The Word of God Comes to Maturity-
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28,29)
Here the Divine purpose is revealed. Here we see the goal that controls and gives significance to the events of world, church, and personal history.
God commenced our salvation on the cross of Calvary. God is guiding every creature, thing, circumstance, and event of His universe. God shall accomplish His stated purpose and goal.
The day will come when each member of the Body of Christ has been changed into the image of God’s only begotten Son. We already have been called. We already have been justified. As far as God’s vision and purpose are concerned, we already have been glorified. The Kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to God.
It is God’s intention that the Church become His eternal Temple, the Divine Counterpart of His Son, an instrument for destroying lawlessness from the creation, and the Christ-filled Servant of the Lord who will bring justice to the nations of the earth. No aspect of this high destiny and inheritance is possible until the Word of God has been brought to maturity in us and we have been changed into the image of Christ and brought into complete union with God through Him.
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Pressing toward the "mark.
"Paul’s writings reveal that he was not as one "beating the air." He was running toward a finish line; he was pressing forward toward a specific "mark."
The concept that there truly is a mark, a point of perfection, a place of maturity, an attainable standard, is very important to the pursuit of the victorious Christian discipleship. A believer who is not convinced that there actually is a place of maturity will not make the effort required to attain it.
Jesus began our redemption with the work of Calvary. Jesus will finish our redemption by bringing forth the perfected members of the Church, the Body of Christ.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; . . . (Hebrews 12:2)
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)
Four times in the Book of Revelation the Lord Jesus Christ refers to Himself as Alpha and Omega (the Beginning and the End).
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
If there were to be no Omega , no end, the Lord would have said so. If the God of Heaven has left it up to us to attempt to imitate Jesus, knowing that we always will fall short of the mark, understanding that we must be content with the knowledge that we tried to be a good person in the world, the Scriptures would be a book of proverbs.
The Scriptures are a record of what God—not man—has done, is doing, and will yet accomplish. It is not a question of what we are able to do, it is a question of what God has chosen to do.
If there is no "mark" toward which to press, if God has begun so gloriously on Calvary but has left it up to Christians to do the best we can, knowing we are full of sin, rebellion against God, and foolishness, Christ would be presented as the Alpha but never as the Omega .
Alpha and Omega are the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God having neither beginning nor end as we understand time. Therefore Alpha and Omega refer to the plan of redemption, particularly to the work and enlargement of Christ in the members of His Body, not to the Logos Himself.
Alpha is the specific beginning of our redemption. Omega is the specific completion of our redemption. Is the Lord Jesus Christ the Omega as well as the Alpha? If so, we can expect the fullness of the Divine Glory to be exercised in bringing about the Omega of our redemption just as it was exercised in creating the Alpha .
We are looking toward and pressing toward all that God has spoken in His Word concerning the perfection of the saints and of the Body of Christ.
When God stated "It is done" (Revelation 21:6) He was referring to the new Jerusalem that the Apostle John was beholding in vision. John was not witnessing the incredibly confused pile of dry bones, the ungainly, disjointed, self-seeking, crippled patchwork of man’s striving that today terms itself the Christian churches.
John was seeing the holy city, the unblemished Wife of the Lamb, the unified, mature new Jerusalem. The perfection of the new Jerusalem is the perfection of God Himself. It is the Substance, the Nature, the wisdom of God brought forth in visible form for the nations of the earth to behold. The Wife of the Lamb will judge, rule, heal, and bless the peoples whom God has saved.
Man has been building the church for the past two thousand years. We can study the results and understand what always is brought into being when the wisdom and efforts of human beings are added to the creation of the Lord.
In the last days a nation will be "born at once" (Isaiah 66:8). Man will have come to the end of himself. He will not be able to work because of the exceedingly great spiritual darkness. Then the Lord will work and the perfect, unblemished Church will come forth "at once."
