Please turn to 1 Peter 2:5.
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Please turn also to Genesis 28, beginning with verse 10.
And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set;
and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.
And he dreamed; and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven;
and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:
the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south:
and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land;
for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!
this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God,
and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house:
and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.
And then the book of Revelation, chapter 21. We begin with verse 1 through verse 7.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God:
and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, through the prayers of Thy beloved Son, Thou hast drawn us unto Thyself. We are now in Thy presence.
We do open our hearts to Thee and ask Thee to speak to us from Thy throne, between the cherubim. We pray that Thou wilt give us ears that hear. We ask Thee to deliver us from familiarity.
We pray that Thou wilt give us fresh, living revelation, that we may see that which Thou art after, that we may long for that which Thou dost desire, and that we may give ourselves for the purpose Thou art after.
We do commit this time into Thy hands. We do acknowledge that unless Thou dost speak, human words are all in vain. Lord, speak; Thy servants hear. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I believe we all know that the theme God seems to have given us for this time is the spiritual house.
We are actually touching upon the purpose—the eternal purpose—of God. God has a purpose, and He has purposed it in His beloved Son. He purposed it even before the foundation of the world.
What He has purposed for Himself in His Son is a house, a dwelling place. God created the heavens and the earth, but these are not His home. His desire is to dwell among men, and that is the reason why you and I were created.
He created us men to fulfill the longing of His heart. He wants to dwell among men. He wants to make men His eternal home, that men also may find their eternal home in Him. This is God’s purpose.
Now, brothers and sisters, I feel that as we touch upon this matter of the spiritual house, we have a problem here. The problem is that we are so familiar with all these terms.
We are familiar with “house,” “God’s house,” “church,” and “the church of God.” All these things are so familiar to us that, somehow, I am afraid we have lost that cutting edge—the conviction and commitment—that are necessary when we touch upon the eternal purpose of God.
So we are looking to the Lord that He will enable us to forget all that we have known in the past about the house, the dwelling place, and the church. Let us forget everything we have known and come to Him as little children, that we may receive living revelation from Him and really be drawn into the purpose of God and become part of it. This is really our prayer.
I mentioned last night that the house God is after is not a physical one. Unfortunately, that is always what we think He desires. He wants a spiritual house.
God can only dwell in a spiritual house, because the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is too great for the physical universe, and He is Spirit. So what He desires is a spiritual house, and He wants to find that house in men.
You can see right away that man has to be spiritual in order to be His house. That is the reason why you find in Isaiah that those to whom God will look are those who are of an afflicted and contrite spirit, and who tremble at the word of God.
It is not just any kind of man. It is spiritual man that God wants to build into His spiritual house. This morning, I would like to focus on the meaning of God’s house.
The first mention of the house of God is found in Genesis 28. I believe we are again familiar with the story of Jacob, the supplanter.
He stole not only the birthright but also the blessing of the firstborn from his brother. Because of this, he had to flee for his life.
He was in the wilderness, and the sun was set. So he took a stone and made that stone a pillow on which to rest his head.
Now, brothers and sisters, that very picture shows you how miserable, how pitiful, and how sad his situation was.
And yet, the most high God came very close to the most unlikely person—Jacob the supplanter—in the most unlikely environment. He was fleeing from his brother, away from his home, a homeless person.
Yet you find that the first mention of the house of God was revealed to him. Brothers and sisters, I do feel that it is not because of what we are. It is because of the mercy of God.
It was the mercy of God that He should reveal His house to His people, not because we deserve it. It is all of God’s mercy.
Jacob dreamed a dream. In that dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth, reaching to heaven. God was stationed there at the top of the ladder, and Jacob, of course, was sleeping at the foot of the ladder. The angels of God were ascending and descending, very busy, upon that ladder. And God spoke to him.
Brothers and sisters, this is the first revelation of the house of God. What is the house of God? The house of God is the union and communion of God and man in Christ Jesus. That is the house of God.
