I.　The temple of God is the goal of God's eternal economy—Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; John 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21; Rev. 21:2, 22:

A.　The temple in the Old Testament typifies both the individual Christ and the corporate Christ, the church—1 Kings 6:1-2:

1.　The temple first typifies the individual, incarnated Christ as the dwelling place of God on earth—Col. 2:9; John 1:14; 2:19-22.

2.　The temple also typifies the corporate Christ, the church, as the enlarged temple, the unique building of God in the universe—Matt. 12:6; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 12:12; Eph. 2:21.

B.　The church is the temple of God; as such, it is the sanctuary of the holy God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells—1 Cor. 3:16-17:

1.　The temple of God in verse 16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, whereas the temple of God in verse 17 refers to all the believers universally.

2.　The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expression in many localities on earth; each expression is the temple of God in that locality—Eph. 2:21-22.

C.　There is no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple—Rev. 21:22:

1.　In the new heaven and new earth the temple of God will be enlarged into a city.

2.　The city as a whole will be the Holy of Holies; hence, there will be no temple in it—v. 16.

II.　The center, the aim, and the goal of Satan's struggle against God are related to the temple of God—Matt. 16:18; John 2:19-22; Dan. 11:36-45:

A.　God desires to have a place on earth for His people to worship Him, as a testimony that He still has an interest on this earth—1 Kings 7:51; 8:10-11.

B.　Satan is always struggling to destroy the temple of God—2 Kings 25:1-4, 9; Ezra 5:13; 6:15; Dan. 11:21-35; Matt. 22:7; 24:1-2, 15; 2 Thes. 2:3-4, 8; Rev. 11:1-2.

III.　Zechariah prophesied to help the returned Israelites in the work of building the temple; the rebuilding work continued through the encouragement and help of the prophesying of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah—Ezra 5:1-2:

A.　Zechariah was born of a priestly family in captivity; he was first a priest, and then he became a prophet—Neh. 12:1, 4, 12, 16; Zech. 1:1.

B.　Because his ministry sprang from and was based on his priesthood, Zechariah spoke very much concerning Christ; he did not predict anything but Christ, and all he spoke about was Christ, because he was a priest contacting the Lord all the time—9:9; 11:7, 12-13; 12:10; 14:17.

IV.　The book of Zechariah reveals that Christ is everything for the recovery of the building of God's house, the temple of God:

A.　We need the heavenly vision to see the things concerning Christ related to the recovery of the building of the temple of God—6:12-13.

B.　In Zechariah 1:7-17 we see the vision of a man riding on a red horse and standing among the myrtle trees:

1.　This man is the Angel of Jehovah, Christ in His humanity—v. 11; Exo. 3:2a, 4-6, 13- 15; 23:20; 32:34.

2.　The red horse signifies Christ's swift move in His redemption, accomplished through the shedding of His blood—Zech. 1:8; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19.

3.　The redeeming Christ, as a man and as the Angel of Jehovah, was sent by God to be with the humiliated yet precious people of Israel (myrtle trees) in their captivity— Zech. 1:8.

4.　Christ interceded for those in captivity, and Jehovah answered His prayer, saying, "I return to Jerusalem with compassions; My house will be built in it, declares Jehovah of hosts"—vv. 12, 16.

C.　In 2:1-13 we see the vision of a man with a measuring line in His hand:

1.　This man is Christ in His humanity as the Angel of Jehovah, the One speaking with Zechariah—vv. 1a, 2.

2.　The man with the measuring line intended to measure Jerusalem so that Jehovah might repossess it after the seventy years of Israel's captivity—vv. 2, 4b.

3.　In verse 8 both He and Me refer to Jehovah of hosts:

a.　This means that Jehovah of hosts is the Sender and the sent One—vv. 9, 11.

b.　Jehovah is the Triune God; in verse 8 one of the three in the Godhead, referred to as "He," sent another of the three, referred to as "Me."

c.　The Sender is surely the Father, and the sent One is the Son—John 5:36b; 6:57a; 8:16.

d.　"After the glory"—after the return of the captives—the Triune God decided that the Father would send the Son against the nations who plundered Israel; both the Father and the Son are Jehovah—Zech. 2:8.

D.　In Zechariah Christ is revealed as the stone with seven eyes (3:9), the topstone (4:7), and the Shoot that will build the temple of Jehovah (6:12-13).

E.　In Zechariah's prophecy Christ was sent to Israel as their King in a lowly form (9:9-10) and as their Shepherd to feed them (11:7), but He was detested (v. 8), sold (vv. 12-13), attacked (13:7), and pierced (12:10), and thereby accomplished redemption for them (13:1; 1:8; 3:9).

F.　Eventually, Christ will fight for Israel to deliver them out of the hand of Antichrist for their household salvation (12:1—14:7, 12-15), and in the restoration Christ will be King over the earth (vv. 8-11, 16-21).

V.　As the development of the prophecy concerning Christ in Zechariah, Matthew and 1 Corinthians reveal that the all-inclusive Christ is everything for the building of the church as the temple of God:

A.　Matthew reveals that for the building of the church (16:18), Christ is the King (2:1-2; 21:5), the Son of the living God (16:16), the Son of Man (8:20; 11:19), the Baptizer (3:11), the light (4:12-16), the Physician (9:12), the Bridegroom (v. 15), the unfulled cloth (v. 16), the new wine (v. 17), the Shepherd (v. 36), the Lord of the harvest (v. 38), the Friend of sinners (11:19a), wisdom (v. 19b), the One who gives rest (vv. 28-30), the real David (12:3), the One greater than the temple (v. 6), the greater Jonah (vv. 39-41), the One greater than Solomon (v. 42), the bread and crumbs under the table (15:26-27), and the resurrected One in His humanity with all authority in heaven and on earth (28:18-19).

B.　First Corinthians reveals that for the building of the church as the temple of God (3:16-17), the Body-Christ (12:12), Christ is the believers' portion (1:2), God's power and God's wisdom as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (vv. 24, 30), the Lord of glory (2:7-8), the depths of God (v. 10), the unique foundation of God's building (3:11), our Passover (5:7), the unleavened bread (v. 8), the spiritual food, the spiritual drink, and the spiritual rock (10:3-4), the Head (11:3), the Body (12:12), the firstfruits (15:20, 23), the second man (v. 47), and the last Adam, who became the life-giving Spirit (v. 45b) so that we may receive Him as our everything for the church.

VI.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need certain crucial experiences of Christ:

A.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the foundation, the One who holds and supports the entire church—3:11.

B.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the cornerstone—Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6.

C.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the topstone, as grace from God to us to be the covering of God's building—Zech. 4:7; 1 Cor. 15:10.

D.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the precious building materials—gold, silver, and precious stones—3:12a.

E.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as wisdom to us from God—1:30.

F.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ in the power of His resurrection—Phil. 3:10-11.

G.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ in His death—v. 10; S. S. 4:6.

H.　For the building of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ in His love—2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:17-19; 4:16.