It is obvious that if there is one imperfect member of the Body of Christ, the Body is imperfect. If there is one Achan in the camp, "Israel hath sinned." If there is one unclean believer in the Wife of the Lamb, the Wife is impure. If there is one sinner in the new Jerusalem, the city is defiled. God and Christ will not dwell in a defiled city.
God and Christ will not dwell where there is unrighteousness and uncleanness. It is our misunderstanding of Divine grace that leads us to believe that God and Christ will abide permanently in a situation where the only righteousness is that which has been imputed (ascribed) by God’s love. Imputed righteousness is a temporary state that is intended to lead the believer to the desired condition of actual righteousness and holiness of behavior.
Imputed righteousness, the gift of God through the blood of the cross, serves until the Word of God comes to maturity in our personality. God is looking for mature fruit—the fruit of the moral image of His Son in us. If any person is dwelling in Christ and Christ in him, a new creation is coming into view. The new creation cannot sin because it has been born of God.
It is important to our destiny in Christ that we pursue through the Holy Spirit the life of victory in Christ until we arrive at the "mark," the "Omega" of redemption, the fullness of the righteousness and blessing of the new covenant. The Omega of redemption is the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" created in our personality.
Two scriptural representations of the fullness of the image of Christ are as follows: (1) the Ark of the Covenant of the Tabernacle of the Congregation; and (2) the four faces of the Cherubim of Glory.
The Ark of the Covenant. The four faces of the Cherubim of Glory.
The Ark of the Covenant
And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. (Exodus 25:10)
The Ark of the Covenant was constructed from the hard, thorny acacia wood found in the wilderness. It was covered within and overlaid with pure gold. The Ark typifies the Lord Jesus Christ who is "very God of very God and very man of very man." Because the Ark typifies the Lord Jesus it typifies also each son of God who has been changed into the image of Jesus.
In order to be changed into the image of Jesus we must become "wood of His Wood" and "gold of His Gold." It is not possible for corrupt man to imitate God except in an elementary, crude, and partial sense. The only manner in which the "Omega," the "maturity" of Christ can be fulfilled in us is by our partaking of Christ. It must be His Substance and Nature in us or we will come short of the Glory of God.
The Ark of the Covenant contained three items: (1) the golden pot of manna; (2) Aaron’s rod that budded; and (3) the two stone slabs inscribed with the Ten Commandments (Hebrews 9:4).
These three items represent the Character of Christ, the character that will be ours when the Word of God has been brought to maturity in us.
The jar of manna (Exodus 16:33) held a portion of the manna that had come down from God to feed His people from the time that they left the leeks and garlic of Egypt until they had access to the corn of Canaan.
The manna is the portion of Christ that is fed to us each day of our Christian pilgrimage. We have enough grace for one day, enough to overcome the evil of that day.
Our desire for security, to be hedged about with material goods, resists the concept of the manna. We do not want to trust the invisible God to feed us as He does the sparrows or to clothe us as He does the lilies. We seek after riches so we will not have to trust God tomorrow for our food and shelter. The accumulation of money is a substitute for trust in God.
God’s way is to lead us carefully and slowly through the wilderness of testing. Every son of God must be tried in the same manner in which Jesus was tried. One of the trials concerns trusting God and thanking Him for the provision for the moment.
The believer in Christ who finds it difficult to trust God for his needs will miss the will of God. He will occupy his days attempting to "build bigger and better barns." The mature son of God is learning to trust his Father in Heaven for all that is required at any given moment.
God humbles us by "feeding us with manna." He is teaching us not to lean on our own resources or money, our strength, our wisdom or even our own faith, but to depend on His riches, His strength, His wisdom, His faithfulness.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:2,3)
One of the temptations that faces every son of God is that of turning stone into bread. If we have supernatural power, if we have in our mouth the creative power of the word of faith, why don’t we use our faith to obtain food, shelter, and the other necessities of life?
It is not God’s will that we use our God-given abilities to lay up for ourselves treasures on the earth or even to provide our needs—except as He directs. Rather, it is His will that we look to Him in every situation so that He may give us what He knows to be best for us.
