The House of God, His People, Enlarges to New Jerusalem
First Timothy 3:15 says, “…the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” Verse 16 continues, “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh…” This indicates that the church is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in humanity. A physical house is not a mystery and not something of godliness.
The church today is the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). This house is not an actual house but the totality of God’s people. This house is a sign signifying that the church’s function today is to be a house in which the Triune God can dwell. In eternity this house will be enlarged to a city—the New Jerusalem. Just as the church as God’s house is not an actual physical house, so the New Jerusalem is not an actual physical city. The city of New Jerusalem is a sign signifying the church’s function in eternity to be God’s dwelling place.*
John 14 has much about the mutual indwelling of God and His people—God in Christ in His people and His people in Him. This sets the pattern for New Jerusalem.
Verse 20 records the Lord’s word to the disciples, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” And verse 23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.”
The abode which the Father and Son are preparing is in their people. Eventually it will enlarge in life to be New Jerusalem.
* Life-Study of the New Testament, Conclusion Messages: The Church, the Kingdom, and the New Jerusalem, message 257, p. 2689, by Witness Lee. Published 1998 and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California.
Photo courtesy of GoodFreePhotos.
Posted by Don on October 30, 2024
https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/10/30/the-house-of-god-his-people-enlarges-to-new-jerusalem/
