"The Rights of God" # 30

Bethel - God's House (continued)

Instead of fellowship we could also say "love", because this is the true essence of fellowship. Love is the practical value of fellowship.

Beside that there is "life". The house of God is the expression of the life of God. Where ever there is fellowship in Christ, fellowship of love, there we have a wonderful fellowship of life, life as an indivisible life, from which we cannot withdraw ourselves, from which we cannot separate ourselves without immediately sensing the powers of death. There is such oneness in this life that James says: "Is any among you sick: Let Him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil ... and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick" (James 5:13-15). Here we see the church. We do not only see her in the representation of the elders. We see her in her totality, because if "one member suffers, all the members suffer with it" (1 Corinthians 12;26). The purpose for the members is to have life. The fullness of life that is in the Head is available for the members. The Holy Spirit will transmit it to them. They may come and as members of a body intervene for one another, acting together, so that the whole body in wonderful growth becomes an expression of the fullness, given to our Head for us all.

The third angle from which we want to look at the House of God is "light". Bethel was the place where Jacob's ladder stood. It stood under an open heaven. This is an indication of revelation, of light from above. Light that illumines us inwardly,  to see the things of God in the light of God. Therefore we can say that the house of God is there where God  reveals Himself. Where has God revealed Himself more gloriously than in the Lord Jesus Christ! While He was on earth, He was the temple of God. As we are now sent by Him, we may be His temple, a living temple, full of the knowledge of God and full of His love.

Let us state one more time that the way to Bethel starts at Gilgal. One cannot come to the House of God and that which is heavenly cannot come into being as long as the earthly is not put off and all flesh is judged. However, where this has taken place, the road leads on to Bethel. It leads us to the House of God. It leads us to where we have fellowship in life, in love and in light.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 31 - (The Victory Over the Powers of Darkness)