On some occasions God may allow us to go hungry for a season—and not only for food! God is teaching us to be content with what He provides day by day. The son of God lives, not by resources that he stores up against an unknown future but by the ever-present Word of God that always is directed toward his preservation and blessing.
When the lesson of the manna has been mastered, when our fear that God will forsake us in our hour of need has been overcome, then we live in dependence on the Lord for every aspect of our existence—great and small. We trust in God for the satisfying of every need, and God does supply all our needs through His riches in glory by Christ.
Furthermore, as we learn to delight ourselves in the Lord He gives us the desires of our heart.
God satisfies our needs and desires in His time, in His manner, as He will.
The Christian in whom the Word of God has come to maturity is joyful in the knowledge that each day is the day that the Lord has made and that He who clothes the flower of the field and feeds the sparrow in the tree surely shall supply the needs of His own children.
The Ark of the Covenant contained also Aaron’s rod that budded. Aaron’s rod that budded speaks of the eternal priesthood, of those whom God has chosen, of learning to rest in the flow of the power of incorruptible, resurrection life.
Aaron’s rod has to do with presumption, with the temptation of the pinnacle of the Temple, with the "high hills jumping" (Psalms 68:16), with submission to the government of God. (Remember Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!)
We learn submission, to be a servant, through the cross of Christ. Aaron’s rod was a forerunner of the cross. When the Word of God has come to maturity in us the cross can be seen in us. No son of God will be allowed to rule with Christ until the question of presumption, of self-will, has been settled for eternity.
No human being is eligible to become a living stone in the Temple of God and of Christ until self-will, self-love, self-seeking, presumption, have been crucified in him.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with many others of the leaders of Israel, exemplify the danger of maintaining an attitude of self-seeking while following the cloud and the fire.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: (Numbers 16:1,2)
Why did these nobles rise in rebellion against Moses and Aaron?
They rose against Moses and Aaron as did the Pharisees against Jesus because of religious envy. They wanted to be important in the work of God.
And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? (Numbers 16:3)
The rebels cared nothing about the congregation of the Lord. Like the priests and Pharisees of Jesus’ day they desired to be prominent, to govern the Lord’s people according to their own wishes.
God’s answer to their "concern" for the Lord’s people was to bury them alive.
God then directed Moses to take twelve rods, one for each of the tribes of Israel, and to write the name of the chief man of the tribe on the rod to stand for his tribe. Aaron’s name was written on the rod of Levi (Numbers 17:1-3).
Then the twelve rods were placed before the Lord in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
The next day, Moses went into the Tabernacle. None of the rods was changed except the rod of Levi, the rod on which Aaron’s name had been written. Aaron’s rod had brought forth buds, blossoms, and almonds.
Aaron’s rod was kept in the Ark of the Covenant as a "token against the rebels" (Numbers 17:10). So there must be created in the Christian’s heart an eternal insurance against rebellion, against disobedience to the Father’s will.
The first sin was that of discontent. Satan and the angels that followed him left their appointed places of authority and responsibility. Divine resurrection Life is given only to those who find contentment in doing the Father’s will with a joyful heart.
Our Lord Jesus Christ rules the creation of God by the power of endless, incorruptible, resurrection life. This life flows from the cross of self-denial.
He who would rule with Christ must go the way of the cross. It is only as we are brought low continually that we can be trusted with the power and Glory of God.
We human beings by nature are rebellious and self-seeking. The cross of patience, of self-denial, of frustration, of pain, of delay teaches us to wait for the flowings of the Godhead.
It is impossible for us to abide in Christ and Christ in us until the desire to be preeminent has been crucified in us. It is only as we suffer that we can be trusted to reign.
When the Word of God has come to maturity in us we are submissive to the government of God. We do not jump off the pinnacle of delay and frustration. We wait for God. We do not put God to the test. We do not "step out in faith," or "speak the word of faith," except as our Lord Jesus Christ directs us to do so.
