“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”.
Psalm 23:5-6 NLT
We draw our little journey into Psalm 23 to a close with some thoughts about the “house of the Lord”. We received a key to God’s front door when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, a door that opened into a very different world to what we were previously used to in our sinful lives. We now live in the Kingdom of God, as children of the Most High, and here a different economy, a different lifestyle and a different culture exist. But on Planet Earth we find ourselves in a strange dual existence, where we physically dwell in a secular world, dark, evil and sin-soaked, but with our spirits loftily positioned in the presence of God, and a constant tussle prevails, as Paul described in Romans 7:23-24, “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” But David wasn’t thinking of this when he meditated on the “house of the Lord”, where he would find himself in God’s presence away from the physical constraints of human existence. What a place that will be, free from the worldly pressures and sinful pleasures, that have corrupted the souls of mankind.
In our earthly existences, we receive a glimpse of the Lord’s house, through our fellowship with other believers and our praise and worship of the One in whom we trust. It’s not about the church buildings, wonderful though some of them are. They are just there as meeting places, halls of convenience where our worship can take place. And it is there, in the presence of God, that our spirits connect with God Himself, who hears our shouts of praise and prayers of grateful worship. But I also find the “house of the Lord” in His created countryside, in the parks and woods around me, where my spirit joins the birdsong in reaching up to my Creator God. Those early morning walks where a roe deer accompanied me for a few steps, where an owl hooted and flew off, where wood pigeons and many small birds were singing their hearts out in God-ordained praise. A glimpse of the “house of the Lord” yet only a small hint of what was to come.
There will be a day when we cross the Great Divide, our bodies left behind, but our spirits and souls intact and looking forward in anticipation to examine more rooms in the “house of the Lord”. The same God will be there. Jesus will be there, because He said He would be. It was Spurgeon who said that in this life we live on the ground floor of the house, but in the life to come we can explore the floors above (my paraphrase). John 14:1-3, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am”. The NIV records that the “place” will be “many rooms”. We don’t know what this place will be like, but one thing we can be sure of – it will be beyond our most extravagant and wildest dreams, because Jesus is preparing it. With God there are no half measures. No construction corners cut. No inferior white goods. Just a wonderful place where God will be. Another Psalmist wrote, “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10). There’s a line in a Motown song from the 60’s that says “I’d rather live in his world than live without him in mine”. That’s what we pilgrims feel about being with Jesus, forever. Taking all things together, the “house of the Lord” will be quite a place!
There is insufficient space here to include all the things that will happen in the “house of the Lord”. We know that in His presence there will be amazing praise and worship, and not just from a few people in a small congregation. Revelation 19:1, “After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God”. We will be there in that number, caught up in a crescendo, the likes of which has never been experienced here on earth. And as we read on in John’s Revelation, we find that our new home will be in the “house of the Lord” here on a new earth, and in a city called the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:1-3, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. If we had thoughts about dying and spending eternity in a spiritual state in a place we call “Heaven” then we will be mistaken. Somewhere in between our physical dying in this world, and our new home we will acquire new bodies, firstly spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, “It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies”), and then we will receive a resurrected body just like Jesus when He comes again, (1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died“).
As we read from Revelation 21, the “the house of the Lord” will ultimately be on the new Earth, and God will be living there with us. That will be amazing, and David knew that all those years ago. Who else will we find there? I don’t think we will care much, because Jesus will be there. That’s all that matters for me.
Dear Father God. Thank You for the new home You are preparing for us. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 