Do you live in a tent or a house?

Peter Stephenson



In Matthew, when Jesus transfigures on the mount, the disciple's response was really interesting. Faced with Jesus in His revealed Glory and the presence of both Moses and Elijah they said "Let us a build a house for you and stay here!".

Now on the surface of it the desire to stay in the presence of God is good. We can read David's plea in the Psalms :

Psa 27:4:
One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple.


Wanting to be in the presence of God, wanting God is also reflected in these words from Jesus:

Mat 6:33:
"But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."


However David also had the same desire to build a house for the Lord and we can read what the response of the Lord was:

2Sa 7:3 - 7:
"Nathan replied, "The LORD is with you, so do what you want!" That night, the LORD told Nathan to go to David and give him this message: "David, you are my servant, so listen to what I say. Why should you build a temple for me? I didn't live in a temple when I brought my people out of Egypt, and I don't live in one now. A tent has always been my home wherever I have gone with them. I chose leaders and told them to be like shepherds for my people Israel. But did I ever say anything to even one of them about building a cedar temple for me?"


God also says:

Isa 66:1:
The LORD said: Heaven is my throne; the earth is my footstool. What kind of house could you build for me? In what place will I rest?


So we have to ask . . . if being in the presence of God is good, why then is there opposition from God, to building a house for Him to reside in?

Let us find out where God resides:

Heb 9:1:
The first promise that was made included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth.


Heb 8:2:
He also serves as the priest in the most holy place inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans.


Isa 4:5:
Then the LORD will cover the whole city and its meeting places with a thick cloud each day and with a flaming fire each night. God's own glory will be like a huge tent that covers everything.


Rev 7:15:
And so they stand before the throne of God and worship him in his temple day and night. The one who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.


Rev 15:5:
After this, I noticed something else in heaven. The sacred tent used for a temple was open.


From these scriptures we can clearly see that God resides in a tent. The pattern for the tent of worship that God gave Moses was according to the pattern in Heaven.

Heb 9:24:
This is why Christ did not go into a tent that had been made by humans and was only a copy of the real one. Instead, he went into heaven and is now there with God to help us.


Now the characteristics of living in a tent and a house are very different . . . a tent is light, and portable. A house is fixed in one place. Living in a tent forces you to keep possessions to a minimum, living in a house encourages the collection of possessions. Living in a tent means you are free to move whenever and where-ever you want. Living in a house means you are bound to one place.

In Exodus we can see how although on one hand God came and resided in the tent, He also moved, and when God moved the people followed:

Exo 40:34 - 37:
Suddenly the sacred tent was covered by a thick cloud and filled with the glory of the LORD. And so, Moses could not enter the tent. Whenever the cloud moved from the tent, the people would break camp and follow; then they would set up camp and stay there, until it moved again.


It is interesting to look at Abraham's example. Abraham was living in Ur, which was quite a large city at the time, and had quite a comfortable life. (Gen 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gained in Haran . . .) They had gained SUBSTANCE . . . while residing in a house but God says to Abraham:

Gen 12:1:
"Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you."


In order to gain the promise of God, Abraham had to leave his established, fixed, ordered HOUSE and reside in a tent.

Heb 11:9:
Because Abraham had faith, he lived as a stranger in the promised land. He lived there in a tent, and so did Isaac and Jacob, who were later given the same promise.


Now I am not in the least suggesting you sell your house and go and live in a tent, however, the spiritual principle applies. Where do you reside? Do you reside in a house? Or in tent in the presence of God ready to move when He moves?

In what way is the substance of your life preventing you from inhabiting God's tent? What is holding you back, weighing you down? What 'possessions' (mental attitudes, ideas, hurts, pains, cares, woes) are you carrying with you that you need to be free of?

In what way are you restricting God by building a 'house' for Him? We build houses for God in many ways, through being inflexible in our expectations of Him, by expecting Him to work in set ways according to a pattern, by refusing to abandon those things we hold onto for dear life, anything that prevents God from moving freely or you from following Him when He does, is a 'house'.

Let us then work to leave our 'house' and like Abraham, enter into the promise of our salvation, and learn to reside in the 'tent' of faith where God is.