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The Greater Purpose
by
A T Jones
Part Three
The Finishing of the Work
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 3
In our study of the rebuilding of the ruined temple in Jerusalem we have seen how persistently Satan was always at the right hand to resist the whole design, to frustrate every purpose, and to hinder every effort. Ezra 4-6; Zechariah 3:1. And when, against all of that the temple was finished, how the same Adversary employed all the power in the world to sweep away in one day all of God's people in the world, so that there should be no worshipers and the building of the temple be all in vain. Esther 3.
Also we have seen how that in the very time of the building of the temple, the people were called to "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; and he shall bear the glory, and He shall sit and rule upon His (God's) throne; and He shall be a priest upon His (God's) throne; and the counsel of Peace shall be between them both." Zechariah 6:12-13.
Thus it is plain that all of that record of the rebuilding of the temple, and of Satan's resistance to it, is a prophecy of the building of the true Temple by The Branch who is The Christ. Luke 1:78 margin.
We have seen that this Temple, this "Tabernacle of David," which The Branch should build Whom God would "raise unto David" (Jeremiah 23:5, 6), is "the House of God which is The Church of the Living God." Ephesians 2:19-21; Hebrews 3:1-6; Acts 15:7-17. In the fulness of the time Christ came - The Branch - The Builder of The Temple of the Lord, the Restorer of "the Tabernacle of David." As ever Satan stood at His right hand to resist Him. And now his resistance was more desperate than ever, because the contest was closer.
Barely had He come when Satan sought to devour Him as soon as He was born: and even before He was actually born Satan stood ready to devour Him as soon as He should be born. Revelation 12:4, 9; Matthew 2:13-16. When Christ stood out openly as The One who was to come, then Satan rallied all his forces to frustrate His purposes; and never slackened till he had accomplished His death. John 1:26-34; Luke 4:1-13; Matthew 27:40-50.
Here Satan failed also; for God raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand on His own throne: there to be indeed The Builder of The Temple unto its perfect finishing. Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 12:5; Mark 16:19; Zechariah 6:12-13.
When at Pentecost The Branch began to "build again The Tabernacle of David," Satan renewed all his energy to hinder Him in building: he sought to break down the Building Itself, and to scatter all the materials. Revelation 12:13; Acts 4:5-6, 21, 25-26; 5:21, 40; 6:9-13; 7:57-60; 8:1-3. But all of this availed nothing; for the more the materials were scattered, the more the building went on and the more The Temple grew. Acts 8:4. This made the Adversary more desperate still and he rallied more power and increased his efforts till a perfect flood of Satanic ingenuity was raised to swallow up and sweep away forever all semblance, and every vestige of The Temple. Revelation 12:15; Matthew 24:21-22.
But even more than twelve hundred years of all of that failed. And now he comes to the last of his time and must make his final effort. His wrath is greater than ever, and he gathers "all power" of all his realm and exerts it to the full in every way and to the utmost extent. Revelation 12:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22. And note that all that he does all the way is done first of all against The Temple and the building of it, and against The Builder of it: and only incidentally against Christians as such.
But in all of this too he fails of his purpose. In spite of all that he could do through the ages, the building of The Temple went on; and now in spite of all the more that he can and will do, the building of The Temple will go on unto its perfect finishing. Thank the Lord. For with the mighty oath of the revealing angel it is declared, that "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the Mystery of God shall be finished as He hath declared to His servants the prophets." Revelation 10:5-7; Romans 9:28.
And when it shall have been finished, again Satan employs all the power of all his greater realm than before to deal his master-stroke of all, again to sweep away in a certain set day all the worshipers of God in the world. Revelation 17:8-14; 13:3-4, 11-17; 11:7-12.
And even all of this fails as failed the like effort before and as all his resistance all the way along. The blessed work of The Branch, that Divine Builder of The Temple, goes on not only unto its perfect finishing, but also unto its glorious Presentation - its Presentation to God and to Himself in the Universal Assembly and Church of the firstborn as the gloriously perfected thought of God in "the eternal Purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," "to gather together in One all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in earth - even in Him." Ephesians 3:9-11; 1:10.
And so it is written,
"I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the Victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God." "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying Alleluiah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white and bright, for the fine linen is The Righteousness of Saints." Revelation 14:2; 19:6-8.
"Christ loved The Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by The Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27.
In that Great Day and in that great event of the Glorious Presentation, "The Joy that was set before Him" is found, in all its divine and infinite fulness. And in the expression of that fulness of Joy there bursts forth the long waited expectation - "In the midst of The Church will I sing praise unto Thee." Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2:12.
"And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13.
And "The Lord thy God is mighty; He will save; He will rejoice over thee with Joy; He will rest in His Love; He will joy over thee with singing." Zephaniah 3:17.
The Temple of God is finished.
The Tabernacle of David is a fact.
The Church of the Living God is herself.
The Universe is singing. Time has ceased to be. Eternity alone abides, and only in the fulness of the Joy of the LORD.
"And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.
"And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle; neither the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them Light; and they shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation 22:3-5.
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