“Except The Lord Build The House”!

TEXT:  (Psalm 127th Division)

Psalm is called the Book of “praise”.  In the Hebrew it is “tehillah”, pronounced tehillaw’, which means praise; laudation; a hymn.

The book of Psalm portrays Jesus Christ as our “All In All”.  He is our sufficient (El-Shaddai), meaning as much as is needed; enough.  Better stated, “He’s more than enough”! The God that can do anything!

Psalm 127:1  Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:  except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

“Except the LORD build the house”:  

Except:   means to let or allow; synonyms:  unless, saving

the LORD:   Jehovah; the self-Existent; all supremacy; all knowing

Build:  banah - obtain; establish; construct or erect.  Genesis 8:20 gives us the basic meaning of “banah” when Noah is said to have constructed or “builded” an ark

the House:  the family, temple, or permanent dwelling place

They labour in vain that build it.

We’ve already learned in the “Journey through the Tabernacle” that when God gave Moses the blueprint to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, it was according to a specific pattern.

This was the foreshadowing of how God would eventually dwell in “man’s body”….the house that God built!  1 Corinthians 6:19  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  

2 Corinthians 6:16  For ye are the temple of the living God.

Let’s take a look at some temples or houses that were built for the name of the LORD.  Much attention was given to these temples because of their crucial importance in maintaining the true faith of Israel and their communion with God.  

First, it was “man made”:

• THE TABERNACLE:  It was a movable structure of which God Himself was the architect.  The place where God met man and man met with God.

The outer structure was of cloth, but the altar, laver, candlestick, the Ark of the Covenant, and all the inner utensils were of gold, silver and precious woods.  This means the house that God builds is an eternal structure.  Just like the tabernacle in the wilderness, it is a figure and a shadow of Him who was still to come.  God was showing us that He was going to have a church, a “perfect” church, which would allow the altar to be our cross:  “the laver”…..to separate us from the world [system] and the flesh….by the washing of the water by the Word.  Ephesians 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.  “The showbread”…..is us being in fellowship with God by eating the hidden manna.  “The golden candlestick” is the church nourished by the anointing of the Holy Spirit within which causes our light to shine.  Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world.  “The ark of the covenant”….this is showing that we have surrendered all to God.  “The mercy seat”…….is where perfect peace, victory and rest is within us, and we have taken on the very nature of God, the gold being His divine nature, and the silver the atoning of the blood of Jesus.
 

Life is in the “blood”!  Leviticus 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood.  John 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Vs 54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  [Meaning He will raise him up in Himself because He is the “last” day]!  Rev.1:11  I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the “last”.  
 

When we apply Christ’s blood to our life….the death angel cannot touch us.  Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are:  and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

“The acacia wood”….is indicating that our bodies are incorruptible (no occasion of decaying)!  Why?  Because as is Christ, so also are we!  1 John 4:17  Because as he is, so are we in this world.

But later, in relation to the “temple”, it was first proposed by David to replace the tabernacle, the movable structure, with a permanent building.  But he was forbidden for the reasons assigned by the Prophet Nathan.  2 Samuel 7:12-13  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.  
So the task was left for his son, Solomon.

• SOLOMON’S TEMPLE:  The parts for this temple were all prepared at a distance from the site of the building, and when they were brought together, the whole structure was erected without the sound of hammer, axe, or chisel.  This temple was destroyed on the captivity of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

• TEMPLE OF ZERUBBABEL:  This temple was about one third larger than Solomon’s temple.  But the lavish displays of precious metals, carved ornaments, and the beauty of textile fabrics, which made up the splendor and rendered them so precious in the eyes of people, also suffered many serious blows.

• EZEKIEL’S TEMPLE:  The vision of this temple was what Ezekiel saw while residing on the banks of the river Chebar.  This temple was considered as the “beau (sweetheart; dandy) ideal” of what a Shemitic temple ought to be.  This meant the perfect type of excellence or beauty of the highest model.

• HEROD’S TEMPLE:  To gain the favor of the Jews and to make a great name, Herod announced to the people at the Passover to restore the temple.  This temple was also destroyed by the Romans under Titus.

When dedicated, those temples symbolized the presence and protection of the Lord God among His people.  God did fill the temple with His glory!!

We saw how God allowed those temples to be destroyed.  He was destroying the “symbol” of His presence – “the physical temple” that men built.

It was predicted that the day would come when the temple would be completely destroyed.  Matthew 24:1-2  And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple:  and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things?  verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down”. (Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6)

Being “El-Olam”:  “El” meaning God and “Olam” meaning eternal, combined is “God Eternal” or God of eternity, meaning He’s the everlasting God, the Eternal God!!  And being the Eternal God, He did not want to be confined to a temple made by human hands.  Acts 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.  Revelation 21:3  The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.

God wanted a real substance to dwell in.  He wanted to be seen in “man”.  It was in the person of Jesus Christ!  John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (Vs 14)  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus was the “tabernacle” in whom all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt.  Colossians 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (somatikos’ – physically)!

