Going on with God to have a Renewed and Enlarged Experience of Christ and the Church

The Lord within us is aspiring that we would go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of our soul to the temple church life with Christ as the reality of the good land in our spirit; our experience of Christ and our church life needs to be renewed and enlarged, strengthened and uplifted. Amen!

This week we come to the sixth crystal in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, Going on with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life for the Building up of the Body of Christ as the Temple of the Living God.

Many times we refer to the church being the tabernacle of God, which is absolutely correct, but we need to realize that God desires to gain the church as the temple of God, not only as the tabernacle of God.

We need to go on, that is, we need to be brought on to maturity and have our experience and enjoyment of Christ enlarged from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life.

We should not be content with where we are. We should not lie on our laurels and simply be satisfied with where we are with the Lord and with the church life.

If we are satisfied and happy with where we are, we are like Laodicea, that is, we’re lukewarm, and in the Lord’s eyes, we are blind, miserable, and wretched.

May we be like the apostle Paul, always pursuing Christ, always seeking to gain Christ, and always desiring to experience and enjoy more of Christ.

Paul was the antithesis of a contented Christian; more than twenty years after his conversion, he still desired to know Christ, to gain Christ, and to win Christ.

He used to persecute Christ and His followers in a negative sense, but after his conversion, he was pursuing Christ in a positive way so that he may gain Him, experience Him, and have the utmost enjoyment of Christ.

Our whole life is a quest to know Christ and enjoy Christ. May we never be contented with where we are and what we are.

May we pursue Christ to gain Him, seek to know Him in an experiential way, and know Him intimately.

Our aim should be to be filled with Christ, saturated with Christ, soaked with Christ, and mingled with Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ and the preparation of the bride of Christ.

Similarly in our church life and our experience of the church, we should not be contented; we should not consider that we have arrived but always pursue Christ, gain more of Him, and seek to be built up with the saints in spirit for God to gain His dwelling place among us.

May the divine light shine on us and televise the divine facts of the Bible in our being and may we be brought on to maturity, leaving the word of the beginning of Christ and advancing with Him day by day and even hour by hour and moment by moment.

Aspiring to Go on from the Tabernacle Church Life in the Wilderness of the Soul to the Temple Church Life with Christ as the Good Land in our Spirit

The experience and history of the children of Israel is a type of the experience and spiritual history of the people of God.

According to their experience of coming out of Egypt and journeying to the good land, where are we today in our church life and the Christian life?

Are we enjoying Christ as the Passover, yet still in Egypt?

Did we make the exodus from Egypt, passing through the waters of baptism, and are we now in the wilderness journeying toward the good land?

Are we receiving revelation concerning the house of God and are we building the tabernacle church life?

Are we feasting on Christ as our daily supply to be the manna we eat, and are we drinking the living water from the cleft rock?

What kind of church life do we have, is it a mobile, movable, kind of church life, portable and with no foundation?

It is good to have the tabernacle of God as the building of God in the church life today, but the tabernacle is not solid; it has no foundation, no stones in its construction, and is portable and movable.

Are we wandering in the wilderness of the soul, enjoying Christ as the manna from heaven and the Spirit as the living water flowing from the cleft Christ?

Are we carrying out a floating church life with no solid foundation?

Or are we walking about in a large and spacious land, labouring on the unsearchable riches of Christ, and building up the temple church life as the enlarged and more solid church?

The Lord Jesus within us is aspiring to go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of our soul to the temple church life with Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit being the reality of the good land in our spirit (Heb. 6:1a; Josh. 3:14-17; Deut. 8:8; Eph. 2:21-22; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7).

As we contact the Lord every day and as we enjoy and experience Him, there’s a sense within us that we need to be brought on with Him, that we need to advance from merely wandering in our soul to the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land in our spirit.

The Lord needs some today as in the days of old who see the vision of the enlarged and more solid church life, hear God’s call, and take the first step into the Jordan river.

Just as the priests took a step and went forward in the river Jordan without waiting for the river to part but following the Lord by faith, so we today need to follow the Lord’s inner leading to advance from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life.

The all-inclusive Christ as the large, spacious, and all-inclusive good land is before us, and we need to advance with Him, aspiring to go on to the temple church life with Christ as the reality of the good land in our spirit.

Within us, there’s a hunger and a thirst for something higher in the church life that we have already experienced.

This hunger, this dissatisfaction with our current situation and experience is not of ourselves but of the Lord, for the Lord within us is aspiring to go on.

Many times the Lord grants us this real sense that He wants us to advance with Him, go on with Him, and have a more solid, enlarged, and strengthened church life, the temple church life in the good land.

Of course, we are happy to be here in the church life, for we are with the saints on the ground of oneness enjoying Christ as our life and everything.

On the other hand, however, we long for something richer, higher, deeper, and more solid.

We long for something more stable, more weighty, and more advanced in the Lord.

It is good to utter such a longing and aspiration before the Lord, for in doing so, we answer His longing and aspiration. It is good to be honest with the Lord and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, thank You for the wonderful, glorious, and excellent church life with all the excellent saints enjoying Christ and experiencing Christ for the building up of the Body! Amen, Lord, we praise You for bringing us into such a lovely place, in the garden growing in Your grace! We aspire to go on with You, Lord, and advance from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life. We sense that this is Your aspiration in us, Lord, that we would advance from merely being in the wilderness of our soul to the more solid church life with Christ as the reality of the good land in our spirit. Take us on with You, Lord. Keep us pursuing You, gaining You, and experiencing You until we are solidly built up with the saints in the church as the temple of God!

