“THE HOUSE OF GOD”  
 
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 40:2-4; 43: 10-11  
 
You remember it was at the time when everything, which had formerly been, - God’s means of setting forth in type His Thoughts in the midst of His People, - had been broken down and lost and the people were far out of touch both Spiritually  and Literally with those things (the Temple and Jerusalem, and so on) so that the Lord took up His Servant Ezekiel, and in the Visions of God  brought Him back to the Land, setting him upon a high mountain, and showed him in Vision the city, and that great, new, spititual heavenly house.  
 
very full and very comprehensive and very detailed was the Vision and the Unveiling that was given, and the prophet was taken to every point, every angle, and through the whole of that spititual Temple step by step; in and out, up and through, and around, the Angel with the measuring rod all the time giving the dimensions, measurements of everything; and most exhaustive definition of this whole spititual house: and then, further, after being shown all the Form and the ordinances, the priesthood, the sacrifices  and everything else, the Prophet was commanded to show the House to the House of Israel and to give them all the detail of the Divine Thought’.   
 
In our previous meditation we pointed out, in that connection, that whenever there is a departure from Divine Thoughts, whenever there is a loss of the original Revelation of God, whenever the Heavenliness, the Spirituality, the Divine Power of that which issue of God ceases to operate in the midst of His people.

And whenever the Glory departs, the The Lord’s Reaction to such a state of things is to bring his son anew into view. 

And we followed through to see how that, in just such a time in the history of the Church in the first days, when things changed from the Primal Glory, John was used by the Holy Spirit through his Gospel,  his Letters, and the Apocalypse, to bring the Lord Jesus in a full, Heavenly, Spiritual way anew into view. 

Reminding ourselves in so doing, that John’s Gospel is practically the last New Testament Book that was written, so that in Spiritual Value and significance, it stands really after everything else written in the New Testament.  
 
Now that this to say, that the Gospel of John represents God’s breaking in again with a fresh presentation of His Son in terms of Heavenliness and Spirituality, at a time when things have gone astray; they have departed from the original Revelation of God.  
 
Please, turn to the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, and keep it open.  
 
I just want for a few moments, as I feel constrained, to stay with that: and we have the Gospel of John open before us, the 1.Chapter.  
 
And notice that this is God coming  back in relation to the fullness  of His Thought for His people, and the meaning is just this:  Christ is the Fulness of God’s Thought for us, and the Holy Spirit (represented by the Angel in Ezekiel), has come with the express Object and Purpose of giving and leading us into the detail of Christ, so that we get a comprehensive and detailed expression of ‘the Divine Thought’ in Christ and are brought into it; into this ‘Divine Thought’ in Christ.   
 
Now you notice with John, Chapter 1 we get the fresh, great, Eternal presentation:  

“In the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  
 
That this the the terminal elephant convince ask that background of Divine Thought’.  
 
We move on a little: (verse 14). 
 
“And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us.” 
 
That this ‘the Divine Thought’ coming out of Eternity and begin planted  right in the midst of Men in a full and comprehensive way; all God’s Thoughts  summed up in His Son, the Eternal Thought, and centered in the midst of Men in the person of Christ.  
 
 and then we move (and I am not touching all that lies between  these points) to the end of that first Chapter and we have by implication something that this very beautiful, if we recognize its significance.  

It is the word to Nathanael. 

You know, it is always interesting to notice that it was to Nathanael.  
 
Notice: had it been to Peter, James, or John, we might well have concluded  that it was for a sort of inner circle; we are good at that sort of thing, to jump to conclusions, to limit God and build boxes,  and so on.  

But, being Nathanael, he is in the widest circle of association with Christ, and therefore what was Cross said to Him is said to every one.
 
“You”, that is all of you, “shall see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man”  (verse 51).  

Now for the implication:  we are instinctively carried by those words right back to the Old Testament, to the Book of Genesis, and Jacob immediately  comes into view, and we remember Jacob on his way between two points, as it were, in an ‘in-between place’ between Heaven and Earth neiher wholly of the Earth, nor wholly of the Heaven, but an ‘in-between place’. 
 
That night, in that ‘in-between place’, somewhere in the open he lay down and slept: and, behold, a ladder set up on the Earth, the top of which reached into Heaven, and upon it the Angels ascending and descending, and above the ladder the Lord: and the Lord spoke to him.  
 
And Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and said surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not; this is none other but ‘the House of God’. 

And he called the name of that place “Bethel”, or the House of God! (Gen.28:10-17). 
 
