A transcript of Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM) from a teaching by Pastor Thompson Ehima in Lekki Soul Centre (LSC) on Wednesday, 5th of June, 2024.
Transcript Excerpt
The emphasis has been concerning that house of God. It has become clear that the more we wait, the more we see that what God is interested in and has built the Christian profession and vocation around is an eternal building. God wants an eternal building and until the building arises, He cannot reveal His laws to us.
2 Corinthians 4:18; 5:1
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. [1] For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
We can say that the things that are seen that are temporal have to do with everything about the present creation, including the heavens and the earth. They are temporal because they can be seen. To be seen means they have appeared or have been made manifest. Anything that can come into the heart of men or any creature, including angels, of their rank is seen. Once it enters the heart, it has been seen because what makes us see is the heart (Matt. 13: 14-15). To ‘see’ in Bible terms is to be able to hear with the ears and perceive with the heart (Matthew 13:14-15).
The Unseen Building of God
The eternal building which is the building of the house of the Eternal God is not seen. This is why it is very difficult to enlist men to be part of that profession and vocation. The Christian vocation is the building of an eternal house, but Christians are not interested in it because it is not something seen. It is not the realm of the seen because the eternal house is not a temporary house; it is a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1).
God has enjoyed temporary houses, even among the angels. Everything that is seen is temporal. So God’s building must not be that which is temporal but that which is not seen— eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). God's building is an unseen building. The eternal house or building of God’s house is unseen. A person who does not believe without seeing cannot become God's eternal house, because the house we are building is for the Eternal God and it cannot be seen.
The phrase, ‘eternal in the heavens’ means unseen in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1). When we get to heaven, we will not see this house because it has not yet appeared. The house or building of God is not seen. The first building of God to be made manifest is Jesus. Jesus is the building of God; that eternal building has been in heaven but remained unseen. The first time this building in heaven was made manifest was when Jesus became flesh, grew and went back to heaven. This building remained unseen because Jesus’ flesh was a veil to that building. So one of the reasons Jesus had his flesh was to veil the building of God’s house.
John 14:1-3, 8-10
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. [2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. [8] Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? [10] Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”
Because one cannot see the Father, it was more confusing to them. The Person speaking was a house of God, an eternal house, but one cannot see it. By the time Jesus appeared in Jordan, heaven opened and the Spirit descended like a dove and said, “...This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17). The phrase, “I am well pleased” means I am resting here, this place is pleasing to me. God designed creation but the only place He chose to tabernacle is with men, not in any creature but in man.
Revelation 21:3
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
This is God Himself, not His presence, anointing or shadow. Many things of God have come to men – power, anointing, even His Spirit – have been with men, except God Himself.
John 17:4-5
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. [5] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
The Eternal God has purposed in Himself from the beginning to dwell among men; not among angels, not upon any mountain, but among men. And the first time God found a man to dwell in was in our Lord Jesus Christ. However, His intention is not to have only Jesus but that through Jesus, He can have many men in whom He can dwell; that many men can decide to enroll in the profession and vocation of becoming the tabernacle of God or the building of God’s house.
The Holy Ghost Indwelling Temples Made With Hands
We cannot find the law of God without the house of God. What they use to join the house is the law; or to covenant the house, one needs the law– the teaching of the building of God’s house or the building of God’s eternal tabernacle which is not seen. If one gets to heaven presently, one would still not see God’s eternal house because it is in a Person. God is a spirit (John 4:24). Stephen said God does not dwell in a temple made with hands (Acts. 7:48). The Person that can dwell in a temple made with hands is the Holy Ghost. (1 Corin 6:19)
1 Corinthians 6:20
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
The house had to be bought and the spirit (of the man) quickened. That is why any Christian that indulges in fornication will not be spared. All the sins a man does are outside the body except for fornication. Fornication is one of the sins that the Holy Ghost frowns at seriously. Young people and married people must run from fornication because it defiles a temple that is made with hands, which one of the Godhead is managing to dwell in. That is why anyone who despises the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven because it takes a lot of humility for the Holy Ghost to dwell in us. The Holy Ghost is not inferior to God and the Father. The fact that He chose to dwell in a temple made with hands does not mean we are deserving of it or special.
