not only told out what was in the heartof God,lbut what was also in the heart of man. Thistestimony of Peter was carried home to the consciencesof those who heard, and, pricked in their heart, theysaid unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "Menand brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said untothem, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in thename of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, andye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for thepromise is unto you, and to your children, and to allthat are afar off, even as many as the Lord our Godshall call." (vv.37-39.) Now it is this answer of Petertu these penitent Jews that requires our careful atten­tion. Two things were then to be done, and consequenton this there were two blessings to be received. Theywere to repent, and be baptized in the name of thel.ord Jesus. Let us suppose for one minute that theseJews had truly repented, and yet refused to be baptizedin the name of the Lord Jesus. Is it not plain on thevery face of this scripture, that in suoh a case, what­ever their state of heart before God, and notwith­standing that they might be truly born again, theycould not have been received into the company ofbelievers that stood before them-that, in othp.r words,they could not be brought into the house of God onearth? For what was involved by their baptism in thename of Jesus Christ? .. Know ye not," says theapostle Paul, "that so many of us as were baptized unto.lesus Christ" (Christ Jesus, really) .. were baptizedinto" (untO-fir) .. His death 1" (Rom. vi. 3 )

It would be, therefore, not only to 1x>lieve the testi­mony concerning His death, resurrection, and presentplace at the right hand of God, but it would be also

26 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OP GOD. 23

their identification with Him in His death; so that,accepting death for themselves, they would thereby, infigure, be dissociated from man, and brought upon theground of association with Christ's death, so that theyhenceforward would accept for themselves the place ofbeing dead-dead with Cl.rist-in this world. Theapostle, therefore, could write to the Colossians-" If yebe dead with Christ .... why, as though alive in theworld?" &c. (Col. ii. 20.) And this death with Christis Christian ground, and inasmuch as baptism is thedivinely-appointed mode of entrance upon it, there isconsequently no other way into the house of God onearth. It was therefore necessary that these J p-wsshould repent and be baptized in the name of the LordJesus. The former would be produced by the Spirit ofGod working through the testimony they had heard;by the latter they would be publicly separated fromthe nation that had crucified the Lord Jesus-wouldfrom that moment cease to be Jews, and be brought intothe number of those who were His followers on earth;and these, as we have seen, composed the house of God.

Upon their repentance and baptism two blessingswere promised. The first was remission of sins, and thesecond was the reception of the Holy Ghost. Thesetwo things are connected, as a word or two will show.The remission of sins here is, we apprehend, thatwhich the apostles were empowered to R.dmirister onrepentance towards God and faith toward our LordJesus Christ. On the profession of this, and beingbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sinswas not only entered upon as before God, connectedby Him with repentance and faith, but also authori­tatively declared by His servants. (See John xx. 2a;Acts xxii. 16.) Further, there was the gift of the Holy

afterwards daily added. This fact must be distinctlystated, and firmly maintained.

2. The house of God having been built, we find theway very plainly indicated by which BOuls were to bebrought into it. One simple remark may perhaps clearaway a difficulty for souie before we enter upon thispart of our subject. It is often hastily assumed thatGod brings souls secretly, as it were, into His house; i.e.that if He converts a BOUI, that soul is thereby broughtinto His habitation on earth. Let us then for otiemoment change the term II house" for a "company ofbelievers," for rememher it is the company of believerswho have a very distinct and separate existence inActR ii. that form God's house, and then w.e may askif a soul who is born again is brought thereby into thecompany of believers? Nay, he may La unknown tothem, and in that case could not be said to form one oftheir number. That God knows such an one as a be­liever is another thing; but the question is, as we haveseen, concerning God's habitation on earth. And since itis on earth, there is, as we shall also see, an appointedway into the company which compose this habitation.

Let us look, in the first place, at the different classesbl'ought before us. There are the one hundred andtwenty who have this day been formed into the Church-God's assembly. There are the Jews standing roundabout them-the "Jews, devout men, out of everynation under heaven" (v. 5), those to whom Peter afU!r­wards preached. Then, lastly, there were those to whomPeter refers in his address-" All that are afar off," awell-known scripture term for Gentiles. We ·have thenthat threefold division which the Spirit of God elsewheremakes-the Church, the Jews, and the Gentiles (1 Cor.x. 32), a representation therefore of the whole world.

22 THE HOUSE 01' GOD:' THE HOUSE OF GOD. 27'

used the circumstance by leading Peter to" heal thelame man, as a testimony to the power of the risenChrist, and for the apostles' and our instruction. Theman, be it repeated, is outside the temple, and it wasthere-outside-that he received the blessing. The newhouse of God had just been formed. and now the HolySpirit testifies that blessing is outside of the old houseand in connection with the new, a le.sson which Peterand John may have failed to apprehend at the moment,but one which has been written for the edification of allwhose eyes have been opened by the' Spirit of God.Yes, there in Jerusalem, and on the least-day, with nosound of hammer or axe or any tool of iron, in themidst of an unbelieving generation, and while Herod'stemple was there before their eyes, and the object of theveneration of their carnal hearts, the true Solomon hadbuilt His Church of precious stone&, whose lustre andbeauty could only be appreciated by Him who had laidthem in their appointed place upon the chiefComer-stone.

It is also to be remarked that here there were none butliving stones, inasmuch as the house in this chapter isof the Lord's own building. (v. 47.) So far therefore,,the body of Christ, although the revelation of thistruth was reserved till another day-until its appointedminister had been called and qualified-and the houseof God are 9Q-eXtensive. That is to say, every stone ofthis building was also, though this was not yet uuder­stood, a member of the body of Christ; for on this day,including the three thousand souls that repented underthe mighty operation of the Holy Spirit through thepreaching of Peter, not one was brought in who wasnot really converted. All were' genuine believers. Itwas they who receiwd the Word who were baptized,and it was those of the same character whom the Lord

Ghost. As we Lave already said, these two thingsare connected. Everywhere in the Scriptures the giltof the Holy Ghost is consequent upon the forgiveness ofsins. Clt'ansed by the precious blood of Christ (as scenin figure also iq the consecration of the priests and thecleansing of the leper-Exod. xxix.; Lev. xiv.), Godst'als (llnoints) those so cleansed with the Holy Ghost.(See Acts x.; Rom. v.; 2 Cor. 1; Eph. i., &c.)

Let us recall the divine order here presented. Onl'f'pentance towards God there was baptism ;n the nameof Jt'sus Christ, whereby those so baptized were broughtout from among the Jews who had l'f'jected theirMt'ssiah. and brought into the number of those whoformecI the house of God. Forgiveness of sins wasannounced to them froin God, and, now in the spherewhere God dwells by the Spirit, they themselves re­ceived the Holy Ghost; and then they were not on]y apart of the house of God, but also, as we s~. with thedisciples in the beginning of the chapter <"'.':4), theywere indwelt by the Spirit. The Lord's words to Hisdisciples were in this way fulfilltl~: "And I will praythe Father, and He shall give jbh another Comforter,that He may abide with you for ever ; [even] the Spiritof truth; whom the world cannot receive, because itseeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye knowHim ; lor He dwelleth with 1/0'-', a.nd skall be in 1JO'l.p(.John xiv. 16, 17.)

There was yet more in the abounding grace of 'God.II For," said Peter," the promise (the promise'of theseblessings which have been considered) is unto you (youJews), and to your children (these were not to be ex­cluded), and to all that are afar off (the Gen~i1es--eee

Eph. ii. 11-13), eVt>n as many as the Lord our God shallcall" The Church-the habitation of God-having been

28' THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 21

built, the gift of grace is proclaimed both to Jews andGentiles, and the way was declared by which the Jewand the Gentile, in the so-vereign grace of God, couldpass out from the two outer circles-both of which werein the kingdom of darkness, where Satan reigned-intothat new sphere which had that day been formed, wherethe Spirit of God acted and dwelt.

3. We call attention now, more briefly, to the occu­pations of those who form, and are within, the house ofGod. For this purpose we may add a passage from1 Peter. The apostle says: "Ye also, as lively" (living)" stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priest­hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to Gooby Jesus Christ." (ii. 5.) Inasmuch as Peter deals withthe priesthood of believers-the new order of priests,who take the place on earth of Aaron's family-adignity which now attaches to all saints without excep­tion, he is led to poiut out their occupation with thesacrifice of praise. It is no longer sacrifices of bulls orgoats, but spiritual sacrifices suited. to the spiritualhouse of which they formed part, as well as to thosewho worshipped God in spirit and in truth. They wereindeed to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually;that is, the fruit of their lips; giving thanks to His name.Perpetual praise and adoration were to be heard in this newand spiritual habitation of God. (Comp.l ehron. ix. 33.)