We know today what that ladder is, because you will remember John 1. Nathanael was an honest Jew. He could not believe that anything good could come out of Nazareth.
Yet when the Lord saw him, the Lord said, “I saw thee underneath the fig tree.” When Nathanael heard this, he said, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art King of Israel.”
Why? Because he was a true Israelite. Evidently, under that fig tree, he was thinking about the kingdom. The fig tree is a type of Israel. He was dreaming of the kingdom, the Messiah, and the Messianic kingdom. He was longing for that kingdom to come.
When the Lord said, “I saw thee underneath the fig tree,” He really spoke to Nathanael’s heart, and Nathanael realized that this was the Messiah.
But the Lord said, “Thou shalt see greater things than these.” You are thinking only of the Messianic kingdom. That is great, yes, but there is something greater than that.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
—John 1:51
Here we find that the ladder is the Son of Man. He who is the Son of God, He who was equal with God, He who is in the form of God, emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. He came into this world to become the Son of Man.
Why? Because He is the One who joins earth with heaven, heaven with earth. He is the One who brings God and man, man and God, together.
He is the only way by which we can come to God. He is the only way by which God can come to us. Not only does He bring God and man together, but you find there is communion between man and God.
The angels are ascending and descending on that ladder. We know angels are ministering servants, ministering God to man and ministering men to God. In other words, through the work of the angels, we are brought into the good that Christ has done for us and into our life in Him.
So, brothers and sisters, the first meaning of the house of God is the coming together of God and man in Christ Jesus: the union of life with God and the communion that God and man have.
God stood above the ladder and spoke to Jacob. He said, “I am the God of thy father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. The place where thou sleepest now will be thine. I will bless thee, and thy seed shall be as the sand of the earth. The land to the west, east, north, and south shall be given to thee. In thee and in thy seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I will be with thee until all that I have said is done.”
Here we find God as the Giver. He is giving everything. Jacob is the receiver; he is there receiving.
Unfortunately, after God spoke to him, Jacob awoke and recognized that he had not known God was there. “How dreadful is this place!” he said.
Jacob knew that he was unfit for God. God is holy, and yet look at Jacob—what a person he was! So when that revelation was given to him, he was surprised. He did not know that God was present there with him.
Who would think that God would be with such a person? Yet God was there. Jacob felt that it was a dreadful place.
Now, brothers and sisters, today when we talk about the house of God, we feel so dear, so good, so comfortable, so peaceful. I think that is our problem.
If we can really see, “How dreadful is this place,” I think there is hope. We must not make it too common, as if the presence of God were nothing.
The presence of God demands a lot, and Jacob knew it. He knew he was totally unfit for God. God came to him, and he was afraid. Yet he knew that this was the house of God. God wanted to be with him. God wanted to be joined together even with Jacob.
He said, “This is the house of God, the gate of heaven.” But how do we react to this great revelation of the house of God?
The house of God is a greater thing than the Messianic kingdom, because it is universal. Yet Jacob was so limited by himself. In a sense, you can see that Jacob just could not rise above himself.
Jacob responded. On the one hand, he understood: this is the house of God; God wants a house; God wants to be united with man through Christ Jesus. He knew that God was desiring communion with men.
He knew what it was all about, and yet, on the other hand, he just could not take it in. He could not rise above himself. He was Jacob.
So he began bargaining with God. If you say he did not believe God, I do not think that is true. I think he did believe. But the problem was that he was so confined by himself.
God gave him great promises, and yet he bargained with God for little things, because that was all he understood. He said, “If.”
He could not trust anybody; he could not even trust God. So he said, “Now, You have given all these great promises. If You give me food to eat, if You give me a garment to put on, if You will let me safely return, then I will make You my God.”
“And I will use this stone pillow, set it up as a pillar, and this pillar shall be Thy house. I will give You one tenth of all that I have.”
Remember, he was thinking all of himself. He did not understand that the revelation of God’s house is for God.