Those who today are stressing that by faith we can have what we want now, are of the False Prophet.
We do not seek to be prominent or successful. We seek to wait on the Lord’s will. We take up our cross and follow Christ. We do not attempt to lead Christ. We follow Him in all meekness and submission, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
The Ark of the Covenant, which typifies Christ and those who are in the image of Christ, contained the golden pot of manna and also Aaron’s rod. In addition, the two tables of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments were located in the Ark.
The Ten Commandments are an expression of the eternal moral law. They are ten judgments against the demon gods of the world. As the jar of manna corresponds to our learning to trust God each day for our needs, and Aaron’s rod corresponds to our learning to be content in the incorruptible life of the eternal priesthood, so the Ten Commandments correspond to the need for holiness on the part of the servants of God.
It may be noted that the three items in the Ark conform to the three temptations of Christ. The jar of manna refers to the invitation to turn the stone into bread. Aaron’s rod refers to the test of the pinnacle, that is, of presumption. The Ten Commandments refer to the invitation to worship Satan, to live in uncleanness while we "enjoy" the filth of the world.
Violation of the eternal moral law of God takes place whenever we choose to worship Satan. The mature son of God is not a worshiper of Satan.
On many occasions the Scriptures refer to the Ten Commandments as the Testimony . The Ark of the Covenant was termed the Ark of the Testimony because the Ten Commandments were the covenant and the testimony. The Ten Commandments were God’s covenant with His chosen people and the testimony of His moral Character.
So it is today. The new covenant is the writing of the law of God in the heart and in the mind of the believer. The Substance of that writing is the body and blood of the Lord Jesus.
There is no testimony of God apart from righteousness and holiness of personality and behavior. There is much Christian ministry in the world today but not nearly enough testimony.
To come to maturity in Christ means to come to maturity in the ability to judge between good and evil, and consistently to choose the good and reject the evil.
The Ark of the Covenant, a major type of Christ and also of the believer who is changed into the image of Christ, is the expression of God’s eternal moral law. The moral law reflects the righteousness and holiness of God. The moral law is the testimony, the covenant.
When the Word of God comes to maturity in us, the holy and righteous Personality and behavior of Christ have come to maturity in us. We then are willing to walk each day in humble dependence on the provision of the Lord.
We do not strive for preeminence, particularly spiritual preeminence. The lust for spiritual preeminence, including its handmaiden, envy, is "the city . . . where also our Lord was crucified" (Revelation 11:8). It is spiritual pride.
The Ark of the Covenant is one scriptural type of the fullness of the image of Christ.
Another important type of Christ, which we shall understand and experience when the Word of God has come to full growth in us, is the four faces of the Cherubim of Glory.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:10)
And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (Revelation 4:7)
The four faces of the cherubim reveal the four dimensions of the Glory of God.
The face of a man.
Man is the personal, intelligent image of God. Man has the power of judgment so that he can be prepared to rule the works of God’s hands. Man has the capacity for union with God through Christ.
God’s visible Form, as demonstrated in Christ, is that of a man.
Man reflects the part of God’s personality that has to do with moral responsibility. In order to be acceptable to God as a room in God’s eternal house, the questions of holiness (purity), righteousness (equity), and obedience to the Father’s will must be settled absolutely.
There can be no sin in the image of Christ. Sin destroys the harmony and peace that exist in the Godhead.
The quality of maleness in mankind reveals the ruling Character of God. The quality of femaleness in mankind reveals the fruitfulness and beauty of God’s Being.
Satan is attempting to destroy the quality of maleness so that man cannot rule, and the quality of femaleness so that man cannot be fruitful. We have the effeminate man and the mannish woman—the distortions of the image of God Almighty.
We are related to God as His sons and to Christ as His brothers and His Body. These three relationships are possible only as we are in the personal, moral, intelligent image of God.
As Eve was Adam’s complement, being formed from him and in his image, so the Bride of the Lamb is the Lamb’s complement, being formed from His body and blood and in His image.
