Will you 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.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather here together in Thy presence, our hearts are full of gratitude. Who are we that Thou shouldst grace us with such grace? That Thou shouldst gather us together at this hour in Thy presence.
We want to thank and praise Thee that Thou hast Thy word for Thy people. Lord, we are all here. Speak; Thy servants hear. May Thy name be glorified. May Thy work be done. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The theme of this conference is taken from 1 Peter 2:5: a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and acceptable sacrifices.
We believe that it is God’s desire to have a spiritual house. In that spiritual house there will be a holy priesthood, and that priesthood will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices.
We believe that this is most basic to us. I believe that, to most brothers and sisters, this is quite familiar. But we know that familiarity breeds contempt. Therefore, it is time that we should be reminded again.
Furthermore, we do not take this merely as a theme for the conference. We feel that this should be a reality to each one of us in our daily life. For this, we really need to look to the Lord, that He may give us wisdom and revelation, that we may truly know Him.
We know that it is the desire of God from eternity. God desires to have a house. Even when He created man, He had that in view.
That is the reason why He created man in His own image, after His own likeness. This is because He wants to commune with man. He wants man to be His dwelling place, and also that man may have God as his dwelling place.
You remember when God first delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. He brought them to Mount Sinai, and there He revealed to them His heart.
Why was it that He delivered that people? He delivered them that He might dwell among them. This is the desire of our God.
But we know that in the Old Testament these are types and shadows. They were imposed until the time when God would set all things right, that is, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With the coming of the Lord Jesus, God has brought us into the reality. It is no longer shadows with which we are dealing. It is reality that God desires us to experience.
Out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and every people, God gathers a people unto Himself. These people are built up together to be a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, and to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, today we are not dealing with shadows anymore. We are dealing with reality. It is therefore most important for us to know what it is that God desires, what grace has done for us, and how we shall respond to God’s working in us.
This is the reason why we gather here together. May the Lord give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of our heart may be opened and that we may be led into the reality of God’s heart.
As our brother mentioned last night, we will approach this theme from three directions: a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and acceptable sacrifices.
Even though we look at this theme from three directions, really they are all one. My burden is on the spiritual house.
In this first section, we would like to fellowship on God’s desire for the house. God willing, the next morning we will deal with the pattern of the house of God. Thirdly, we will deal with the building of God’s house.
I think that when the expression was translated into Chinese as “spiritual palace,” it was a little misleading, because the emphasis is upon the house.
The impression of a palace is different from the impression of a house. A house gives us a more intimate feeling. Therefore, I would prefer “the house of God” instead of “the palace of God.”
Now, will you please turn to Genesis 28.
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, and the Lord will be my God, then 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.
Let us turn to Exodus 25:1.
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.
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.
Let us turn to Ephesians 2, beginning with verse 19.
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone.
In whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
The first mentioning of the term “the house of God” is found in Genesis 28. According to the principle of first mention, usually you find that the main principles of that term are included there.
When we are talking about the house of God, we will go back to the story of Jacob. We know how Jacob cheated his brother in order to rob him of the birthright, and later how he cheated his father in trying to grasp the blessing of the firstborn.
Because of what he did, he had to flee for his life, because his brother wanted to kill him.
Now, we know Jacob was a very homely person. He was not like his brother Esau. Esau was a hunter, living an outdoor life. But Jacob was a person who loved to stay at home.
Yet, because of what he did, he was not allowed to remain in his father’s house. He had to flee for his life.
While he was on his way, the sun set. He found a stone and made it his pillow. He was so exhausted that he was able to fall asleep even with a stone as a pillow.
As he was asleep, he dreamed a dream.
Jacob must have been thinking about his father’s house. He was lonely. He could not stay in the love of his father’s house.
He had tried to cheat his brother and his father to gain the birthright and also the blessing of the firstborn. But now, in all appearance, he had lost everything.
He must have been thinking of what had transpired. There he dreamed a dream. God gave him a dream.
The heaven was open. He saw a ladder set up on the earth, reaching up to heaven. He saw angels ascending and descending on that ladder. Behold, the Lord God was standing at the top of the ladder.
Jacob was lying asleep at the foot of the ladder. That ladder joined Jacob to God and God to Jacob.
There God spoke to Jacob. God promised him all the promises that God had given to Abraham his father: that his seed would have all the land God had promised, that his seed would be as the sand on the seashore, and that in his seed all the nations would be blessed.
In other words, all that God had promised to Abraham, God promised again to Jacob. God said, “I will take care of you. I will see to it that you return home. Then I will do all that I have said to you.”
Jacob awoke. It was a dream, and he said, “I did not know that God is here.”
He was all alone, in a sense forsaken. Because of what he did, he lost everything. All that he tried to grasp was lost. He lost more than he tried to grasp. He was in the most miserable condition.
