六月廿二日
他要建告耶和华的殿，幷担负尊荣……（亚6：13）
基督自己是灵殿的建造者，他曾在山上建造了他不变的爱，他全能的恩和他无穷的信实。在所罗门的殿中怎样，这个殿中也怎样。建筑的材料必须先预备好，有“黎巴嫩的香柏木”，但它们在建造前若不经修整，不被砍下、破裂、锯成木板，他们的香味就不能使乐园里、主家中的宫殿满了欢欣。石头仍在石矿中，必须在那里凿好，磨得方方正正的。这一切都是基督的工作。每个信徒都必须经过一番预备，切磋琢磨，好适合他在殿中所居的地位；基督自己的手就能完成这种预备的工作。苦难不能洁净人，除非他要用苦难来洁净人。我们的祷告和努力，若离了耶稣使我们的心正直的手，我们就不能上天堂。
所罗门“建殿的时候，锤子、斧子和别样铁器的响声都没有听见”，因爲一切建筑用材早已准备好，可以完完整整地运来安置在适当的地位上—-耶稣所建造的殿也是这样，准备的工作都是在地上。当我们上了天堂之后，就不用在那里再经洁净了，不再用灾难造就我们了，不再用苦痛修整我们了。不，我们必须在这里预备妥当——基督要预先完成这一切。当他完成之后，我们就被慈爱的手领过死河，到达天上的耶路撒冷，永远成爲主殿的梁柱。
“你们也靠他同被建造，成爲神藉圣灵居住的所在。”
June
22
“He
shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory.” —
Zechariah 6:13
Christ Himself is the builder of His
spiritual temple, and He has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable
affection, His omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was
in Solomon’s temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. There are the
“Cedars of Lebanon,” but they are not framed for the building; they
are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose
odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in Paradise.
There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn thence,
and squared. All this is Christ’s own work. Each individual believer is being
prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but
Christ’s own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify,
excepting as they are used by Him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot
make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our
hearts aright.
As in the building of Solomon’s temple,
“there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the
house,” because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was
to occupy–so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all
done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no
squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made
meet here–all that Christ will do beforehand; and when He has done it, we
shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to
the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.
“Beneath His eye and care,
The edifice shall rise,
Majestic, strong, and fair,
And shine above the skies.”