He was self-centered, not God-centered. He was interested only in himself and his own life. He was not interested in God’s interest.
Even though God gave him food to eat, garments to put on, and eventually brought him safely home, he said, “All right, this pillar shall be Thy house.” In other words, he was thinking only of the physical, as if God wanted a physical house.
He did not understand that God wanted to make Jacob His house. In order to make Jacob His house, God had to transform Jacob into Israel.
It is not so much what Jacob would do to build God a house. A stone pillar is not a house. It is not our service. It is God who is working for that house in Jacob, transforming him into Israel, so that God can be united with him in life and there can be communion together.
But Jacob did not understand that. Thank God, some years later God had dealt with that man. You remember, in Genesis 35, he eventually went back to Bethel.
He had called that place Bethel, the house of God. But eventually, when he went back to Bethel, he built an altar and called that place El-bethel, the God of the house of God.
An altar is an expression of communion. So finally we find Jacob beginning to understand what God is really after in his life. God wants a house in which there will be union and communion.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we laugh at Jacob, but how about ourselves?
We have a revelation of the house of God, but are we so wrapped up with ourselves that even when that revelation is given, we do not understand?
Maybe mentally we have some idea: this is the house of God, the gate of heaven. Yet actually, in our daily living, are we still concerned only with ourselves? Are we still interested in our own interests?
“Lord, You give me food to eat, garments to wear, peace, and security. Then I will really make You my God. I will honor You. I will build You a physical house.” Brothers and sisters, is this not what we are doing?
Do we really understand what the house of God is? Do we know that what God is really after is us—not merely what we can do for Him, but what we are?
Do we understand that, in order for this house to become a reality, He has to do much work in our lives? He has to change Thomas, John, Jacob—all of us Jacobs—into Israel, princes with God.
Do we understand that He is longing for communion with us, and for union in Christ Jesus? Brothers and sisters, I wonder.
We need to be delivered out of ourselves. We need to be delivered from our self-centeredness. We need to be delivered from our self-interest in order to really enter into the house of God that He is after.
So, brothers and sisters, I do feel that it is time for us to reconsider before the Lord what the house of God is.
We, like Jacob, are unfit to be one with God in Christ Jesus. Do we realize that there is so much in us—almost all in us—that needs to be drastically dealt with before we can be fit to be His house?
Do we understand that what He longs for is communion? It is not what we can do for Him. How many of us are busily serving Him, doing what we call Christian work, involving many activities—building the church, painting the church, and so on and so forth?
Brothers and sisters, are these what God is really after? This is not what He is after. Mary has chosen the better part.
This is the house of God: the union and communion of God and man in Christ Jesus. That is the house of God.
Secondly, when you come to this matter of the house of God, you find this matter of communication. Let us read Exodus 25.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering:
of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
—Exodus 25:1–2
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle,
and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it.
—Exodus 25:8–9
And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark;
and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat,
from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony,
of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
—Exodus 25:21–22
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them to Mount Sinai. When He delivered them, He did not immediately tell them His purpose in delivering them.
But after He brought them to Mount Sinai, He revealed to them not only the Ten Commandments but also the tabernacle.
Unfortunately, today we are more concerned with the Ten Commandments. We think that on one side God wanted nothing but the Ten Commandments. But actually, at Mount Sinai, God revealed the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel as His testimony, as the law given to His people.
Even more, after He had given the Ten Commandments—the testimony, the law—He revealed to Moses the pattern of the tabernacle.
He said, “Let the people give Me a heave offering.” Now, a heave offering was a love offering. In other words, it was not something forced; it was something done out of love by a redeemed people.
God asked for a love offering. As a matter of fact, we who are redeemed were bought with a price, even with the blood of our Lord Jesus. We are no longer our own; we are God’s. We belong to Him.
He has every right to demand that we give offerings to Him. But that was not the way God worked, because if He did it that way, He would never have His house.
