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The Greater Purpose
by
A T Jones
Part Two
The "Branch" is the Builder
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 2
Even while the destroyed temple in Jerusalem was being rebuilt by Joshua and Zerubbabel 520 B. C., God's Greater Purpose in the temple and its building was revealed, for, to Joshua the high priest, the angel of the Lord then spoke the word of God: "Behold I will bring forth My Servant, the Branch." Zechariah 3:8.
And further, of "The Branch" the prophet was bidden to say to this same Joshua, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying.
"Behold the Man whose name is The Branch: and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord. Even He shall build the temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the glory; and He shall sit and rule upon His Throne, and He shall be a Priest upon His Throne, and the counsel of Peace shall be between them both." Zechariah 6:12-13.
This "Man whose name is The Branch," "My Servant The Branch," is none other than the Lord Jesus. Jeremiah tells, "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and He shall reign as King and prosper;. . . and this is His name whereby He shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness." Jeremiah 23:5-6.
And at the circumcision and naming of John the Baptist in the Psalm of praise of John's father "filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesying," this word was said:
"And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of The Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way: to give knowledge of Salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby The Branch from on high hath visited us." Luke 1:78 margin.
The true temple
"The Branch," then, of the prophecy, is unquestionably Christ Jesus the Lord. And there is a Temple of which He personally and emphatically is The Builder. For the word is, in emphasis —
"He shall build the Temple of the Lord: even He shall build the Temple of the Lord."
What then is The Temple of the Lord, of which Christ "The Branch" is the Builder? Keeping in mind the word of the Lord, "I will raise unto David a righteous Branch," consider the following: In Acts 15, in the meeting that was held to discuss the truth of the true Gospel against the false Gospel - Acts 15:1, 5, 7-9, 11, 24; Galatians 1:6-8; 2:1, 5, 14; 3:1 - Peter said:
"Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made a choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God who knoweth the hearts bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they."
"Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them."
After these had spoken, James spoke, and said that this preaching of the Gospel to all alike was in fulfillment of the prophecies, saying,
"Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, ‘After this I will return and will build again The Tabernacle of David, which is fallen down: and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, saith the Lord who doeth all these things’." Acts 15:7-17.
This story tells that through the preaching of the truth of the true Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven, "The Tabernacle of David" was being built again which had fallen down.
And since it was "unto David" that God would raise "the righteous Branch" who should "build The Temple of the Lord," it is perfectly plain that "The Temple of the Lord" that was to be built by "The Branch," of the prophets, and "The Tabernacle of David" that was being built by that very "Branch" through the preaching of The Gospel, are the one and the same thing.
The tabernacle of David
This is evident also in the fact that the words "tabernacle," "temple," "sanctuary," "house," "tabernacle of the congregation," "temple of the Lord," "house of the Lord," are all used synonymously throughout the Scriptures; and, beginning with the tabernacle or sanctuary in the wilderness, all centered in the temple in Jerusalem, which temple was being rebuilt by Joshua and Zerubbabel when was given the revelation that The Branch should "build The Temple of the Lord."
And in truth, the original temple in Jerusalem was more the tabernacle of David than it was the temple of Solomon. David was the first to think of it, when as yet "the ark of God dwelt within curtains." And when David was informed from God that he could not build the house, from that day to the end of his life he never ceased to think upon it and to prepare the materials and lay up money for the building of it.
And to David, God by the Spirit gave the complete pattern - as we would say, the blueprints - of the whole temple and of each particular vessel and instrument to be used in it, even to the actual weight of each particular one.
"I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; timber also and stone have I prepared, and thou mayest add thereto." 1 Chronicles 22:14.
"Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of place of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord.
"He gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all instruments of all kinds of service; silver also for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments for every kind of service; even the weight of the candlesticks of gold, and for the lamps of gold by weight for every candlestick, and for the lamps thereof; and for the candlesticks of silver by weight, both for the candlestick, and also for the lamps thereof, according to the use of every candlestick.
"And by weight he gave gold for the tables of Shewbread, for every table; and likewise silver for the tables of silver; also pure gold for the flesh-hooks, and the bowls and the cups; and for the golden basins he gave gold by weight for every basin, and likewise silver by weight for every basin of silver.
"And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
"All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me: even all the works of this pattern." 1 Chronicles 28:11-19.