Turning back to the Acts, we have another aspect ofthe employment of the saints. It says, "They con­tinued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (ii.42.) Theypersevered in learning the mind and will of God ascommunicated by His servants (for at this time none ofthe New Testament scriptures were in existence), andhence they were brought into enjoyment of Mlowship

the building was raised. Christ, according to Hisword, had built His church, and made it ready for itadivine Inhabitant. Hence just as when Moses hadcompleted the tabernacle, and also as when Solomonhad finished the temple, the glory of the Lord filled thehouse of Goo (Exod. xl; 2 Chron. v.), so here, therecame suddenly a sound from heaven as of a mightyrushing wind, and it filled all the house where theywere sitting. Goo manifestly took possession of thehouse which had that day been erected. Others mightcome in, and would indeed be brought in, to form partof the house (" And the Lord added to the church dailysuch as should be saved." (1.1.47»; but still the houseof God was built. The apostle could therefore say to theEphesians, "Ye are builded together fO\' an habitation ofGod through the Spirit;" and to the Corinthians, "Yeare the temple of the living God." In this aspect thehouse of Goo is always looked upon as complete, andyet other believers are continually brought in to o-ccupytheir appointed places in the building. This will be atonce understoo-d if for one minute we change the termand use " church" instead of "house."

And that the Lord Himself looked upon the houseas now built is seen from the connection between thesecond and third chapters. At the commencementof chap. iii. we read of Peter and John going uptogether into the temple at the hour of prayer; butthe Lord had a lesaon for them as well as for us inwhat o-ccurred to them by the way. There was a man;lame from his mother's womb, who was carried andlaid daily, not inside, but at the gate of the temple, tobeg of those who entered for prayer or worship. Heasked an alms of Peter and John, who were, like mauyothers, about to go into the temple. The Spirit of God

20 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 29

individual believer (see also 1 Cor. vi 19); and that Hemade His habitation with believers collectively, even asPaul writes to the Ephesians, "Ye are builded togetherfor an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 22.)Believers therefore now were, as their Lord had beenwhile on the earth, God's temple, and the house of God,which is the church of the living God, was now formed.It is the latter truth which is to occupy our attention,and with this object we propose to examine more closelythe teaching of this chapter (Acts ii.).

Speaking generally, we have in this scripture threethings-the building of God's house, the mode of en­trance, and the occupations of those who are within, or,to speak more accurately, of those who form it.

1. The building of the house. We read concerningSolomon's temple, that "when it was in building, itwas built of stone made ready before it was broughtthither: so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, norany tool of iron, heard in the house, while it was inbuilding." (1 Kings vi. 7.) The same thing is seenprecisely in respect of the house of God which wasbuilt at Pentecost. The disciples were all with oneaccord in one place; and who were they? They werethe one. hundred and twenty mentioned in the previouschapter, all of whom (for Judas was no longer of thecompany, having by transgression fallen that he mightgo to his own place) were living stones which had beenby the grace of God brought into saving contact withChrist, and thus made participators of everlasting life.And the same divine power which had saved themthrough faith in the Lord Jesus, brought them on thisday together, and put them silently in their appointedplaces on the one foundation-stone to form the habi­tation of God on the earth through the Spirit. Thus

with the apostles (comp. 1 John i. 3), in which thosenewly-converted souls delighted to be found. Then to­gether they were gatheJ ed around the Lord at His tableto commemorate His death; that death which was thefoundation of all the blessings into which they had beenintroduced; and together also they persevered in as­sembling to pour out their hearts in prayer to God.

As we gaze upon this beautiful picture of the houseof God, of the energy of the Holy Ghost, producingconstant praise and prayer, as well as obedience tothe Word, we can truly say, in the language of thepsalmist, but with another meaning, "How amiable areThy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts! 0 • • Blessed are theythat dwell in Thy house: they will be still. prdisingThee."

V.THE CHURCH, AS BUILT BY MAN.

1 COR. iii.

This scripture demands the most careful consideration,as it occupies an important place in respect of the truthof the Church of God. As is so often the case in theepistles, the Holy Spirit uses the condition of the saintsas the occasion for the unfolding of a new aspect of theChurch. The Corinthian saints were carnal (CTapKlllol),and on this account the apostle could not minister thetruth he would have desired, but was compelled, becauseof their state, to speak to them a.~ "babes in Christ," tofeed them with milk, and not with meat, etc. (wo 1,2'.)The evidence of their" carnality" was the formation ofschools of opinion in the assembly, the existence of"divisions," the saints ranging themselves around theirself-chosen and favourite teachers; some choosing Paul,some Peter, some Apollos, and some even venturing touse the name of Christ to refuse the servants whom He

30 THE BOUSE OJ' GOD. TBE BOUSE OF GOD. 19

had sent. The apostle seizes the opportunity to developthe true position, both of the servants and of the saints,Bod of both alike in relation to the Lord. "Who then,"he exclaims, " is Paul; and who is Apollos, but ministersby whom ye have believed, even as the Lord gave toevery man 1 I have planted, Apollos watered; but Godgave the increase. So then neither is he that plantethanything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveththe increase." It was intolerable to Paul-a heart-rend­ing sorrow, we might say, that the name of a servant,however eminent, should come between the. Lord andHis people. For what were the labourers 1 God'sworkmen-labouring in unison and fellowship, but allbelonging to God.· And what were the saints 1 " Ye,"says the apostle, "are God's husbandry, ye are God'sbuilding." ('V. 9.) The servants were God's workmen,the saints were God's building- God in His grace wasthus everything, servants and saints alike owed every­thing to Him. All things were of Him, and He alonemust therefore be magnified, whether by saints or servants.

Procl'eding now :further, the apostle shows what theresponsibility of God's workmen is in the work entrustedto their care. He says, .. According to the grace of Godwhich is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, Ihave laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.For other fonndatibn can no man lay than that is laid.which is Jesus Christ." (V'I). 10, 11.) Two things willat once strike the reader in contrast with what has beenconsidered in a former paper. First, the apostle speaksof himself as laying the foundation, and also of himself

• The Eogliah venion givee _1), the correct thought. The,llpoet1e duea not mllldl that the 1181'V1UIte WlIl'8 God', fellow.laboarenoa." with aa.other, ba.t that they belonged to God, and u ,ach .ere:fe1low"laboaren.

however. premonitions of the coming change. Speakingto the Jews He said, "Destroy this temple, and in threedays I will raise it up. . . . But," the evangelist tellsus. u He spake of the temple of His body." (Johnii. 19, 21.) He said to Peter, moreover, on his con­fessing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the livingGod, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh andblood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Fatherwhich is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thatthou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build mychurch; and the gates of hell shall not prevail againstit," (Matt. xvi, 16-18.) If we pass now to the day ofPentecost we shall see that God commenced then todwell on earth in a new and a twofold way: "And whenthe day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all withone accord in one place. And suddenly there came asound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and itjilled all the 1wuse wMre they were sitting. And thereappeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, andit sat upon each of them. And they were all filled withthe Holy Ghost, and begau to speak with other tongues,as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts ii 1-4.)

Now this took place according to the express promiseof the Lord to His disciples: "And, behold, I send thepromise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in thecity of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power fromon high." And again: He" commanded them that theyshould not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the pro­mise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me.For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be bap­tized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence." (Lukexxiv. 49; Acts i. 4, 5.) The Holy Ghost then came downat Pentecost according to the Lord's word, and the effect,was thllt God mad~ His temple by the Spirit in the

18 TBE BOUSE OF GOD. .THE BOUSE OF GOD. 31

and magnificence, and it was this temple to whichJoseph and Mary carried the infant Saviour when theypresented Him before the Lord. And it is a most note­worthy fact that, built as this temple was by an alienking-for while he professed the Jewish faith he wasprobably of Idumean descent-the Lord Himself recog­nized it as His Father's house. Surrounded, and evenfilled, as itwas with corruptions He yet owned it (Matt.xxi. 12, 13; John ii. 13-16, &c.); and not until Hisrejection by His people had been made manifest didHe abandon it. Then He pronounced the··1Jentence,.. Behold, your 'house is left unto you desolate" (Matt.·xxiii. 38); and thereon He departed and went out of thetemple. In patience and long-suffering God bore withHis people, and with the corruptions of His house, untilthere was no remedy, and then He abandoned it, as Hehad done before with Solomon's temple. On His partthere had been judgment mingled with grace and mercyagain and again exprt',ssed; on His people's part sin andcorruption, which reached their climax in the rejectionand crucifixion of their Messiah-Jehovah indeed, whohad condescended through so many centuries to haveHis habitation in their midst.

