I Lay in Zion.... A Study on the House of God
Edward J. Reiter
Copyright © 1997; 2004. FORTRESS ZION. All Rights Reserved
The House of God has been studied by lay people and Bible scholars alike. The Bible portrays a progressive path of where God has dwelt beginning with Moses, continuing on through David and culminating in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the House of God and we are individual "rooms" in Him---in which the Father and He desire to abide more fully.
INTRODUCTION
For years, practically since the dawn of civilization, mankind has been trying to build a house for God. Over the years the architecture has changed, but the desire has not.
It seems important for mankind to do this. Perhaps it is one way of showing our sense of debt in the face of God’s great provisions and His ultimate sacrifice at Calvary.
Houses of worship may differ in style and grandeur but they are alike in at least one sense, they each are attempts to solve the age old query in the back of our mind: what shall we do with God?
And yet, there is another question from another source that has always frustrated our attempt to somehow contain the majesty of His Presence. Neither walls of granite nor bamboo, floors of marble nor sand, have ever been able to answer this plaintive cry from the mouth of the Christian martyr Stephen:
Heaven {is} my throne, and earth {is} my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord or what {is} the place of my rest? (Acts 7:49)
The prophet Isaiah, whom Stephen quoted while defending himself against charges of blasphemy, gives insight into understanding the place God has longed to dwell in throughout the ages:
For all those {things} hath mine hand made, and all those {things} have been, saith the LORD: but to this {man} will I look, {even} to {him that is} poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)
God desires to dwell in people, not buildings.
He has already chosen the place where He will dwell, and has been patiently waiting for us to enter.
That place is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Father’s House is Jesus Christ.
God’s main interest lies in expanding His House.
For the past two thousand years, Jesus Christ has been making a place for us in His Father. If we are willing, we can enter into His courts with fullness of joy. The foundation, the way to the Father has already been designed:
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. (Isaiah 28:16)
It is not up to us to build a house for God. He already has one. It is up to us to decide whether or not we want to become part of the House that God is building.
If we choose to cooperate with God, if we will cease from our own religious attempts to build Him a home, we will find our place as living stones in the one true Temple of God.
We will discover in the future that our place in Him has become the Revelation of God to men.
...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. (Revelation 21:3)
CHAPTER ONE
The Lord {is} my song, and he is become my salvation: he {is} my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)
Moses exulted in the Lord along with the children of Israel through this song which glorified God for His marvelous deliverance of Israel through the Red Sea.
On the first glance it appears Moses is planning to build God a place to live in, a physical dwelling place. More correctly understood, Moses’ desire was to order his life so God might dwell in him, in his personality and body.
It is only as we come to understand that God does not dwell in places built with human hands, but instead desires to live in personalities that He has transformed through His Son Jesus Christ, that we begin to find our destiny.
Moses did, in a fact, construct a physical dwelling place for God. The Tabernacle of the Congregation was built according to instructions God gave personally to Moses on the mountain. And God was pleased to dwell there for a season, manifesting Himself in a cloud of smoke and pillar of fire above the Mercy Seat within the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies.
Yet, the Tabernacle was a means, not an end. The design of the Tabernacle itself pointed toward the true dwelling place of God, Jesus Christ.
Each of the seven major furnishings of the Tabernacle and their locations within the Courtyard, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place portray the Son of God and His redemptive work among mankind.
In the Courtyard, the Bronze Altar and the Brass Laver speak of the penalty for sin and the call to repentance. Jesus’ death on the cross at Calvary was foreshadowed by the daily sacrifices offered by the priests at the Bronze Altar.
In the Holy Place, the Table of Shewbread, Golden Lampstand and the Altar of Incense preceded Jesus’ ministering the born again experience, the Spirit-filled life and the call to war against God’s enemies within us and without.
The Most Holy Place declared Jesus’ role in reconciling us to God and leading us into His very Presence as typified by the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.
Over time the Tabernacle of the Congregation was replaced by Solomon’s Temple and its poor cousin which followed after the return from exile. Glory gained by the hand of man is soon lost by loss of self-control.
Herod’s Temple in all its glory was destined to be overturned, stone by stone at the hands of the Roman army. In the mean time, Jesus Himself ministered, suffered and died in order to become what God the Father wanted all along.
