What is the house of God?...
"For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all things is God. And Moses was indeed faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ as a Son over His own house; and we are His house, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end" Hebrews 3:4-6. This House is us; it is all those who believe. Both in the tabernacle and in the temple, His glory, His 'shekinah' was only manifested because everything was made according to the model that was given by God and the model was from heaven.
What was a model became reality on the day of Pentecost, when His glory descended upon those 120 people, and remains upon His Church in all generations, until today.
From then on the temple was no longer necessary, and it was completely destroyed and remains so to this day. The people of Israel want to rebuild it, but God no longer needs it, for He already has His sanctuary.
In John 2, from verses 13 to 21, Jesus prophesies about His Church.
The title speaks of purification of the temple, but Jesus did not wish to purify that temple; at that moment He was speaking that what had always been a figure was going to become reality in Him.
The temple to which He referred was the temple of His body, not the physical one, for He was already prophesying about the House of His Father, the spiritual House which is His Body, of which He is the head, and the children of God its complement (Eph. 1:22-23).
Jesus called that temple a house of business, because everything that is not His House, and that does not have His Presence, the glory of God, is a house of business. What by many is called the house of God became a house of business (Jer. 7). God does not dwell in temples made by human hands. If the Lord Jesus (YESHUA) is not the head of the church; if His Presence and His Glory are not upon it, He will never consider it as His Church.
What conforms to the world is called by God Babylon, which had its beginning in Babel.
The things of God are discerned spiritually, and everything that is apparent, visible, cannot be called His House; the House of God is a living temple, built with living stones, from the cornerstone.
It is spiritual, it is celestial; the House of God also has no outward beauty. As in the tabernacle, its glory could only be seen on the inside; whoever looked from outside saw something strange, only animal skins, but its interior was glorious; on the outside it showed the humanity of Christ, but on the inside His divinity.
Contrary to the world that wants to show visible things that are attractive to men, the Church of the Lord has no beauty nor comeliness that they should desire it. It is poor and weak in its appearance, and just as its founder was regarding His humanity, so its members are despised and the most unworthy among men because of their deeds and their doctrines (Rev. 2:9 and 3:8).
One day it will be glorious, as a most precious stone, transparent as crystal, but today it has the same appearance as the tabernacle and Christ in His humanity. Whoever sees it from outside finds nothing attractive in it, because its Glory is on the inside, in the Person of Christ, who is the life of His saints and who is in the midst of His people.
In the tabernacle, sinners could only enter the courtyard; only the priests saw its inner Glory, and only the high priest saw all its Glory in the holy of holies. Today, as royal priests, we can see His Glory and minister in His House. Only our High Priest knows all His Glory. Only He penetrated the heavens physically, and one day He will return from there, but we can already enjoy His Glory inasmuch as we are already His House. And through Christ, we have access to the holy of holies place, by the new and living way that He inaugurated for us (Heb. 10:19-20); this holy of holies is our God Himself.
If we try to visualize the House of God, or without understanding call a place His House or His Church, we run the risk of losing what the Lord has built. When God gave Moses and David the design of the House, that design was from heaven. Today we enjoy what is the true tabernacle that God founded and not man (Heb. 8:2). Today we live the reality of what for them was only a model, a figure. This reality is spiritual and not visible.
If we do not look with spiritual eyes, we will be in great confusion, and will continue causing divisions among God's people. Every son of God ministers in this sanctuary, for he is a royal priest. When God looks at His Church He sees her complete, with Christ as her head, one part of her complement in heaven, and another here on earth (Eph. 3:14-15). For the celestial to manifest itself first the earthly had to come (1Cor. 15:46-47); thus Christ needed Mary to have His human body so that the celestial (God) could present Himself to the world.
The House of God or the Church of Jesus Christ are all the saints in heaven and on earth, and the Lord Jesus the head over all. Therefore every son of God has already come to Mount Zion, to the City of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the Universal Assembly and church of the firstborn inscribed in the heavens, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus head over all (Heb. 12:22-24). It is not something tangible as verse 18 says, but of faith. An unshakeable kingdom.
If we call a place a church, or exclude any brother, even someone who is already in heaven, we still do not understand what the House of God is, or the Church of the living God. What we call church, what is visible, tangible, the Lord calls the world in the parable of the tares and the wheat (Mat. 13:36-43).
The House of God is spiritual and only true worshippers see it. As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, whoever worships on the mountain, or needs a temple to worship, worships what he does not know (John 4:20-24). God is Spirit and everything that relates to His world is also spiritual. There are many who call themselves worshippers, but God seeks true worshippers, as Jesus said, who worship Him in spirit and in truth.
In Hebrews 3:5, the Word says that Moses was faithful over the house of God as a servant. This should be our attitude toward the House of God. He with all the knowledge of Egypt could have placed his hands and knowledge to build the tabernacle, but he did not; he conducted himself as a faithful servant.
David also wanted to make a house for God, and God revealed to him the Church when He said: "...the Lord declares to you that He will make you a house...but also spoke of the house of your servant for distant times" II Samuel 7:11 and 19. If God had allowed David to make a house for Him, and certainly he already had the project in his heart, what would it be like? He had the ability and financial means to do so, for he had already built a beautiful house for himself, but God did not accept his project, as majestic as it was, because it surely did not express Christ, but human glory.
God is the one who has made us a House. He is the architect and builder of this work. In the construction of the tabernacle and the temple, Moses and David were faithful servants, obedient servants. Just as the Lord kept them from making a house for Him, may the Lord also keep us from doing something for God with our own hands, intelligence, and financial means.
OBSERVATION: I do not want brothers to misinterpret me with my exposition; I am not against the construction of buildings to receive the Church, I am against idolatry of it, for many value the building called temple more than the members that make up the Church.
May God bless you.
Pastor José Ramos