What does the title make you think of? An ornate church, or a mosque or a temple? You may be surprised at what God Himself says.
The first time the phrase is used in the Bible is by Jacob, the ancestor of the Jews whose name was later changed to Israel. He was fleeing from a domestic crisis, heading east out of Canaan (the land of Israel) where the family were living. He spent the night in the open in the Judean desert, and God gave him a dream in which he saw angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth. God promised to go with him on his journey and bring him back, and renewed to him the promise of blessings which He had made to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. ‘Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”’ (Genesis 28:16–17).
The place became known as Bethel, which means House of God. It became an important location in the later life of Jacob and his family, and a village grew there. Most scholars identify it as the modern Arab village of Beitin in the West Bank. The physical location is less important than the spiritual significance of what happened to Jacob there—God promised that He would go with him, wherever he went.
The Temple
Jacob’s descendants established the nation of Israel, and some 800 years after Jacob’s momentous dream, David had established himself as king in Jerusalem. He wanted to make sure God was at the centre of the nation’s life, and he determined to build a temple. God said to him, ‘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 7:5–6). God does not need a temple, He is everywhere. As He later said through his prophet, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?’ (Isaiah 66:1).
Nevertheless, He made this promise to David: ‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever’ (2 Samuel 7:11–13).
There was a play on the words here. In Hebrew, as in English, ‘house’ can mean a building or a family. God said that He was going to build a dynasty for David. David’s son was going to build a house for God.
Like many Bible prophecies, this one had two fulfilments. David’s son Solomon built the temple on a hill next to the city of Jerusalem (1 Kings 6). But ultimately the promise to David was fulfilled by his greater descendant Jesus Christ. As the angel told Mary, Jesus’ mother: ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end’ (Luke 1:32–33).
The Household
Jesus never built a temple, but he built a ‘house’. The community of believers is described in the Bible as God’s household:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19–22).
When the Bible uses the word ‘church’, it’s a translation of the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ which means ‘gathering’ or ‘assembly’. It refers not to a building, but to the family of believers. (Christadelphians will often use the word ‘ecclesia’ rather than ‘church’ to avoid confusion, because the word ‘church’ has come to be associated with buildings.)
Buildings come and go. Solomon’s temple was destroyed (2 Kings 25), and rebuilt (Ezra 3); it was enlarged and enhanced by Herod at the time of Jesus, and destroyed again by the Romans in 70 ad (Matthew 24:2). It was replaced in the 7th Century by the Dome of the Rock, which stands there today. God tells us that in His Kingdom, after Christ’s return, the temple will be rebuilt on the site (Isaiah 2:2, Ezekiel 40–48).
For now, Christ’s followers are all involved in a construction project. It’s a great work, and it requires determination and diligence. ‘As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 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’ (1 Peter 2:4–5).
Chris Parkin