The love of Christ for His Bride, His counterpart, His complement, the "helper suited to him," is beyond our comprehension.
The maturing of the Word of God in our personality defines and enhances the uniqueness of our personality while blending our personality with that of the Lord Jesus.
The face of a lion.
When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, God gives us the authority to be a child of God (John 1:12).
It is not that we become a mature son of God upon professing Christ; rather, we are given the authority to belong to God and the tools to work toward maturity of personality and toward total union with God through Christ.
Whether we finally become a son of God depends on our success in overcoming , in conquering throughout the many testings in which we are examined by the Spirit of God.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:7)
Weakness and timidity may not seem to us to be great sins, but there is no place for weakness and timidity in God’s sons whom God is making heirs of His Kingdom.
Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The sons of God are the sons of the greatest King of all and they are to conduct themselves as kings. God, their Father, will make certain they are trained carefully and diligently in all the areas of wisdom and conflict that will be necessary for their success when they sit on the thrones of their kingdoms.
Many cunning and fierce enemies will come against them during the years of their preparation. Only those who conquer in all arenas of testing will inherit the fullness of the Kingdom of God and will have the fullest understanding of God as their Father.
The lion symbolizes the majesty, courage, and strength of the conquering saints, the sons of the Emperor of Heaven. As the Word of God comes to maturity in us we conquer the forces that would prevent us from entering our inheritance as a son of God.
The face of an ox.
The ox is the servant, the burden bearer. Christ emptied Himself of His Divine prerogatives and adopted the form of a servant. Paul spoke of himself as the bondslave of Christ.
Many Christian people today are unwilling to become the Lord’s ox, His slave. They are not ready to become "a worm and no man." They are proud, arrogant, not having learned that God Himself is a bearer of burdens.
Lowliness is part of the image of God, of Christ. The believer who is willing to take Christ’s yoke on him will find rest for his soul and the knowledge of the Father.
Every Christian is given a cross. As we bear our cross patiently, weight is added to the cross. As the Word of God is coming to maturity in us we are gaining the patience of Christ, the strength of Christ. We plod forward each day bearing, as did Paul, our part of the sufferings of Christ. The weight of the problems of the Body of Christ presses on our personality as Christ directs.
We keep moving forward, knowing that one day the Lord Himself will remove the load from us. The cross, the hot mold into which we were pressed continually, will be lifted from us. The lowliness, strength, patience, and willingness to serve will be a part of our image for eternity. It is the image of God.
After the oxen had done Elisha’s work he killed them and gave them to the people to eat.
And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. (I Kings 19:21)
After the Apostle Paul had done the work of the Gospel he was poured out as a drink offering.
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (II Timothy 4:6)
Every victorious saint bears the mark of God’s ox in him. He is ready to serve with all his strength, and then to be presented as an offering to God so that the people may eat.
The face of an eagle
The physical body of man was fashioned from the red clay of the earth. Man also is a spirit. God is a Spirit. The sons of God are spirits.
Scientists speculate that man is the descendant of an ape. Man never was an ape. Man has the body of an animal as to physiological parts. Man has in addition a spiritual nature that no ape possesses. Human beings are not merely a superior level of animal development.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God their spiritual personality died: that is, it was separated from God’s Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve returned to work the soil as intelligent animals, their contact with the Lord, their spiritual life, having been removed from them.
Man indeed is in the form of God and possesses the moral responsibility and beauty of God. Man contains also in himself the competitive, fierce disposition of the lion—that which seeks to dominate its environment and permits no competitors.
Proud man can be taught to obey God, to be a servant.
When the Word of God comes to maturity in us the Life of God will be revealed in us, that imperishable Life having neither beginning nor end by which Melchizedek serves as the priest of God.
The Life of God causes us to mount up with wings so we can run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.
Man was not created so that he would spend his days grubbing in the red clay from which his body was fashioned. His destiny is to soar among the stars as does His Father. The eagle soars through the sky in its wild, free manner. In the Father’s time we too shall soar through the heavens in our own fierce exulting, just as our Father has His way in the storm. This too is the image of God.