This closes up until millennial days the period ofGod's earthly house j but even so it was only pre­paratory to the accomplishment of His purpose todwell on the earth in a more excellent way.

.. IV.

THE OHUROH.

ACTS ii.

We have already traced the history of God's housefrom Exodus until the close of the Mosaic dispensation.Dl1ring the liie of our Lord on the earth there were,

and others as building upon it. This is a very differentthing from that contained in the Lord's words to Peter,II Upon this 1'Qck I will build my Church." And it isthis difference which explains the two aspects .of the.house of God. The work of Christ in building HisChurch must of necessity be perfect. Himself in Hisdeath and resurrection, the Son of the livmg God(declared to be the Son of God with power, according to.the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead),the foundation, every stone He lays upon it,like Peterhimself, must be a living stone. But, as this scripturein 1 Cor. teaches, He also entrusts the work oC buildingto His servants, and holds them responsible for thecharacter of their work. Paul can thus say, "I havelaid the foundation"-as he was the first to proclaimthe gospel in Corinth, and thus was the means of Cormingthe assembly of God in that city. (See Acts xviii.) Hehad laid the foundation as a wise master-builder, and hewarns others as to the manner in which they might buildupon it, reminding them in this way of their responsi­bility to the Lord for the character of their work.

And looking more closely into the details of thisscripture, we find that there are, or may be, three classesof builders, and that the testing of their work will takeplace at a future day. The apostle says, "If any manbuild upon this foundation gold,silver, precious. stones,wood, hay, stubble; every man's work aball be mademanifest: for the day shall declare it, becauee it (theday) sball be revealed by fire j. and the fire ~ba1l tryevery man's work of what sort it is. If any man'swork abide wbich he hath built thereupon, he shall.receive a reward. If any man's work shall be blU'Ded,he shall suffer loss: but be himself shall be saved j yetso as by fire. (Know ye not that Je are the temple of

32 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 17

God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in :rou 1) Ifany man defile the temple of God, him sball Goddestroy; for the temple of God is holy, which templeye are." (11V.12-17.) There are then, as has often beenobserved, the good workman, and his work good, and whoreceives a reward; the workman who is himself saved,but whose work is bad and is therefore burut up, and whoconsequently suffers loss; and lastly there is the badworkman and his bad work, and both alike are destroyed.

What is meant· by the "works" or "building" ismanifest from the context. 1t is putting wood, hay, orstubble on the foundation, instead of gold, silver, orprecious stones; i.e. bringing souls into the assemblyof God who are without divine life. This may bedone in two ways; by the proclamation of false d~ctrines

-doctrines which are subversive of the truths ofChristianity, setting aside, for example, the necessity ofthe new-birth, or the need of cleansing by thE: preciousblood of Christ, so that natural men, men not having theSpirit of God, are introduced into the Church as theresult of such teaching; or it may be done by openlyand avowedly bringing into the assembly those whoare not saved through fait~ in the Lord Jesus, includingin the Church of God other than those who have thetitle to be within. A third case is possible; viz., theworkman. being deceived as to the true character of.those he may introduce. In one or in all of theseways the workman may fail in responsibility to Christas to the character of his building. He may seemingly,outwardly to the eyes of men, be a most prosperousand successful builder, while he may in reality be butpiling up upon the foundation wood, hay, or stubble,for future and certain destruction. Surely all sh~uld

perceive what· a solemn thing it is to be engaged in

unfaithfulness on their part, the house was completed,and they "kept the dedication of the house of Godwith joy." (Ezra vi. 15-22.)

This house took the place of that which Solomon hadbuilt. There were, however, important differences. Nocloud, no glor:r of the Lord filled this house, as in thecase of the tabernacle and the first temple; and no firedescended from heaven to consume their sacrifices, aswith Moses (Lev. ix. 24) and with Solomon. (2 Chron.vii. 1.) It is this fact which makes the parallel betweenthis remnant and the Church so interesting. Thomasbelieved when he saw; but the Lord announced theLl!lssedness of those who should believe without seeing.(.John xx.) This was the position of this feeble remnantas well as that of ourselves. That God accepted theirsacrifices and dwelt in His house was with them entirelya matter of faith-faith as based upon God's word, inthe same way,·for example, as the presence of the LordJesus Christ in the midst of those gathered to Hisname is apprehended only by faith, faith begotten andsustained by His own word. (Matt. xviii) But so com­pletely did the Lord regard this as His house, that Heeven identified it with the one it succeeded. Speakingthrough Haggai, one of the prophets He had used to stirup the people and encourage them in their building, Hesays, "The glory"of this latter house," or, as it should betranslated, .. The latter glory of this house shall begreater than the former." (Haggai ii. 9.) The housewas but one-whatever its outward circumstances-inthe divine mind, and hence God's habitation equallywith Solomon's temple.

'l'hi8 house existed until the time of Herod theGreat, who rebuilded it (though we have no account orthis in the Scriptures) on a scale of surpuaing grandeur

16 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD.

the Levites the sons of .Asaph with cymbals, to praisethe Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.And they sang together by course, in praising andgiving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, forHis mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. .And all thepeople shouted with a great shout, when they praisedthe Lord, because the foundation of the house of theLord was laid. But many of the priests and Levitesand chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that hadseen the first house, when the foundation of this housewas laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; andlliany shouted aloud for joy; so that the people couldnot discern the noise of the sho~t of joy from the noiseof the weeping of the people; for the people shoutedwith a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar oft"(Ezra iii. 10-13.)

They praised the Lord with cymbals; while thepriests blew with their trumpets, and sang the samesong when they laid the foundation as had been sung atthe dedication of Solomon's temple. But many wept­the old men who had been eye-witnesses of the splen­dour of the former house. The contrast was indeedgreat. That was built amid the glories of the kingdom,and at a time when that kingdom Wll.8 pre-eminent-atime also of peace, prosperity, and blessing; a periodwhich typified the reign of the Messiah, when all kingsshall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serveHim. This was commenced by a feeble remnant amidthe desolations of the once-glorious city, which mencalled the perfection of beauty, the joy of the wholeearth (Lam. ii. 15), themselves the subjects of a Gentilemonarch, dependent on him, by the will of God, forpermission to build, and surrounded on every hand byadversaries. Still they builded; and finally, after much

building in connection with the Church of God, and atthe same time learn that the character of the work doneis of far more importance than its extent. Even as inthe parable of the talents, fidelity and not success is thatwhich elicits the commendation'of the Lord, so here itis the nature, not the quantity, of the work which willmeet with reward.

Having pointed out the different characters of build­ing, the next thing to be observed is, that the revelationof the character of the work is left to a future day-infact to "the day," a term, we apprehend, which signifiesthe appearing of the Lord. Whatever the' sort ofbuilding His servants may carry on in the meantime,all abides until the fire-the fire, as usual, being asymbo\ of the holiness of 'God as applied in judgment-tries every man's work of what sort it is. We maythink or judge that certain builders are doing theirwork badly; but who are we to judge another mlln'sservants 1 To their own Master they stand or fall.Besides the fact that we are not the judges, we cannotdetect the true nature of any work. We may test themethods employed by the word of God, but as to thework itself there is One only who· has the necessarydiscernment, the infallible knowledge, and the unerringstandard to obviate all possibility of mistake; and Heis the One whom John (law in the Revelation, who was.. clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girtabout the paps with a golden girdle. His head and hairswere white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyeswere as a flame of fire; and His feeiwere like untofine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and Hisvoice as the BOund of many waters. And He had inHis right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth wenta sharp two-edged· sword: and His countenance was

34 rHB BOUSE 01' GOD; mE BOUSE or GOD. 15

as the sun sbineth in his strength:' (Rev. i.) To II theday" therefore which will be revealed by fire everyman's work must be left, to be pronounced upon afterthe perfect standard of fire has been applied to it bythe Lord Himself. Knowing this, in the very nextchapter Paul tells the Corinthians that it was a verysmall thing that he should be judged of them, or ofman's day, and he reminds them" that he could not evengive a true judgment about himselC, that the Lord isthe Judge, and hence nothing could be truly estimateduntil the Lord should come, II who both will bring tolight the hidden things of darkness, and will makemanifest the counsels of the hearts," etc. (1 Cor. iv.)