Humility brought the Holy Ghost to dwell in us because God does not dwell in temples made with hands but the Holy Ghost is dwelling in our body because we have been bought with a price – the blood of Jesus, not with the blood of goats and bulls. Only the blood of Jesus is able to make the Holy Ghost dwell in that temple that is made with hands. Because of the blood of Jesus on that temple that is made with hands, your body is no longer your own because a blood was used to purchase it; and not only was it purchased, the Holy Ghost now dwells there. Although it is an earthly suit, what bought it is very high. .
God chose man. Angels have celestial buildings that are nearer to the eternal building, if buildings (bodies) were to be ranked. So why would God choose that which is natural, earthly, earthy? That goes to show that God is committed to dwell among men. Thank God Jesus Christ came and shed His blood and we have been bought (Acts 20:28).
The essence of the Holy Ghost, as well as following the leading of the Spirit, is because of the building of God which He is raising. God wants to raise the eternal out of this carnal, natural estate that we are.
Hence, the training of the Holy Ghost begins by teaching us to take away uncleanness— uncleanness of the flesh or filthiness of the flesh. This training starts with addressing and getting rid of works of the flesh because they can grieve the Holy Ghost. “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Eph. 4:30).
The Holy Ghost can stay in our bodies that are made with hands and He also came in with gifts. The essence of the gift is not just to rejoice in the gift; rather, it is so that we can fully engage the building of the eternal house of God. After the Holy Ghost gave us gifts, which are called the gifts of the Holy Ghost, Jesus also gave us the gift of Christ. So there is the gift of the Holy Ghost and the gift of Christ (Eph. 4:8).
So the purpose of giving gifts to men is for erecting an eternal house. God has been giving a lot of resources but many ministers are not interested in the eternal house but about building ministry. Satan will allow ministers to build ministry, prophecy, do many mighty works, and cast out devils in the Lord’s name, as long as God’s eternal building is not being raised. Until the building of God is raised, God’s life cannot find expression because God needs His building for the expression of His life.
The Law of the House of God
The expression of God’s life means interpretation of God’s life because without the building of God’s house, God cannot unveil His law.
(Deut 1:1) Moses recounted the law and the commandment to the house of Israel because they had the tabernacle of witness or tabernacle of the congregation or tabernacle of the covenant with them. He recited the law and the commandment. Without the building there can never be the law, much less the covenant. And so without the law and the covenant, there is no expression of life amidst people.
The issue of building is very important. The building design and materials must be revealed and taught. The house of Israel must be shown not only the house but also the law. The law of the house is upon the mountain.
Ezekiel 43:12
“This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.”
So the law of the house is a most holy law. The foundation of the house also has its law because one cannot have a house without foundation. What makes up a house is the foundation, and the body which is the building. To every visible building, there is the substructure which is what is buried underground, and the superstructure; they both have their laws. The book of Ezekiel refers to ‘laws’, not just a law. The law of the house is most holy.
The essence for which Jesus was ordained as High Priest is similar to that of Ezra. When the building of the temple was being restored, Ezra was in charge of the law whereas Joshua was officiating the sacrifice of the house. You can have the house and the law, but there is also the sacrifice of the house that must be offered.
2 Chronicles 15:3
“Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.”
The teaching priest teaches laws— the law of the house. Jesus, standing as the High Priest, is to teach us the laws of the eternal house of God. One of the reasons Jesus became the High Priest at the right hand of God is to speak the law. Jesus would speak forth the material of the body of the house. He needed to sit to speak out the superstructure, the body of the house, and the law of the house so that covenant can be made between the house and the law, that they can become one.
The Foundation of the Eternal House
Without the true God, a teaching priest, and the law, we cannot access God. There would never be a house without the laws (building); the building is very important. And there can never be a building without the foundation. Everything about Christ and the begotten Son of God makes up the foundation of the eternal house.
Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
Sure foundation is an everlasting estate. Eternal building or house is not separate. The building from our Christ formation to the season of everlasting life are very important if the eternal house of God would be resident in our souls; otherwise it would only be a dream in the heart of God. God's intention is not to make this a dream in His mind; He desires that a people will respond to this heavenly vocation/profession. Apostle Paul calls it the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philipp. 3:14). It is a very high calling of God in Christ Jesus that we become the eternal building of God.
The reason for learning the milk, meat and strong meat of the word is because they are the foundation and the body for the eternal house. They are materials and they do not stand alone. When we learn faith in the Lord Jesus, love for all the saints, leading of the Spirit – why we get rid of all manner of dead works and begin to treat our consciences from dead works – is to begin to prepare us to lay the foundation for the eternal building in us. This building of God is supposed to be eternal; it is not that which is made with hands nor that which is temporal.
We are going to house God eternally (1 Cor. 2:9). It is something God has prepared for us; this is why our minds cannot comprehend and our hearts cannot understand it. They have to preach us into it, and we should believe it. Believing is a very strong power. We believe with our hearts, not our minds; this is where what has not appeared becomes real to the heart. Angels have a desire for these things that heaven wants to give to us and would not mind having them. Angels would be in the world to come. But we are going to have very many Christians in the world to come who are not part of the eternal building project.
2 Corinthians 5:2
“For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven…”
We want a house that is not seen even in heaven. That house is now in the Son of God. The Father raised the eternal house in the Son of God, a house that can house the Eternal God (Ezek. 37:27). There must be a strong willingness in our hearts for this purpose.
2 Corinthians 5:1
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
‘The earthly house of this tabernacle’ does not refer to the physical body, but a covering around the soul. It is an image (1 Cor. 15:49). The present house must be dissolved because it is made with hands. Until the present house is dissolved, the present has not passed away in a person’s life.
(Heb. 5:1). You have to be taken to be ordained for the eternal building of God. The process of taking high priests from among men involved several dealings; they go through training from the wilderness. When Moses was talking about Levi, he said, “Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him…” (Deut. 33:9). To take you from among men is to separate you from your genealogy, from your flesh and your own blood (Heb. 12:4). This is how the earthly house is dissolved.
An earthly house in itself is not a sin. A man can be spiritual and still have his earthly house. In fact, one cannot claim to have an earthly house unless such is spiritual because such must have obeyed Christ for God to have restored the earthly house around the soul. A man dead in sin and trespasses has no earthly house; he is in the grave. Satan uses the grave in the place of the earthly house, he weaves the soul with the grave. The earthly house comprises thoughts or ways, not funny or carnal ways as these are low. Christ is an earthy man; of the new earth, but He is spiritual. However, the earthly house cannot handle corruption, evil, or iniquity.
Psalm 11:1-3
“In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? [2] For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. [3] If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
The mountain represents high places. The soul being asked to flee to the mountain is “the righteous”, and the Lord is the living God. We can find the foundation of the Lord God on the holy mountain (Ps. 87:1). We ought to flee to the mountain because of the wicked who bend their bow against the upright in heart. The “upright in heart” are christs; those are earths who have obeyed the righteousness of faith. This is why earth cannot handle corruption or the arrows of the wicked.
The foundation of the righteous must not be destroyed, else what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3). There are things the wicked have to destroy the foundation of the righteous; he has arrows and bows. The foundations are not external but are present in the soul. Hence, the soul is told to flee like a bird to the holy mountain. The righteous has to flee from the earth to the mountain of the Lord, which is to move into the realm of heaven. To move from the earth also means growing the superstructure (body) of the building so that it is raised above the foundation level.
The Essence of the Dissolving of our Earthly House
(2 Cor. 5:1) The earthly house does not refer to sin, rather it talks about something that is made with hands. The dissolving of the earthly house is the dissolving of that which hands have made. Angels were made by the hands of God, the building of their souls will never be dissolved, instead they would transit to the world to come and still have their cherubic house.
