The House of God

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul tells him how to care for the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made him a shepherd (cp. Acts 20:28). Most of his instructions deal with practical matters of spiritual warfare: opposition from heretics (1 Tim 1:18–20); prayer (1 Tim 2:1–7); the roles of men and women (1 Tim 2:8–15); qualifications for elders and deacons (1 Tim 3:1–13); etc.

Based on the inmillennial prophetic model,¹ my thesis is that Paul and Timothy were preparing churches for life in the soon-coming (for them) messianic age. Therefore, prophetic themes lie just below the surface and occasionally crop out. This post deals with one such passage. Paul says,

These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. (1 Tim 3:14–16)

During the preceding fifteen centuries, God had dwelled among His people, the Jews, in two houses: the tabernacle and the temple. He validated both with a display of His glorious presence at their dedications. When Moses completed the tabernacle,

The cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exod 40:34–35)

Five centuries later, He did this again to signify that the temple had replaced the tabernacle as the house of His presence with Israel:²

So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was finished.… It came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chr 5:1, 13–14)

But, on the Tuesday before His death, Jesus had foretold the final overthrow of this second house:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate! (Matt 23:37–39)

Later that day, the Lord again spoke of the temple’s destruction:

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matt 24:1–2)

This prophecy caused Jesus’ disciples to ask two questions: “When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming (Gk. parousia, presence), and of the end of the age?” (Matt 24:3). God was about to change the place where His presence would dwell with His people. The disciples wanted to know when this would happen and the signs that would show it was near. 

The Lord answered both questions. He provided a list of intensifying signs (Matt 24:4–31) and the timing for them: “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt 24:34). The temple—the second house of God—would fall before some of His hearers died (cp. Matt 16:27–28).

This event would bring “the end of the age”—the Mosaic (law) age, not the church age or any future age. The disciples were interested in the temple’s fall, not the end of history.

But, if this house would soon fall, where and how would God’s presence dwell with His people? Jesus had earlier given them a critical piece of information regarding this matter:

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16:15–19)

During His earthly ministry, Jesus was building another house where the glorious presence of God would dwell—His church. Fifty days after His resurrection, the Lord’s glorious presence filled this house, just as it had done for the tabernacle and temple:

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. (Acts 2:1–3)

The presence of God now abided in the church—the congregation of God’s living stones (cp. 1 Pet 2:4–10).

For one generation, two houses of God existed: the Mosaic-age temple in Jerusalem and the messianic-age temple (i.e., the church). Paul and Timothy ministered during this generation. They knew the old physical temple would soon fall, which gave urgency to their mission to prepare the churches for that event. Shortly, only one house of God would remain standing.

Conclusion

Paul showed Timothy how to conduct himself “in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” During the messianic age, this would be the house of God’s presence—or Christ’s parousia.

Christians, we now live in this house! Let us learn from Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles how we should behave in it—in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

1. For a full-length account of this prophetic model, see Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020). It is available here. For a summary, see the free PDF here.
2. The image in this post is The Second Jewish Temple, a model in the Israel Museum. This file (here) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.