With regard to His house, you find that even with a redeemed people, God never deals with us in a legalistic way. He always deals with us in love.
So God said, “Now you are redeemed. I have brought you out of slavery. You are a free people. Now, out of your free will, you give for that purpose, that you may make Me a sanctuary, a house, a tabernacle, that I may dwell among you.”
Brothers and sisters, the purpose of redemption is God’s dwelling with His people. That is the purpose.
The children of Israel had been slaves for so long, and suddenly they had their freedom. Now they were free. What do you think they thought?
They thought, “Now we can do what we could not do in the past. Now we can have our heart’s desire. Now we can live our own life. Formerly we were slaves; we had no rights. We could not do what we wanted to do or have the things we wanted to have.”
“Now we are free, and not only are we free, but we actually took everything out of Egypt. We spoiled Egypt of all its wealth. Now we have all this gold and silver and everything. What a life we can live now for ourselves!”
Suppose the children of Israel were thinking in that way. God says, “Wait a minute. That is not the purpose of My delivering you. The reason why I delivered you out of slavery is that I want to dwell among you. I want to be with you. That is My purpose.”
Brothers and sisters, is that not true with us today? We who are bought with a price?
The Lord never demands that we should give ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. The Lord says it has to be a freewill offering. Therefore, Paul says, “By the mercies of God, I beseech you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. It is your reasonable service, or your spiritual worship.”
Why do we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice? It is because God wants to dwell among us. He wants to use what we have offered to build a sanctuary, a holy place for Himself and also for us. That is the purpose.
When God gave the tabernacle to Moses, on the one hand you find God saying, “You cannot approach Me. I am holy. You are unclean, unholy, sinful. Even though you are redeemed, you are still defiled. You cannot approach Me.”
Therefore, the approach to God was quite elaborate. You had to go through the brazen altar. You had to go through the laver, the washing. You had to go through the holy place: the candlestick, the showbread, and the altar of incense.
Then there was the veil. No one could enter. Only the high priest, once a year, with blood and incense, could go in to make atonement and quickly withdraw. In other words, the way into the holiest was not yet open.
So, when we read the tabernacle, we get the impression that God is so holy, and who are we that we can draw near to Him? We cannot. It is difficult—very difficult.
Yet, on the other hand, why did God give the tabernacle to men? Because it shows God’s longing for communion, God’s longing for fellowship with men.
You get a very mixed feeling in your heart, do you not? God longs to communicate with people.
In the tabernacle, in the holiest of all, is the ark. In the ark is the testimony. Over the ark is the mercy seat. God said, “I will speak to you from between the cherubim, above the mercy seat. All that I command you, I will speak to you.”
Not only that, this is our meeting place. You will meet with Me, and you will speak to Me.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the house of God? The house of God is a place of communication.
When I say “house,” I am thinking more of the people in the house than of the physical building. A home is more than a building of brick, wood, or even mud and straw. You may have a house, but do you have a home?
A home is where those in the house communicate with one another. That makes it a home.
If there is no communication—suppose you have a family of four, or maybe eight people, yet there is no communication between father and mother, between parents and children, or between brothers and sisters—then there is no communication.
They are all living in the house, but no one speaks. Everybody is quiet and silent, glaring at each other. Do you call that a house? Do you call that a home? No communication.
What is the tabernacle? The tabernacle is a meeting place where God and man meet, that God may speak to man and man may speak to God. That is the house of God.
Of course, in Old Testament times, you find it was very difficult. There was the outer court, the holy place, the veil, and then the holiest of all.
We know, of course, that the ark is a type of Christ. The law of God, God’s testimony, can only be kept in Christ.
You remember, when the law was given, the children of Israel said, “All that God has said we will do.” They did not even need to hear directly from God. They said it was enough to hear indirectly, and they would do everything God had said.
But before the two tables of stone even reached them, they had already broken the law. In other words, nobody can keep it. The law is kept only in Christ Jesus. He is the end of the law.
