The “City” Whose Builder and Maker is God

• I will Dwell in the House of the LORD for Ever - The phrase of Psa 23:6 emphasizes the eternal character of salvation, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever”. Do we dwell in the “house of the LORD” now? Yes, we do if we are truly saved. This does not mean that we live in a church building. This does not mean that our home is in some kind of a physical temple. God spoke by the Apostle Paul to the people of Athens (and us) in Acts 17:24-28: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing... For in him we live, and move, and have our being ...”. The “house of the LORD” is Jehovah God Himself, as we also read in Psa 90:1, “LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations”. The “temple” refers to Jesus’ body in John 2:21, “But he spake of the temple of his body”. In 1 Cor 6:19-20 God makes the following assessment with regard to every believer: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”. The eternal body of believers (born-again) are those whom God has “called out” of the world (or Satan’s kingdom) and placed in His eternal kingdom – the Kingdom of Christ. Psa 65:4 is another beautiful illustration of God’s mercy in choosing and drawing His people to Himself: “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple”. There is an intimate relationship between God and His people – He is in them and they are in Him. They are considered the “body” of Christ, which is a living “temple of God”.  The word “abide” means “dwell”. When we are in Christ, we dwell in Him forevermore.

Acts 17:24-28: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring”

John 15:4-6 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

• The House of the LORD built on the Rock “Christ” - The “house of the LORD” or “Temple” symbolizes the eternal kingdom of God. Again, this is a picture of the elect of God who make up the house of the Lord or temple – both of which are representative of the eternal church. Although Paul spoke of himself as a “masterbuilder” in 1 Cor 3:10, we know that he often typified Christ in the New Testament just as Joseph, Moses, David, and others often typified Christ in the Old Testament. As the God-Man, Jesus has many dual roles – for example, He is both the Lamb and the Shepherd, the Sacrifice and the High Priest, the Savior and the Judge, and so on. Thus, we see Jesus Christ in 1 Cor 3 as the Foundation of God’s Building and also the Chief Masterbuilder, who is the Creator (Who “brings forth” everything). Thus, Christ (typified by Paul) is building (or bringing forth) His eternal church one living stone at a time, as we read in 1 Cor 3:10-11: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me [Paul], as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. The Lord Jesus is even typified by the pagan king, Cyrus, in Isa 44:28, “…He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid”. In 1 Pet 2:6 “Sion” (or “Zion” in the OT) refers to the spiritual Kingdom of God, and in verse 8 the “rock of offence” is referring to the Spiritual Rock – Jesus Christ: “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded”. In Mat 16:18 we see that Christ is the Spiritual Bedrock upon which He is building the eternal temple of God in Sion. This concept is further emphasized in 1 Cor 10:1-6: “... for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ ...”. We read more about that “Spiritual Rock” in the OT passage Exo 17:5-7. The “church” in the wilderness refers to the whole nation of Israel, which God “called out”, or “separated from”, the other nations of the world as a “congregation” or an “assembly”. The Greek word for “examples” in 1 Cor 10:6, is tupos (G5179), which means “type”, or “pattern”: “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted”. In other words, God is telling us that the things that happened to the Israelites were historical parables, or actual historical events that point us to various spiritual aspects of God’s salvation program. Sadly, God’s “congregations” who represented God's Kingdom on this earth have always rebelled against His Word in the “wilderness” of this world, during the OT and NT periods. However, God has been saving a people for Himself out of this whole miserable mass of humanity and has laid the strong foundation of His Spiritual House of believers upon that Spiritual Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. The “house” that God is “building” is the eternal, invisible “church”. It is the “household of God”, which is also called “an holy temple”. Thus, the Spiritual Body of Christ is the “habitation” (or “dwelling place”) where Triune God dwells.

Exo 17:5-7 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted [or tested] the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”

Acts 7:37-38 "This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively [or living] oracles [the Word of God] to give unto us:”

