In this message we shall consider the status of the church as the house of God and in the next message, the status of the church as the kingdom of God. In the Bible there is the principle that the house of God is closely related to the kingdom of God. In fact, the house of God and the kingdom of God cannot be separated.
The first mention of the house of God in the Bible is in Genesis 28. One night, when Jacob was escaping from his brother, he had a dream. In his dream he saw “a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (v. 12). When he awoke from sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (vv. 16-17). Then Jacob “took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel” (vv. 18-19a), which means the house of God.
This first mention of the house of God in the Bible is a seed that grows and develops elsewhere in the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus refers to Jacob’s dream in His word to Nathanael in John 1:51. “He said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” This is the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream, for Christ as the Son of Man with His humanity is the ladder set up on the earth and leading to heaven, keeping heaven open to earth and joining earth to heaven for the house of God-Bethel.
Jacob poured oil (the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the last person of the Triune God to reach man) upon the stone (symbol of the transformed man) that it might become the house of God. In chapter one of John we have the Spirit (v. 32) and the stone (v. 42) for the house of God with Christ in His humanity. It is significant, therefore, that according to the record of John 1, when Simon was brought to Jesus, the Lord looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone).” The Lord referred to this word of His when He spoke to Peter in Matthew 16:18 about the building of the church. Peter never forgot what the Lord said to him in John 1:42. It must have been from that word that Peter obtained the concept of living stones for the building of a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5), which is the church.
In the Old Testament the house of God, the temple, was in the city of Jerusalem. The holy temple was in the holy city. In two of the recovery books, Ezra and Nehemiah, this is emphasized. Ezra’s return to Jerusalem was for the rebuilding of the temple, but Nehemiah’s return was for the rebuilding of the city. God first has a house, and then this house is expanded, enlarged, into a city. In the Bible a city signifies a kingdom. The temple was a symbol of God’s house, and the city of Jerusalem was a symbol of God’s kingdom. Hence, the temple and the city, the house and the kingdom, are inseparable. Eventually, at the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, the house will be enlarged to become the city of New Jerusalem. Because the temple has become the city, John tells us that in this city he did not see a temple (Rev. 21:22). This indicates that the house of God has become the kingdom of God. God begins with the house. As the consummation of His work, the house becomes the kingdom. Therefore, God’s house cannot be separated from God’s kingdom nor can God’s kingdom be separated from God’s house. These two are a pair. Eventually, in the New Jerusalem, this pair becomes a single entity, for the entire kingdom will be God’s house. This means that the New Jerusalem will be a city-house, that is, a kingdom-family. This is the principle concerning the relationship between the house of God and the kingdom of God.
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