"Where is the house you will build Me? Where is the place of My rest?"
– YHWH –
(Isaiah 66:1)
The answer to this rhetorical question posed by YHWH Himself through the prophet Isaiah has sliced through the motives and intentions of human hearts throughout history like a two-edged sword.
It has challenged the ideas and thoughts of the greatest saints, even the heart of David. It was the central truth of Stephen’s sermon, so blasphemous and infuriating to the religious leaders and their lifestyle, they murdered and stoned him for it. Yet so glorious and undying in nature, one of the witnesses to the killing (Paul) would later herald the same message as a foundational truth in building the church. A beautiful revelation of the heart of the Father, cloaked in mystery and literally laid at the feet of Saul in a pile of martyrdom clothes, so rich in grace he would later testify as having received the very wisdom of God.
An explosive truth that unveils where God calls home.
What do you think of when you think of church?
For most of us, it is a place we go to. A building. A service. Be it a stained-glass cathedral, an old country church house, or a modern, multi-campus, suburban sanctuary with stages, lights, LED screens, children’s wings and name-brand signage. We spend our Sunday mornings “going to church.” Just like we go to the movies, a concert, the store, or work.
It’s at the heart of the question the woman at the well asked Jesus – where is the proper place to worship? As strange as her question seems, we ask the same question today when we meet another Christian: “Where do you go to church?”
Since the beginning God has been sending us patriarchs and prophets, angels and psalmists, judges and deliverers, apostles and shepherds, even His very own Son to sing over us one liberating truth:
The Most High God does not live in buildings made by human hands.
When will we listen to Him?
We resist this Spirit of Holiness just like every generation before us. The church in America looks no different than the world around us. We like our buildings. We idolize our builders. We sacrifice to these idols. All because we love to rejoice in the work of our own hands.
Like the unnamed disciple in Mark, we look at our work and proudly boast, “Teacher, what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” (Mark 13:1) Like David of old or Peter on the mountain, the natural human desire of encountering the glory of God is to want to build Him a house made of physical materials. But oh how we’ve missed His heart!
God never intended church to be a place we build, but the Way we live.
Do you know what the first church was?
Acts tells us it was the children of Israel in the desert. A people called out. Families separated from the ways of the world around them, each home living under the banner “As for me and my house, we will serve YHWH.” Living in the wild, alive solely by faith and full dependence on YHWH.
“He (Moses) who was in the church in the wilderness…” (Acts 7:38)
The ekklesia has always been an invitation out of a life marked by the striving of building and into a way of receiving life as living stones of the Master Builder - Yeshua the Christ.
God is Spirit. Wild and holy like an unquenchable Fire. And when the soul of Yeshua was offered up as a sacrifice on the cross, God released this uncontainable Spirit of Christ into the world, making Him the Chief Cornerstone of a spiritual house.
This marvelous act of YHWH was prophesied by His Son in His rebuke of a specific group of people – the builders:
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone.” (Mark 12:10-11)
Beloved, listen to our Father pour out His heart on this matter to David in response to the king’s desire to build Him a house:
Thus says Yahweh: “You shall not build Me a house to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another…have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying,
‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’
…I tell you that YHWH will build you a house.”
(1 Chron. 17:4-6, 10)
David never built God a building. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he recognized it was his own desire, not God’s. God delights in the freedom of going from tent to tent and house to house.
Church, He has something more ineffable in store for us – He wants to build us a house. Please listen to the words of the Nazarene Carpenter:
“I will build My church.” (Matt. 16:18)
Let’s lay down our obsession with buildings, services, and entertainment and say yes to what He tells us He really wants - to trust Him to build His church. He doesn’t want our building campaigns, He stands at the doors of our homes and knocks, hoping a trembling heart will open it and let Him architect us an everlasting bloodline.
“On this one I will look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My word.” (Is. 66:2)
Living stones, tremble again. Absorb His words. He wants our hearts, our homes, and our way of life. If we truly love Him, we will listen.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23)
The hour has come and is now here we lay down our pride and rearchitect church as a lifestyle design, not a building design. Let’s take heed the blood-bought grace of Yeshua and blood-wrought wisdom of Stephen from Paul the master builder:
“You are God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9)
God stands before our generation today asking the same question of old – “Where is the place of My rest?”
Will we listen?
You are God’s building.
His kingdom is within you.
His name is in you.
His law is written on your heart.
Your heart is His home.
Your home is church.
Rearchitecting church as a lifestyle design, not a building design.
Connect with a household of faith near you.
Email us: connect@yourhome.church