The Church is in Ruin and Looks to the Millennium Instead

The Church is in Ruin and Looks to the Millennium Instead as the Rich Material for the Temple is Being Prepared Today Through Biblical Locality.

In the Old Testament there are two types concerning the Church. One is the tabernacle, the other is the temple. Many have been the people who have spoken on the tabernacle. Over one hundred books have been written on it. But one can hardly purchase a single volume written on the temple. People pay much attention to the type of the tabernacle, but they neglect what the temple typifies. They consider the tabernacle and the temple to be alike, they being redundant types of each other. The fact of the matter is that these two types are not altogether the same.

The tabernacle is temporary and external, whereas the temple is permanent and bespeaks the internal. The tabernacle was built in and for the wilderness, but the temple was built by Solomon in the promised land.

The tabernacle in the wilderness serves as a type of the condition of the Church on earth, while the temple represents before God the permanent condition of the Church in the kingdom. Seeing such light will enable us to understand clearly today’s situation. In the Book of Exodus we read that God had first had the tabernacle set up. It then traveled with the children of Israel till it rested in Shiloh (Joshua 18.1). At that time, though, the children of Israel sinned against God: "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21.25). In due course the Philistines became their enemy. Samuel, Saul and David were raised up one after another. But the two sons of old Eli the priest sinned, and the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. So the children of Israel thought of bringing the ark to the battlefield. The ark was the ark of the testimony, and it was also the ark of peace. They therefore presumed that the ark could help them. But after the ark had left the tabernacle it was taken captive by the Philistines and placed in the house of their god Dagon. God would not protect Israel because of the ark, nor did He want Israel to protect the ark.

After the ark left the tabernacle, it never returned. It waited to be removed to the holy temple after Solomon had finished building it. Jeremiah 7.12 says, "But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel." Evidently even in Jeremiah’s time, people still went to Shiloh. With the departure of the ark from the tabernacle, God too departed from the tabernacle. So that the ark, as it were, had its back towards the tabernacle and its face towards the holy temple. Just such a situation characterizes the condition of the Church today.

At the time of Solomon, the latter went to Gibeon to sacrifice. There on the altar Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings (1 Kings 3.4). He prayed for wisdom, and the wisdom he received far exceeded that of anybody else. 2 Chronicles 1 tells us that in Gibeon were to be found the brazen altar and the priests. But in the tent of meeting there was no ark (vv.3-5). For the ark had already turned its back towards the tabernacle and had turned its face towards the temple (it was even then in Jerusalem in David’s tent). This is the testimony of Jesus Christ, and it is also our way. Our way is in following the ark—yet not towards Gibeon but towards the temple.

Today God is preparing gold, silver, wood, stone, brass and iron for His temple. The building materials for Solomon’s temple had all been ready-made, they not having been fashioned at the temple site. Thus they were noiselessly fitted together to form the temple, and then King Solomon appeared. One day the time shall arrive for our own King Solomon, the Lord Jesus, to appear. On that day no sound of working tools shall be heard because all the materials will have been well prepared beforehand (see 1 Kings 6.7). When our Solomon arrives, that will be the sign that the holy temple has been finished. Today there are sounds, but on that day all shall be perfectly fitted together to be the Holy Temple of God.

The Church in ruin is a fact, yet the testimony of the temple has continued on throughout these two thousand years. Truths are being recovered one after another. As a matter of fact the number of truths which have been recovered is quite high. Although all manner of sounds are being heard today, one by one the materials are being gathered. Viewing the matter from the perspective of the building of the temple, the Church of God is unquestionably making progress. All the materials are now being prepared. What is needed is for them to be put together. The work of God today is for the purpose of completing the body of Christ so that all the saints may arrive at the unity of the faith and full maturity in Christ (Eph.4.12-13). God has been doing this work throughout the ages. But today’s work is more advanced than yesterday’s. The Lord Jesus once said, "My Father worketh even until now, and I work" (John 5.17). The Lord’s work is getting better all the time, and the result of His work is that the Church is becoming increasingly richer spiritually. If we proceed on this way of recovery, we shall not fail to see the working of God in our midst.