THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE VALUE OF LIVING IN IT
[p. 63] THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE VALUE OF LIVING IN IT
GM I suggested this scripture because it states formally that the saints are God’s house. The question is often raised, What is the house? So it is better to have a formal statement from Scripture, “Whose house are we”.
HB Why is the condition brought in “if indeed we hold fast”?
JT Because the house of God is a real formation; it refers to those indwelt by the Spirit. It is not fair to connect it with an unreal state of things; it is not scriptural. It is connected with a real state of things, persons indwelt by the Spirit. It is well to have clearly before us what it is at present. We are the house of God in a provisional way; we are not always to be that. Moses is said to have been a faithful minister in God’s house. There are three men in the Old Testament, who stand in a special way connected with the house — Jacob, Moses and David. In Genesis 28 you get the first mention of the house in Scripture; then in the Psalms it is stated positively that David would not give sleep to his eyes, till he found a place for Jehovah; but Moses was a servant in the house, whereas when we come to the antitype of Moses, Christ is Son over it, and Son over it as the One who has built it.
Ques Would you say His death is the foundation of the house?
JT Yes. David had light as to the foundation; it was laid where the sword of Jehovah was sheathed. It will be remembered that when David numbered the people, he incurred the displeasure of Jehovah, and the sword of Jehovah was set to destroy the city. David accepted the full responsibility of the guilt, and he has guidance as to approaching God on [p. 64] mount Moriah. He was afraid to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was, where that which represented the first covenant stood, but he did approach on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite; and he discerned that God accepted his sacrifice there. The sword of Jehovah was sheathed there, and that actually took place in the death of Christ; so the foundation of the house is clearly laid in connection with the complete execution of justice on the man in the flesh, and, at the same time, man is accepted there. That light has to enter our souls as to the foundation of the house. David prepares immediately for the house, following on that.
JS Why is the first thought of the house in connection with heaven in Jacob? “This is the gate of heaven”.
JT I think that he felt God was there; that is another point in regard to the house; it must be so. Jacob was not equal to the presence of God! God was there, and the house is in close proximity to heaven, though it may be instituted on earth. Was it in your mind that some take account of it like this, not as a very happy place, Mr. M.?
GM Well, I do not know; it often seems to young people as if it were not a very congenial place.
GN That is the view from the outside. Jacob said, “How dreadful is this place!”
Ques Was Jacob an object of interest to heaven?
JT Yes; a lonely wanderer, and a man who had established a very bad reputation; but with all that, an object to heaven.
Rem The ladder is the link with heaven.
JT Yes; the angels of God are ascending and descending on it. As to the significance of that, it refers to Christ; He only could be an object to heaven. It is alluded to in John 1, “Henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man”.
[p. 65] Ques What are the greater things the Lord alludes to in John 1?
JT The things of christianity; man as such — the Son of Man — should be an object to heaven, not Israel.
GN Why do you give David precedence over Solomon?
JT David had the light of the house; Solomon simply carried out things according to the light David had. David had light as to it, and got it, as I said, by seeing that the foundation was to be laid where the sword was sheathed. It is a great point to get hold of; man is accepted on the ground of sacrifice and on that spot (mount Moriah, in the type) where the flesh is condemned. He discerned that that was the spot where the house should be, and that is for us to see. The flesh is refused there, and man is accepted — the house is for man. 1 Chronicles is really greater than what follows; not only do you get the foundation of the house, but the service of the singers and others all provided by David. So Solomon only puts into effect what is suggested by David. David tells us formally that he had the pattern of all these things by the Spirit, and what hindered him building was simply that he had been a man of war.
Moses had to do with the house as a more provisional thing, not as a permanent fixed abode. Moses had to do with the house in a contrary scene, in the wilderness. It is important to see where the ministry of Moses stands in the ways of God; the order of the house comes in in connection with his ministry. He got his commission at Horeb, and he was to take the people out of Egypt to serve God there at Horeb. There the covenant was given, and the order of the house. In regard to the ministry of Moses, you will find continually repeated in his message to Pharaoh that the people were to be let go to serve God. In all [p. 66] his messages to Pharaoh this is apparent; the people were not merely to be liberated, but to serve God, and the primary thought was to serve God in mount Horeb. So it is clear that if we are to be in the house where God’s service is to be carried on and maintained, we must be apart from Egypt.
GG In what way is the house presented in Hebrews?
JT In connection with the greatness of Christ. We are called upon to consider Him, and He is the greater than Moses. We are said to be the house — the saints — and Christ is over it, not as Moses, simply an appointed servant, but Christ is over it as Son, and this lends a very great element to the house, which did not exist in Old Testament times.
Ques What brings us practically to the truth of the house?
JT If God obtains His place in your soul, you are very glad to hear about His house. You have the desire that David had, to dwell in the house of the Lord. What do you say?
Rem I was thinking of the fear we were speaking of connected with the house of God. Why is it?
JT They do not know God. Had Jacob known God, he would not have had fear. He came back after to that spot, and the fear was gone; he did not call it a dreadful place any more. God had met him and wrestled with him. Young believers do not always appreciate the house as they do not know God.
Rem You get the house in Exodus 15.
JT Yes, I will prepare Him a habitation.
Ques How do we get free of Egypt?
JT What helps as to Egypt is that after we get light as to the resurrection of Christ we are met immediately by Marah, and this refers to the discipline of God. The judgment of God is really upon us, as men in the flesh just as much as on the Egyptian;
[p. 67] we have to drink the judgment in that sense; but its character is altered when we see Christ has been under it. We see He has been under what seems so adverse to us.
HB We have to drink what overwhelmed the Egyptians.
