The Tabernacle and the Priesthood

Prophecy note, 2 October 2016
Life and building
are the basic and central revelation
of the Bible:

Life is for building,
the corporate expression
of the Triune God,
and the building
is of life:

Life
is the content,
and building
is the corporate expression
of the content.

Life
is God Himself,
and building
is the expression
of the Triune God
as life
in a corporate organic entity.

Life
is the Triune God
embodied in Christ
and realized as the Spirit
dispensing Himself
into us
for our enjoyment,
and building
is the church,
the Body of Christ,
God’s spiritual house,
as the enlargement and expansion
of God
for the corporate expression
of God.

The Gospel of John
reveals that the Triune God
is dispensing Himself
as life
into His believers
and that the believers,
as the result of this dispensing,
become the building of God,
His expansion, enlargement, and corporate expression.

The Lord’s recovery
is the recovery
of life and building
for us
to be built up
to be the church
as the house of God
and the Body of Christ.

The central vision of the Bible
—the building of the house of God—
can be considered
the highlight of the Bible
and also the essence
extracted from the Bible.

In the sequence
of the divine record
in Exodus,
the priesthood
follows the tabernacle:

Exodus 27:20-21
reveals that immediately after
the tabernacle came into existence,
there was
the need of the priesthood
for the lighting
of the lamps;
this indicates that,
spiritually speaking,
the priesthood and the tabernacle
are one entity.

In typology
the priesthood and the tabernacle
as one entity
signify the church
composed of
God’s redeemed people
as a spiritual house
and a priesthood.

Through the pictures
in the book of Exodus,
God reveals
that His redeemed people
are both the tabernacle
and the priesthood;
with the fulfillment
of the types
in the New Testament,
the tabernacle and the priesthood
are put together:

In the Old Testament
the house and the priesthood
were separated,
but in the New Testament
the spiritual house
is the priesthood,
and the priesthood
is the spiritual house.

We cannot have the priesthood
without the tabernacle,
and we cannot have the tabernacle
without the priesthood.

If we are not a spiritual house,
we cannot be the priesthood;
likewise,
if we are not the priesthood,
we cannot be a spiritual house.

The twofold function
of the church
—that of the dwelling place
and that of the priesthood—
is typified
by the tabernacle and the priesthood.

The fact
that the tabernacle
is mentioned
before the priesthood in Exodus
emphasizes the need
of the believers
to be built up
to be God’s dwelling place
so that they may serve Him
as a corporate, coordinated priesthood:

The priesthood
is a body of priests
who are built together
to live and serve
as one entity.

Apart from the building
it is impossible
to have the priesthood:

The priests are
not individualistic believers
but a corporate body;
the priesthood
is composed of priests
who have been built together.

The service of the priesthood
is a body service
in coordination;
this corporate service
is what the Lord
is seeking today.

Without the building
the priesthood will collapse;
we cannot have the priesthood
without the building.

The priestly service
is a work
of being built up
and of building:

One aspect of our work
is to be built up,
and another aspect
is to build.

We are building
by being built up;
this is
to genuinely serve God
as priests.

To serve God
as priests
is to build
the dwelling place of God,
which is also
to be built up.

We cannot separate
the priestly service
from the building;
we are proper priests
carrying out the genuine building work
only when we
are built up.

Being built up
into a spiritual house
is the basic condition
for service;
we cannot serve
if we are not built up.

When we are built up
into a priesthood,
we can have work
that is acceptable to God.

This is
a tremendous light
that we need to see:
our priesthood
must be the building
and for the building.

Since the priesthood
equals the house,
and the house
depends on the building,
the priesthood
also requires
the building up
of the saints:

The sequence of
house and priesthood
in 1 Peter 2:5
is based upon
the sequence in Exodus.

Because of
the need
for building up,
the church
must be
the house of God
before it
can be the priesthood.

Building
involves coordination;
only when we
are built into
and coordinated into
the building
do we have
the ground
to serve the Lord.

Our unique need
is to be built up:

The emphasis
in the Bible
is not on
how to be holy or spiritual;
instead,
the emphasis
is on God’s building.

True spirituality
is a matter of
the building;
without the building, the spiritual house,
there is
no sanctification, spirituality, or spiritual power.

The only way
to be holy, spiritual, or powerful
is to be built
into God’s building.

If we want to be protected,
we need to be built
into God’s building;
our protection is
not our spirituality
—it is
God’s building.

The shortcomings
in the lives
of even the most spiritual Christians
are due to
the lack of building up.

God’s unique goal
is the building:

God’s goal
has always been the building.

