15 January 2014

Temple or House of Worship as "House of God"?




WHY CALL THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP AS “HOUSE OF GOD”?



IT IS EXPLICITLY written in the Bible that the temple or the house of worship is called “house of God”:

“Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3 NKJV)

Even the New Testament called it “house of God”:

“How he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” (Luke 6:4 NKJV)

It is called the “house of God” because God Himself called it “My house”:

“Now He said to me, 'It is your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father.” (I Chronicles 28:6 NKJV)

Thus, it is not wrong to call the temple or the house of worship as “house of God.”  It is called “house of God” not because God Himself dwells in it. What dwells in the house of worship is God’s name:

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My name shall be there,' that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.” (I Kings 8:27-29 NKJV)

The Bible also said that it is the glory of God that dwells in it:

“I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalms 26:8 NIV)

What dwells in the house of worship is God’s name and glory. Thus, the house of worship is properly called the house of God.





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