God’s house

There are over 80 references to the “house of God” in the Bible, and every one of them refers to the Temple. The idea that the temple was not merely a place of worship but actually God’s house came from God himself. The temple was patterned after the tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build in the wilderness. God’s express purpose for constructing the tabernacle was, “that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8) Many years later, when David desired to build God a house, God told him that he was not the one to “Build me a house to dwell in.” God then went on to tell him that his son Solomon would be the one who would “Build a house for my name.”

The temple was, in essence, the tabernacle only larger. The word used to refer to the temple is the Hebrew word meaning, “house.” The word most often used to refer to the tabernacle was a different Hebrew word but also meaning house, or tent – implying the portable nature of the tabernacle. (See 2 Samuel 7:6) Ultimately both the tabernacle and the temple were understood to be God’s house.

But there is another word used to refer to both the tabernacle and the temple that gives us more insight into God’s house. When God first Gave Moses the command to build the tabernacle, he referred to it as a “sanctuary.” This word is an entirely different word that comes from a root meaning, “clean, holy or sanctified.” By using this word God was indicating that, because the tabernacle and the temple after it were the dwelling place of a Holy God, they were not merely houses, but holy houses.

Several passages in the reigns of the Kings of Israel refer to God’s house being “defiled” by the introduction of some impure elements. We can see one example of this in 2^nd Chronicles 29:5, where King Hezekiah ordered the priests to “consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.” The priests did so in verses 15-19, cleansing the house over an eight-day period.

At this point you might be thinking to yourself, “Well, that’s all interesting, but what does any of it have to do with me today?” Actually, quite a bit! The New Testament makes it very clear that the “temple” God dwells in now is his people! In 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19 Paul asks this question: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” And again in 2 Corinthians 6:18 he tells us, “We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them…”

Most Christians have at least some idea that they are in some sense a “temple” of God. But I think all too often we forget that we are also “sanctuaries” – that is holy, clean, pure and sacred houses. In 2 Corinthians 6:17 God admonishes us, as His temples, to “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing.”

God has called us not only to be houses, but holy houses in and through which He can live. In light of these promises, Paul goes on to admonish us to: “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Think about yourself as a both a temple and a sanctuary for God’s Holy Spirit today. Ask yourself if there are things you have been putting into your spirit, mind, or body, that are defiling the sanctuary of God. If there is anything, “separate” and “purify” yourself from it at once, so that you may always be a “house of God” that is “sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21)