C. The Psalmist's Improved Experience
of the Enjoyment of God's House
with the Enjoyment of God

Now we come to the psalmist's improved experience of the enjoyment of God's house with the enjoyment of God. We may illustrate the enjoyment of God in God's house by considering the enjoyment in a wedding room. In traditional Chinese weddings, a wedding room is decorated and prepared for the bride and groom in order to make that room a very pleasant place. However, that pleasant room without the bride would be vanity. The enjoyment of the wedding room must be with the enjoyment of the bride. In the same way, the enjoyment of God's house must be with the enjoyment of God.

1. Dwelling in the House of God
for the Length of His Days

In Psalm 23:6 the psalmist spoke of dwelling in the house of God for the length of his days. We have seen that in Psalm 23 Christ as the Shepherd leads the church as His flock through five stages of enjoyment. Eventually, the sheep enjoy the Triune God as their goodness and kindness. Verse 6 says, "Surely goodness and kindness will follow me/All the days of my life,/And I will dwell in the house of Jehovah/For the length of my days." This includes the coming age, the age of the kingdom, and also eternity, the age of the new heaven and new earth.

2. Loving the Habitation of God's House and
the Place Where God's Glory Abides (Is Manifested)

In Psalm 26:8 the psalmist said, "O Jehovah, I love the habitation of Your house,/And the place where Your glory abides." To abide means to remain for manifestation. When the people of Israel raised up the tabernacle and when they built up the temple, the glory of God descended upon the tabernacle and the temple to abide there, to remain there, to be manifested to the people. The psalmist told the Lord that he loved the habitation of His house and the place where His glory abode, remained, to be manifested to His people.

We have to say, "O Lord, I love Your church, and Your church is Your habitation. Your church is the place where Your glory abides to be manifested today." Psalm 84 expresses the psalmist's love for the house of God, which is the kind of love we should have for the church today. We have a hymn in our hymnal based on the psalmist's expression in Psalm 84 of his love for God's dwelling place (see Hymns, #851).