In conuection with the truth that all the work ofthe Lord's servants will be left for judgment until Becomes, there is another important principle to beremembered. It is that the Lord in the meanwhilebears with the work of His servants. We do notmean that He approves of it, only that as the time ofjudgment has not yet arrived He allows the work toremain, and does not pronounce upon its character.Thus if souls are brought wrongly into the house ofGod, He deals with them according to their profession,and holds them responsible for the ground they are on.The epistles everywhere bear 01lt this statement. Takefor example 1 Cot. K. Paul reminds the saints II howthat all our fatherS were under the cloud, and all passedthrough the sea; al,1d were all baptized unto Moses inthe cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the samespiritual meat; and did aU drink the same spiritualdrink: for they drank of that "spiritual Rock thatfollowed them: and that Rock was Christ.· But withmany of them God was not well pleased: for they wereoverthrown in the wildern." (w. 1-5.) Now what

maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates,and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, thatare among you, in the place which the Lord thy Godhath chosen to place His name there." (Deut xvi. 11.)

III.

THE TEMPLE AFTER THE RETURN FROM BABYLON.

The temple of Solo~on lasted until its destruction byNebJ1chadnezzar (2 Chron. xxxvi.); and Ezekiel de­scribes the departing of the glory of the Lord from it,on account of the abominations of His people, ere it wasconsumed with fire by the Chaldees. (See Ezek. viii.-x.)During seventy years Jerusalem was desolate (2 Chron.xxxvi. 2f; Dan. ix. 2); and then, II that the word ofthe Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,that be made a proclamation throughout all his king­dom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrusking of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given meall the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath chargedme to build HiJD an house at Jerusalem, which is inJudah." (Ezra i. 1,2, &c.) The government, because ofthe sin of Judah and Israel, had been now transferredto the Gentiles, and God therefore wrought, in the firstinstance, through the instrumentality of Cyrus. Thereader will find all the details of the return of a rem­nant of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, withpriests and Levites, in response to ~he proclamation ofthe king, recorded in.the book of Ezra. Not until thesecond year of their return did they II set forward thework of the house of the Lord." II And when thebuilders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,they set the. priests in their apparel with trumpets, and

14 TIlE HOUSE OF GOD. TIlE HOUSE OF OOD. 35

and, as seen again from the fact that the fire came downin response to Solomon's prayer and consumed theburnt-olfering and sacrifices, did so on the ground of re­demption-on the ground of redemption through thevalue of all that Christ was in His sacrificial work. Ithad not been possible on any other ground; but becauseit was on the foundation of all the sweet savour ofChrist in His death, He could, spite of what the peoplewere practically, dwell iu their midst, aud all the people,on their part, could come with the appointed sacrifices,in the appointed way, and at the appointed times.

Tbent'8forward Jerusalem was the one holy placeon earth, the one spot, therefore, to which the heartof every tme Israelite turned with thoughts of worshipand praise. "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth,for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my fleshcriethout for the living God. . . • Blessed are they thatdwell in Thy ROuse: they will be still praising Thee."CPs. lxxxiv.) And there on the recurrence of the feaststhe people assembled. " Jerusalem is builded as a citythat is compact together: whither the tribes go up, thetribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to givethanks unto the name of the Lord:' (Ps. CUll. 3, 4.)There all the first-born children were carried and pre­sented to the Lord (Luke iL 22-24), and there too thefamilies of His people assembled three times a year.(See Deut. xvi.) Jerusalem, therefore-because ofJehovah's house-was the "one place of blessing in thewhole world, and it -was no meq privilege to be per­mitted to form part of ~_!'8sembly that gathered therefrom time to time in obedience to the WOM. "Andthou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thyson,- and thy daughter, and thy manservant. aQd thy

object had the apostle ill citing these facts of Israel'shistory' It was to apply the teaching they afforded tothe Church of God in Corinth, and to all that in everyplace call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,both theirs and ours. (i. 2.) He expressly says thatthese things happened to Israel as type~types forbelievers in all ages; and hence he warns the saints oftheir danger-the danger of lusting after evil things,of tempting Christ, of murmuring, etc. The" ifs "of the epistles, as they are called, teach the same lesson.We thus read in Col. i.: .. And you, that were sometimealienated and enemies in your mind by wicked worb,yet now Jiath He reconciled • • • • if 1/e continue in tM14itk." This is not that the reconciliation is dependentupon our perseV(lring in the faith; but rather that ifwe continue in the faith we are shown (not to God,who knows the secreta of all bearts) to be real believe~,and if genuine believers, and not merely professors, weare reconciled. These and other passages of the samekind abundantly prove that God accepts all accordingto the ground they take. If brought upon the groundof Christianity, professedly associated with Christ inHis death, they are spoken to as Christians, they havecome under the responsibility to walk as such, and theyare warned of the consequences of sin, of departingfrom the living God, as the children of Israel did inthe wilderness. (See Heb. iii., iv.) God does not say tothem, "You are only professors, deceiving yourselves andothers;" but He meets them where they are, suppliesthem iu His word with tests by which such may easilydiscover the troth of their condition, warns them of theobligations they have incurred by being numberedamongst His people; but exposure and judgment Hedefers until .. the day:' Not that He does not in His

36 THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 13

government judge them now. He does, for judgmentbegins at the house of God, but public judgmentbetore all is left until the Lend's appearing.

Another proof of the above principle is found in theLord's attitude, during His life, towards the temple atJerusalem. The Jews had profaned it in many ways­made it a house of merchandise (John ii.) and a den ofthieves (Matt. xxi.), but He still called it His Father'shouse; and He continued to recognize it as such, until,finally judging it, He said, "Your house is left unto youdesolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see m~

henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that comethin the name of the Lord." (Matt. xxiii. 38, 39.) Andimmediately we read that "Jesus went out, and departedfrom the temple." Until that moment, spite of theabuses and corruptions that had grown up around it,He had borne with His people, and regarded the templeas His Father's house; but now, having judged it andthem, the bouse was desolated by His own departurefrom it. In the same way-whatever the unfaithfulnessof His servant.'l, and however indeed they may corruptthe temple of God-He waits in His long-suffering andgrace before He pronounces judgment upon it; and, asalso in the case of the Jewish temple, He still treatsit as God's house on the earth.

We c0!1clude therefore, on the ground of this scrip­tural teaching, that the house of God includes, in thiswider aspect, all who have been brought upon theground of Christianity, not only the living ston8ll, as in1 Peter ii., but also all whom the Lord's servants, intheir individual responsibility as builders, have intro­duced, whether believers or only professors. With theword of God in our hands, we may be tempted torefuse the work of this and that servant, deeming

the Lord "for ever;" and then he knelt down on abrazen scaffold (which he had prepared) before all thecongregation of Israel, and spread forth his handstowards heaven, and prayed with respect to the housewhich he had built, and he concluded his intercessionswith words cited from Ps. cxxxii.: " Now thereforearise, 0 Lord God, into thy resting-place; thou, and theark of thy strength. Let thy priests, 0 Lord God, beclothed with salvatiQn, and let thy saints rejoice ingoodness. 0 Lord God, tum not away the face of thin"anointed: remember the mercies of David, thy servant."And thereon we read, "Now when Solomon had madeat?- end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, andconsumed the bumt-offering and the sacrifices; and theglory of the Lord filled the house. And the priestscould not enter into the house of the Lord, because theglory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." (2 ehron.vi. 41, 42; vii 1, 2.)

In this maDner and under such circumstances did theLord take up His abode in the temple-the wholescene, the white-robed priests, and their glorifying Godwith one mind and one mouth, being no dim fore­shadowing of the glory of a later day, when the trueSolomon shall come to His temple and surround Him­self with a righteous and willing-hearted people. Butthe one point to be observed is, that we find once againGod dwelling in His hOUle in the midst of the peoplewhom He had chosen. The difference between thetemple and the tabemacle, as before remarked, ia shownby the contrast between the wildemeaa and the land;by th~ pilgrim oharacter or Israel's passage through theformer, as distinguished from their settled abode in thelatter. But in both alike God had His habitation, Hiehouse. God dwelt in the midst of the Whole of Israel.