But in that most miserable condition, God met him. Here you find the grace of God. He thought that he was all by himself, but God was with him.
He saw heaven open. He saw God Himself. He heard God’s promises. Then he said, “This is a dreadful place.”
Now, brothers and sisters, think a little bit about it. Here was a man who was in such a condition that we would say God probably had forsaken him. Yet unexpectedly, God was with him.
If we have the presence of God, we would think this is the most blessed place. But to Jacob it was a dreadful place, because he was not prepared to meet God. He was unfit to meet God.
He never expected that God was there, and yet God’s grace came upon this man. Heaven was open.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes you find that in the most unexpected condition, God’s grace will open heaven to you.
There he saw that ladder. The ladder connects God with man and man with God.
God alone does not make a house. Man alone cannot make a house. But God and man together make the house of God. It is the ladder that brings God and man together.
I believe that, brothers and sisters, some of you remember in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, there was a man called Nathanael. He was a true Israelite.
When his friend Philip led him to Jesus, our Lord Jesus spoke to him and said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”
Nathanael said, “Whence knowest Thou me?” The Lord said, “Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.”
Evidently, Nathanael, when he was under that fig tree, was thinking about the nation of Israel. We know that the fig tree is a symbol of the nation of Israel.
He was probably thinking about how Israel had been chosen by God, but now, look at the condition of Israel. He must have been worried about the whole situation. He was concerned with the actual situation of the chosen people of God.
Perhaps he was thinking, “Where is the Messiah? When will the promises of God become true?”
But our Lord Jesus saw into him. He saw him not merely outwardly, but through and through. He said, “Thou art a true Israelite. There is no guile in thee.”
When Nathanael heard this, he said, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art King of Israel.”
The Lord Jesus said, “Thou shalt see greater things than these. 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.”
Nathanael was thinking only of the nation of Israel, the earthly people of God. What would be the future of the earthly people of God? But our Lord revealed to him something more: the heavenly reality.
Our Lord Himself is that ladder. He is the ladder that is set up on this earth. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
Our Lord is the ladder that connects earth to heaven. Our Lord is the ladder that connects man with God.
Men have gone astray. Men have sinned. Men are far away from God. Men are in a condition like Jacob was.
But God, in His mercy and grace, sent His only begotten Son into this world to connect man again with God, to bring man back to God.
The angels ascending and descending upon that ladder remind us that angels are ministering servants, sent to minister to those who shall inherit salvation.
You find the angels are very active, working, bringing God to man and man to God. But it is Christ who joins God and man together. All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, here you find that the reality has already come. Thank God that we have Christ Jesus as our ladder. Without Him we can never go to God, nor can God come to us.
He is the One who joins us together. When man and God are joined together, there is the house of God.
Brothers and sisters, even before the foundation of the world, God had a desire. He wants to dwell among men. This is God’s sovereign will.
We do not know why, except that it is love. Even before the foundation of the world, God already had this thought: He wants man to be His house.
Or we can put it another way. In the Bible, the word house can also be interpreted as the household of God. That is, the home of God.
Brothers and sisters, has it ever come to your mind that our God is homeless?
He who created the heavens and the earth, and yet He was homeless. The heavens and the earth could not satisfy His heart.
According to Isaiah 66:1-2:
Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto Me? and what manner of place for My rest?
For all these things hath My hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.
When you think of a throne and a footstool, does it give you any thought of a home? What impression does it give you? Heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool. This is God’s office.
Evidently, God created heaven and earth, and they are merely His office. That is where He works. But where is His home?
Does God dwell in a building made with man’s hands? No. Heaven and earth cannot satisfy His heart. But He looks for a people who are afflicted and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at His word. There God will dwell with them.
Here you find the story of Jacob again. Jacob was homeless. While he was at home, he never thought of such a thing. But now, being away from home, he began to think of his home.
He was a homeless person lying there on the ground, sleeping with a stone for his pillow. You can never think of a more pitiful situation than Jacob.
But there God opened heaven and showed him that God also was homeless. A homeless God met a homeless man, and the ladder joined these two together. There you find the house of God: God dwelling among men.
Brothers and sisters, this is God’s desire. Jacob was not prepared for that. I wonder, brothers and sisters, are we prepared for this?
The Lord has come into this world, and He has already joined man and God, God and man, together. But are we prepared for this vision?
You find that this is not only the house of God. Jacob said, “This is the gate of heaven.” Why is it so?
God is in heaven, and we are on earth. God is heavenly in His character and His nature; we are earthly in our nature. These two do not fit together.
You cannot bring the earth into heaven because they do not belong together. Something must be done.
Jacob realized that, as an earthly person, he could not be joined to God who is in heaven. But this vision opened the way.
The ladder would lead him from earth to heaven. He had to leave the earth behind, and through the ladder he had to ascend to heaven.
