“ON THIS MOUNTAIN, THE LORD'S HOUSE”
Micah 4.1-7
Midweek Advent II: 8 December Anno Domini 2004
Fr Watson
The Lord's house? The Lord told King David that He didn't need a house. Indeed, God is Spirit and thus 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a fireplace are superfluous. David's son Solomon said: "But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this Temple which I have built!" [ Chron. 6.18] God did not "need" the great Tent which He had Moses build. God did not "need" the stone, gold, and cedar Temple which He had Solomon build and Nehemiah and Ezra re-build. God as God does not need a house.
The point of Advent is that the 4,000 year wait came to an end. There was Incarnation.
God is no longer only God as God, the ineffable, omnipotent, unsearchable, Spirit; now we confess that God is Man. God is with you and for you; Jesus.
God likes houses for the same reason He likes forests, lagoons, sturdy ships, music, wine and animals; God is love. And God's love is made manifest in showering His love on His children. Not love as an emotion, but love as an action, a giving, a bestowing of good gifts, earthly & temporal as well as spiritual & eternal. God wants His own to have what they need.
You need a house, but not just shelter. God is no minimalist; He gives in many and varied ways. He desires that your "castle" however humble it might be, would be to you a place of home and hearth, of stability, permanence, safety, unity, much laughter and sharing. And He wants to be there with you, in your midst.
God had wanted the Tent and Temple for the people's sake; so that He could come, even then as Spirit, a fiery cloud of magnificence, between the outstretched Cherubim and over the Mercy Seat. With the Advent, God sent the real Mercy Seat, the real Tabernacle, in His Son Jesus Christ. The Second Person of the Trinity took from the Virgin flesh and blood into His divine essence and made it His own, hallowed it, and was born as the only begotten House of God's Presence. Most houses one enters by the door. This eternal habitation of Christ one enters by Faith, in and through the Body and Blood; in and through the Water and Word.
And yes, the Lord loves mountains as well. Mountains are inspiring because of their height, mass, seeming permanence, and steadfastness. The mountain justly points to its creator. The rock is a "type" of "The Rock." There are many great mountains: Everest, Kilimanjaro, Eiger, McKinley, Mont Blanc, and others. There are many holy mountains of God's theophanies: Sinai, Gilboa, Carmel, Tabor, and Olivet. There is only one great and good mountain, only one grace-filled hill: Mount Zion. Zion represents God's holy hill. His holy city. His holy house and His holy people. It's all one and the same. For where God places His Name and His Word, there is His creation. His Loving works. On the mountain of Zion Abraham would have sacrificed Isaac had the Lord not intervened with the Advent Gospel that there would be another lamb, another stand-in sacrifice for Isaac and all the rest of us poor miserable sinners. On Mount Zion David would build the Lord's great city and his son would build the great Temple. On that mountain, in the Holy of Holies, blood would be spilled. And with the Advent of our King, on a part of the Mountain of God's holiness, a place called the "Skull" God would die. He did. It is finished. It came to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house was established on the top of Calvary, and is exalted above all other Names ( + ) and people have flowed to it, to Him, drawn by the Holy Ghost. You sit under the vine and fig trees which are the Holy Church. As you await His Second Advent, no one will make you afraid. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost