The desire of King David in the Old Testament was always to build a physical house for the glory of God – a temple.
Let us keep in mind the quote: What God blesses He does not necessarily sanction. It was never God’s purpose for His chosen people to have a King, but the children of Israel chose to be like all the other nations and to have a king rule over them, instead of God. God gave them what they clamoured for, so all the kings were in permission , not purpose! God, in His foreknowledge, knew all this would unfold and worked alongside of, in His sovereignty, and in spite of, man’s limiting choice.
Scripture declares that King David was a man after God’s own heart. The Lord saw the humility in David. However, David was not permitted to build the Temple, the physical building, because he had been a man of war and too much blood had been spilt in his life. The prophet, Nathan, prophesied that David’s son, Solomon, was the man appointed of God to build the Temple, the House of God.
With this in mind, let us now fast forward to the New Testament’s record of Jesus’ time on earth. (Remember that in King David’s loins and lineage was Jesus.)
Matthew 16: 15 – 18
15 “He saith to them, “But whom say ye that I am?”
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
God’s ultimate purpose was not for a building of bricks and mortar but a human temple. Through the centuries verse 18 (above), has been misinterpreted as man has reverted back to the bricks and mortar church building. The Rock is Christ, and God, not man, will build His church with human stones.
After Peter’s divine revelation and declaration in Matt. 16:16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he then reverts to being “in the flesh” in verses 21 – 23 of the same chapter, and Jesus has to rebuke him: –
21 From that time forth began Jesus to show to his disciples how He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders,chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee.”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: you are an offence to me, for you savour not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
Peter was rebuked for savouring the “things of men” above the things of God. The church has always reverted back to the bricks and mortar building, the system, tradition……….. “savouring the things of men.”
Individually, we are the stones that God is building His temple with, “I will build My church,” not man. God, in His wisdom, uses man, but not man’s methods.
Our responsibility is to live our lives to the glory of God. Do I seek affirmation in the church to develop my gift for my glory? Then I am “savouring the things of men.” In the traditional church system there is often a mind set of performing or striving to maintain position/recognition – and sometimes even celebrity!
We are all still in a learning process. There is liberty in recognising that if we have received anything from God it is a precious gift to be handled and borne for His glory, as we learn to “savour the things of God.”
The Holy Spirit is the divine executor of God’s will. As we become more discerning of what GOD is doing and how HE is working, we respond to the leadings of the Holy Spirit and we learn to function in our individual giftings at the “appointed times” in the divine plan and purpose of Almighty God. A gift should not operate because it can, but only under divine direction at the “set time.”
“Beware when all men speak well of you,”……. a warning is issued for our protection to prevent us rising in pride over our gift from God, given for His glory, not mine. The accolades of men can be of great danger to me if I have not learnt to handle them to God’s glory.
God is building His church, His Body. He deals with our ungodly desire for recognition. We each must do, what we do, to the glory of God. The Lord looks into our hearts and sees our motives: what we do is not important to Him, why we do it is.
One of the hallmarks of Tabernacles/Fullness is spontaneity. As we learn to move and flow by the direction of the Holy Spirit, there is life and creativity.
Spontaneity, (in the Spirit, not the flesh), is creation. Watch how the Spirit moves and brings life. This is our birthright!
Psalm 110:3 “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.” This scripture has been expounded as follows…”willing”…….spontaneity in the day of Thy visitation!
It is wonderful to behold the spontaneity and creativity when God moves through man. When man puts a fence around this and tries to contain it, it dies.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit produces divine utterance, just as Jesus spoke words of Spirit and life. Such words are seeds which contain the DNA of divine creation. We have responsibility before God in preparing our hearts, not our words. He leads, I follow. This also applies to musical gifts.
“I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!”
God will, ultimately, have a people on this earth whose hearts and lives reflect His glory.
“Thine is the kingdom……..
Thine is the power…………
Thine is the glory”………… HALLELUJAH!
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Great job publishing “I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH”….. | Arthur Burt. I would like to read more about this subject.