Thus, of the temple and for the temple, the preparation of everything in fullest detail by David was so complete that all that Solomon had to do, or even rightly could do, was to follow the specifications already given in writing to David. And so in truth, in all except the actual putting of the materials in shape as prescribed, the whole house with all its appointments was altogether "the tabernacle of David" rather than of Solomon.
The real one
Yet this was not all: at the most, this was all only a figure of what then and forever is the real "Tabernacle of David." Accordingly, when David first expressed his thought to build a house for the Lord and the Lord informed him that he personally could not build the house and why, the Lord then said to him:
"The Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house." And David replied, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that Thou has brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God: for Thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast seen in me the type of the Man whom Thou hast set on high." - Young's translation.
"Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as Thou hast said. Let it even be established, that Thy name may be magnified forever, saying The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the House of David Thy servant be established before Thee. For Thou, O Lord hast revealed to Thy servant saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hast thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto Thee." 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17.
There is the real "Tabernacle of David" - this House that God would build in honor of David, and with David the "type of the Man whom God hath set on high:" even "the Man whose name is The Branch," and who "shall build The Temple of the Lord: even He shall build The Temple of the Lord: and He shall bear the glory, and sit and rule upon His (Father's) Throne, and He shall be a priest upon His (Father's) Throne, and the counsel of Peace shall be between them both." Psalm 110:1, 4; Zechariah 6:12-13.
That invisible "House," "Temple," "Tabernacle," "Sanctuary," is the real "Tabernacle of David" which Christ, the Branch raised unto David, should "build again;" and which through the preaching of the truth of the true Gospel He was actually "building again" in the days of the apostles. It had "fallen down" and was in "ruins" because the people to whom it was preached had utterly forgotten it, and had not comprehended it even before they had forgotten it.
And it is "fallen down" again, and is in "ruins" again, because it has been forgotten again. Yet that divine Branch, the true Builder, lives forevermore; and He will "build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down," and this time unto its finishing. Thank the Lord.
What it is
And now, in truth and in fact what is this invisible House of God and Tabernacle of David - this Temple - which Christ The Branch was to build and which through His Word and His Work of the Gospel in the New Testament He was actually building in the days of the apostles?
What is it?
In this, nothing but the plain and naked Word of God can answer. Therefore, please read it:
"In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. . . .
"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His House.
"For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the House hath more honor than the House. . . . And Moses verily was faithful in all His House, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ (was faithful) as a Son over His own House, whose House we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing or the hope firm unto the end." Hebrews 2:17; 3:1-6.
"To whose coming as unto a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual House, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:4-5.
"These things write I unto thee, . . . that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is The Church of the Living God." I Timothy 3:14-15.
As the temple
"Now therefor ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the Household of God; and are built upon the Foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone;
"In Whom all the Building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." Ephesians 2:19-21.
"He spake of The Temple of His Body." John 2:21.
"And "His (spiritual) Body is The Church." Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 1:23; 5:30, 32; 1 Corinthians 12:17, 27.
"Ye are God's Building." 1 Corinthians 3:9.
This "Building groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord."
And He says, "Upon this Rock." "the chief Corner-Stone," "I will build My Church."
Christ, "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession," is The Builder of the House of God. Hebrews 3:1, 3.
"Whose House we are." Hebrews 3:6.
And "The House of God, is The Church of the Living God." 1 Timothy 3:15.
It has already been stated, and these quoted words confirm, that the words "House," "Temple," "Sanctuary," "Tabernacle," are all used synonymously in the Scriptures and always centering in the temple in Jerusalem and its meaning. That as to the visible, which always was only the suggestion of the invisible.
Therefore, in the Word and work of The Gospel of Christ the true and invisible Builder, the terms "The House of God," "The Temple of the Lord," "The Sanctuary of God," "The True Tabernacle," "The Tabernacle of David," are all synonymous and center in The Temple of the Lord, The House of God, of which Christ The Branch is the Builder and which He says is The Church which He builds and which centers in the "Jerusalem which is above," and which ultimately centers in "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb who are The Temple of that Heavenly Jerusalem." Revelation 21:22.
And so it never can be successfully denied that The Temple of the Lord and the Tabernacle of David which Christ The Branch builds, is the true, the invisible, the Heavenly "Great Congregation" or Universal Assembly - "The Church of the Living God." Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2:10.
This is not to say that this Church - The Church which Christ builds - is all that there is of The Heavenly Temple or "Sanctuary and True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man:"
But it is to say in truth that is beyond all valid question that —
While this may not be all of that.
That is most certainly all of this.
oooOooo
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