For example, just as Adam had an earthly house, the angels will still have their cherubic house in the world to come. The house is not their body but those unseen things God used to put the spirit called cherubic in them. God will never tamper with it. They will be in the world to come with that house, just as there will be many Christians with different kinds of housing. Some people may also come to the world to come with their carnal house.
Galatians 2:18
“For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”
1 John 3:4
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
By Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:18, he is implying that there were buildings in him before now that have been hacked down and dissolved through obedience to righteousness. This is why it is from obedience to obedience. There are many Christians who have not been able to overcome all the works of the flesh in their lives because they have not done the obedience that is attached to those works. As a result, that building is still standing in them. Also, there are other Christians who, by the help of the Spirit, have obeyed God but they are yet to put off carnality or quit being natural. They are not yet spiritual. Heaven wants to remove this limitation and destroy the old man, which Paul called the body of sin (Rom. 6:6).
Man is a stature or building. We are to put off carnality and the corruption of the old man to deal with the fount where the old man is coming from. God knows that the things made with hands can be corrupted. Yet, He purposed in His mind that He wants to build His eternal building in the least of that which was made with hands. There are some houses made with hands that are very high such that, if they become corrupt, there will be no ransom for them because of the strength they were made with (Ps. 103:20). God made sure that the one that will carry the eternal building is the one with the weakest frame, which was called “Earth”.
The stronger a building is, the harder it is to dissolve it, because it was made by God’s hands. This is the reason the angels that fell into corruption cannot be saved again because they surpassed in power and strength. It took some time for corruption to break into man.
Through Jesus Christ, redemption was provided and God did a work in Jesus as the first man who became the eternal building (or house) of God. He became a man God could tabernacle in, because the Father was well pleased in Him. He could find a rest in him. The Father raised Jesus to His right hand to provide resources for us. We have a testimony from Apostle Paul that there is a building of God in heaven, not made with hands, eternal; and he desired to be clothed with that house (1 Cor. 5:1).
In Philippians 3 Paul was teaching about the resurrection of the dead but he was also making enquiry into this matter. The reason Paul was coveting the fellowship of Jesus’ suffering and asking for the excellent knowledge of Him was that he wanted God to replace his earthly building with God’s building in heaven.
Jesus Christ also partook of this building. When Jesus was a Son, He was already in the school of everlasting life where He learned obedience by the things He suffered.
To be made perfect is to tamper with that which was made with hands. They may have cleansed us from the works of the flesh, which the milk of the word ought to accomplish. We might even have been cleansed from every work of darkness that has to do with our carnality and lust of this world. Peradventure, God might have started healing us of our corruption, but we have to do it all until They begin to perfect us.
We have to do obedience but the Lord still has to show us in mercy what can take away those things. Some of those things are standing by present everlasting ordinances. They were made by God’s hands but are standing by everlasting ordinances. For example, there is nothing that can be done to take away the sea from the earth. But in the Old Testament, mountains saw the ark and began to skip like calves (Ps. 114:4-6). That is why this earthly house cannot dissolve unless a work has appeared on our inside.
Some of these things will not go until some kind of work has been done in us. It was not the devil that did this earthly house. God deals with us with the milk of the word, meat of the word and strong meat of the word. We need all these works to be in us before the dissolving of the earthly house, so that we can take on the building of God. It is part of our inheritance. These are the things that guarantee to God that a man has become true and sure, and that the promise of Eternal Life can be given to such. This is how God will be certain that like Jesus, He can be our God, and also what will make God Himself come and dwell in us.
However, we need to acquire buildings – the building of Christ, which is the formation of Christ the spiritual man and the building of the Sanctuary, which is our sanctification, and then the everlasting building. One thing about these buildings is that they build a way of thinking in us. They put judgement in us and affect our conclusion and evaluation of things/matters. In 2 Corinthians 5, we can see the conversation of a man that is looking for an everlasting building.