For eternity
God wants
the New Jerusalem;
today
He wants
the church.

If we
do not allow the Lord
to have
the building among us,
we will be
a failure
as far as God’s purpose
is concerned:

The reason
the situation
among God’s people
is disappointing and discouraging
is the lack of building.

The Lord
has not yet been able
to gain
His goal of the building.

If we
are off from God’s goal,
we will not be able
to do anything
for the fulfillment
of God’s eternal purpose.

God
wants those
who can dwell
in oneness with His people,
who can be coordinated
into one entity,
and who become
His dwelling place.

We all
need to see
that the goal
of the Lord’s recovery
is to recover Christ
as life and everything
to us
so that we
may be transformed
and built up:

When we
are built up together,
God will have
the building.

This building
is the priesthood.

2 Cor. 3:18
But we all
with unveiled face,
beholding
and reflecting
like a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed
into the same image
from glory to glory,
even as from the Lord Spirit.

Rev. 21:2
And I saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down
out of heaven
from God,
prepared
as a bride
adorned for her husband.

Even in the Old Testament
we can see
that God’s goal
has always been
the building.
In the wilderness
He required
that a tabernacle
be set up.
Then in the holy land, the land of Canaan,
He wanted
a temple
to be built.
Many verses
in the Psalms
refer to the temple.
This indicates
that, according to
the experience of the psalmists,
spirituality, victory, and power
were all related to
the temple.
The principle
is the same
with us
today.
For us,
the temple
is the church.
Our spirituality, victory, and power
must be related to
the church.
However,
it is
very sad, even tragic,
that many Christians
do not care for the church
and some
even oppose it.

The situation
among the Lord’s people
is not very encouraging,
…even among those groups of believers
that are spiritual.
The reason
…is the lack
of the building.

If we
are off from God’s goal,
what shall we
be able to accomplish?
We shall not be able
to do anything
for the fulfillment
of God’s purpose.

The New Testament
speaks of
the building
of God’s dwelling place.
God wants us
not only to be
spiritual and God-fearing men
but also to be those
who can dwell
with God’s people
together in unity,
who can be coordinated
into one entity,
and who become
a spiritual temple
as His dwelling place.
John 1:14 says
that the Lord Jesus,
as the Word,
“became flesh
and tabernacled among us….”
In chapter 2
when the Lord Jesus said,
“Destroy this temple,
and in three days
I will raise it up” (v. 19),
He spoke of
the temple of His body (v. 21).
…This means
that the Lord
would resurrect
three days after His death
to build up
the mystical Body
as God’s temple.
The physical body
that the Jews destroyed
on the cross
was what the Lord Jesus
put on
in incarnation.
The Body
that was raised up
when He resurrected
from the dead
is a mystical Body.
Through His resurrection from death
He imparted His life into us
and regenerated us
so that we
became members of His Body.
After we enter
the gates of the New Jerusalem,
the Holy Spirit
does a work of resurrection
in us,
stripping us of
our earthy element
and bringing everything in us
into resurrection
so that we
can be transformed
in resurrection
and built together
into the Lord’s mystical Body.
This mystical Body
is the church
and also the temple
built by the Lord
in resurrection.

I am disappointed
not mainly by
the opposition
to the Lord’s recovery,
but by
the shortage
of the building.
…We need to believe
that just as the Lord
preserved seven thousand
at the time of Elijah,
so He
has preserved a remnant
today.
When Elijah
was disappointed,
thinking that he alone
had remained faithful
to the Lord,
the Lord told him
not to be disappointed,
for He had preserved
seven thousand
who had not bowed the knee
to Baal.
Today
the Lord
has also preserved
a number of His people.

Day 5
1 Cor. 14:26
…Whenever you come together,
each one
has a psalm,
has a teaching,
has a revelation,
has a tongue,
has an interpretation.
Let all things
be done for building up.

Eph. 4:16
Out from whom
all the Body,
being joined together
and being knit together
through every joint
of the rich supply
and through the operation
in the measure of each one part,
causes the growth of the Body
unto the building up of itself
in love.

In my early years
as a Christian,
I did not see
the crucial importance
of the building.
By the Lord’s mercy,
I have loved the Lord
from the time
I was saved.
For more than fifty years,
my love for Him
has never ceased.
Furthermore,
I have spent much time
to seek Him.
I have also pursued
holiness, spirituality, and power.
I read
a number of books
on these subjects.
However,
my pursuit of holiness, spirituality, and power
resulted in failure.
Eventually
I learned
that the only way
to be holy, spiritual, or powerful
is to be built
into God’s building.