God the Father dwells only in Jesus Christ. It is as we make room in our personality for the Son that we prepare God a place of habitation. In the fullness of time, the Word of God became flesh so that flesh could become one with the Word of God.
Jesus came to make room for us, for you and me, in the Father. He was chosen from the beginning and always will be the only true Temple of God.
CHAPTER TWO
Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like high {palaces}, like the earth which he hath established for ever. (Psalm 78-67-69)
God chooses for Himself where He will dwell. All labor to build a place of our own liking for Him is vanity.
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh {but} in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
The Kingdom of God is not a democracy. In Western nations we are used to voting out of power those we are dissatisfied with politically. The rights of man, the rise of humanism, and other forms of man making himself god each resist the inherent sovereignty of God.
God chose the tribe of Judah to bring forth Israel’s Messiah. He did not choose Jacob’s first born, Reuben. He refused the tabernacle of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim. Instead, He chose Judah, likening it to Zion the stronghold of the city of David. Mount Zion, the fortress portion of Jerusalem, represents the warrior firstfruits of the Church, those who attain to the first resurrection and reign with Jesus Christ for a thousand years. From His dwelling place within this royal priesthood, God will expand His Kingdom rule over the new heaven and new earth.
The sovereignty of God in salvation is always a stumbling block to those intent on building God’s House for Him. In our zeal to serve Him, especially during the time of our first love, we often forget that salvation originates with God.
We long to prove ourselves worthy of God’s sacrifice for us on Calvary so we strive to make converts, very often through proselytizing. By focusing on numbers, on church growth, and the size of our manmade sanctuaries, we attempt to satisfy our inner drive to justify the call of God in our life. In so doing we leave farther and farther behind the sovereignty of God and begin substituting our own ideas for building His House.
Our temples are replete with finery and fashion, but often His Presence is absent. The larger and more ornate our handiwork becomes the easier it is to equate the House of God with a building, a location, a material place. People talk of going to the House of God, meaning their place of worship, forgetting that they themselves have been called to be living stones in a spiritual temple inhabited by God.
God does not inhabit temples of wood and stone. His Presence may come to such places from time to time, but it will not abide there forever. His choice, His eternal dwelling place, the relationship He has chosen, is founded upon the Person of Jesus Christ and those in whom He dwells.
As we daily present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, as we learn to pray without ceasing, as we give time and talent to edifying the saints, we bring the Presence of God into our physical house of worship.
In so doing, we allow God to build His House in the manner He has chosen. We learn to let go of our plans for saving our family, for saving the world. We cease building the House of God in our own wisdom and strength.
Over time, by allowing God to build His House we begin to enter the rest of God, the work He finished from the foundation of the world. Ceasing from our own dead works, our obedience to Christ begins to bring forth the fruit of a new creation from within us. Those around us begin to glorify God in the light of our good works. Our priestly role increases in scope, bringing Christ to the nations.
God the Father in the Son dwelling in His saints establishes the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
CHAPTER THREE
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. (Isaiah 28:16)
The strength of God’s House is the foundation. Because the foundation is the very Word of God, it can withstand any assault. Because that Stone has been tried in the fire of God’s testings it is a sure anchor for those stones built upon it.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. (Matthew 7:25)
Because of the nature of the great rebellion around the throne of God in the spiritual realm God turned to the only sure foundation He could trust, His Son the Word of God.
To make sure that such a betrayal of powerful archangels would never again occur, the Father chose Jesus to be the foundation stone for a new creation, a new race of beings, mankind.
Thy throne, O God, {is} for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom {is} a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Psalms 45:6,7)
Though He was One with the Father, Jesus Christ came to earth and was born in a manger filled with straw. From the highest throne He descended to the womb of Mary to be born in a stable. His purpose was to make room in Himself for people who would turn away from their pride and humble themselves by believing in a carpenter from Nazareth.
Placing Himself in submission to Joseph and Mary, yet always looking to His heavenly Father, Jesus learned obedience. He became the corner stone, the chief stone of the living Temple of God.
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:8,9)
In His daily life, through submission to His earthly parents Joseph and Mary, in His relations with His siblings and His extended family throughout Galilee, Jesus illustrated that it is the condition of the human heart that is more important to God the Father than the physical location and place where that heart worships Him.
