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Mar. 31, 2008Hymnal.NetIn Psalm 26:8 the psalmist said, "O Jehovah, I love the habitation of Your house,/And the place where Your glory abides." To abide means to remain for manifestation. When the people of Israel raised up the tabernacle and when they built up the temple, the glory of God descended upon the tabernacle and the temple to abide there, to remain there, to be manifested to the people. The psalmist told the Lord that he loved the habitation of His house and the place where His glory abode, remained, to be manifested to His people.

We have to say, "O Lord, I love Your church, and Your church is Your habitation. Your church is the place where Your glory abides to be manifested today." Psalm 84 expresses the psalmist's love for the house of God, which is the kind of love we should have for the church today. We have a hymn in our hymnal based on the psalmist's expression in Psalm 84 of his love for God's dwelling place (see Hymns, #851).

Source: Life-study of Psalms, chapter 12. (LSM)

Mar. 27, 2008Hymnal.NetIn the Old Testament, the tabernacle and the temple are types of the church as God's dwelling place. In Psalm 84 the psalmist tells us that he longs, even faints, for the courts of Jehovah, which are the dwelling place of God. The function of God's dwelling place is not only for God's rest but also for His people's rest. It is based upon this psalm that Hymns, #851 was written. In the Old Testament time, the children of Israel sang of the dwelling place of God in psalms. This indicates that they had the subjective experience of the holy temple as God's dwelling place.

Source: The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible-Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, chapter 9. (LSM)