Introduction. Jesus commanded that the gospel be preached to every creature (Mk. 16:15-16) in every nation (Mt. 28:18-20). This is evangelism and is the most fundamental and primary role of every local church. Then, after they were made disciples, these new converts and babes in Christ needed to be taught to observe all things that Jesus commanded. This is edification and is also one of the fundamental roles of the local church. But in a local church, we only get a tiny glimpse of what is actually being done in the church over which Jesus is the head.
There is more to the church of Christ than what we see where we are members. When Jesus said that He would build His church, He was speaking of something far greater and glorious than we can understand. The church Jesus built was founded on the rock of Peter’s confession:” “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He is the Word who was with God and was God. He is eternal, omnipotent, and dwells on an equality with God. What He built is complex and glorious.
The church Jesus built is the “greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not of this creation.” It is “the true tabernacle that the Lord erected and not man.” It is difficult for us to grasp the amazing power and glory of this church that Jesus built unless we see it from heaven’s side.
There is more to the church of Christ than what we see where we are members. When Jesus said that He would build His church, He was speaking of something far greater and glorious than we can understand. The church Jesus built was founded on the rock of Peter’s confession:” “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He is the Word who was with God and was God. He is eternal, omnipotent, and dwells on an equality with God. What He built is complex and glorious.
The church Jesus built is the “greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not of this creation.” It is “the true tabernacle that the Lord erected and not man.” It is difficult for us to grasp the amazing power and glory of this church that Jesus built unless we see it from heaven’s side.
- We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. (Heb. 8:2)
- But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation....12 with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:11-12)
What made this tabernacle important was the sanctuary it contained. That same sanctuary was placed in Solomon’s temple. This sanctuary with all its furnishings was a copy of things in the heavens. By looking carefully at them we can see a type and shadow of what Jesus built.
- And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. (Ex. 25:8-9)
- And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. (1 Kings 6:5-20)
While the “copies of the things in the heavens,” were purified with the blood of bulls and goats, the true “heavenly things themselves” were purified with “better sacrifices than these.” After Jesus left this earth, He did not enter “the holy places made with hands.” What Jesus built into His church were “the heavenly things” themselves, cleansed with His own blood. He is now in “heaven itself,” “seated at His right hand,” “far above all might and dominion,” as “head over all things to the church which is His body.” The amazing nature of these revelations gives us some idea of the majesty of the church Jesus built in heaven.
- Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; (Heb. 9:23-25)
- raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, ... 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body...” (Eph. 1:20-23)
After Solomon’s temple was destroyed, Judah went captive to Babylon for 70 years. When they returned, they restored the temple. As they built, it became evident to the older men that this temple had neither the splendor nor the magnificence of the former temple (Ezra 3:10-14): “Is this not in your eyes as nothing?” The promise God made referred to Jesus building the church. This would be the “latter temple,” that would exceed in glory the former temple that Solomon built:
- 3 'Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? ... 6 "For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the Lord of hosts. 8 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the Lord of hosts. 9 'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the Lord of hosts. (Hag. 2:3, 6-9)
Zechariah identified the man who would build this temple as the “BRANCH.” The Christ would be this branch. (Isa. 11:1-2; Jer. 23:5-6; 33:14-18). God spoke of Jesus. It was Jesus who “shall build the temple of the Lord.” It was Jesus who “shall bear the glory.” It was Jesus who will “sit and rule on His throne.” And, it was Jesus who “shall be a priest on His throne.”
- Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the Lord; 13 Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, (Zech. 6:11-13)
Jesus did none of these things before He died. They were done after His return to heaven! The church Jesus built contains the heavenly things that the types and shadows of the tabernacle and temple revealed. He is now in this “greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not of this creation,” “the true tabernacle that the Lord erected and not man.” The church of Christ is the “latter temple” that God promised, “I will fill this temple with glory!” God’s word that “the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former” was also fulfilled when Jesus built His church. A broader picture of the church was captured in the comparison of Israel as they became God’s covenant nation on Mount Sinai and Christians as they enter God’s covenant at Mount Zion:
- But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Heb. 12:22-24)
The amazing nature of this glory is even more amazing when we consider what God had to work with. He used the souls of men and women “dead in trespasses” who were “children of wrath even as the rest.”, souls with “no hope” and “without God in the world.” Yet God’s “rich mercy” and “great love” along with “the exceeding riches of His grace” changed all that! He took dead souls and “made them alive together with Christ.” He made them into “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:1-22). After this great act of power, mercy and grace, we were then “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.”
- Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22)
This is how “the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Each sinner is made into a stone and added to the foundation. In all future generations, those who gladly receive the words of the apostles and prophets and are baptized will be added to them and placed on this foundation.
- Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. (Acts 2:41)
- According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1Cor. 3:10-11)
While the church built in heaven was completed before Peter preached his first sermon, the church on earth is in a constant state of building. Every time someone is baptized, they become “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.”
Peter added more to our understanding of this process. Using the same type of Jesus being the chief cornerstone, he added: He was a “precious living stone.” As the Holy Spirit described our relationship to Him as a living stone, we too are “living stones” that “are being built up a spiritual house.” The church as the temple has stones just as Solomon’s temple. Yet they are much more precious than the great stones Solomon used to build his temple. These are spiritual stones, building up a spiritual house, and are also the holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices.
- Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; (1Pet. 2:4-8)
Conclusion. Although by God’s will we are separated into local churches scattered all over the world, in different nations and even in different centuries, that is not how God sees us from heaven. We are all living stones, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. We are growing into a holy temple in the Lord, being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. We are now part of this true sanctuary that the Lord built and not man. In God’s eyes we have more glory than all the splendor of Solomon’s temple. We are His holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. By faith in these things we can see far more glory than the actual circumstances of our single local church might indicate.