In the perfecting training messages
we dealt with
the problems of opinion and peculiarity.
But no matter how much
you may exercise yourself
to solve the problems
of opinion and peculiarity,
if you are not built up,
none of those messages
will be of any help to you.
Only as we are built up together
can the matters of opinion and peculiarity
be dealt with.
As long as you
are willing to be built
into God’s building
and actually are built in,
the problems of opinion and peculiarity
will disappear.
…Our unique need
is to be built in.

True spirituality
is a matter of the building.
Without the building, the spiritual house,
there is
no sanctification, spirituality, or spiritual power.
A certain brother
may seem to be kind, holy, and spiritual.
But if this brother
is not built into God’s building,
his apparent spiritual wealth
will become spiritual bankruptcy.
The reason for such a condition
is that without the building
there is
no protection or covering.

Suppose all the materials
used in building a meeting hall
were still lying
on the ground.
Then
in case of a storm or heavy rain,
the materials
would be damaged.
They would not have
any protection.
But since the materials
are now part of the building,
they are protected
from the weather.
The principle
is the same with
God’s spiritual building.
If we
want to be protected,
we need to be built
into God’s building.
Our protection
is not our spirituality;
our protection
is the building.

To a very great extent,
the efforts of today’s Christians
to be holy, spiritual, and powerful
are in vain.
Many “how-to” books
have been written
to help believers
to be holy and victorious.
How much help
is actually offered
by these books?
I would say
that the help rendered
is very little,
if any.
I can testify
that I have read books
in different categories
of spiritual and biblical teachings.
Furthermore,
I tried to practice the methods
recommended in these books.
As I have already indicated,
the result
was failure.

Throughout the centuries
there have been
a number of believers
who were truly spiritual.
However,
many of the biographies
of certain spiritual giants
are not altogether accurate.
A biography
does not always present
a full and clear picture
of a person’s life.
After a particular spiritual giant dies,
someone may write his biography.
That biography
may exalt that spiritual person
too much.
This kind of biography
is different from that
found in the Bible.
For example,
the Bible speaks of Abraham’s shortcomings
and even exposes David’s sins.
If you were to write
a biography of David,
would you mention his sins?
Would you not rather hide them
and perhaps exaggerate a little
on David’s behalf?
Sometimes
a believer’s autobiography
is more honest and accurate
than the biographies.

Even with those
who are pious and spiritual,
there have been
a number of shortcomings.
Failures, of course,
are different from shortcomings.
A person
may not have many failures,
but he still may have
a number of shortcomings.
The shortcomings
in the lives of even the most spiritual Christians
are due to
the lack of building up.

Day 3
Eph. 2:21-22
In whom
all the building,
being fitted together,
is growing
into a holy temple
in the Lord;
in whom you also
are being built together
into a dwelling place
of God
in spirit.

In the sequence
of the divine record in Exodus,
the priesthood
follows the tabernacle.
In typology,
the priesthood and the tabernacle
are one entity,
signifying the church
composed of God’s redeemed people
as a spiritual house
and a holy priesthood.
That the tabernacle
is mentioned before the priesthood
emphasizes the need of the believers
to be built up
to be God’s dwelling place
that they may serve God
as a corporate, coordinated priesthood.

In English
the word priesthood
refers to two things.
First,
it denotes
a body of priests,
a group of priests
who work and serve together.
Second,
the word priesthood denotes
the priestly service,
the work or ministry
done by the priests.
Many readers of the Bible
emphasize the second meaning
of this word.
Whenever you read
1 Peter 2:5 in the past,
what did you understand
by the word priesthood
used in this verse?
In 1 Peter 2:5
the priesthood is
not the service of the priests;
rather,
it is
a group of priests
who live, serve, and work together.
…This priesthood
is the spiritual house.
Hence,
the body of priests
is also a house.
In like manner,
the saints
who are built together
are a spiritual house.
This spiritual house
is a collective people.
My point here
is that the house and the priesthood
are one entity.

The Lord
has not yet been able
to gain
His goal of the building.
Without the building,
how can we
have the priesthood?
It is impossible
to have the priesthood
without the building.
The priests
are not individualistic believers.
On the contrary,
the priests
are a corporate body;
the priesthood
is composed of priests
who have been built together.
Furthermore,
the service of the priesthood
is a body service
in coordination.
This corporate priesthood
is what the Lord
is seeking today.

In this portion of Scripture
[Exo. 25—30]
the Holy Spirit
indicates that the building of God
and the coordination of the priests
are one,
and in the New Testament
the two
are one and inseparable.

