Proverbs 24:27 ¶ Prepare thy work without, and make it fit
for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
Solomon built the first “systems-built” building
in recorded history, a type of modular home, where everything about the Temple
was prepared “in the field” and brought to the site and assembled (1 Kings
6:7). This took great precision and knowhow, not the kind of thing that we
modern loving people dare ascribe to the ancients.
Here is practical advice to the Hebrew living
under the Law given by God to Moses to make careful preparation “in the field”
before bringing your work together to build your home. Now, let’s look at these
verses from a practical and spiritual standpoint for a Christian and I’m sure
if you think about it you can come up with even more applications.
Every verse in the Bible has at least three
applications; one in its historical context, two in its doctrinal context of to
whom it is speaking and what instructions they are being given, and three in
its spiritual or practical application to anyone of any age and time period.
Many times for Christians, since such a small part of the Bible is written
directly to us as doctrine, the historical and doctrinal don’t seem to apply so
we must look for a deeper, a third dimension in meaning and application to give
us something for our mind to chew on and to reflect upon, with which
nourishment we can grow.
Only those people involved in the heresy of
“replacement theology” who view Christianity, taking the place of the physical
Israel, as a physical kingdom building God’s kingdom of heaven on earth to hand
over to Him when He returns, who see the world system as getting better and
better and becoming more Christian, who deny the “translation” of the church,
and look for, like the old time evangelist Lorenzo Dow, man to create a golden
age without God’s direct intervention as their devotion to Him is perfected,
see the Old Testament commands under the Law to be doctrinally applicable to
the Christian in spite of Paul’s clear statements. These people have been
responsible for all of the death and murder caused by so called Christianity
through the ages. As Dr. Ruckman said, “kingdom builders are bloody killers.”
Galatians 3:23 But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer
under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus.
Bible believers, however, are not waiting for
mankind to build the kingdom of heaven on earth. We await the church to be
Translated, a Bible term, which is often popularly called The Rapture, a
non-Bible term based on the Latin word Rapto, to seize out or remove by force.
I’ll use the Bible term, Translation, for as Enoch was translated;
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and
he was not; for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and
was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God.
…so the church, the body of Christ on earth,
shall be translated and, in fact, in eternity, already is.
Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
But, back to the Proverb. Practical advice for
the Christian young man would be to prepare your work in the field, get your
education and training, establish your career, save up some money, learn to
budget, etc. etc. before attempting to marry and build your house, your family,
as in household, which we have discussed previously in the word, house, often
being a reference to a family or dynasty. Young people, without the proper
education from the parents who probably also did things backwards, often do things
in just the reverse of what they should be done, having the emergency need of
preparing a place for a family they got by emotional impulsivity before they
were actually prepared.
Missionaries and evangelists have much work to
do “in the field” so to speak before they can retire to their house, to enjoy
rest for a season. Indeed, the house of God, which is the people of God likened
to a building, as I’ve shown many times before from the Bible, often requires
much work “in the field” sowing the ground with the word of God, winning
people’s affections to Christ, and starting from scratch before the local house
of God is established.
The New Testament church was a house church that
met in people’s homes and Paul went to many pagan cities to make converts to
Christ and set up churches in homes in these cities. There were no known
buildings set apart for church use only until late in the second century as far
as anyone I have read can tell. He had much work in the field to do first to
build the house of God wherever he went. Do you see the comparison with Solomon
building the Temple in the physical dimension and Paul building the spiritual
house of God consisting of people who had received Christ? The building was
constructed in the field and then assembled on site.
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
As you and I have contemplated this Proverb
under the direction of the Holy Spirit we’ve seen the contrast between the
physical directions given to the Jew and the spiritual dimension of the church
of God. We’ve also gone over two of my pet peeves with modern Christianity. One
is the use of the word Rapture, in place of the Bible word, Translation.
Why “translation” you might ask? Well, God spoke
everything into existence by Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, our behavior
is called our Conversation, we Communicate good things to those who are over us
in the Lord, the definition of a word is called its Interpretation, and if you
read the first chapter of Genesis with the verses connected by “And” we see
that the Uni-Verse is one long unbroken sentence until it is complete, then
comes the seventh day or Sabbath rest which typifies the millennial reign of
Christ. Everything that exists as we know it is based on the speech of God,
God’s word, so it is only natural that when we are changed from this vile body
of flesh to His glorious body we are translated from one form of speech to
another. It’s not rocket science, folks. Read the book. I’m far from the
sharpest knife in the drawer and I can see this stuff. I know, as smart as some
of you are, you can see it and much more if you just read the Book over and
over again. I’m on my 69th time. I’ve been a Christian for 38 years. Do the
math. That’s only a little less than almost twice a year for each year I’ve
been a Christian. You can do better than me.
The other pet peeve is mistaking the building in
which the church meets for the church. There are no sacred spaces in
Christianity. The Christian’s body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost. As we
discussed, the believers meeting together are the body of Christ, the church,
the house of God. We can get hung up in the physical and drift into replacement
theology, the wickedness of Nicolaitanism which is a special priesthood
elevated above the laity (Nicolaitanism = victory over the laity), and other
heresies easily by setting up as sacred, things on this earth, which is not our
home. Only as memorials, spiritual reminders of heavenly things can we safely
do that and then we must be careful not to confuse new believers into thinking
there is some kind of special power in a place; whether it be a church building
or a grove of trees. We do not call the Holy Spirit down. We have all the Holy
Spirit we’re going to get when we’re saved. We want to be filled with it. God
does not come down on a church meeting. He is already here or we’re just
playing church. We don’t come to church on Sunday morning to get close to Christ.
We come to church because we are close to Christ. I, for one, will not
substitute the sublime and eternal beauty of heaven and the spiritual for the
profane and temporary ugliness of a fallen earth.
Just as Jesus called the world a field, and we
must work in the world, to prepare the house of God let us also do our work in
our own field, our hearts, to build the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which Paul
calls our bodies, by submitting to God’s word, surrendering to Christ, and
making way for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds.
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