Maturity in Christ.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (a new creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, . . . . (II Corinthians 5:17,18)
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)
There is an end in sight. There is a place of maturity in Christ. The image of Christ is attainable through the grace of God. We do have amark toward which to press (Philippians 3:14).
The power of God working through Christ will bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). We are to be brought to maturity in our character, in our relationship to God, and in our outward appearance.
The image of Christ is being created now in our inner being, transforming our character . We are being fashioned into the Temple of God so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God, this being our eternal relationship to God. At His appearing we shall change to a glorified human form —clothed with eternal resurrection life exactly as He is (Philippians 3:21; I John 3:2).
There are many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that have to do with the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our participation in His image was announced at the beginning:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26,27)
The word "them" used in both of the verses above refers to "male and female." First it says, "him," and then, "them." "Him," and "them." The play on the singular and plural is important. It refers on the surface to Adam and Eve.
Christ—and only Christ—is the image of God. Christ is the eternal "Him." There is no other image of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God who has been with God and has been God from the beginning. Christ was not created in God’s image in the garden of Eden as were Adam and Eve.
But, as is true so often, the natural, human events described in the Scriptures have a spiritual, eternal application—an application that always is directed toward Christ and those who are His.
We understand from both the Old and New Testament writings, particularly the second chapter of the Book of Hebrews, that the glory and dominion assigned to mankind are reserved for Christ and His brothers.
After thinking about what the Scripture states concerning the Lamb and His Wife we could never agree that dominion over the works of God’s hands has been assigned to Adam and Eve and to their natural descendants, except in a limited sphere.
The Seed, the Son of God, to whom the Divine promises have been given, is always singular—always Christ. Christ is the eternal "Him." The "them" refers to the Lamb and His Wife. To "them" has been assigned dominion over the heavens and the earth.
In order for the image and likeness to be complete as God intends, there must be male and female—Christ and His Body.
The New Testament teaches that we are to be created in the image of Christ. Also, there are Scripture references concerning the building of Zion, the Temple of God.
It is the will of the Father that every person who believes in His Son be transformed in character in accordance with the Character of Christ, and that the believer rule his affairs in obedience to Christ and in righteousness.
Also, it is the good pleasure of the Father that every person who believes in His Son come to the place of transformation of his personality and his behavior to the extent that he can receive the fullness of the Father and the fullness of the Son through the Holy Spirit.
The Father, God Almighty, has ordained further that every person who receives His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who remains faithful throughout his pilgrimage on the earth, be clothed with a surpassingly glorious body of eternal life so that he may live and move and have his being in the manner appropriate to a king and priest of the most high God.
It is the Father’s joy to bring each of His sons to maturity after this fashion. He will do so provided we take up our cross and follow Christ daily with a pure heart. If we fail it will be because we refused to keep our faith and trust in Jesus. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and he shall be my son" (Revelation 21:7).
The Holy Spirit is seeking out the Body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb—those who will be a "kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18). The sending forth of Eliezer of Damascus after a bride for Isaac (Genesis, Chapter 24) is an Old Testament illustration of the Father sending the Holy Spirit in order to obtain the Bride of the Lamb.
Whoever hears the voice of the Holy Spirit will, if he is wise, spend the remainder of his days following the Holy Spirit toward Christ.
Whoever chooses to do so may answer the call of the heavenly Bridegroom and reach for the Divine inheritance. He or she will be required to fight (Song of Solomon 5:6,7). The fullness of the inheritance of a son of God cannot be acquired easily and readily. There will be resistance—this is the reason for the term overcome . The first part of the city of Jerusalem (speaking spiritually) that must be taken from the enemy is Mount Zion. Mount Zion is a stronghold (II Samuel 5:6-10).