What is it worth if we enter a majestic golden gilt cathedral if our heart is not right with God? We can listen to lofty choir voices with upraised hands glorifying God and yet be a thousand miles from His Presence.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with {their} lips; but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8)
True, those around us may not know the condition of our heart, they may in fact be overly impressed with our pious posture, yet God and we ourselves know the whole truth. In such a case the place where we worship is desecrated by a heart that is not in union with its Maker.
Jesus always kept His heart right before God. His heart, His mindset and attitudes were always obedient to the Father’s will. He sought no place to worship God; instead, His very life was a sacrifice of praise and obedience offered continually upon the altar of God. In this He Himself became the habitation of God, a human body in which God could dwell in peace.
Whether He entered a peasant’s hovel or walked in the shadows of the Temple Mount, God the Father was alive in Him. Wherever Jesus went, the Father went along also. Jesus brought the Presence of God to every place He visited. Jesus makes every location a house of worship.
With the heart and will of Jesus Christ as the foundation stone of His Presence, the Father is secure in developing His ultimate intention. Once the Father found rest in His Son, then He knew that in whatever human heart Jesus came to abide in He, too, could find rest.
When we abide in Christ, He is enlarged in His role as the House of God. Every person in whom Christ dwells in image and rest becomes part of the House of God. For this reason God the Father sent Jesus, to make further room in His Son for others to worship God in spirit and truth.
CHAPTER FOUR
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. (John 14:2)
For countless years the Christian Church has interpreted this verse to mean that Jesus was going to prepare a place for us in Heaven, the spiritual Paradise. As a result, we have misplaced the goal of our redemption.
Instead of a right relationship with God, becoming an integral part of His House, the emphasis was changed to living in a fancy building.
At the time the King James Bible was written, a mansion was an ordinary home. Over time the word mansion came to be interpreted as a large ornate building meant for royalty or nobility.
The Greek word for mansion in John 14:2 is abode, or dwelling place. There is no inherent emphasis upon a stately majestic home.
When we make our goal a building in Heaven, we lose the purpose for which Jesus came, to make room for us in Himself for the Father.
Jesus was telling His disciples that He was going to the Father. Not once in the following verses or chapters does it state that He was going to Heaven. Repeatedly it does state that He was returning to the Father.
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come {again} unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. (John 14:28)
But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? (John 16:5)
A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. (John 16:16)
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. (John 16:28)
Far better for us that He was indeed returning to the Father instead of Heaven. His return to relationship is far greater than His return to an idyllic location in which the Father also happens to live.
In order for us to become part of God’s House, Jesus Christ had to be crucified for the sins of mankind. A wound was opened in His side by a Roman soldier’s spear. Through that wound we enter into the House of God.
The disciples wanted Jesus to remain with them. Even after His resurrection they misinterpreted His coming to mean that God was going to displace the Roman Empire with a renewal of the Jewish kingdoms of time past.
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
Jesus did not come to displace corrupt political powers. He came to displace evil spiritual powers which turn men’s hearts against God.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
It was necessary for Jesus to die to satisfy God’s penalty for sin and rebellion. Had Jesus returned to the Father without going to Calvary, mankind would yet remain in bondage to Satan.
By laying down His life, by enduring the shameful nakedness of the cross, Jesus Christ brought an end to Satan’s stranglehold upon man. An innocent sacrifice for guilty men, He became the Author of salvation to all those that believe and obey Him.
Jesus returned to the Father, not Heaven. His return was marked by taking His place at the Father’s right hand, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. Sin’s price paid, salvation’s process made available, Jesus made it possible for the House of God to be enlarged by every disciple who enters by faith and obedience.
Jesus Christ is the House of God, and in Him are many more dwelling places for the Father to live in: human hearts transformed from disobedient slavery to sin and rebellion into righteous living stones in the Temple of God.
CHAPTER FIVE
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner {stone}; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:20,21)
In Ephesians Chapter Two, the Apostle Paul encouraged the Gentile saints at Ephesus that through faith in Christ they had been reconciled to God along with the Jewish believers. No longer was there a difference between Greek and Jew in the sight of God.
Ephesus was a thriving community in Asia Minor, long influenced by Greek history. When these people were reached with the Gospel there was conflict over whether or not they were required to keep the Jewish ceremonial law.
