To Encourage You

2 Samuel 7:1-6 “Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ And Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.’  But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?  I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.”’”

2 Samuel 7:16-17 “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.  Your throne shall be established forever.” 

Are you impressed with church architecture? Some of the most magnificent buildings in the world are the church’s cathedrals.  There’s the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Westminster Abbey in London, and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.  Have you ever been to one of these places? Have you ever gazed at them in awe?  Over the centuries men have created these great buildings to the glory of God.  They were thought of as “the Lord’s house,” so no expense was spared in creating structures that, in men’s minds, were fit for Him. 

Looking back into biblical times we have the account of the disciples as they walked with Jesus outside Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem. We are told that “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple” (Matthew 24:1). They were impressed, so they thought He surely would be also.  Going further back in biblical history, before the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem, we have the account above from 2 Samuel. Here King David looks at the beautiful house in which he himself lived and was concerned that there was no building that had ever been constructed as a “house of God.” Up to that time, the symbol of God’s presence was a tent that was moved from place to place to house the ark of the covenant.  So we see in this early account man’s desire to build a magnificent house of God.  That this was in the heart of David was a good thing, and God stated so in 1 Kings 8:18.  Later, God would grant this desire through the temple David’s son Solomon would build. However, we see in the account from 2 Samuel 7 that God wanted to emphasize to David not the house David wanted to build for God but the house that God wanted to build for David.  This “house” God would point out, would not be just a building, but a kingdom that would never end. He was pointing to the coming kingdom of the Son of David, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This “house” would be so much more than a physical building made of bricks and wood.  Rather, as Paul told the Greeks in Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24). 

So, where does God live?  To what was Paul pointing? Of course, one place we immediately think of is heaven.  It’s where the Father rules with Jesus at His right hand.  However, perhaps more incredible than this reality are Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:16 where he tells the believers in the church at Corinth, “You are God’s temple and . . . God’s Spirit dwells in you.”  Likewise, Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 2:5: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  

You see, although men may have had every good intention in building the great temples and cathedrals in the world as a symbol of the dwelling place of God, it is not these things that we should be focused on.  In fact, when the disciples tried to impress Jesus by pointing out the great temple in Jerusalem, Jesus replied to them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2).  He was telling them that such structures, even one as impressive as the temple in Jerusalem, were nothing more than temporary buildings that would one day fall to the ground. That was true about that temple, and that’s true about every other cathedral, temple, or church building that has ever been built since that time.  So God would have us to know that these buildings, no matter how impressive they may seem, are as nothing compared to the house God would build, i.e., the church that is composed of the people in whom His Spirit dwells. That’s the “house” God is focused on. That’s the place where His blessings dwell. That’s the house God promised King David, and it’s the house He has promised all them that believe in Him as well.  It is this house that is the most glorious thing that has ever been built, and to be a part of this house is the most glorious thing any person can ever know.