12 THE BOUSE OF GOD. TBE BOeSE OF GOD. 37

into the most holy place, under the wings of the cheru­bim." (llChron. v. 1-7.) It was the ark that gave itscharacter to the house; for it ',Vas God's throne in themidst of Isxael, from whence He governed His peopleoil the basis of His holy law, as is noted here by thestatement that "there was nothing in the ark, save thetwo tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when theLord made a covenant with the children of Israel, whenthey came out of Egypt." ('/]o 10.)

And now, secondly, the Lord endorsed the work ofHis servants by taking possession of the new house,even as He had formerly done with the tabernacle... And it came to pass, when the priests were come outof the holy place: (for all the priests that were presentwere sanctified, and did. not then wait by course: alsothe Levites, which were the singers, all of them of Asaph,of Heman, of J eduthun, with their sons and theirbrethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbalsand psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of thealtar, and with them an hundred and twenty priestssounding with trumpets:) it came even to pass, as thetrumpeters and singers were as one, to make one soundto be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; andwhen they lifted up their voice with the trumpets andcymbals and instruments of music, and praised theLord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endurethfor ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud,even the house of the Lord; so that the priests couldnot stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for theglory of the Lord had filled the house of God." (2 Cbron.v. 11-14.) -Following upon this description, we findSolomon reciting the circumstances by which he hadbecome the divinely-appointed instrument in building" an house of habitation" and" a. place of dwelling" for

it worthless; but all must remember, we again add,that we are not the judges, that the Lord in Hisown time will make manifest every man's wvrk ofwhat sort it is, and that in the meanwhile we mustnot refuse what the Lord has not rejected; that is,we must likewise acknowledge this aspect of thehouse of God on earth. Salvation is not secured, asthis scripture shows, by being in the house of God.Wood, hay, and stubble are there equally with gold,silver, and precious stones. And moreover it mustnever be forgotten that the fire will test every part ofit. It is therefore a solemn thing-solemn both in theview of present responsibility and of future judgment­to be·within. It is also a precious privilege tu be withinthe sphere of the abode and action of the Holy Spirit;but this very privilege neglected and slighted becomesthe ground of judgmen~ in a future day. Christendom-for Christendon1 for all practical purposes expressesthe extent of the house of God-will on this veryaccount be the scene of unparalleled judgments. ThelUeasure of light is the measure of responsibility, andthe history of Babylon in the Apocalypse reveals thecharacter of the awful judgments that will descend upona Christless church, on that which still claims to be thechurch,but from which the Holy Ghost has long departed,aud which Christ has long since spued out of His mouth.

The judgment spoken of here, however, is moreespecially that of the builders. The one whose workabides receives a reward. Called and qualified by gracefor His service, and indeed sustained in it by divinepower and grace, the same grace rewards him for hisfaithful labour.· He whose work shall fail to standthe test of the holy fire, and is consumed as wood, hay,

• See (or the principle Matt. xu. 14, etc.; Luke six. 12, etc.;Ephes. ii. 10.

38 TnE BOUSE OF GOD. TB'I BOUSE OJ' GOD. 11

or &tubule, is himself saved, yet 80 as through (oux) 6rt',but he suft'el'll loea. He bad been led astray, thougha rt'al believer-led utray by human thoughts andreasonings, and, labouring after man's methods, he hadlost sight of the true character of the house of God,and thus all his service was in vain, and is not onlycounted as worthless, but draw-s -down upon itself theconsuming fire of judgment. The servant thereforesuffers lolis; he not only receives no reward, but he hasalso to see that all the energies of his professed life oflabour for the Lord have been misdirected and in utteropposition to his Lord's mind. The third case is sadderstill; it is that of an evil servant who corrupts tbetemple of God. He had taken the place of a builder,and he had laboured, it may be earnestly, according tohis own thoughts; but by his preaching he had cor­rupted Christianity, denying its fundamental doctrines.and adapting it to the tastes of the natural man.HiInself unconverted. he might yet have been a wiseteacher, a man of progress and intellectualit.y. one whohad shaken oft' the traditions and superstitions of pastages (as men speak), and known bow to harmonize theteachings of the Bible with the speculations of scienceand phi.losophy; a man ool;lsequently of a broad andcatholic spirit, who would look upon all men. in such aland as this, as Christians, denying the distinctionbetween the saved and the unsaved, bringing all alikewithin the pale of the Church. But the time of judg­ment has at length come, when his work is examined,not by the light of reason and man's ideas. but in that ofthe fire of the holiness of God; and what is the result tNot only are the wood, hay, and stubble consumed whichsuch a workman had put upon the foundation of thehouse of God, but he himself is also destroyed (ep(J~tfJfl')

Solomon. .. Then David gave to Solomon his IOn thepattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and ofthe treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambersthereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of theplace of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that hehad by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord.and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuriesof the house of God," &0. (1 Chron. xxviii. 11, 12.)Everything that Solomon did and made, in connectionwith the work to which he had been called, was in ac­cordance with the instructions he had received. Thesite itself had been divinely indicated, as well as thedesign and manner of the building. (1 Kings vi. 38;2 Chron. iii. 3.) Though entrusted to human hands toerect, the building was divine; for human thoughts andhuman conceptions must not intrude themselves intothe things of God.

The connection between the tabernacle and thetemple, as being both alike God's dwelling-place, maybe seen in two ways. When Solomon had completedthe house, he assembled the elders of Israel, and all theheads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the chil­dren of Israel; and we read that .. all the men of Israelassembled themselves unto the king, in the feast whichwas in the seventh month" (i.e. the feast of the blow­ing of trumpets, a figure of the restoration of Israel inthe last days-Num. xxix. 1). "And all the elderscame; and the Levites took up the ark. And theybrought up the ark and the tabernacle of the congrega­tion, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle,these did the priests and the Levites hring up," Andthen, after they 'had sacrificed sheep ll.Dd oxen withoutnumber, «the priests brought in the ark of the covenantof the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house,

10 THE HOUR or GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 39

more fully will the character of the Church as God'shouse be comprehended.

II

THE TEJlPLE OF SOLOMON.

The tabernacle, which had been the house of God inthe wilderness, together with its sacred furniture, wascarried by the children of Israel into Canaan, and waspitched in Shiloh. (J08SU8 xviii 1.) It was accordinglyto this place that the childreD of Israel resorted withtheir yearly sacrifices (1 Sam. i. 3), and it was stillcalled "the tabemacle of the congregation II (1 Sam.ii 22), but also "the temple of the Lord," and .. thehouse of the Lord," (1 Sam. iii. 3, 15.) These latternames did but foreshadow the house which should here­after be built in Jerusalem. While the children ofIsrael were pilgrims in the wilderness, and dwelt intents, God Himself abode in a tent (2 Sam. vii 6),suiting Himself, as He has ever done in His preciousgrace, to. the condition of His piElOple; but when Hehad established His chosen in .the glory of the kingdoma house was erected-" exceeding magnifical "-whichin some measure should be the expression of His majestywho deigned to make it His dwelling-place in the midstof Israel (2 Chron. ii. 4-6.)

It is not within 0UF present purpose to call attentionto the characteristic differences between the tabernacleand the temple, but rather to point out their similarityboth as to origin and object. As in the case of theformer, 80 in the latter, the plan was divinely commu­nicated. It was David who was honoured to becomethe depositary of this design; and inasmuch as· he wasnot permitted, according to the desire of his own heart,himself to build the temple, he communicated it to

because he had corrupted (~8EtPfA» God's temple. Whata warning for the teachers of Christendom, as indeedfor all who take the place of service in connection withthe Church of God! Mayall such lay it to heart, andseek, in anticipation of the time when every man's workshall be made manifest, to form a true estimate of theirservice in the light of God's presence, and of His word.