God has already come down from heaven to earth in the person of His beloved Son. The angels work God’s work. They minister to those who are redeemed in order to bring us out of earth into heaven.
When we first believe in the Lord Jesus, heaven is opened to us. But it is not God’s will that we should remain earthly and remain as Jacob, the supplanter.
Even at the time we are redeemed, there is much in us that is unfit for heaven, unfit for the house of God. These things have to be dealt with.
Everything that is earthly, everything that is natural, everything that is of the flesh, everything that is of this present world, everything that is not of God, everything that is not spiritual, everything that is not heavenly—God has to deal with us.
These things have to be cast off. The cross has to work in our lives, taking away all that is unfit for heaven and that cannot be in the house of God, in order that we may be transformed and conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.
Then we will truly be the house of God. We can dwell in Him, and He can dwell in us.
God’s house has to be like God.
Just as in any house where you live, if you stay in a hotel, you have to take it as it is. But your heart is not satisfied.
If you want to have your own house, if you want to have your own home, you will find that you want everything to fit your own taste. If it fits your taste, then you rest in your house. Otherwise, you will be restless.
So this is the house of God. The house of God has to be like God. Everything will speak of God’s nature and character. Only then can God rest.
Brothers and sisters, did it ever come to your mind how unfit you are for the house of God? Do you realize how much God has to work in our lives to take away all that is unfit?
He opens heaven to us. The gate of heaven is open. On the way, He will gradually transform us, that we will be like God and take on the character of God.
We will be conformed to the image of God’s Son. Then you will find that we are truly God’s house, and God can really rest among His people. At the same time, we rest in God.
Brothers and sisters, here you find Jacob, when he woke up, called the place Bethel. He set up the stone that had been his pillow as a pillar, poured oil upon it, and vowed a vow to God.
Here you find that he was still Jacob. Even though God had promised him so much, all the promises God gave to Abraham, God gave to Jacob.
God also assured him that He would be with him and would not leave him until everything was done. But look at Jacob.
He said, “If You really keep me, if You give me bread to eat and a garment to wear, and if You bring me back home, I will make You my God. This pillar shall be God’s house, and without fail I will give You a tenth.”
Jacob was still that bargaining Jacob. God gave everything to him freely. It was all of grace. But Jacob did not understand grace.
To him, everything had to be bargained for. Everything was conditional. He only expected a little bit from God, and even that little bit was conditional.
He said, “If You will do this, I will take You as my God. This stone pillar will be God’s house, and I will give You one tenth.”
Brothers and sisters, is this our condition? Sometimes we laugh at Jacob. Here was a man with such a tremendous vision, something that should have caught him up to the third heaven. Yet you find that he was still on earth.
He was still natural. He was still bargaining. There was no faith.
Brothers and sisters, are we like Jacob? God has opened heaven to us. He has revealed to us His heart’s desire. He wants to make us His own. He wants to dwell among us, and we are to have our dwelling in Him.
All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Yet, brothers and sisters, how little faith we have. We are still bargaining: “You do this little bit for me, then I will repay You.”
You find that it took God twenty years—twenty years of God’s work in Jacob.
God put him into situations to open his eyes and to show him who Jacob really was. In his father-in-law Laban, he saw himself. He met his match. It was a mirror image.
For twenty years he had to go through the grind. Gradually God began to transform him, to make him Israel instead of Jacob.
Even after he returned to Canaan, God met him at the river. God wrestled with him, and he wrestled with God the whole night.
He was strong until the Angel of God touched his thigh. Jacob’s strength went out, and he clung to the Angel of the Lord. He said, “Bless me. I will not let Thee go, because without Thee I have nothing now. All my strength is gone. I lean upon Thee.”
God said, “Thy name shall be called Israel,” the prince of God.
Yet, even after Jacob returned to Canaan, he was still using his own cleverness. He tried to arrange everything. He still cheated his brother.
God dealt with him and dealt with him. Finally, God told him, “Now you go back where you vowed unto Me.”
Jacob returned to Bethel and built an altar. This is in Genesis 35. God is the God of the house of God.
It is God who enables us to be His house. It is the work of grace that brings us into the reality of God’s house. God is the Almighty God. He is the all-sufficient God, and He does everything.
Brothers and sisters, this is the first mentioning of the house of God. All the spiritual principles of God’s house can be found in this story.
When we read Luke 15, we usually call it the story of the prodigal son because our emphasis and our attention are on the prodigal son.
We know that the prodigal son is our experience. We receive everything from God: our life, our talent, our time—everything is given by God.
Yet we went far away from God’s house and wasted everything on ourselves. We reduced ourselves to poverty—spiritual poverty. We had no hope. Death was before us.
