Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A Biblical Theology of House Building


Below is a rough outline of the progress of the house building theme in the Scriptures
1.      Genesis
a.       House Pattern
                                                                          i.      Creation
1.      Repetition of “God said” and “it was so” or “God created” and “God made” (1:1-27)
2.      God “formed” and “breathed…life” into Adam (2:7)
3.      God “planted a garden” (2:8) and placed Adam in the garden (2:15)
4.      Rivers mark off the garden (2:10-14)
                                                                        ii.      Covenant
1.      God established law governing life (2:9,15-17)
                                                                      iii.      Community
1.      God created community broadly speaking and marriage specifically: Adam and Eve (2:18-24)
b.      Consequence
                                                                          i.      God curses human kind and creation for disobedience, but promises One who will defeat the enemy (3:15)
                                                                        ii.      God kills an animal and clothes Adam and Eve (3:21).  This points to the life for life penalty of sin and the need for a substitute as the Author of Hebrews says: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb.9:22).
                                                                      iii.      God then drives them out of the garden (3:20-24)
c.       House Foreshadowed
                                                                          i.      God speaks “I am” and “I will” (28:13)
                                                                        ii.      A land, An Offspring, A people (28:13-15)
2.      Exodus
a.       Deliverance from Egypt and the “humbling” of Egypt’s gods (ch.1-13)
b.      The creation of a new people (a “living house” [1]) out of deliverance from slavery
c.       The creation of a tabernacle (a “literal house” [2]) in chapters 32-34
d.      The merging together of the two houses at the close of the book[3] (40:34-38)

3.      1 and 2 Samuel
a.       The promised raising up of a perfect, forever priest and the building of His house (1 Samuel 2:27-36)
b.      David desires to build God a temple (literal house) to replace the tabernacle a symbol of permanence
c.       God in turn promises to build David’s house a permanently established dynasty and that David’s son would build the temple (2 Samuel 7:13)
4.      1 Chronicles
a.       Solomon’s building of the first temple (chapter 28)
5.      Ezekiel
a.       The third temple plans revealed (chapter 40)
6.      Gospels – Pattern Fulfilled
a.       God in Christ dwells with His people (Mt. 1:23)
b.      Jesus is the master of the house and the people of His household (Mt. 10:25)
c.       Christ is the temple, the dwelling of God with man (John 1:14).
d.      Christ is both temple and builder (John 2:16-21).
7.      Epistles – Pattern Fulfilled
a.       In Christ, the substitute and sacrifice, God created one new man the church, the temple and dwelling of God (1 Cor. 3:16-17).
b.      In Christ God created a community of believers which he matures as a body and builds as a temple into Christ’s likeness (Eph. 2:18-22).
c.       Christ triumphed over the foe (Col. 2:15)
d.      Jesus is over God’s house in a greater way than Moses was over the house of Israel (Heb.3:2-6)
e.       God’s people, the church are his dwelling place, his temple (1 Peter 2:5)
8.      Revelation
a.       Victory
                                                                          i.      Jesus defeats the foe (chapter 12)
b.      Re-Creation – House Pattern Consummated
                                                                          i.      God makes a new heaven and earth that replace the “first earth” (21:1)
                                                                        ii.      God presents to himself a city – a bride, His redeemed people (21:2,3)
                                                                      iii.      God dwells with His people (21:3,22-26)
                                                                      iv.      God has completely dealt with the curse.  Sin, death, and pain are no more (21:4)
                                                                        v.      A river flows in the midst of the city from the throne (22:1)
                                                                      vi.      The tree of life is there (with the noticeable absence of the other tree) (22:2)
                                                                    vii.      Unhindered and ever increasing fellowship with God replaces curse (3-5)          


[1] Kline, Canon and Covenant Part III, p.48
[2] Ibid. p.48
[3] Ibid. p.49

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