But God not only kept the law in Christ; you find it was covered with a mercy seat. On the basis of the righteousness of Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness and bore the wages of death, God in Christ can show mercy to us.
Now, brothers and sisters, today we are in such a better position. Why? Because Christ has already come. He is our mercy seat. The veil is broken; it is rent. There is nothing standing between.
So our communication, our communion, and our fellowship with God can be uninterrupted. This is our position today. In Christ Jesus, we can have uninterrupted communion with God, and God is able to speak to us, and we are able to speak to God.
There is communication between God and us, and that makes the house of God.
In Hebrews 3, we read:
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
but Christ as a Son, over His house;
whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.
—Hebrews 3:5–6
Here we find that we are His house, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the glorying of hope firm unto the end. Then, immediately, verse 7 says:
Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith,
Today if ye shall hear His voice,
Harden not your hearts.
—Hebrews 3:7–8
Are we the house of God? We are—if we hear Him.
Our God is a God who speaks. Not only has He spoken in times past unto the fathers through the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, but in these last days He has spoken unto us in His Son.
Brothers and sisters, we find that there is a voice coming out from the mercy seat incessantly. God is speaking His Son continuously to us. What do we hear?
We certainly are the house of God when there is the hearing of His voice. This is the reason I wonder: are there days that pass without our hearing a word from Him? Is that possible? Is it normal?
Oh yes, we have heard, but do we harden our hearts? Do we not obey?
Brothers and sisters, I am thinking that today we are almost like the time of Eli, for you remember in 1 Samuel that during the time of Eli the judge and priest, the word of God was rare and vision was infrequent.
Is that a normal condition in God’s relationship with His people, His redeemed people?
God cannot speak to the world today because the world will not listen. The moment God speaks, they say, “They are sinners. They do not understand. They cannot hear the voice.”
But the church today—we are the redeemed of the Lord—yet we find God’s words are rare, and His appearing to His people is very infrequent. Can that represent the house of God?
Do you hear the voice of our Lord every day?
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
—Revelation 2:7
But the churches are not listening. Our condition has forced God into silence.
Even worse, you find that after Malachi, the last prophet, for four hundred years God was silent. He could not speak. How sad that must have been in His heart.
Think that you are parents, and for one day you are forced to be quiet. You cannot say anything to your children, because if you say something, probably they will get angry. Think of that. Can you call that a home?
That is just what is happening today. We are not listening. We harden our hearts.
Brothers and sisters, how we need to repent and really be before the Lord. Pray that the Lord will give us a hearing heart, that we may hear Him every day.
Usually He speaks to us not by audible voices, though sometimes God does. But more often, He speaks through His Spirit, who dwells in our spirit.
The reason we really do not hear Him is because we are so far away from Him. We are occupied with so many things. We hear so many voices that we cannot hear Him.
Oh, we need to have a tender heart, a heart that is turned toward Him. I do believe that if our hearts are turned toward Him, you cannot fail to hear Him speak.
He loves to talk with you. He wants to communicate what is in His heart to you. He does not keep it shut up in Himself. He wants to share His burden with you. The Lord is looking for people who are ready to receive His burden.
Are we interested?
And, brothers and sisters, more than that, He wants us to communicate with Him. He wants us to draw near to Him, not because we are relying upon our own righteousness. No, never.
It is because Christ is our righteousness. Through our Lord Jesus, we have ready access to Him. He wants us to come to Him, to converse with Him, to communicate, and to tell Him everything that is in our hearts. Pour yourself out to Him.
Brothers and sisters, today people are very lonely because they have no one to talk to. But here is your heavenly Father, always waiting with patience, love, and sympathy to hear what you want to say to Him. Why do you not do it?
This makes the house of God. Individually, this is so; corporately, it is so. The church should hear the voice of the Spirit. When the church does not hear what the Spirit of God is saying, something is seriously wrong.
The church should be a place where you can bring everything to Him. This is the second meaning of the house of God.