We are all like the prodigal son. By the grace of God, it dawned upon us: “In my father’s house there is food to eat, and I am starving to death.”
When we really repent and return to God, we are still rather selfish. We return to God and believe in Jesus for our own sake. We do not want to go to hell. We want to go to heaven. We want to enjoy the Father’s bounty.
Everything is for us. God is for us. Christ is for us. When we are saved, we are rather selfish. But that is what we are; we cannot help it.
But we rarely think of what happened to the father. Actually, in the parable, the emphasis should be upon the father, not upon the prodigal son.
The father possesses everything. We want His possessions, but we do not want Him. We went far away from Him. We fell into sins and transgressions until we became hopeless.
Then we began to think of our father’s house—not the father, but the father’s house. The father has many servants and much food, and we are starving.
When we come back, what happens? The Bible says that when the prodigal son was still far from the house, his father saw him.
Perhaps the prodigal son began to wonder, “Will my father receive me again? I have spent away all that he gave me, and I am now reduced to a beggar. Will he ever forgive me?”
He may have traveled some distance, but that remaining distance between himself and the house was very difficult to travel. Perhaps he stood there and wept.
But the father was at the gate. Ever since the prodigal son left, every day the father had been standing at the door, waiting for his son to come back.
The father was homeless. He was in the house, but he was homeless. Without his son, his heart was broken. There he was, waiting for his son.
The Bible says that the old man ran to his son. The father forgave everything.
Brothers and sisters, our God, without us, is homeless. We need to know the heart of God, how His heart was broken over us, and how He wants us to be with Him.
He will transform us. He will take away our rags and put on us the best robe. He will kill the fatted calf, and He will rejoice because the son has returned.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Father’s house.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God, by His grace, He has brought us back. But the question is: Do we really desire God’s house?
Do we have the same desire for God’s house as God Himself?
Let us turn to Psalm 132.
Lord, remember for David
All his affliction;
How he sware unto the Lord,
And vowed unto the Mighty One of Jacob:
Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house,
Nor go up into my bed;
I will not give sleep to mine eyes,
Or slumber to mine eyelids;
Until I find out a place for the Lord,
A tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob.
Here you find the heart of David. David was a man after God’s own heart. In other words, David’s heart and God’s heart were one. His heart answered to God’s heart. He knew what was in God’s heart.
Here he said, “Lord, remember for David all his afflictions.” In the context of this psalm, even though David was a person who had been greatly afflicted—neglected by his father, despised by his own brothers, and persecuted by King Saul—he was truly a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
But I believe that he does not ask God to remember all his personal troubles and all his suffering. The affliction mentioned here is something specific: he was afflicted for God’s house.
That is the reason why he said, “I will not come into the tent of my home. I will not go up to my own bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes.” He made himself restless. He afflicted his own soul.
For what purpose? For finding a place for God to rest, a habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.
You know, David was for a long time a fugitive. He had to hide in caves, and he had to change his dwelling place continually. He was a homeless person.
As he was homeless, he thought of God. God was also homeless.
Brothers and sisters, after the ark came back from the Philistines, it was hidden in the house of Abinadab. Israel did not care for the ark of God. It was hidden there for twenty years.
During the time of King Saul, Saul never bothered to ask about the ark of God. But David, even when he was wandering in the wilderness, thought of God’s homelessness. He wanted to find a place for God.
As soon as he became king, the first thing he did was to take Jerusalem, because that was the place where God would set His name. The second thing he did was bring the ark to Zion and put it in a tent prepared by him.
He even had a desire to build God a permanent house. He could not rest unless God rested.
Brothers and sisters, this is David’s heart. We need to have this heart of David.
Brothers and sisters, are we concerned about God’s house? Are we concerned about God’s rest? Are we really occupied with finding God a habitation?
Or do we merely think about our own comfort and forget God? Brothers and sisters, we need to have the desire of David, because this is God’s desire.
When these two hearts come together, eventually you find the temple.
Dear brothers and sisters, in this first session, may the Lord open our inner eyes to look into the heart of God and see what He really desires.
At the same time, may the Lord have mercy upon us and create within us the same desire.
May we be willing to give up everything so that God may rest among His people. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou dost love us so much that Thou didst send Thy beloved Son into this world to seek and to save the lost.
How we praise Thee, O Lord, that Thou hast brought us back to the Father’s house.
Lord, we confess that our desire for Thy house is not strong. We are not prepared. We are not fit to be Thy house.
How we rebel against Thee again and again. How we neglect the working of Thy Spirit in us.
Thou dost desire to make us Thy dwelling place. Thou dost desire to rest among us. Forgive us for giving Thee restlessness.
Have mercy upon us. Enable us to submit ourselves to Thee in such a way that Thou art able to work out Thy full salvation, that Thou mayest rest among Thy people, and that we may rest in Thee.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.