Two observations. have yet 1 lEI made; the first ascaution, and the second as guidance. The fundamentalerror of popery, as indeed of high-churchism and sacer­dotalism, if not inherent in the principle of all Statechurches, lies in the attribution to the house of God asman's building of that which belongs only to the Churchwhich Christ Himself builds. The Church which Christbuilds is indestructible; the gates of hell shall notprevail against it. Not so popery (or the church asbuilded by man anywhere); but" her plagues shall comein one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and sheshall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LordGod who judgeth her," (Rev. xviii. 8.) It is thereforealways necessary, when speaking of the Church of God,and what is said of it in His word (if we would be pre­served from error, or misconception as to its privilegesand claims) to carefully distinguish between the twoaspects which are given in the Scriptures. Secondly,we find in 2 Timothy all needful direction for our pathand conduct in the midst of all the corruptions whichman has brought into the house of God. "Nevertheless,"says Paul, .. the foundation of God standeth sure, havingthis seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And,Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ II (Lord,is the correct reading) .. depart from iniquity. But ina great house there are not only vessels of gold and ofsilver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to

40 THE HOUSE OF GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 9

honour, and some to dishonour. If a man thereforepnrge himself from these, he shall be a vessel untohonour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use,prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthfullusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace,with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."(ii. 19-22.) Man may put bad materials on the foun­dation, but he cannot disturb the foundation itself; hemay confound the distinction between the saved and theunsaved, but the Lord is not deceived, He knows themthat are His; and the responsibility that lies upon everyone who names the name of the Lord, while waiting forthe day which will manife_st everything, is to departfrom iniquity. Then the apostle reminds us that throughthe activity of teachers of evil doctrines (see verses 16­18, etc.) the Church, in its outward presentation to theworld, has become like to a great house which containsvessels both good and bad. The Lord's servants are topurge themselves from the vessels of dishonour if theywould be qualified for the Master's approval and service.Moreover, they are to flee youthful lusts. In otherwords, they must be separate both from ecclesiasticaland moral evil; and they must be found in the practiceof every C~..istian grace and virtue, together with thosewho call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Such is thepath for the saint amid the abounding and increasingcorruption of this evil day. May the Lord give moreand more of His beloved people wisdom to discern it,and strength to walk in it to the praise of His holyname.

VI.THE FINAL ASPECT OF THE CHURCH.

EPH. ii. 19-22; REV. xxi. 2, 3.

The final aspect of the Church as the house of Godon earth is that presented in this scripture i-viz., that

every leper, and every one that hath an issue, andwhosoever is defiled by the dead: both male and femaleshall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put t.hem ;that they defile not their camps, in the midst wheTeoj Idwell." (Num. v. 1-3.) Again," I am the Lord yourGod: ye shall therefore' sanctify yourselves, and yeshall be holy; for I am holy." (Lev. xi. 44.) In oneword, as these scriptures show, holiness, and holinessaccording to the nature of the One who dwelt in theil'midst, was incumbent upon every Israelite who sur­rounded the tabernacle. Jehovah, as revealed, was thestandard for the whole camp (compare 1 John ii. 6), forevery individual, whatever his state, who formed partof it. Being numbered with God's people was to bebrought therefore into a place both of blessing and ofresponsibility.

Into the typical significance of the sanctuary in themidst of Israel we do not propose to enter.'" It willsuffice to point out here that as its primary idea wasGod's habitation, so every part of it, together with allits sacred vessels and furniture, was fraught with somemanifestation of, God and of His glories as hereafterdisplayed in Christ. This was so, indeed, on twogrounds; first, because it was a pattern of things shownto Moses in the mount, and therefore a revelation ofheavenly scenes; and because also it told in every part-boards, curtains, ornaments, hangings, and vesseIs­of the glories of Christ, inasmuch as He Himself ina later .day took the place of the temple of God.(See John ii. 19-:.n.) But it may be added, that themore thoroughly God's thoughts concerning His habi­tation in the midst of Israel are understood, the

• ThOle who desire to do 80 may consult TIN Typic4l TeachillgB oj1kDd.lU, (Broom), p. 216.

8 THE HOUSE or GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 41

permitted to enter into the tabernacle j God met. withthem at its entrance. (Exodus xxix. 42-44.) Mosesalone had access at all times (the high priest only oncea year) to the mercy-seat (Exodus xxv. 22), and this inhis capacity as mediator, and as such a type of Christ.It is most important to bear these distinctions in mind.At the same time, it is equally of moment to remarkthat all the· people-all. the people with their families;all, in a word, who were on the ground of redemption(typically)-were grouped around the tabernacle. Godwas in their midst, and all the people had been broughtinto a known relationship with Himself as theirRedeemer, all alike could enjoy the privileges of thepriesthood which had been instituted on their behalf,and all could approach the brazen altar in the appointedway, and with the appointed sacrifices. It was theonly spot on the earth where the Lord had Hissanctuary; and as we remember all that this involved,we may understand a little of this place of blessinginto which the children of Israel had been brought.Whether they themselves apprehended or enjoyed it isnot the question. There were, as we know, stubbornand ungodly souls among them; still, the character ofthe place remained unchanged. God toa8 in theirmidst, and on this account, because of what He was inHimself, and because He had opened up a way intoHis own presence, the camp of. Israel was such a placeof blessing as was found nowhere else upon the face ofthe earth. It was therefore no mean privilege to be foundnumbered with those who sUrroDndedthe ta.bemacle.

But if, on the one hand, it was a place of blessing, itwas most surely, on the other, a place of responsibility... And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Commandthe cbildrenof Israel, that they put out of the camp

of the temple. From 1 Cor. vi. we learn that the bodyof the believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost, andfrom 2 Cor. vi. that believers collectively are the templeof the living God; but the temple in Ephes.ii. differsfrom these in that it is not yet completed. The apostlesays that the saints .. are built upon the foundation ofthe apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself beingthe chief comer-stone j in whom all the building fitlyframed together, groweth unto an holy temple in theLord: in whom ye also are builded together for alihabitatiou of God through the Spirit." Thus they werebuilt together as God's habitation, but the temple wasin the process of building-it was growing.

This shows very clearly that the temple, in this aspect,includes all the saints of God of this dispensa.tion,from the day of Pentecost until the Lord's return;wheress, the house or the habitation of God, 88 has beenbefore explained, is regarded as complete at any giventime. So indeed with respect to the Church as thebody of Christ. In Ephes. i. 22, 23, we read that Godhath put all things under the feet of the risen Christ,and hath given Him to be head over all things to theChurch, which is His body, the fulness of Him thatfilleth all in all. In other scriptures, where the bodyof Christ is mentioned, it is composed of all believersexisting at any given time; but in this place it isviewed as comprising all the saints of the dispensation­the Church in its totality and completion. The temple.. growing " therefore reminds us that Christ is stillbuilding His chureh, and that He will continue to builduntil the time of His patience ends in His rising fromHis seat, when He, having DOW ended His work '88

boilder, will fetch His bride, and will present her toHimself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle,

42 TO BOUSB 0.. GOD. THE BOUSE OF GOD. 7or any such thing; but that ·it should be holy andwithout blemish.

If we now turn once again to Rev. xxL we shall findthe same two aspecte-the Church as the bride ofOhrist, and as the tabernacle (not here the temple) ofGod. ..And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as abride adomed for her husband. And I heard a greatvoice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle ofGod is with men, and He will dwell with them, andthey shall be His people, and God Himself shall bewith them, their God" (w. 2, 3.) The first heavenand the first earth had now passed. away, and anew heaven and a new earth had come into existenceat the word of God;. a scene in which righteousnesscould eternally dwelL The new creation, in a word,both within and without, had been consummated. TheChurch, the Bride, the Lamb's wife, which had beenassociated with Him in the heavens, in the perfectenjoyment of the intimacy of His love, now descendsupon the new earth, and in connection with this it isthat the proclamation is made, .. Behold, the tabernacleof God is with men." On earth it had been Hishabitation through the Spirit, and now, completed asthe temple, it has become His tabemacle for etemity, aspecial privilege, which the saints of other dispensa­tions--" the men" of this scripture, blessed to the full,and perfectly, as they will be-are not permitted toshare. They surround the. tabernacle, and God willthus dwell with them, and bring them into the enjoy­ment of relatiouship with Himself as His people, andHe will manifestly be with them, and be their God

The question may be raised as to the significance ofthe different appellations on which we have touched-

fact, the God of redemption. If these three points arecomprehended, the whole truth of God's habitation onearth, in any age or dispensation, will be understood. Itwill be then seen that, while a consequence of redemp­tion, it is dependent upon what Christ is in the efficacyof His death, and upon what God is as so re'Vea1ed.

