Planted by Water

Thinking back to the posting I made at the end of last week about monuments or sons, I was also thinking about when David expresses his desire to build a temple, a house for God. It seem that God has mixed feelings about monuments too! Although he eventually ordains Solomon to build the Temple and it is part of his plan, even then there is a recognition of the limitation of physical buildings - ‘will God really dwell on earth?’ (1 Kings 8:27). The key to understanding why is shown when David wants to build God a house (temple) and God makes a play on the word to say to David that he (God) will give him (David) a house:

"And now the Lord declares that he will build a house for you - a dynasty of Kings." (2 samuel 7:11)

God is more interested in living sons than stone monuments, in a line of faith that will be faithful to his covenant purpose down through the generations than in a magnificent temple. The answer to the question ‘will God really dwell on earth’ is yes, but he will do so not in a special building, a holy place, but rather in a people, a Kingdom community, a community of disciples, of sons of promise, a spiritual temple made of living stones where he can dwell by his Spirit! Now that’s the kind of house that is worth being part of, the church that Jesus is building and which we are called to be a part of! We are part of that dynasty of Kings promised to David! Hallellujah!!!