One aspect of our work
is to be built up,
and another aspect
is to build.
We are building
by being built up.
This is to genuinely serve God
as priests.
Some may think
that to serve God
is to do the work of God
and to live for God.
This is
the general understanding
in Christianity.
However,
to serve God as a priest
is to build the temple of God,
which also is to be built up.
We are
proper priests
carrying out
the genuine building work
only when we
are genuinely built up.
…A believer
who serves as a priest
apart from the temple of God
has an improper priesthood.
Any priestly service
that is separated
from the building,
that is,
from the temple of God
as the ground for the priestly service,
is improper.
This is
a tremendous light
that we must see:
our priesthood
must be
in the building
and for the building.
For us
to serve as priests
is for us
to build.

First Peter 2:5 says
that the proper service
cannot be apart from the building.
When we are built up
as a spiritual house,
we become
a priesthood.
To offer up
spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God
refers to our work.
When we
are built up
into a priesthood,
we can have work
that is acceptable to God.
For centuries
those who love God
have known that they
should serve God.
But few believers
have seen
that the basic matter of serving God
depends on
being built up.
If we are
not built up
as the spiritual house of God,
there will be
no priesthood.
The priesthood
is based on the building.
When God’s children
begin to love God,
they are
very willing to serve God.
However,
they neglect
the matter of being built up.
Once a person
becomes zealous,
he wants to serve,
but God speaks of
being built up
into a spiritual house
as the basic condition
for service.
We cannot serve
if we are
not built up.

Day 1
John 11:25
Jesus said to her,
I am
the resurrection and the life;
he who believes into Me,
even if he should die,
shall live.

Matt. 16:18
And I also say to you
that you are Peter,
and upon this rock
I will build My church,
and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it.

Life
is for building.
Life
is the content,
and building
is the corporate expression
of this content.
So if we
have life,
normally speaking,
we should have building;
and if we
would have building,
we must have life.
God purposes
to express Himself
through a corporate Body.
Therefore,
God must be life
to a group of people
who must be built up
to express God
in a corporate way.
…Life
is just God Himself,
and building
is simply the expression of God
as life
in a corporate Body.
Life and building
are the basic and central revelation
of the Bible.

The Bible
opens with life
for the building.
Life
is the source,
and the building
is the issue of life.

The Gospel of John
begins by speaking of
the Lord Jesus
as the Word
who became flesh
so that we
might have life.
The Epistles of John
speak of
the fellowship of life
enabling the believers,
who have received
the Lord
as life,
to enter deeper
into God.
Finally,
Revelation shows
how believers are built
in God’s life
to be His eternal tabernacle,
the dwelling place
of God with man,
which is
a city
built with gold, pearls, and precious stones.
John’s ministry
speaks of life and building.

The church
becomes the continuation
of Christ’s manifestation of God
in the flesh.
This is
the great mystery
of godliness
—Christ
lived out of the church
as the manifestation of God
in the flesh.

Such a church
is the continuation, enlargement, and expansion
of God
manifested in the flesh.

In Genesis 1
God was alone.
At the end
of the book of Revelation,
God is
in the center
of the holy city, New Jerusalem,
which is
His enlargement.
…Throughout the ages and generations
God has been working Himself
into His chosen people.
Eventually
we all
shall become
His building, a building
which is
the enlargement of God Himself.
Hence,
this building
will become God’s expansion,
and this expansion
will express God
in a corporate way.
This is
God’s building.
Building is
not simply that I
depend upon you,
that you
depend upon me,
and that the brothers and sisters
depend upon one another.
That is
not an adequate understanding
of building.
The proper building
is the enlargement of God,
the expansion of the Triune God,
enabling God
to express Himself
in a corporate way.
…The Gospel of John
reveals that the Triune God
is dispensing Himself
into His believers
and that all His believers,
as a result of the transfusion and infusion
of the Triune God
into them,
become His enlargement.
This enlargement
of the Triune God
is the expansion, the building, and the expression
of God.
…Thus,
when we
speak of the building of God,
we mean
that the Triune God
as life
is being wrought into us continually
and that under His transfusion and infusion
we are becoming
His one expression.

The Lord’s recovery
is the recovery
of life and building.
…We
are for God’s goal and purpose,
which is
life and building.
In other Christian writings,
it is difficult
to find one book
that puts these two words together.
…We may have heard
the word life
in Christianity,
but we
have rarely heard
the word building.
And we
have never heard
these two words together,
life and building.

The central vision
of the Bible
—building the house of God—
can be considered
the highlight of the Bible
and also the essence
extracted from the whole Bible.