The Lord Jesus appropriated that and made it to apply to Himself in His words to Nathanael, and, in effect or by implication, said, “I am Bethel”, the House of God; I am that which is not wholly of the Earth, although resting on it; not wholly of Heaven in my present capacity, although related to it; I am here between Heaven and Earth, the meeting place of God and man, the House of God, in Whom God speaks, in whom God is revealed, He speaks in  His House, He is revealed in His House - I am the House of God: - the Communications of God with this world are in Me, and in Me alone: “No one comes to the Father but by Me”. (John 14:6)

He might well have said, although it is not recorded that He ever did so: “the Father comes to no one but by Me”.  
 
No, it is just that House of God, as represented by Christ,  that is our  thought as leading up to the practical testimony in Baptism: Jesus -God’s House.  
 
We know, of course, that every other house in the Bible is only an illustration of Him.  
 
Whether it be the Tabernacle in the Wilderness or the Temple of Solomon, or any subsequent Temple which was intended to fulfill the same function, or anything that in more Spiritual  terms in the New Testament is called ‘the Church’, it is not something other than ‘Christ’, but it is ‘Christ.’  
 
Listen, in the Thought of God it is just ‘Christ’, and there is nothing other than Christ and nothing extra to Christ which is the Church or the House of God.  
 
And the point that ‘the Lord’ is seeking to emphasize in these meditations is how He has bound up everything in a final way, conclusively and exclusively, with ‘His Son’, and that there is nothing to be had of God except in Christ, and by Revelation of the Holy Spirit at that, as Christ is revealed by Him in our hearts.   
 
So that ‘the Lord Jesus’, being God’s House, fulfils every function which is in type set forth in these other  houses on this Earth.  

We begin with ‘the Most Holy Place’, ‘the Holy of Holies’.  

‘In Him’ is ‘the Holy of Holies’, where ‘God’ truly and personally and actually dwells, where ‘God’ has ‘His Habitation’.  
 
‘God’ is ‘in Christ’, and in no other does ‘He’ dwell in the same sense.  
  
Now, I know, it is going to become true that the Father will take up His Abode in us.  
 
But listen, there is a difference.  
 
By the coming in to dwell of the Father in us, we are  not constituted so many more Christs.  
 
We are not in the same sense indwelt by very God as was ‘the Son’.  
 
The difference we will see in a moment or so.  
 
the indwelling of God in Christ this unique, and the most holy place is in him alone.  
 
In Him is the oracle, that is, the voice, the Voice that speaks with Authority,  and that this, final Authority.  
  
The final Authority of ‘God’s Voice’ is ‘in Christ’, and ‘in Christ’ alone.  
 
Notice: the three Disciples where in a very excalted position, both in their souls and in their bodies, on ‘the Mount of Transfiguration’.   
 
It was a wonderful, wonderful experience, a tremendous Spiritual happening.   
 
But even so, when we are in a very exalted and elevated Spiritual State, full of Spiritual aspirations and Spiritual expressions we may make most grievous mistakes.   

And so Peter, with the purest of motives, with the highest intention, said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will, I will make here three Tabernacles: one for You, and One for Moses, and one for Elijah”. (Matt.17:4)  
 
And while He yet spake - as though God stepped in and did not give him a chance to finish, but said, enough of that - while He yet spake, a cloud overshadowed, and there came a voice out of Heaven saying, “This this my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him”. (Matt.17:5)   
 
Do not you begin to give expression to your thoughts and ideas and opinions here in this position: the final Word of Authority is ‘in Me’; you be silent to Him.  
 
Your Spiritual ecstasies must have no place here; you must not be influenced by even your most exalted feelings.  
 
‘His Voice’! - ‘God’s authoritative voice’ in Christ is ‘the final Word of Authority ‘. 

It is the oracle that is ‘in Him’, as in the Sanctuary of Old.  
 
And so we may go through all of that Tabernacle or Temple and take it all point by point, and we see ‘Him’ as ‘the Fulfilment of it all’, as ‘the House of God’ where ‘God’ is found, and where ‘God’ communicates. 

Now, what is ‘the House of God’ in its fullest sense, in its corporate or collective sense?  
 
It is, - to take up that wonderful phrase with its almost two hundred occurences in the New Testament, - all that is meant by “In Christ”.  
 
Oh, listen to me, if we are in ‘the House of God’, we are only in ‘the House of God’ because we are ‘in Christ’. 

To be ‘in Christ’ is to be in ‘the House of God’, and not to be ‘in Christ’ is to be, outside ‘the House of God’.  

‘He’ is ‘the House of God’.  
 
We are brought ‘into Him’.  
 
But to be ‘in Christ’ means a total exclusion of all that is not ‘Christ’, and in a previous meditation we strove to make one thing so clear, and that is, the altogether and absolute ‘otherness of Christ’ from ourselves, even at our best. Thieves  
 
How utterly different ‘He’ is from man, even at man’s religious best; - different in Mind, in Heart, in Will; -  different altogether in Constitution, so that it takes us a whole lifetime, under the to Tuition of the Holy Spirit, to discover how different we are from ‘Christ’ and how different He is from us. 

