Book 3 of Musings No Church Building Needed

There will be no church building in the new Jerusalem.

The new Jerusalem itself is the Church. Since those who compose the holy city will see the face of God, there is no need to enclose God in a building.

Stephen, the first martyr, said, "God does not live in houses made by men."

One of the most natural things for a religion to do is to build a place of worship and call it the house of God.

Under the old covenant there actually were houses of God. The Tabernacle of the Congregation was a true house of God. The Temple of Solomon was a true house of God.

When Peter, James, and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter wanted to build three churches. Next he would have wanted to start a Bible school.

It is only natural that we would want to build something that would represent our adoration of God, our desire to please Him.

However, God is more interested in possessing us than He is in possessing the works of our hands. It is relatively easy for us to concoct a religion and establish rules and liturgies. You see, we can do these things and hold God at a distance. We can go through the religious exercises and still pursue our own life.

This is not what God wants. He does not want His creatures to hold Him at a distance like this.

The word "church" is interesting. It is formed from a preposition and a verb. It means "called out from."

I suppose there is no harm in referring to a building as a church, but it is misleading. The church is the people, not the building.

"In my Father's house there are many mansions." The truth is, in God's House, which is the Lord Jesus Christ plus the living stones who have been added, there are many places in which God and the person can live in peace, security, love, and quietness.

The living God is seeking a place of rest. He has found it in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now He wants to find it in us.

This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? (Isaiah 66:1).

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev 3:20)

Honestly, I have been writing on the subject of the temple of God since around 1948. Can you believe? And the subject still inspires me.

Heaven is not God's house, it is His throne. God's house is the Lord Jesus. Sometimes in the Psalms, speaking prophetically, we find God dwells in Zion. Zion is a symbolic name for the Lord Jesus.

There is no other way to God except through the Lord Jesus, because God dwells in His Fullness in Jesus. Now God is enlarging Himself. He is adding members to Christ's Body. God is adding places of abode for Himself in us.

You know, it is the fact that God and Christ are making Their eternal dwelling place in us that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions.

The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us. The understanding of this mystery is coming in these last days, and we finally understand what salvation is all about.

The perfected church is portrayed in the last chapters of the Book of Revelation. It is termed the new Jerusalem, or the holy city. It is the Wife of the Lamb, the Body, the Fullness of Christ.

The Throne of God and of the Lamb are in the holy city. This means God and the Lamb have found Their place of rulership and rest in the personalities of the saints who compose the city.

The history of the world is nothing more than a setting for the development of the holy city, which is the Kingdom of God. Once the city has been brought to perfection it will come down through the new sky to be located for eternity on the new earth.

Then the nations of the earth will have a righteous government that will maintain peace and justice, and also will have access to God through His saints so the inhabitants of the new earth may receive life and healing. The peoples of the nations will never be able to enjoy peace and safety until the new Jerusalem has been established on the earth.

There will be no church buildings in the holy city. God simply will not have walls separating Himself from His saints. God and the Lamb Themselves are the Temple of it.

There will, however, be a giant wall separating the Church from the nations of saved people on the earth. This wall was constructed, you might say, when God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. From that time God has made a distinction between His elect and the other people of the world.

The elect, the royal priesthood, will see the face of God. There shall be no separation whatever from the Glory. All shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

God then shall have made all things new-not all new things, but all things new. This means God shall take all that is worthy of His Kingdom, bring it down to death, and then up again in the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This marks the end of the first world, of the adamic creation.

One must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Nothing of the old shall be brought over except that which has been made new in the Lord Jesus.

Christ is the Firstborn from the dead. Following Him will be the remainder of the saved creation.

There shall be a living Tabernacle to which the saved nations may come and be refreshed. But as for the members who compose the living Tabernacle, there are no more church buildings and no more religions. They have become an integral part of the Divine Entity which is God.

God will have it no other way.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Rev 21:22)