Together with that, I should mention also that the tabernacle is a place of service and worship. Out of communication come service and worship.
You cannot worship if you do not know. The more you know God, the more you know God’s heart, the more you know God’s purpose, and the more you know what He has done, the more it gives you worship.
Otherwise, worship is empty. Oftentimes, I feel that when we are praising God or worshiping God, these are words—beautiful words, many words—but where is the substance?
We do not know Him. We do not know His work. That is the reason why our worship is so weak.
Worship is based on communion, on communication. The more you know of Him, the more it draws from you that worship. You find that He is worthy; you can place Him in the place where He belongs. You also realize what your place is. That is worship.
And, of course, service actually comes out of worship. Service leads back to worship, and service comes out of worship.
If you are trying to serve, and yet it does not come out of worship, it is not spiritual ministry. Spiritual ministry begins with God, and it has to come out of worship.
When there is worship, there cannot but be spiritual service. You cannot be just a worshiper and not a servant. We cannot separate these two things. These two things go together.
So, the meaning of the house is communication and worship with service.
Now let us go on to the third meaning. The third thing concerning the house of God is found in David.
Our time is almost up, so I have to rush on. I believe your brother will speak more on these things.
When David had established the kingdom and was dwelling in his palace, you find in 1 Chronicles 17 that David said to Nathan, “I dwell in a house of cedar, and yet the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. That is not right.”
Nathan said, “Do whatever is in your heart.” But the word of God came to Nathan, saying, “Go back and tell David.” Brothers and sisters, go back and read 1 Chronicles 17. As you read it, you will weep.
When David had a desire to build a house for God, the whole idea was the idea of rest. What is the house of God? The house of God is a place in which God rests.
David rested in his palace, but it was difficult for him to rest. David had a very restless life. He was a shepherd. He was a fugitive. He was hunted. He had to flee to the caves. He had many enemies, and he fought many battles.
He had a very restless life. But God, in His grace, gave him rest. Primarily, you find that God built David his house, his kingdom, his throne, and his palace. David was at rest.
Then, when David was given rest, he became restless for God. Formerly he was restless because of himself, but now that he had received rest, he began to become restless for God. He was thinking of God’s rest.
That thought touched God’s heart very deeply.
God said to David through Nathan, “Since I delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, I have wandered with them from tent to tent, from tabernacle to tabernacle. Even after I had planted them in the land of promise, have I ever asked anyone to build Me a house in which to dwell? I have not asked for it.”
“And yet you are the only one who wants to do it for Me.” He touched God’s heart.
Can we say that, in the whole history of mankind, from Adam and Eve entering into sin and being driven out of Eden, not only did man become a wanderer, but God lost His rest?
Can your father rest if his son or daughter is prodigal? No rest. So God has no rest. He is looking for a place of rest. He is looking to rest among men, but men do not give Him rest; they give Him lots of trouble.
Only when Christ came into this world did God find His rest in Christ.
This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
—Matthew 3:17
God’s desire is not just one man. He wants a new mankind, a new mankind that will give Him rest, that He can rest among His people.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the meaning of the house of God: rest.
But in a very real sense, we will never give God rest until He first gives us rest. That is very true.
In Hebrews 4, you find there is a Sabbath rest prepared for us. “Enter into His rest.” We need to enter into this rest. Why? Because everything is done. Christ has done everything for us on the cross. He said, “It is finished.” Everything is done.
Brothers and sisters, we can rest in Christ Jesus. If we do rest in Christ Jesus, then it is time for us to become restless for God.
Let us give God rest.
He can rest when we really trust Him, when we really obey Him.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus learned obedience through the things which He suffered, and God found rest in that Man. The same thing is true: God can only rest in us if we obey.
For obedience is better than sacrifice. Just remember this.
Eventually Solomon built a house. When Solomon dedicated the temple, in 2 Chronicles 6, you find Solomon saying, “Will God indeed dwell in this house that I have built?”
No. God is too great for that. But it is a place where God will put His name.