But ‘God’ has ranged that difference absolutely from the beginning. 

It does not take ‘God’ a Lifetime to discover the difference.  
 
He knows it, and therefore He has put the absolute position from His own  standpoint right at the beginning. 
 
He has, in effect, said, the difference between you and Christ is so  other and final that it is the width and the depth of a grave! 

It is nothing less than the Fulness of death.  
 
There is no passing over.  
 
Death and the grave are the end.  
 
And so, we see, that on the one side, there is the utter end of what we are, and if there is to be anything afterward at all, that death must stand in between; and anything subsequent can only be by Resurrection: but not our Resurrection;  no, a passing  out of ourselves and into ‘Him’ as through  a death and a Resurrection. 

And notice: in that death, we are regarded as having passed out of the realm of what we are, even at other best, and as having passed into the realm of what ‘He’ is.  
 
The depth of a grave lies between ‘us’ and ‘Him’, and there is no passing over.  
 
It is an end.  
 
And to get into ‘the House of God’ means just that.   
 
Well, so much for ‘the Holy of Holies’.  

The next function which is set forth in Type - and we shall take that up next week, Lord willing - is the Altar. 

Last Sunday, we saw in connection with our present Meditations that ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ is ‘the House of God’ and that every other House in the Bible -  the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, the Temple of Solomon, or any subsequent Temple which was intended to fulfill the same function - where only illustrations, ‘Types of Him’.  

We stated that if we are in ‘the House of God’ we are only in ‘the House of God’ because we are ‘in Christ’.  
 
To be ‘in Christ’ is to be in ‘the House of God’, and not to be ‘in Christ is to be outside of  ‘the House of God’.  
 
Of course, the point that ‘the Lord’ is seeking to emphasize to us is, that He has bound up everything in a final way with ‘His Son’ and there is nothing to be had of ‘God’, except ‘in Christ’ and that only by ‘Revelation of the Holy Spirit’ as He reveals ‘Christ’ in our hearts.  
 
And so ‘the Lord Jesus’, being ‘God’s House’, fulfils every function which is in type set forth in these other houses on this earth.  
Last week we started with ‘the Most Holy Place’, ‘the Holy of Holies’. 

We concluded at that time that there is to be an utter end of what we are, and if there is to be anything afterward at all, it can only be by Resurrection: but not our Resurrection; - No, a passing out of ourselves and into Him as as through a Death and a Resurrection.  

And to get into ‘the House of God’ means just that. 

“The Altar”  
 
And so, as we continue, we notice, coming back to John 1, ‘the Truth’ is here set forth in a representative way.  

It is more fully and clearly developed later in the New Testament when ‘the Holy Spirit’ has come for that purpose - He has come to take up what ‘Christ’ has said and lead it out into its full meaning - but in John 1, long before we reach ‘the House of God’ we have this Word reiterated, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the Sin of the World”. (John 1:29) 

Notice: Before we can get to ‘the House’, we have always to come to the Altar.  
 
That is how it is in ‘the Tabernacle’ and ‘the Temple’.  
 
We can never get into ‘the Sanctuary’, into ‘the House’ actually until we come to ‘the Altar’.  
 
‘The Lamb’, ‘God’s Lamb’, and ‘the Altar, stand and bar our way to the Sanctuary, and that ‘Lamb’ speaks of this dying in our stead, this passing out as us.  
 
We are identified firstly in the laying on of hands, identified with ‘Christ’ in ‘His Death’, ‘His Death’ is our Death.  
 
Then in virtue of ‘His Precious Blood’ which is sprinkled all the way from ‘the Altar’ right through to ‘the Most Holy Place’, in virtue of that ‘Precious Blood’ there is a way of ‘Life’.  
 
It is ‘His Blood’, not ours; not our remedied Life, not our improved Life, not our Life at all, but ‘His’.  
 
It is ‘Christ’ and only ‘Christ’ in Whom, and in ‘the Virtue of Whose Life’, we come into ‘the Presence of God’.  

No High Priest dare come into ‘the presence of God’, save in ‘the Virtue of Precious Blood’, ‘the Blood of the Lamb’, ‘Blood from the Altar’.  
 
“Behold the Lamb of God”!  

That stands right across the path of ‘the House’, the Death in Judgment, what we are.  
 
Well, these are hints from which you are seeing more, I expect, than I am able to say.  

But what is particularly in view at this moment is this matter of being ‘in Christ’, and therefore being in ‘God’s House’.  

‘The House of God’ is ‘Christ’, and if we speak of ‘the House of God’ as being a corporate or collective thing in which we are, it is only because we are ‘in Christ’. Of Who  
Milan Who veils who are in horns of and the homes of hauling and haul the House of God Holland. Knowing Him in and put put