Advancing with the Lord to have a Renewed and Enlarged Experience of Christ and of the Church

The tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in the good land typify two aspects of the church. The tabernacle typifies the church as the movable, mobile, dwelling place of God, and the temple signifies the more solid, stable, and enlarged church.

1 Kings 8:1-11 shows that the tabernacle was merged with the temple; the tabernacle was a portable precursor moving through the wilderness, whereas the temple was the consummation of God’s building in typology.

The temple was the enlargement of the tabernacle, and it signifies the strengthening and stabilizing of the church (1 Kings 6:2, 20; 2 Chron. 4:1-8; cf. Exo. 26:3, 16, 18, 22-24, 33).

The renewing and enlargement of the furniture in the temple signify the renewing and enlargement of our experience of Christ.

The dimensions of the temple and of the Holy of Holies in the temple were twice those of the tabernacle, which shows that we need to advance with the Lord to have a renewed and enlarged experience of Christ and of the church.

Furthermore, with the exception of the Ark, the size and number of the furnishings and the utensils were greatly enlarged for God’s enlarged expression.

The temple was not only larger, more stable, and more weighty than the tabernacle, but the furniture of the temple was also made anew, and their dimensions were increased.

The altar, the laver, the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the incense altar were all reconstructed, and many of them had their dimensions increased.

The altar in the tabernacle was five cubits square and three cubits high; the altar in the temple was twenty cubits square and ten cubits high. In the tabernacle there was only one lampstand, but in the temple, there were ten lampstands.

In the tabernacle there was only one table of the bread of the Presence and also one laver, but in the temple, there were ten tables of the bread of the Presence and ten lavers.

This shows an increase and enlargement of the dimensions, furniture, and utensils in the house of God.

All this points to our need to advance with the Lord and have a deeper, more enlarged, and renewed experience of the cross, the Holy Spirit, and Christ as our life, light, acceptance, and sweetness.

The fact that the temple was enlarged signifies that the church needs to be strengthened, and the fact that the furniture in the temple was renewed and enlarged signifies that we as believers in Christ need to have a renewed and enlarged experience of Christ.

Our spiritual experience must increase and grow, matching the stature of the church.

The fact that the size of the altar was increased means that our experience of the cross, the experience of Christ in His death, must be also increased.

Our consecration toward the Lord must be increased. There must be an increase of the enlightening of the Holy Spirit and the washing by the Holy Spirit (signifying the laver).

The enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and the washing by the Holy Spirit must be more intense, frequent, and renewing.

Christ as our life supply and light must also be enlarged, just as the number of the table of the bread of the Presence and the number of the lampstands was increased.

Our fellowship with God and our experience of being accepted by Him in Christ (typified by the golden incense altar) must be strengthened, increased, and enlarged.

Our experience of Christ and the church must be renewed and enlarged little by little, day by day, until it matches the standard of the church as the temple of God.

In Himself, Christ is forever the same and never changes; however, the church must be strengthened and enlarged, and our experience of Christ and the church must also gradually be renewed and enlarged.

We must advance with the Lord and go on with Him step by step, station by station, and stage after stage, until the church is increased and enlarged to be the temple church life.

Within us all there’s an aspiration to go on from the tabernacle church life in the wilderness of our soul to the temple church life with Christ as the reality of the good land in our spirit.

May we cooperate with the Lord day by day and pray to give Him the best cooperation for us to have a renewed and enlarged experience of Christ and the church until we arrive at the temple church life, the more solid, stable, and enlarged church as the temple of God.

Lord Jesus, we aspire to have a renewed and enlarged experience of Christ and the church today. May our experience of Christ in the church increase, be enlarged, be renewed, and be strengthened. May our spiritual experience match the stature of the church as the temple of God. Grant us the experiences we need for us to have a deeper experience of the cross and an increased consecration to God. We aspire to have the enlightenment and washing of the Holy Spirit in a more intense, frequent, and renewing way. May our enjoyment and experience of Christ as our life supply and light be enlarged. Amen, Lord, may the church be gradually strengthened and enlarged. May our experience of Christ be gradually renewed and enlarged until You gain a solid, stable, enlarged, and glorious church on the earth for Your glory and manifestation!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 1, “Life Messages, Volume 2,” ch. 57, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 6, entitled, Going on with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life for the Building up of the Body of Christ as the Temple of the Living God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We praise Thee, Lord, for Thy great plan / That we Thy dwelling-place may be; / Thou live in us, we filled with Thee, / Thou in the Son expressed might be. (Hymns #837, stanza 1)
  – The Church the vessel is to Christ, / Him to contain and Him express, / Just as the human body doth / Man’s life show forth, his life possess. / As was the temple to the ark, / Receptacle and resting-place; / So Christ the Church’s content is, / And in the Church, Christ’s dwelling-place. (Hymns #821, stanzas 1-2)
  – Oh, how we need the churches, / All of them, great or small! / We need their many portions / To profit us withal. / Yes, Lord, enlarge the churches; / We love their needs to bear. / Enlarge our hearts, Lord Jesus, / In fellowship and prayer. (Hymns #1265, stanza 2)