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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