The House Of God

by Toms, A. F. | Category: A Centenary Review Of Major Themes | Sept 1988

"It cannot be denied" wrote early editors of Needed Truth, "that one of the most important and most needed lines of truth given by revelation of God ... remains almost without exponent in the press, certainly without serial exposition".

"If for a moment some may feel surprise at this assertion... we would venture to suggest that such should ask ... how much they have seen in any paper ... of direct teaching as to that 'house of God which is assembly of the living God, pillar and ground of the truth'? or how much they have been helped to understand 'the things concerning the kingdom of God' by ministry in any ... reliable periodical?" They go on to explain that it was to bring these great truths to the attention of believers everywhere that the magazine was launched. One hundred years later that is still our purpose.

Separated to do God's Will

The issue of the magazine coincided with a deep movement of God's Spirit in the hearts of many in regard to these truths, and for a while they attempted to teach them among the companies of Brethren with whom they were associated. But it soon became clear that if they were to give expression to them in the way they believed God was urging them to do, it would be necessary to separate. So around 1895 the Spirit of God led them out of their previous associations to gather together in churches of God formed according to the New Testament pattern. About those days James Brown wrote from Christchurch, New Zealand, "Some of us can recall how God stirred up our spirits when our spiritual fathers, some gone, some still with us, spoke on these great truths". It was a very costly separation, for they parted company with those whom they loved dearly, but the call of God was upon them and they came out, as Dr. C.M. Luxmoore wrote at the time, with "His word our only creed, His glory our only aim".

The subject of the house of God was one of the major themes of divine truth which those early brethren discovered in God's word and which they obviously loved so dearly. Its advancement became the chief objective of their lives. That they were occupied in something which is very dear to the heart of God is without question, for the truth of it occupies such a prominent place throughout the Scriptures.

God's Desire Realized

The idea of God dwelling among men on earth first came from His own heart, as was pointed out in the first issue of this magazine, in an article entitled "Let them make Me a sanctuary". The title is taken from God's word to His people after He had redeemed them from Egypt, baptized them to Moses their new leader in the cloud and in the water of the Red Sea, and brought them to mount Sinai where they pledged their obedience to all that He commanded. Then God said, and not before, "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (Ex. 25:8). At His invitation the willing-hearted brought their gifts in lavish abundance and the wise-hearted used them according to the pattern Moses had received from God. The result was a movable tabernacle in which God was pleased to dwell, and the people of Israel had the unique privilege of pitching their tents around God's Tent, and having the eternal God dwelling in their midst.

Later Solomon built Him a magnificent temple which was to human eyes at any rate, more worthy of Jehovah God than the movable tabernacle, but Solomon asked in wonder "will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" (2 Chron. 6:18). The amazement Solomon expressed has been shared by many down the centuries, for the contemplation is overwhelming. If heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, how much less any house men might build, whether material as in past ages, or spiritual today. Yet He desires to dwell among men on earth. Such is the heart of our God.

Obedience Required

In 1926 George Nelson pointed Out that God dwelling among His people was based on the two important facts of their redemption and separation. They declared themselves willing to obey His word as it affected every area of their lives, and their obedience to it separated them to the God whom they served. We should remember this as we turn our thoughts now from Old Testament example to New Testament principles, and consider the questions posed by W.J. Lennox, a frequent writer in the early volumes of Needed Truth. "Is it so, or is it not so", he asked, "that the house of God is a New Testament expression as well as an Old Testament one? and if used in the New Testament, what does it represent?"

New Testament Principle

These are pertinent questions and the plain answer to the first must be yes, it is so, for many New Testament scriptures refer to God's house. Hebrews 3:6, for example, refers to Christ as Son over God's house. This does not refer to the temple into which He came as a boy of twelve and for which He showed Himself so zealous in His manhood when He cleansed its courts of the money changers' tables. It was still His Father's house at that time, but soon afterwards He described it as "your house ... left unto you desolate" (Mat. 23:38). Its desolation was evident when at His death God rent its veil from top to bottom, signifying the divine Presence was no longer there. The material house had given place to a spiritual house of which Peter wrote in his first epistle, "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" (2:5).