1 Cor 10:1-6 “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”

Eph 2:19-22 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

• The Gates of Hell shall not Prevail Against It - The eternal church is the body of true believers, who are the elect of God and who have been given eternal life through God’s salvation program. It is the True Church, which is an integral part of the heavenly kingdom of God: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Heb 12:22). God’s building of His eternal church is the focus and controlling factor for all of human history from the beginning to the end. The foundation “Rock” upon which the church is built can only be Jesus Christ Himself. He is the firm Foundation and also the Chief Master Builder as we have seen above. Mat 16:18 speaks of the “gates of hell” that cannot prevent God’s plan to save those who constitute the Eternal Church: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock [Christ] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Jesus Christ is called a “Precious Corner (Stone)” in Isa 28:16 (quoted in 1 Pet 2:6): “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste”. Just as Christ is the “Cornerstone” of the Temple, those individuals whom He has purchased with his blood (or life) are also referred to as “living stones” in 1 Pet 2:5, “Ye also, as lively [or living] stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. Since “rocks” and “stones” are inorganic and, as such, are inanimate (non-living) objects, God is obviously using parabolic, or figurative, language when speaking of both Christ and His people as “living stones” in this passage. Indeed, it is abundantly clear that the Apostle Peter is not the foundation “rock” upon which Christ’s “church” is built, as misinterpreted by theologians. He is just one of many “living stones” in God’s spiritual house. Each of these believers has the incomparable awareness that his body is now the temple of God. As incredible as that may seem, a true believer has become the dwelling-place of the living God, as Rom 5:9 teaches: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”. John 14:1-2, 23 also teach that God dwells in His people: “In my Father’s house are many mansions [mone:G3438]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [mone:G3438] with him”. The Greek word mone (G3438) that is rendered as “mansions” and “abode” in these two verses indicates that true believers themselves are “dwelling places” – that is, they are God’s “tabernacles”. 2 Cor 5:1-5 also brings out that our physical bodies are merely “tabernacles”, or tents that are used briefly during our earthly pilgrimage; but our eternal home is God Himself: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ...”. Of course, the “city which hath foundations” that Abraham looked for was this spiritual “New Jerusalem”, the eternal body of believers: “By faith he [Abraham ] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [tents] with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:9-10).

1 Pet 2:3-9 "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively [living] stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded [or disgraced]. 7Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar [purchased] people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

2 Cor 5:1-5 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”

Rev 3:12 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

• Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it - Mat 16:18 is just one of many verses in the Bible that has been tragically misinterpreted by theologians and church leaders over the centuries in order to establish the authority of the “church”, saying that the Apostle Peter is the foundation “rock” upon which Christ’s “church” is built: “And I [Jesus Christ] say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock [Jesus Christ] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. The foundation “Rock” upon which the church is built can only be Jesus Christ Himself. Apostle Peter is just one of many “living stones” in God’s spiritual house. Another example of how church leaders of our day have elevated themselves above the authority of the Word of God can be seen in the way they interpret 1 Tim 3:14-16: “... thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth ...”. It is clear from what we have learned that the “pillar and ground of the Truth” can only refer to “the Living God” and not to the earthly, institutional “church”. Just as the Old Testament Israelites were overcome by error and apostasy, so too were the New Testament churches; and there is now a great “falling away” from the True Gospel during the current Great Tribulation period. While Christ is the “pillar and ground of the Truth”, Satan is a Counterfeit Christ – deceptive show as an imitator of Christ. We read that he comes as “an angel [or messenger] of light” with his counterfeit “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:14-15) and he sits (or rules) in “the temple of God [the institutional churches], shewing himself that he is God” (2 The 2:3-4). Sadly, this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa 14 “abomination of desolation…” standing “… in the holy place”. Thus, the “earthly” Spiritual Body of Christ, which is the “habitation” (or “dwelling place”) of the Holy Spirit during the NT church age have become a “habitation” of demons. In Rev 18, God is speaking about the apostate churches and congregations of the world (which He calls Mystery Babylon) that have made their own doctrines and put themselves above the authority of the Bible and have become a “habitation” of demons. In the Bible God often refers to His “temple” in two ways: (1) the invisible, eternal body of true believers since “righteous” Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, who comprise the heavenly Bride of Christ, built by God on the strong foundation of Spiritual Rock – Lord Jesus Christ. (2) the visible, temporal congregations and denominations that have represented the Kingdom of God on earth. God refers to both types of temples as being “holy”, or “set apart” for God’s service. Sadly, God’s “congregations” have always rebelled against His Word in the “wilderness” of this world during the OT and NT periods. The temple, which is earthly, is built with two kinds of building blocks mixed together – durable materials (“gold, silver, and precious stones”) that represent saved – true believers and combustible materials (“wood, hay, and stubble”) that typify unsaved – false believers (1 Cor 3:12). Of course, the “fire” refers to the eternal wrath of God which will burn up the “wood, hay and stubble” in Hell. The eternal Church that Lord Jesus Christ built with himself as rock referred to in Luke 6:47-49, stands the test of the God's wrath.

2 Cor 11:14-15 “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

2 The 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the day of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasia:G646] first, and that man of sin [Satan] be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God [the institutional churches], showing himself that he is God.”

Rev 18:1-5 “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great [apostate churches and congregations] is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5For her [as opposed to the Bride of Christ] sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”

1 Cor 3:9-17 “For [believers] are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. 10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16Know ye not that ye [believers] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

Luke 6:47-49 “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

Psa 127:1 “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”