The Household of God

     When the Seed was planted into this world, an angelic chorus appeared before the lowliest of men, shepherds watching over their flocks by night in the wilderness. The long awaited chorus recorded in Luke 2:14 declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” It was a song of reconciliation that would be made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
     With the controversy between the Judaizers and the Gentile Christians resolved, Paul is able to declare another aspect of this peace. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:14-18). All believers, no matter their nationality, are one with Christ by the same Spirit.
      The Chronos Lesson: The One who came forth from the royal lineage of David, the Lion of Judah, has passed the torch to His disciples to carry on His earthly ministry. As for our Lord, Hebrews 7:25 describes His current ministry. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
     With His once-and-for-all sacrifice, the Lamb of God is now establishing the Lord’s House, a living Temple not made of ordinary stones. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22)
        Individually, every believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
        Corporately, we come to Him “as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame’ ” (1 Peter 2:4-6).
       How are we living stones? By the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, we present our “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:1-2). Every time we reject the worldly thoughts in our head and replace them with the truths of God’s Word, we are being transformed, bit by bit becoming more like Jesus. Note that Paul calls this our reasonable service!
       Earlier in Romans 8:29-30, Paul says that this is our destiny. We are to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, who is the firstborn among many brethren. Just as Jesus overcame death through resurrection—the firstborn from the dead—we, His many brethren, shall likewise overcome death through resurrection.  At the rapture, our bodies shall be changed instantly into immortal, glorified bodies. “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
       We shall be conformed fully to the Chief Cornerstone, not chiseled out by the hands of men, but by the transformational hands of God Himself. And we shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever! More on this final dwelling place later.