George Horne pointed Out in Needed Truth in 1942 that the people to whom Peter wrote were first redeemed by blood (1 Pet. 1:18) and then they purified their souls in their obedience to the truth (1:22), and only then as they came in obedience to Christ the corner-stone were they built into God's house, in line with Him whose word they were obeying.

Holy Priesthood Service

In this passage the house of God is associated with the priestly service of the people of God, with the Lord Jesus as their great high priest. So the One who is Son over God's house in the absolute authority vested in Him by His Father, is also "a great priest over the house of God" (Heb. 10:21), serving as "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man" (Heb. 8:2). The importance of the truth of God's

house is emphasized to our hearts when we understand the exalted position the Lord Jesus occupies in relation to it. If God delights in it so greatly and the Lord Jesus serves in it so prominently, we must search the Scriptures to discover where it is to be found today and how we may find our place in it.

Not Synonymous with the Body of Christ

Many believers have equated the house of God with the Church which is His Body, in which all born again persons have a place, but how can that be when Hebrews 3:6 says "whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end"? Clearly our place in God's house depends upon our holding fast, whereas every believer is eternally secure in the Church which is His Body.

Away back in 1897 W.J. Lennox challenged his readers with some more pertinent questions. "Were believers in Corinth house of God by ... being in Christ? ... or was ... obedience necessary?... Were they temple of God by being living stones? or did those stones require to be built together?" Of course they required to be built together, and men were the builders in this case, for Paul described himself to the Corinthians as "a wise master builder" (1 Cor. 3:10). He came to Corinth with the gospel and souls were saved. To saved ones he taught the word of God for 18 months (Acts 18:11) and his new converts learned

the way of God for them in their lives and service. The obedient ones were built together into "the church of God in Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2), built on the foundation of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11) and His apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). On that same foundation of all that Christ commanded (Mat. 28:20), the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), we are required to build today.

The House not in Ruins

It is a vain thing to say the house of God is in ruins, as some believe. Why should it lie in ruins while the pattern for building is still in our Bibles? When it lay in ruins in Joshua and Zerubbabel's day God's word through Haggai was, "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD" (1:8). We are persuaded He takes similar pleasure today as we seek to build for Him according to the pattern of His word. That is precisely what our forefathers did, as they have so painstakingly made clear in the pages of this magazine. We write now to stir other hearts among those who love our Lord Jesus to rise up and build with us.

The Place of the Name

God put His name on each house they built for Him, whether it was in Moses' day or Solomon's or the remnant people's, and to that place of the Name they were instructed to bring their gifts and sacrifices. God was most

insistent about that, as Deuteronomy 12 makes plain. They were not to worship Him in any place but in the place of His choice. Even when many in Israel were offering at their high places in open defiance of God's word, the place the Name still stood as God's witness to His truth. That point is made by James Brown writing in 1942. It has relevance for us today, for Paul's instructions in chapters 2 and 3 of 1st Timothy were written so that Timothy would know "how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God... the pillar and ground of the truth" (3:15). It was the place where truth was based in that day and God put His name to it. And He still does. The churches of God, fitly framed together to form the house of God, a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:21,22) are pledged to obedience to the whole counsel of God. We write in no sense of pride, rather in much humility, for we cannot claim that our spiritual condition has always (if ever) matched the high stand we have taken on God's word. But it doesn't alter the fact that "the firm foundation of God standeth" (2 Tim. 2:19) and on this sure foundation of His word we are commanded to build for God. Who will build with us? Who will "measure the pattern" (Ezek. 43:10) in God's word and, not counting the cost, rise up and build for God in obedience to His word? There's room for builders today and still time to build on the foundation, till Jesus comes.

Toms, A. F. | Sept 1988
A Centenary Review Of Major Themes