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Building up believers and the New Testament church

Built Together a Habitation of God

A Glorious Church Without Spot or Wrinkle

Jesus reveals the heart of God's purpose and how He is going to accomplish it in His high priestly prayer: "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:20-23).

Jesus said that He has given us His glory that we may be one as God is one. This is the heart of what God is doing, and also the resource for doing it! As God comes to abide in His household, His glory fills the house. His glory is so commanding and overwhelming that nothing else is seen. No flesh, no works of man, and no glory of man can stand in His presence. Only God is seen. As His glory fills the house, we are united as one, even as God is one. It was true on the day of Pentecost, and it is true in every household of God where Christ is head. Surely as God is all in all, there is "no spot or wrinkle." All is pure because all is of God.

What God is doing is glorious. It began in glory on the day of Pentecost and it will end in glory in His presence when we are face to face with Jesus. It is glorious because it is God who is doing the work. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul speaks about this glory. He refers back to the glory that the children of Israel saw on the face of Moses. When Moses came down from the presence of God on the mountain, his face shone so much that he put a veil over his face. We wonder at that, perhaps even wishing we had been there to see the glory. But Paul goes on to say that this glory, as wonderful as it was in that time, holds no comparison to the glory that is ours in the Spirit.

Moses did not know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He went up on the mountain and saw the form of God from the backside, but he could not look on the face of God and live. We behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit moved upon holy men of old at certain times to perform the works of God, but on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to abide in His temple and He has not departed. He is still dwelling in His temple, and wherever that temple is found, there the glory is found also. The presence of God brings the glory, and it causes men to fall on their faces and worship God who alone is worthy. The working of God is glorious!

"Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech--unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:12-17).

There is the victory, brothers and sisters. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty to be all that God has called us to be. There is no lack, because all is of God. Every step is glorious and every place is glorious, filled with the presence of God. As we experien