“Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain

You.”  

“Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did

not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome

is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of

heaven."2 Chronicles 6:18; Genesis 28:16,17

Solomon wondered at God confining Himself to living in one

place on earth, but He understood God’s desire to live

among His people.

Jacob had a preview of it. He realized God had chosen that

place to dwell on earth.

It was awe-inspiring & it provided access to heaven itself 

Later Jacob was called to return to Bethel and live there, to make an altar and to purge

himself.

"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell

among them.”

"See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on

the mountain.”

Exodus 25:8,40

God gave precise instructions to Moses as to how to buid it.

It represented God’s actual dwelling place in heaven.

Moses followed the direstions exactly.

Then God’s glory filled it - God was living among a united

people, under His covenant 

God’s 1st house on

earth

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the

beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.”

Psalm 27:4; 1 Kings 8:18,19

"But the LORD said to my father David, "Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.”

David fully appreciated the privilege of having the God of heaven living among Israel.

He wanted to build a grand house for God, but he was not allowed

to.

Instead Solomon his son built the great temple in Jerusalem. 

“Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on

Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to

his father David”

2 Chronicles 3:1; 1 Kings 6:7

““The temple, when it was being built, was built The temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no with stone finished at the quarry, so that no

hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.”the temple while it was being built.”

It was built by Solomon in Jerusalem.

It was more glorious than the tabernacle.

It was still built according to precise instructions.

It was built of huge stones, quarried from under the city,

shaped at the quarry entrance and placed without cutting or

mortar at the site. 

God’s 2nd houseon earth

"Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take

pleasure in it and be glorified.”

Haggai 1:8; Matthew 23:38

““See! Your house is left to you desolate.”See! Your house is left to you desolate.”

Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the

Babylonians.

The remnant rebuilt it (at the urging of Haggai &

others).

It was far less glorious, but God still said He would take

pleasure in it.

Later it was again rebuilt by Herod; this was the temple in existence in the Lord’s

time on earth. 

Christ announced that God was about to

forsake it because of the nation’s

disobedience.

“What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, or what is the

place of My rest?”

“If Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There

remains therefore a rest for the people of God…...Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest

anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” 

Acts 7:49; Hebrews 4:8-11

God wants to be at rest among His people on earth - to be able to enjoy them as a result of His work of creating and redeeming

them.

All during Old Testament times, that purpose was never fully accomplished; it required the

work of Christ on earth to make it possible.

God’s rest is centred on His

house