Scripture Reading: Ezra 1:2-5; 5:1-2; Hag. 1:1-14; 2:7b; Matt. 16:18; John 2:19-22; 14:2-3, 20
Ⅰ
God needs a house where He is the Father and a kingdom where He is the King, and for this He needs the recovery—Ezra 1:2-5; John 14:2; 3:5:
A
Satan, the enemy of God, has usurped the earth, keeping the earth as his house and kingdom—Matt. 12:25-29.
B
The Lord wants His house and His kingdom in order to carry out His eternal economy; this is the reason that He needs a return of His people from their captivity—1 Tim. 3:15; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:19-22.
Ⅱ
God's desire that we build a dwelling place for Him on earth can be fulfilled only if we have been delivered from the world and have nothing besides God Himself—Exo. 25:8; Psa. 73:25-26; Eph. 2:1-12:
A
The world is against God's building, and God's building is opposed to the world—John 15:18; 1 John 2:17.
B
In order to be God's dwelling place, we must know the world in a thorough way, and the element of the world must be purged out of our being—Rom. 12:2.
Ⅲ
Regarding the building up of God's dwelling place, there is a conflict, a severe fighting, between God and His enemy—Ezra 4:1-4, 24; Matt. 16:18:
A
The enemy does not like to see the building of God's dwelling place going on in a good way; therefore, he will do everything he can to interrupt, interfere, frustrate, attack, and destroy.
B
The aim of all attack, opposition, and evil speaking is to hinder the building of God's dwelling place for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Ⅳ
The prophecy of Haggai strengthened and encouraged the people to build God's house, the temple—Hag. 1:1-14; 2:7b; Ezra 5:1-2:
A
The self-serving and God-neglecting returned captives were taking care of their houses but not Jehovah's house (Hag. 1:4); the word run in verse 9 indicates that the people were busy caring for their own houses.
B
Regarding the recovery of the building of God's house, we cannot be neutral; we must be absolute, either taking care of our houses first or taking care of the Lord's house first—Matt. 6:33; Phil. 2:20-21.
Ⅴ
The Lord's recovery is the recovery of life and building—the basic and central revelation in the Bible—Gen. 2:9; Rev. 21:2:
A
Life and building are the two key words in the entire Bible.
B
Life is for building, and building comes out of life—John 1:1, 4; 11:25; 14:2.
C
Life is God Himself, and building is the issue of the experience of God as life and the expression of God as life in a corporate Body—Eph. 4:18, 16.
Ⅵ
The Gospel of John, the mystical Gospel, is a revelation of the building of the Father's house in the resurrection life of Christ—2:19-22:
A
The Gospel of John is a book on life and building—3:15; 14:2-3:
１
Life is the means by which God obtains and maintains the building.
２
Building is the enlargement, the expansion, of the Triune God, enabling Him to express Himself in a corporate way—15:1-8.
３
According to the revelation in the Gospel of John, the Triune God is dispensing Himself into His believers so that they may become the building of God, His corporate expression—14:1-31.
４
When we speak of the building of God, we mean that the Triune God as life is being wrought into us continually in order that we may become His unique corporate expression—Eph. 3:16-17a, 19b, 21.
B
Chapter 2 of John reveals the principle of life and the purpose of life:
１
The principle of life is to change death into life—vv. 1-11.
２
The purpose of life is to build the house of God—vv. 12-22.
３
The principle of life and the purpose of life are both related to resurrection:
ａ
The third day (v. 1) is the day of resurrection—1 Cor. 15:4; Acts 10:40.
ｂ
In three days (John 2:19) refers to something that takes place in resurrection.
C
The Lord's word in John 2:19 was a prophecy concerning His death and resurrection:
１
He revealed that He would rebuild the temple in resurrection—vv. 21-22.
２
The rebuilding and enlargement of the temple, the house, of God prophesied in 2:19 is fulfilled in 14:2, where the Lord speaks of the Father's house with its many abodes.
D
It was through His death and in His resurrection that Christ built the Father's house—2:19; 14:2:
１
The church as the Body of Christ and the house of God is in resurrection— Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Tim. 3:15.
２
Because the nature of the church is resurrection, the church is a being that can endure the attack of death—Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:24.
E
If we would be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ—John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
F
We should be built up through Christ's death and resurrection so that we and God can be mingled together to become a mutual abode, the Father's house, God's building—the corporate expression of the Triune God—John 14:2-3, 20.