The Lord's Earthly Ministry, And The Preparation For The New Dispensation Of Grace

by G. PRASHER, JR. | Category: God's Centre And Man's Centre | Aug 1963

We have learned from earlier papers on this theme that God's centre of revelation, worship and witness had been established among the nation of Israel. Among that people God had dwelt first in tabernacle and then in temple. His deep desire to dwell among them is confirmed throughout the history of Israel from Moses to Christ, for, in spite of the people's grievous spiritual failure, God time and again renewed to them this unique privilege of His dwelling among them.

The last glimpse of Old Testament conditions in the temple at Jerusalem is given us by Malachi, some four hundred years before Christ. The temple was still by God's grace His recognized centre, yet the spiritual condition of the majority of the people and the priests was lamentably poor. Nevertheless there had been preserved among Israel a godly minority who feared the LORD and thought upon His Name. They looked forward with earnest anticipation to the coming of the Christ.

In Malachi 3. 1 it was prophesied that God would send His messenger to prepare His way before Him, and the Lord whom they sought would come suddenly to His temple; and the Messenger of the covenant in whom they delighted. Four centuries went by. These are not dealt with in the record of God's word, but from secular history we learn that towards the end of this period Herod the Great rebuilt the Jewish temple, providing a magnificent edifice which became the pride of the nation, and excited the wonder of visitors from many parts of the world. In spite of the magnificence of this temple, it is evident from what is recorded in the Gospels that the spiritual condition of priests and people was much the same as in the days of Malachi. The majority were far from God in heart, honouring Him with their lips while their heart was far from Him, vainly worshipping Him, and teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men (Matthew 15.8, 9). Amidst the general corruption a small godly remnant looked for the redemption of Israel.

It is significant that the first revelation of the fact that God's purposes were ripening towards the time of the incarnation of Christ was given in the temple. The house of God is His place of revelation to men, and it was to Zacharias as he ministered in the priest's office in the temple that Gabriel appeared with the tidings of the approaching birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1.8-18). In due course both John and the Lord Jesus were born in accordance with the angelic messages. When the days of her purification had been fulfilled Mary brought the Child Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord, and to offer sacrifices according to what is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the majority He was unnoticed, but Simeon and Anna, representative of the godly minority of that day, welcomed Him by divine revelation.

At the age of twelve the Lord is again seen in association with the temple, as He sat in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. Later on, in the days of His ministry, His voice was often heard in the temple courts, teaching the disciples and the multitudes (e.g., John 7.28, 18.20).

During the last few days in Jerusalem before the crucifixion, the Lord Jesus clearly declared the approaching crisis resulting from Israel's rejection of their Messiah. He had ridden into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass in fulfilment of the prophetic word. He had cast out all those that sold and bought in the temple, charging them with having made His Father's house a den of robbers. When His authority to do these things was questioned by chief priests and elders, He threw them back on the testimony of John the Baptist (Matthew 21.23). In the parable of the husbandmen He foretold the taking away of Israel's privileged position as a result of their unbelief (Matthew 21.48). He exposed the hypocrisy and corruption of Israel's religious leaders in the most terrible indictment of Matthew 23. It is helpful to notice the force of the Lord's words in verses 1-3 of this chapter. They provide a key to an understanding of the Lord's attitude to the priestly leaders of Israel. They sat in Moses' seat, and because they held that position their authority must be acknowledged in so far as it was based on the revelation of the Mosaic law. "But do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not".

Similarly the Lord recognized the temple of God to be His Father's house, despite the corrupt condition of the priesthood, until the hour when God forsook the temple, and it was left unto them desolate. This is clear from such allusions as Luke 1.9, where the Holy Spirit speaks of the "temple of the Lord". Again we read in Matthew 21.12 that "Jesus entered into the temple of God", while in John 2.16, the Master Himself said, "Make not My Father's house a house of merchandise". We may well wonder at a God of infinite holiness still recognizing the temple as His earthly dwelling place when the spiritual condition of the priesthood and the people of Israel was so far from His desire. This enhances the grace of God in His dealings with His people. It was always with the utmost reluctance that God forsook His earthly dwelling place, or visited His people in judgement. Nevertheless the time came when the Lord declared, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (Matthew 23.88, 89). Within a few days God confirmed the desolation of the house by the rending of the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom, manifesting that the place was now bereft of the divine presence. The ritual of the temple went on for some forty years after the Lord's death, until it was finally destroyed by the Romans as He had predicted. This ritual was pursued during those years in defiance of God's judgement, the temple thus becoming the centre of a Judaism which had denied the Holy One of God. It was the centre of a humanly organized religious system without further authority from God, and in wilful denial of the new revelation which God had granted through His Son.

To the few who received Him, the Lord Jesus was able to impart something of the secret which God had in view, by which His age-long dwelling among Israel in a material house would be changed for an entirely new order of things. To the woman of Sychar, the Lord said, "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father". The location of God's centre in a particular geographical position was to be changed, so that, world-wide, God could be worshipped wherever His truth was revealed and men responded to it in a right attitude of heart. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4.21, 28, 24).

The Lord's apostles were assured that although but a little flock, to them He would give the kingdom (Luke 12.82). Again He spoke of other sheep which were not of the fold of John 10.1. These also He would bring, and they would become one flock, one Shepherd (John 10.16). The local expression in a church of God of this one flock, this kingdom, was touched upon in the Lord's instruction in Matthew 18.15-17, where "the church" must be told of the sin of a brother who had refused to hear the "one or two". Such glimpses of the new order were granted to the apostles as the Lord companied with them. After His death and resurrection, however, He appeared unto them by the space of forty days, speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. Doubtless during this period the Lord revealed to the apostles in much clearer detail the plan by which God's light and truth would be sent forth into the world from the new spiritual centre of churches of God, fitly framed together, and growing into a holy temple in the Lord. In this way the minds and hearts of the apostles were conditioned towards the fundamental change from the national centre of God's purposes in the nation of Israel, to the new conception of a people composed of elements from many nations, through whom the light and truth of God could be sent forth to the uttermost parts of the earth.

G. PRASHER, JR. | Aug 1963
God's Centre And Man's Centre