The intention of God is to free us from everything corruptible. The present creation is still corruptible. Although God made them with His hands, they are still corruptible. We can receive cleansing but if everything is left the way it is, it is still corruptible. God must give us a building that is not corruptible. And that which is not corruptible is the building that is not made with hands; it is a building of God.
Angel Gabriel does not have corruption in him but he is corruptible by reason of his building because it was made with hands. That one does not have corruption does not mean such is not corruptible. As long as the earthly house is not dissolved, even after corruption has been taken care of, you are still corruptible. The presence of an earthly house means one is still corruptible. That was why Paul was asking for the building that was not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1-2).
The Crowning of God’s Eternal Building
It is good to know that not everyone that runs in a race is crowned (1 Cor. 9:24; 2 Tim. 2:5). If one runs a race but does not do it lawfully, such will not be crowned, because ‘lawfully’ is order. One cannot say because he has been purged of iniquity then he wants the crown. No, heaven would not give it to such.
As at John 14, Jesus had the sure foundation and everlasting building on His inside. He had been built. And if Jesus had been taken to heaven like that, there would be no problem. But Satan will know and God knows that though Jesus is without sin, despite being tempted at all points (Heb. 4:15b), He still had an earthly house that His soul wore. Without it, His soul would not have been able to transact with temptation and overcome them. So They had to subject Him to obedience to perfect His soul because we must run lawfully and not only that, also gain mastery.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. [25] And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”
In summary, one can have dominion over iniquity but has not been crowned. It is until the earthly house is dissolved that one is crowned in everlasting life. The book of Revelation talked about ten kings in relation to a beast. Though they were kings, they had not received dominion yet (Rev. 17:12); they had not been crowned. A man can have dominion over corruption, sin, death but does not yet have the crown (mastery).
Jesus Christ strove to obtain the crown. He knew that if a man has 99% corruption under him, such cannot go ahead to take the reward of Eternal Life. God will only reward a soul that has been made incorruptible with the building of God in his soul. That is a soul or man that has been made incorruptible but is wearing the skin of God. In other words, God’s building not made with hands is covering the man. God must not see anything lower. If God makes a man incorruptible but the man is still wearing the present earth as the jacket of his soul, God does not count him (his house) as qualified for Him to dwell in. God wants a house that is incorruptible but has His building as a covering over it.
When Moses finished raising the tabernacle, (also when Solomon’s temple was completed), a cloud enveloped it. He had raised and built it according to the pattern that was shown to him, but that was not enough, a cloud has to cover it. And the cloud did not just come immediately they finished raising it. There were obediences that were fulfilled. These are types and shadows for us, telling us that this must happen inside our souls also. The coming of the cloud in the Old Testament was physical but the coming of what must cover us is the coming of the eternal building of God. Just like Solomon offered prayers on the brazen altar, there were things Jesus Christ was doing in the days of His flesh.
Hebrews 5:7
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared…”
Jesus prayed with strong crying. This strong crying was a groaning of His soul unto Him that was able to save Him from death (corruption), though He was incorruptible. And He was heard in that He feared. We must see this vision very clearly because one of the essence of what the Lord is saying to us is that God wants us to see the pattern of the house very well because God wants to measure the house; and He would come at different times to measure it. And we must know what the measurement of the house is so that we can cooperate with everything that is required from us.
The eternal building is a seal of the whole journey which comes by the dissolving of our earthly house that was built by God’s hands on the soul. And until we see this, we will not rest, nor will we be at ease. We will keep groaning even when we have become spiritual or incorruptible.
In everlasting life, They will teach us how to hate some things. And when we begin to hate, groaning will start in us. Every apostle groans. And some people try to practice it not knowing what groaning is. But it is the Holy Ghost who searches the heart that knows it (Rom. 8:26). It is an activity of the Spirit that will kickstart this operation in us. When They begin to measure us in the raising of our building, we come into this phase.
The glory that we are going to wear cannot be less than what the Son of God is wearing. The eternal building is what is called everlasting glory because there cannot be eternal glory without everlasting glory. So we must desire and cry for it. We must long for it. We must obey God until we come into it.
Blessings!