Jesus was called the “son of Abraham”; made of the seed of “David”; made of a woman;  conceived and born of the Virgin Mary; made flesh; born an infant; increased in wisdom and stature; wrought (worked) as a carpenter; hungered; thirsted; experienced the emotions of joy and sorrow;  was crucified; and rose from the dead!  This is the house that God built and dwelt in!  
2 Corinthians 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  Paul is not talking about “mansions” up yonder in heaven but those built of “wood, hay, and stubble”
1 Corinthians 3:12 which can’t withstand the fire of God, but those built of “gold, and silver, and precious stones” will withstand the fire!!
1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:  that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.  This “appearing” is not out in the sky” but Christ being “manifested” in you now, giving you the strength to go through what you’re going through!  
Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.  
1 John 4:4  Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Since Jesus Christ embodied the true meaning of the temple, He was the dwelling place of God, or He was God, and since we (the church) are in Him and are members of His body, we are His body in the earth!  1 Corinthians 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is Christ.  Ephesians 5:30  We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

The “temple” now, is the true church; the body of Christ; the called out ones; the sons of God!  Romans 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.  1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 1:22-23  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.  Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church:  who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

For you are God’s temple or dwelling place!  1 Corinthians 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  2 Corinthians 6:16  I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

For those who believe that God is going to set up his kingdom in Jerusalem and that a temple is going to be set in the new Jerusalem over in the middle East…..they have missed it!  Because the temple was only a symbol of God’s presence among His people and not the full reality of His eternal dwelling place, which is in “man”!  No physical temple is necessary but as meeting ground, when God, the Lamb, the Holy Spirit are living within us!

Hebrews 11:10  states in relation to Abraham:  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  Even Abraham knew that this city wasn’t out in the blue, it was in the “spirit” and he found it.  John 8:56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day:  and saw it, and was glad.

Joshua 15:11 speaks of a territory allotted to Judah called Jabneel, which means “whom God produces” (brings forth; makes; manufactures), being the “building” of God as in the perfected body “consciousness” (awareness) as “sons of God”.  Hebrews 10:14  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.  1 Peter 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

In Revelation 21:2,  John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.  He saw the “sons of God” with the foundation of our house built on “truth”.  

1 Corinthians 3:12 “Gold, silver, precious stones”, established in Christ, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, which is your physical body, that God is making perfect by His Spirit in the heavenlies in Christ!

Ephesians 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  They that are in Christ are already in “heaven”.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  

1 Thessalonians 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He didn’t say “until” the coming, but “unto” the coming:  meaning the total of you, (spirit, soul, and body) can be preserved (kept, guarded from loss, made whole) so that the total of Christ can be manifested in you and me now  (that’s the coming, the appearing or manifestation of Christ in His body the church) in the earth!

Did not Jesus say to Peter in Matthew 16:18  Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?  “Peter” means “petros” or “rock” in the Greek, and “rock” in the feminine is “petra”, which means a “mass” (synonym is accumulation; populace) that is built from “petroi” (stones, which makes up the church, the body of Christ.  1 Peter 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

As Christ’s body, we can and must possess the ability to discern truth and the ability for our faith in God to be strong, unwavering, and enduring!  We must understand clearly that as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17) and that we are built upon Jesus Christ

(1 Corinthians 3:11)  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;  the “living Stone, the chief corner Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner Stone, a sure foundation.  Matthew 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner:  this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?  (Also Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17).

Peter is one of your twelve “disciples” (disciplines), the first disciple Jesus called, whose name means “faith”.  By faith we can have Christ’s mind and lay hold of and establish positive ideas in our mind, and call them into being or reality!  Philippians 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.  Romans 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.  So can we, Because as he is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).

When we train our “faith” to look to Christ for all things and under all circumstances, it becomes the ultimate defender of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen!!

It is necessary for us to know the important place that “Peter” (faith) occupies in our house (our temple).  By “faith”, we have the keys to the kingdom, and the problems of our life before us can be conquered through Christ! That’s the bringing forth of the “Grand Man” with His twelve disciples or powers within your own church (your body temple), of which you become the “high priest”, without beginning of years or end of days; the Alpha and the Omega!

But in order for us to do what the Father has set before us, we must first discipline our “disciples” or the powers of God which are within us.  When our “faith” is mastered, then we will truly walk in Joshua 24:15  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Once we allow God to build our house, then will we be able to function as God wants us, His church, to function and that is to:  

 

(1) Worship:  Romans 15:5-6  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:  that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Acts 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotion, I found an altar with the inscription, To the Unknown God, Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.  

John 4:23-24  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth:  for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  

(2) Witness:   Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.  Act.10:43  To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

(3) Educate:  1 Corinthians 12:28-29  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.  Are all apostles?  Are all prophets?  Are all teachers?  Are all workers of miracles?

Ephesians 4:11-15  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.  

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.   

John 8:31-32  If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

(4) Minister:  Matthew 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.  

Matthew 25:42-46  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat:  I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:  naked, and ye clothed me not:  sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment:  but the righteous into life eternal.  

(5) Apply:  James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

So people of God, just know, “Except the Lord build the house”, all else is in vain and will end in destruction.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ  (1 Corinthians 3:11  

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21)  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation (dwelling place) of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22).

Evangelist Jackie Burton