The second thing to be noted is the actual takingpossession of the tabemacle when completed. Moses.. finished the work," ~d eight times it is recorded thatall was done as the Lord had commanded him. Jehovah'sapprobation was now expressed in another way; for,together with the statement that Moses finished thework, it is added, .. Then a cloud covered the tent ofthe 'congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled thetabemacle. And Moses was not able to enter into thetent of the congregation, because the cloud· abodethereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabemacle."(Exodus xl 34, 35.) God thus took possession of thehouse which had been built according to His word, andhenceforward dwells in the midst of His people, andwas known as dwelling between the cherubim (1 Sam.iv. 4; Psalm lxxx. 1, &c.); i.e. between the cherubimovershadowing the mercy-seat. The mercy-seat wasHis throne, the throne on which He sat, whence Hegovemed His people, and from whence He dispensedmercy according to the efficacy of the incense and theblood of the sacrifices that were presented before Himon the great day of atonement. (See uv. xvi)

It shonldbe most distinctly observed that thetabemacle, and not. the congregation of Israel, formedthe house of God in the wildemess. To lose this diS­tinction would be to confuse the typical teaching of thewhole encampment of Israel, as already pointed out inrelation to Rev. x~ .The people, as such. were. not

6 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 'J'IR BOUD OY GOD.

the furniture which set forth in type and figure somedisplay or manifestation of God, and after the con­t'ecration of the priests who were to act for God inJDinistry on behalf of the people, and before thedirections are given for the vessels oJ. approach-thosevessels which were necessary for drawing near to God-there is a break, a parenthesis. And this is occupiedwith directions concerning the continual burnt-offering.Thereon it is added, .. The tabernacle shall be sanctifiedby my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle ofthe congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify alsoboth Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in thepriest's office. .And I will dwell among tM children ofIsrael, and will. be their God. And they shall knowthat I am the Lord their God, that brought them forthout of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell amongthem: I am the Lord their God." (w. 38-46.)

This account shows three things most clearly. First,that the ground on which Jehovah was able to dwellwith His people was the perpetual ascension of thefragrance of Christ as the burnt-offering. Typicallythe children of Israel had been redeemed, and now invirtue of the continual burnt-offering they stood beforeGod in all the acceptance of Christ. Hence Jehovahcould dwell in their midst. Secondly, as a furtherconsequence, the tabernacle was sanctified by Hisglory-the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests alikewere claimed in virtue of the same sacrifice, andset apart to God according to all that He was as re­vealed-the claims of His glory having now been met,that glory became also from that moment the standardfor everything devoted to His service. Thirdly, thepeople should know the One who dwells in their midstas the On~ who had brought them out of Egypt, as, in

house, temple, and tabernacle. The term ..house," aswill be apparent to the most simple reader, alwayecarries with it the idea of a dwelling-place. The Churchas the house of God is thus Hie habitation~lIi8 habi­tation on earth, as cannot be too frequently JeCa11ed.The thought connected with ;, temple" in the threeplaces in which it is found (1 Cor. iii., vi.j 2 Cor. vi.)is that of holinese j as for example, "The temple of Godis holy, which temple ye are." But what conetitotes theholiness of the temple is the fact of the divine presence,and then, together with that, theIe may be perhapsassociated the further thought of what is due to theOne whose temple it is. God, who inhabits the temple,is holy, and those who form it muat be loly, as ipdeedwe read in the PWme, .. Holin8B8 becometh Thine house,o Lord, for ever." And again, .. Worship the Lord inthe beauty of holinesa." Then there is doubtless avery special reason for the use of the wOl'd taber­nacle in Rev. xxi. The language 1IlIEId supplies thekey. Turning back to Leviticus we read, .. I will aetmy tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhoryou. And I will walk among you, and will be yourGod, and ye shall be my people." (xxvi. 11, 12.) Thiswas the desire of God's heart-a desire which for thetime was frustrated by the sin and iniquity of Hispeople. Thus He .. fonook the tabemacle of Shiloh"(see Joabua xviii. 1), "the tent which He placed amongmen, and delivered Hie strength into captivity, and Hisglory into the enemy's hand." (Pa. lxxviii. 60. 61.) Andafter that Solomon's temple had been built, tJie Lordspake by Jeremiah concerning it, "Then will I makethis house like Shiloh, and will make this city a CIlI88

to all the natious of the euth." (Chap. xxvi. 6.) TheLord was faithful to Hie word. for His people .. mocked

44 THE BOUSll: OJ' GOD. THE HOUSE OF GOD. 5

the messengers of God, and despised His words, andmisused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord aroseagainst His people till there was no remedy. ThereforeHe brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, whoslew their young men with the sword in the house oftheir sanctuary. . . And all the vessels of the house ofGod, gre!lt and small, and the treasures of the house ofthe Lord, and the treasures of 'the king and of hisprinces; all these he brought to Babylon. And theyburnt the house of God," &e. (2 Chron. xxxvi 16-19.)After seventy years the remnant that returned fromBabylon built again the house of the Lord; but whenHe suddenly came to His temple (Mal. iii. 1), Hispeople refused and crucified Him, and finally this temple,together with Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans.

God could not therefore dwell in the midst of Hispeople, as He desired. Accordingly we find the prophetEzekiel, speaking of a future time when Israel shallhave been restored to their own land, and when the trueDavid shall be king over them, delivering this message­CI My tabernacle alsO shall be with them: yea, I will betheir God, and they shall be my people" (Ezek. xxxvii.27); and this promise was not more than partially ful­filled. It is evident therefore that the term tabernacle inRev'. xxi. has reference to these scriptures; that, in fact,the first outward expression of God's purpose to have Biseternal habitation in the midst of His people is seen inIsrael's encampment; that His tabernacle in the wilder­ness, surrounded by the twelve tribes, was both a typeand a prophecy, and that once again the more perfecthabitation of the millennium becatne also a figure ofHis perfected tabernacle in eternity.

The scene therefore in Rev. xxi is the consummationof God's eternal purpcses of grace, and hence the full

and from the claims and power of Satan, as well asfrom death and judgment, as set forth in their passagethrough the Red Sea. Henceforward they were a re­deemed people. The Lord had become their strengthaud song, and their salvation. In His merey He hadled forth the people which He had redeemed; He hadguided them in His strength unto His holy habitation.(See Exodus xv.),

Having now chosen and redeemed a people for Him­self, the Lord announces, as we have shown, His desireto come and dwell among them. And it will beseen in due time that His taking up His abode in themidst of Israel, while it indicated the whole truth ofredemption, was but a shadow of the fulfilment of Hisentire counsels of grace in eternity; that, in a word, theencampment in the wilderness was but an anticipationof the time when, after the appearance of the newheaven and the new earth, the tabernacle of. God (theChurch, the holy city, new ~erusalem, prepared as abride adomed for her busband-the Lamb's wife) shallbe with men, and He shall dwell with them, and theyshall be His people, and God Himself shall be withthem, their God. (Rev. xxi) The erection of the taber­nacle in the wilderness was the response to the Lord'scommand to:Moses. The people offered willingly; forthe Lord had stirred up their hearts, and the tabernaclewas made in all things according to the pattern whichhad been shown to Moses in the mount, even as theLord had commanded him. (See Exodus xl.)

There are two things especially to be considered.The first is the ground on which God took up Hisabode in the midst of His people. This is made veryclear from Exodus xxix. Aftn' the directions had beengiven for the construction of those sacred vessels and

4 THE BOUSE OF GOD. THE BOUSE 0' GOD. 45

And let them make me a sanctuary j that I may dwellalDong them." (Exodus xxv. 2, 8.)·

The thought of dwelling in ihe midst of His peoplecame thus first from God Himself. And this is inharmony with His own purposes of grace in redemp­tion. We read that the God and Father of our LordJesus Christ II hath chosen us in Him before the founda­tion of the world. that we should be holy and withoutblame before Him in lave." (Eph. i 3, 4.) In that pastf'temity God dwelt in the perfection of His own bliss;but in the fulnessof His grace and love He purposedto surround Himself with a redeemed people thatshould be for His own joy, and for the glory of Hisbeloved Son-a people who should find thf'ir joy in thepresence of Him who bad redeemed them. and re­deemed them at the infinite cost of the death of Hisonly begotten Son. This purpose was first declared, inits germ at least, in Eden, on the failure of Adam as theresponsible man. (Gen. iii, 15.) Consequent upon hissin and judgment God announced the Mau of Hiscounsels, the One in and by whom all the purpo8PS ofHis heart were to be accomplished, in the redemption ofthose who were to be conformed to the image of His Son,that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.(Rom. viii. 29, 30.) Gradually His purposes were un­folded in ty~s and shadows, in His ways with Abel,Enoch, Noah. and the patriarchs, aud finally in thedeliverance of the children of Israel, on the ground ofthe sprinkled blood of the Passover lamb, out of Egypt,

• This is really the flnt mention of a dwelling for God 011 earth.'l'he words in E:r.odUII :ltv., .. I will prepare Him a habitation." areoften cited, but the reading is very doubtful. The Septuagint,Vulgate, Luther, and the French VlII'lIiOIl, all agree in I'llDdering it-" He is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father', God, and Iwill aalt Him."

result of the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ.John the Baptist had aunounced our Lord as theLamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world;and here we find that the work is done. Hence weread, .. And God shall wipe away all tears from theireyes; and there shall he no more death, neithersorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any morepain: for the former things are passed away." Sinhaving been put away, death, its bitter fruit, with allits sorrows, has also disappeared; and thus God has forever wiped away the tears of His people. A furtherconsequence, moreover, is that He can now dwell in thisperfec.t way in the midst of the redeemed. He is nowall in all; He Himself in all that He is, as Father, Son,and Holy Ghost, fills the scene, the eternal source ofthe eternal happiness of His glorified saints.