To the Apostle Paul alone was given the revelation of the Body of Christ. God granted to him the understanding that faith in Christ, being identified with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection, made a person part of Israel, God’s chosen.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither {is that} circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he {is} a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision {is that} of the heart, in the spirit, {and} not in the letter; whose praise {is} not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:28,29)
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3,4)
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace {be} on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15,16)
Those whom God has joined to Christ are made part of the House of God. The wall of difference between Jew and Gentile was brought down by the cross. The purpose was to make people of all races eligible to become part of God’s dwelling place.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition {between us}; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, {even} the law of commandments {contained} in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, {so} making peace; (Ephesians 2:13-15)
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19)
In Christ there came into being one new man. In that one new man there is no longer any benefit to be accrued from race or creed. The individual members of this Temple exhibit unity of faith and spirit. They are one in purpose and function. All exist to work together to please God, to be made worthy of His Presence.
As such, they are living stones in a living temple. Not only are they dwelling places for God, they are the priests who minister in the House of God.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
We who are abiding in Christ are becoming part of the House of God. As we are built up into the House of God we are to become ministers offering sacrifices to God.
God is not interested in dead temples made of wood and stone, even if covered with gold and furnished with marble. He desires His Temple to be alive, to be made up of willing hearts offering continual praise and thanksgiving, and righteous behavior.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-6:15)
Our spiritual sacrifice comes when we pick up our cross and follow Jesus as His disciple. We must move beyond being churchgoers and become disciples of Christ. We must let our light (our good works) shine so others may glorify God.
There is no sacrifice when we are over relying upon God’s grace to excuse our sin. Christ came to free us from sin. When we sin, we are the servants of sin, and no light shines forth to the nations. God’s grace makes it possible to cease from our sin, to be transformed in character and integrity.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:15,16)
We minister acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God through abiding in Christ. He makes it possible for us to behave in a righteous manner, increasingly and consistently. When we name the name of Christ but do not depart from iniquity, we have become the house of Ichabod, from which God’s glory has departed.
Christ came to make us a holy priesthood. He has the power to accomplish this task if we will cooperate with Him. If we persist in unbelief, if we insist that righteousness is not required, we become dead stones, dishonorable vessels no longer fit for the Master’s use.
When we obey Jesus, and keep His commandments we love Him. By abiding in Him and obeying Him we can overcome sin and the world. If we do the Father and He will come to make their abode (mansion) within us and we will no longer desire to leave His Presence again.
CHAPTER SIX
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, {which is} new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and {I will write upon him} my new name. (Revelation 3:12)
If we abide in Christ and His word abides in us we can overcome all the enemies of God. We overcome one day at a time by choosing righteousness instead of sin. Each time we overcome sin we are built up more in Christ Who gives us more strength to overcome evil.
The overcomer is rewarded by being made a pillar in the Temple of God. Pillars are essential structural elements which bear great weight. The saint who overcomes Satan through abiding in Christ, keeping His word, and being transformed into a new creation, will become one who bears great responsibility in the coming Kingdom of God.
As such an integral part of the House of God the overcomer will no longer go out from God’s Presence. This does not mean he will no longer leave God’s physical location, but rather wherever he goes, the Presence of God goes with him.
Upon the overcomer the name of God and His city, the new Jerusalem, is written.
Wherever the overcomer may travel in the eons to come, people and spiritual beings will be faced with the name of God. God’s name will be in every location.
To have God’s name written upon us is beyond comprehension. In such a relationship we are God’s ambassadors, representing Him in every deed and thought. Those whom we approach will be facing God’s character and Person. The Temple of God will have become mobile, no longer fixed in one place.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. (Revelation 21:2,3)
On the new earth the necessity of one central place where mankind can meet God will no longer be applicable. The misapplication of building physical structures for God to visit will be long forgotten. Instead, the Body of Messiah Jesus, those in whom the Father and the Lamb dwell, will be the Temple, and God at long last shall dwell at rest with His people.
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22)
CONCLUSION
For some long time people have been trying to build a house for God.
No matter how hard they tried, they have never succeeded.
Why?
Because God already has a house to live in.
His House is Jesus Christ, and those in whom Jesus dwells.
God’s house is alive, a living Temple.
It is made of hearts filled with righteousness, holiness and obedience.
Any of which are far more valuable than wood, stone, gold and silver.