The Vision
Some hundred of years after Jacob's day, when 'the sons of Israel were delivered by God from a life of slavery and bondage in Egypt which had lasted for 420 years, God reminded them of that purpose which He had revealed to Jacob at Bethel. What God said to Jacob in Genesis 28 was now made clearer to Moses on the Mount, when he was shown the pattern of the Tabernacle. Exodus chapter 24 tells us of some of the experiences which prepared him for that revelation, for men have to go through many experiences in order to get the spiritual vision which is needed to see that divine plan.
Then in chapter 25 verse 8, God spoke of the Sanctuary as a dwelling-place for Himself. When Jacob saw the angels coming from heaven, he had called that whole heavenly scene the “House of God”. Now God says to Moses, ‘Come up here on the Mount, and I will give you a further revelation of what Jacob saw’. Jacob could not see all the details of the plan, but to Moses it was now given to see much more.
We read that, from the mountain covered by the cloud, Moses saw many things, and amongst them the House of God in its glory. When he came down, he told the people: ‘I have seen such wonderful things on the mountain. God has shown to me a glorious heavenly House, and has told me that you—His people—are to have a share in preparing that House.’ They of course, could not comprehend all that Moses was saying, for Hebrews 3.1-6 shows us that Moses himself was given a deeper and fuller understanding. In Hebrews we see that what Moses was shown on the Mount was but a shadow of that House which is now being built by God. As the Apostle says (3.6), we are the House of the Lord Jesus Christ, provided we hold fast our confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm to the end.
How can God give us a share in that House? You will recall how our Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter: “Upon this rock I will build my Church” (Matt. 16.18). He had first asked Peter: ‘Whom do you think that I am?’ Peter had answered: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then the Lord said to him: ‘Peter that revelation has not come to you by flesh and blood. It is my heavenly Father who has revealed to you who I am, and upon that revelation I will build My Church’.
Roman Catholics say that upon the bones of Peter the Lord will build a Church. How blind they are! There was no special virtue in Peter himself. What our Lord was saying was that, ‘upon the revelation which you have of Me, even upon that I will build My Church’. Of course, Peter could see the Lord face to face in the flesh, but the revelation spoken of here did not come to him simply because he was talking to Him, and walking with Him. It came not by any human intelligence. It came to him from heaven. Our Lord said to him: ‘See Peter! flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, but My Father which is in heaven’. It is, then, upon that revelation of Christ that the Church is built, and the more we know our Lord Jesus Christ by divine revelation, the more we are building the House of God. We are not building a House of stones or bricks or mud or bamboo such as you see in India; it is not by such material things that we build the House of God, but by the divine unveiling of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5.16 the Apostle says that even though they had known the Lord in the flesh and could say: ‘We saw Him, we walked with Him, we ate with Him, we lived with Him,’ yet now they knew Him no more after the flesh, but henceforth knew and worshipped Him in the Spirit. It is not a bodily revelation of Christ that we want now, but a spiritual revelation, for the more we know our Lord by divine revelation, the more we are able to bring material to build the House of God.
When Saul of Tarsus was on the way to Damascus, he saw a great light and heard a Voice. Immediately, we are told, he fell down and became blind for three days, for the light which he saw did not at first bring light or illumination to him. He could say: ‘Yes! I have seen the shining of the light, and have heard the voice of God,’ but he could not go forth and build the Church upon that only.
Afterwards he began to see who the Lord Jesus Christ was. For this he had to go into the wilderness (Gal. 1.15-17), and it was there that he began to see the spiritual meaning of the Church. There in the wilderness, the light of God brought him spiritual insight and revelation. Only then could he tell people about the mystery of the Church, for it is something that comes only by revelation from God. Do not think that just because we know the contents of the Bible and have many natural intellectual gifts, that therefore we can comprehend that mystery by ourselves. That is impossible. There must be an inward revelation of the divine Word by the Holy Spirit if we are going to see the meaning of the Church, for it is not known by any human knowledge. You have to go ‘through the mill’ as we say—to go through a deep and transforming spiritual experience in order to have such a revelation.
But one day you will see that God has been saying to you: ‘There is something wonderful before you, even that Christ is building His Church and that you can have a part in building that Church’. Then you will say like Paul: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3.13- 14).
Again we find the same truth revealed more fully in the book of Revelation. There we see the House of God, the heavenly Tabernacle, the Holy City of God coming down from heaven. What is now being builded is there complete, and will “come down” from heaven for all to behold. But before that day, the old things will have passed away (Rev. 21.5). Only then will you be able to see the full glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, God's Sanctuary, God's House. It is the same even now upon this earth (2 Cor. 5.17). Are you prepared to give up your old life? Then you must do so completely. Let go everything of the old life and let Him make you entirely new.
I know some people who delight in hoarding things. Lying in their homes are papers and magazines of 5 years ago; and 10-year-old tins and bottles, not to mention old clothes and shoes that they wore 15 or 20 years ago. They keep on hoarding the old things, and if you ask them why, they say: ‘Cannot you see that they may be useful one day?’ Is not that how you keep on hoarding old boxes and books and trousers and shirts? You become so miserly that you are afraid to let them go. In the same way you hang on to old habits, old friendships and old longings.
But everything old must pass away. If you want to take a share in God's House, you must be prepared to let them go and to be set free, to be liberated from everything that is old. All things that bring corruption must be given up, and what can bring eternal joy, and eternal peace, must take their place.
Supposing you are doubtful about a friendship. Some times you think that it must be broken; at other times you think: ‘But why must it be broken?’ You will go on thinking that way until you go to God and say to Him: ‘O God, will that friendship in my life bring eternal joy? Will that habit in my life bring to me eternal joy and peace?’ Thus you must pray, and when you have found the answer, keep to it. Indeed, that is the simplest way to find the answer. All habits, all friendships, all associations and aspirations that bring disharmony must be given up, and in their place the Spirit will give everything new—new habits, new longings, and new friendships.
The Lord says: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21.5). In the House of God, there must be only what is new. There cannot be any old material accepted for that House. It is a simple principle. And you can learn from the Tabernacle how to bring that new material to God. May God reveal to us His heavenly plan, and that in His heavenly House all things everywhere are new.