Notice that the new Jerusalem itself is the Temple of God:
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22)
The splendor of God’s holy Presence fills the city. There is no need for a separate temple by which to conceal the Glory of His Presence from His servants, because each of them has been made holy and wholly fit to behold His Face.
Jerusalem is destined to become the Throne of God, to become "Heaven."
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)
The new Jerusalem itself is the tabernacle of God. It is constructed from living stones, each of whom has been fashioned separately and uniquely into the image of Christ; each of whom is of the Substance of Christ through partaking of the Divine Nature (II Peter 1:4; John 6:57; I John 3:9; Hebrews 2:11; John 17:22).
We do not mean to imply that there is not an actual city in which the saints will dwell and into which the nations of the saved may enter. The Scriptures state that there is.
However, the city itself reflects the virtues of character that have been created in the saints during their discipleship on the earth. These virtues are expressed in the precious stones that embellish the twelve foundations of the wall (I Corinthians 3:12).
When the Word of God comes to maturity in us we will be a suitable temple for God and Christ (John 14:23; Ephesians 2:21,22; 3:16-19). When the Father is satisfied with the work that has been done in us, we having been properly cut, seasoned, formed, finished, and polished, He then will put us into our place in the corporate Temple of God, the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Body of Christ.
We have stated that the mature Word of God is the image of Christ created in us, and that the image of Christ consists of the Character of Christ, the indwelling of the fullness of God, and a body fashioned from eternal resurrection life.
The maturing of the Character of Christ in us, and the indwelling of the Father and the Son, require that our body be brought into the state of eternal life. New wine must be put in new bottles. It is not surprising that the Apostle Paul groaned for his house from Heaven (II Corinthians 5:4)!
The body of the believer is the Temple of God.
Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. (I Corinthians 6:15)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (I Corinthians 6:19)
The galactic Christ.
The mature development of Christ, the Anointed Deliverer, the eternal Temple of God, is expressed in Ephesians 4:13:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
It is God’s desire that each member of the Body of Christ come to full stature, as indicated in the above verse. When each person has been made ready he will be fitted into the whole so that the Body becomes the conquering Christ—the one Seed of Abraham (John 17:21-23; I Corinthians 12:12).
The pattern of the Tabernacle of the Congregation (Exodus 25:8,9) portrays Christ as the Son of God, galactic in size, authority, and power, and complete in Divine Substance and Life.
The Head—Christ—is the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10).
The Mercy Seat, with the overshadowing cherubim, is the Glory of the Godhead that rests on Christ.
The Holy Place portrays the Body of Christ, "the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). The Courtyard represents His Kingdom.
The mouth of Christ is the Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1), continually giving worship and praise and making intercession and supplication to the Father in Heaven.
In the right hand of Christ is the golden Lampstand, the manifestation in revelation and power of the seven Spirits that abide before the Throne of God (Revelation 1:4).
In the left hand of Christ is the Table of Showbread, the body and blood of Christ—the tree of life bearing fruit for food, and leaves for the healing of the nations (Ezekiel 47:12; Revelation 22:2).
The loins of Christ are the Laver (Exodus 30:18), declaring that the Divine fruitfulness and strength rise from purity; that Christ—Head and Body—is cleansed and ready for ministry to God Almighty.
The feet of the Anointed Deliverer are encased in the Bronze Altar of Burnt Offering (Exodus 27:1) representing the authority and power of the cross. The blood of the cross brings peace to all who obey the Gospel, and fierce judgment on all who sin—both human beings and angels (Revelation 1:15).
This colossal Head and Body is Christ, the holy Anointed Deliverer who will crush all His enemies under His feet and rule in God forever, bringing righteousness, peace, and joy through the Holy Spirit to the whole creation.
Here is the living Word of God brought to flawless maturity. Here is the eternal Temple of God, the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah, Chapter 42).
Christ Is the Resurrection. Christ Is eternal resurrection Life and every righteous, holy, and worthy thing associated with life. He Is the opposite of death and of every other abominable condition associated with sin, rebellion, and death. We have been called to be part of Him for eternity.