Ques What is the character of the epistle to the Hebrews?
JT Hebrews is a book of contrasts. The house is under the supervision of the Son, and if so you have a wonderful atmosphere in the house. That lends it a wonderful attractiveness. Instead of its being a dreadful place, as it was to Jacob, it becomes a very desirable place. Then we have not to go far to seek it. As this passage formally states, it is the saints: “Whose house are we”.
Ques Why is it put in that conditional way — “If indeed we hold fast”?
JT Lest it might be connected with an unreal state; lest it might be connected with a state of profession.
Ques Is not continuance a feature of the house?
JT Yes; what marks the house is confidence in God, and rejoicing in hope; those who compose the house have confidence in God and rejoice in hope.
Ques Please say something as to the provisional character of the house.
JT We are not to be the house permanently. The house of God stood connected with the Jew, and was taken up in a provisional way among christians, pending the re-establishment of Israel, “Your house is left unto you desolate”, the Lord says in Luke 13, and in chapter 14 you get “My house may be filled”. The idea of the house is thus continued in a provisional way, pending the reestablishment of Israel when again it will be connected with Israel. It was important that the Hebrews should understand [p. 68] this.
HB Is that why we are taken back to the tabernacle?
JT Yes; here it refers to the wilderness.
GN Israel should have been the reflection to the nations of what God was.
JT God dwelling in the midst of the people should have given character to the people. That is the divine thought, and when you come to christianity, that is what marks the house; those who compose it are in sympathy with God.
Ques Is the Spirit’s voice limited to the house?
JT Yes, I think so; the Spirit speaks there.
AN Do you think the house of God is connected with the sphere of purpose, or how God is known in the way of testimony, or both?
JT Both, I think. The house in natural things is that in which the man himself is reflected; so with God’s house. That gives the house a very great place. Then too, the house of God is universal; and that is the most important thing we can accept; it is not a local idea. The house of God is universal; those who compose it are not of any particular nation.
Rem The law of the house is holy.
JT Yes, for God is holy: “Be ye holy, for I am holy”. As we were saying, the house is a universal idea; and those who compose the house are exercised about universal things, not about national things.
Ques When does the provisional aspect terminate?
JT When we are transferred to heaven; the idea then is taken up in Israel.
Rem Christ built the house.
JT Yes; He is a divine Person, and is necessarily greater than any servant could be. The universe is not God’s house now, for the reason that it is not clean. It has to be cleansed. It will be so in the millennial state; there will be no part of the creation in which God is not known. We take the position [p. 69] now, in a provisional way; but in the future the position will be taken in regard to the whole universe.
Ques Does God dwell in the house?
JT God dwells there, and His character is reflected. The first epistle to Timothy indicates the character of the house.
Ques How do you distinguish between the Father’s house and God’s house?
JT The former is John’s line; the latter is Luke’s line, and stands connected with the gospel. The Father’s house is the family sphere, and refers to what is eternal.
DG Will the house of God cease with the millennial order of things?
JT Well, you will have the tabernacle of God. I am not prepared to say that the tabernacle is exactly the idea of the house; still, God is with men eternally. It is what wisdom had before her. It is the great end of God’s ways, and He secures that — a dwelling with men; but the idea of the house, as we have been thinking of it here, is where it is introduced into a contrary scene, and God’s order is to be maintained in the presence of what is contrary.
Rem “He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house”; the allusion is to Christ.
Ques When did He build the house?
JT The provisional house?
Rem Yes.
JT At Pentecost. Christ embraces the two figures, David and Solomon. David prepared the material and Solomon put it together. Christ answers to both, so that we have now a habitation of God by the Spirit.
Ques What about Matthew 16?
JT The point there is “living”. In scriptures that have reference to Jews and Jewish christians, the idea of living is employed. Peter says, “Thou
[p. 70] art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. So in 1 Timothy where our behaviour is spoken of in connection with the house it goes on “which is the assembly of the living God”. Matthew 16 is the assembly viewed as such, and that never ceases, but the house character is a provisional thing.
Rem It has a peculiar force on that account.
JT Yes; and I will tell you another thing; the house in the future will never equal what it is now, as it has now taken form in the greatest and most dignified family in the mind of God. If you take what is most august in the counsels of God and place it down here, in the sphere allotted to Israel, it will bear that testimony in a much more dignified way than Israel. So, too, with eternal life; the testimony to it will be borne in a more dignified way by the assembly than by any other family. When it is taken up and applied to a heavenly family, you can see what a dignified character it will have. Just as in ordinary life all have to eat and drink and sleep, but means and education and refinement tend to add a peculiar lustre to life, so it is in divine things; the dignity that attaches to the assembly tends to render the testimony to eternal life more dignified than it would be in connection with any other family.
Ques Does the house present a different thought in Timothy to what it does in Hebrews?
JT Timothy enlarges upon it, and treats it as a subject; it is only introduced here in Hebrews in connection with the Apostle and the High Priest. Christ was great in contrast to Moses, who was only a servant. Timothy treats of it as a subject and the condition becoming to it.
Ques What are the functions of the house?
JT The house, taken as a whole, is a provisional idea. It is that in which God dwells, and His character is known. It is evangelistic. We have a place of nearness to God, and can intercede for all outside.
[p. 71] We pray for all men; it is a universal idea. We ought to be enlarged in that regard. We belong to an order of things that is universal, not national.
DD There is the idea of room connected with the house.
JT Oh yes; Luke 14 shows it is a very wide sphere, but God intended it to be filled. It is a great help to see its universal character. We pray for kings, not the king.
Ques Is that the idea of Acts 10?
JT The point in the four-cornered sheet was that it was universal.