What is the place? It is a place where people can come and pray, because His eyes are upon that house, His ears are toward that house, and He will hear and forgive.
So what is the meaning of the house of God? The meaning of the house of God is where God puts His name. He puts His name in His house.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
—Matthew 18:20
That is the house of God. But, brothers and sisters, unfortunately, when God put His name upon the temple, the children of Israel completely misrepresented that name. They disgraced that name. So eventually the temple had to be destroyed.
What about the church? The Lord says, “I will commit My name to the church.” He commits Himself. To put His name there is a commitment. He commits Himself to the church.
When He commits Himself to the church, how do we feel? Do we really honor that name? Do we exalt that name? Do we put ourselves under His authority?
Let Christ be the Head of the church. Let Christ be the Lord of each of our lives. Do we honor His name, or do we bring disgrace to His name?
The name is given to the church. Whether it is reproached or praised depends on us.
And it is a place where we can pray. You remember our Lord in John 16 said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Ask, and ye shall receive.”
Brothers and sisters, when we use that name in prayer, it means that we do not pray in His name for our own interests. We pray in His name for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So this is the meaning of the house of God: name and prayer.
Finally, remember when the children of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity in Ezra.
They lived in Babylon for seventy years. They had built their houses, built up their businesses, and lived a very comfortable life. They were given much freedom, even though they were captives.
They could worship God. They developed that ingenious religious system of the synagogue, which enabled them to worship God in a way that was, in some respects, more convenient than the temple. But the temple was destroyed.
Suddenly, you find that there were those who were stirred to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God. The only reason given for returning to Jerusalem was to build God’s house, to bear God’s name upon this earth, that He might have a dwelling place.
Most of the Israelites remained in the land of captivity. They did not bother to go back. Why? Because if they returned, they would come to a ruined city surrounded by enemies, and they would return for only one reason: to build God’s house.
Now, was God’s house so important to their lives?
Most people thought it was not that important. “Our house is more important. Our welfare is more important.” So they stayed in the land of captivity. It was not ideal, but they stayed.
But there was a remnant whose spirit was stirred. They returned to build the house, totally out of love. There was no other reason.
Because they loved God and loved His name, they were willing to forsake everything—their comfort, businesses, houses, enterprises, and all their conveniences. They were willing to give up everything to go back to Jerusalem for God’s sake, to build His house, that God’s name might be upon this earth.
Brothers and sisters, that is love.
What is the house of God? The house of God is a house of love. God is love, and where there is love, there is God’s house.
In the letters to the seven churches, you find the letter to the church in Ephesus. You have every good thing there, but you have left your first love.
God says, “Repent. If you do not repent, I will remove thy lampstand.”
The lampstand is the church in the sight of God. When that is removed, it means the testimony is removed.
So, brothers and sisters, what is the house of God? The house of God is a house of love.
Only when we continue in our first love with Him is the house of God a reality. Whenever our love toward Him grows cold, repent.
Remember, the house of God is not just a concept, something for us to speculate about and talk about. The house of God is very real—very real.
It ought to bring much conviction to us. It ought to bring us to our knees in repentance. It ought to bring us into renewed consecration and commitment to Him.
Finally, remember, it is God’s house. In other words, it has to satisfy Him. You may be satisfied, but is He satisfied?
Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou dost so honor us as to even show us Thy heart, Thy desire, Thy longing.
We do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast been so gracious to us in delivering us out of the world to bring us to Thyself, that Thou mayest be able to build us into Thy house.
Thou wantest to receive love, to be worshiped, to be honored, to have fellowship, to be in union. Oh Lord, it is too much—too much. We just cannot comprehend.
We do ask Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt continue to open our understanding and draw us into that reality. Reveal to us how unfit we are.
Lord, give us a holy discontent, that we may really repent and return to Thee.
We want Thee to have that house. Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that one day Thou wilt have it. We know it is already there. Amen. We ask in Thy precious name.