Such is the final revelation of the Church as God'sdwelling-place. But during the thousand years, aftertlie Church has been caught up in the clouds to meetthe Lord in the air, God will once more dwell upon theearth. The temple will first be rebuilt in unbelief, andnot be owned by the Lord (see lea. b:vi. 1-6); but thiswill be superseded by one built by divine direction~,

and accordiog to divine measurements. (See Ezek.xl.-xlii) To this God returns, as seen in vision by theprophet: "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israelcame from the way of the east: and His voice was likea noise of many waters: and the earth shined with Hisglory. And it was according to the appearance of thevision which I saw, even according to the vision that Isaw when I came to destroy the city: and the visionswere like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar;and I fell upon my. face. And the glory of the Lordcame into the house. by the way of the gate whose pro&-

46 THB BOUSB or GOD.

peet is toward the east. So the Spirit took me up, andbrought me into the inner court; and, behold, the gloryof the Lord filled the house." (Compare Exod. xl 35;2 Cbron. v. 14; .Acts ii. 2.) If .And I heard him speak­ing unto me out of the house; and the man stood byme. .And He said unto me, Son ~f man, the place ofmy throne, and tbe place of the soles of my feet, whereI will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no moredefile," &eo (Ezek. xliii. 2-7; see also chaps. xliv. xlv.)

We thus see that God has had, and will have, Hishabitation on earth in every age or dispensation on theground of redemption. Having brought His people outof Egypt, He spake to Moses, saying, If Let them makeme a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."(Exod. xxv. 8.) Thence onward, as we have traced fromthe Scriptures, He continued to dwell on the earth.The temple took the place of the ta~rnacle, the Church.superseded the temple, the temple will once more be re­built in the millennium; and last of all, when theformer things have passed away, and all the purposes ofGod in grace and redemption have been accomplished,the Church is seen on the new earth as the tabernacleof God. The same thought, in one aspect, is expressedby the house in every dispenSation; viz., God's joY, insurrounding Himself with His redeemed people, andGod's delight in being the source of their joy and theobject of their adoration and praise. His habitationson earth, however, are but the anticipations of His per­fected house in the etern&l state-of that temple whichis even now silently growing, as stone after stone is laidin their appointed place upon the living Foundation,and which, when completed, will, after the close of allearthly dispensations, become His tabernacle throughouteternity. .

l.onclOll: W. B. Broom, 23,Pa~ eq.......

THE HOUSE OF GOD.

L

THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDEBNESS.

MANy questions having been addressed to us concern­ing the formation, limits, &c., of the house of God,we propose, if the Lord will, to trace out the subject,in several successive papers, from the word of God.There is really no difficulty, if our minds are butsubject to the Scriptures, and our hope is that someat least may be helped to a clearer understanding ofthe question by a dispassionate presentation of theteaching of the Spirit of God.

It is evident to every reader of the Bible that Goddid not, in any sense, dwell on earth before the re­demption of Israel out of Egypt. He visited .Adam inparadise, and walked in the garden in the cool of theday (Gen. iii. 8); He appeared to .Abraham, Isaac, andJacob, and communicated freely with them. In likemanner He revealed Himself to Moses in the desert,.atthe mount of God, when He commissioned him toreturn to Egypt as the deliverer of His people; butsearch the record as closely as you .may, not a trace isfound so far of His having a habitation on the earth.But after the redemption from Egypt the Lord said toMoses, .. Speak unto the children of Israel, that theybring me an offering: of every man that giveth itwillingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.. . •

SCRIPTURE INDEX

TABLE OF CONTENTSGENESIS 1 CHRONICLES

GEN3:8 3 1 CHRON9:33 28

The Tabernacle in the wilderness 7 GEN3:15 4 1 CHRON 28:11.12 11

The Temple of Solomon 10 EXODUS 2 CHRONICLESThe Temple after the Return from Babylon 15 EX 15 5 2 CHRON 2:4-6 10The Church: Acts 2 18 EX2S:2.8 4 2 CHRON 3:3 11The Church as built by Man: 1 Cor 3 29 EX2S:8 46 2 CHRON 5 21

The Final Aspect of the Church:EX2S:22 8 2 CHRON 5:1-7.10 12EX 29 5,6 2 CHRON 5:11-14 12

Eph 2:19·22; Rev. 21:2,3 40 EX 29:42,44 8 2CHRON5:14 46Scripture Index 47 EX 39 27 2 CHRON 6:41,42 &

.EX 40 5,21 2CHRON7:1 17EX 40:34.35 7 2 CHRON 7:1,2 13

• • • • • LEVITICUS 2 CHRON 26 152 CHRON 36:16-19ff 44

LEV 11:44 9 2 CHRON 36:21 15LEV 14 29 EZRA

This Table of Contents and also the Scripture Index on pp. LEV 16 7

NUMBERS EZRA 1:l.2 1547.48 have been added to this dlion which is photo-offset EZRA 3:10-13 16printed from the W. H. Broom edition, n.d. NUM5:1·3 9 EZRA 6:15-22 17

NUM29: 11 PSALMSDEUTERONOMY PSA 78:60,61 43

DEUT16 14.15 PSA 80:1 7

JOSHUA PSA 122:3,4 14PSA 132 13

JOSH 18:1 10.43 PSA 134 14

1 SAMUEL ISAIAH

1 SAM 1:3 10 ISA 66:1-6 451 SAM 2:22 10 LAMENTATIONS1 SAM 3:3,15 101 SAM 4:4 7 LAM 2:15 16

2 SAMUEL EZEKIEL

2 SAM 7:6 10EZEK37:27 44EZEK40-42 45

1 KINGS EZEK43:2-7 46

1 KINGS 6:7 20EZEK45:35 46

HAGGAI

HAG 2:9 17

1 JOHN

1 JOHN 1:3 29

REVELATION

3439

5,7,40-44

MALACHI

MAL3:1

MATTHEW

MATI 16:16-18MATI 21MATI 21:12.13MATI 23:38MATI 23:38.39MATI2S:14

LUKE

LUKE 2:22,24LUKE 14:16.17LUKE 19:12LUKE 20:23LUKE 24:49

JOHN

JOHN 2JOHN 2:13-16JOHN 2:19-21JOHN 20

ACTS

ACI'S 1:4,5ACI'S2:1-4ACI'S2:2ACI'S2:4ACI'S2:5ACI'S 2:16-21ACI'S 2:22-32ACI'S 2:33·36ACI'S 2:37-39ACI'S2:42ACI'S2:47ACI'S 10ACI'S22:16ACI'S28

ROMANS

ROM 1:2ROM 5:2ROM 6:3ROM 10:1-5

44

1936181836

370

1427372619

36018

9,1917

19194627232424242S28

21,22272631

35272S34

1 CORINTHIANS

1 COR 1:21 COR 31 COR 41 COR 61 COR 6:191 COR 10:1-51 COR 10:32

2 CORINTHIANS

2 COR 12COR6

EPHESIANS

EPH 1EPH 1:3.4EPH 1:22,23EPH 2:10EPH 2:11·13EPH2:19-22EPH2:22

COLOSSIANS

COLICOL 2:20

2 TIMOTHY

211M211M 2:16-18211M2:19-22

HEBREWS

HEB 3.4

1 PETER

1 PET 2:5

REV 1REV 18:8REV 21

3529,43

3441,43

203423

2741,43

274

41370

2740ff

20

3526

394040

35

28

THE HOUSE OF GOD:

TRACED THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES.

BY

EDWARD DE..YNETT.

UPRINTED FROK

"THE eHB/STUN FRIEND AND IGSTBUt-70Il.·

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THE HOUSE OF GOD :

TRACED THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

BY

EDWARD DENNETT

REPRINTED FROM

“THE CHRISTIAN FRIEND AND INSTRUCTOR”

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