Pastor Phemo Word Ministry

23/04/2026

23/04/2026

The presence of Yahweh

05/04/2026

05 APRIL 2026

SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICE

MESSAGE: THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

MESSAGE BY EVANGELIST GOFHA

Jesus foretold about His death, burial and resurrection.

Luke 18:31-34
31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.
33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

This was the first time Jesus plainly spoke to His disciples about His death, burial and resurrection.

This was foretold by the prophets of Old.
Jesus came to fulfill the writings of the prophets as the writer of Hebrews testified (Hebrews 10:7).

When they requested for a sign from Him, that is, to prove that He is the Messiah, He took them to the prophecy of Johah.

Matthew 12:38-40
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Hosea 6:1-2
1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.

This scriptures has been perverted to be used commonly in funerals.
Meanwhile it was prophecy of resurrection.

Resurrection is the foundation of the New Testament church.

Matthew 16:18
18 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.

Jesus Himself is the Resurrection. When Martha spoke about the Resurrection day, Jesus revealed Himself to her as the Person of resurrection.
Resurrection is not at an event.

John 11:24-26
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Notable people who rose from the dead in the Bible

Elijah rose the widow of Zarepath's son from the dead.
Elisha rose the Shunamite woman's son from the dead
A Syrian co**se was raised from the dead by the bones of Elisha.

Jesus rose the widow of Nain's son from the dead
Jesus rose the the daughter of Jairus from the dead.
Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead

There was also mass resurrection recorded in scripture when Moses set a bronze serpent on a pole that whoever was bitten by serpent and looked upon it lived (Numbers 21)

The resurrection of Jesus supersedes any other resurrection in scripture.

All those mentioned were raised but they died again.

But what is special about the resurrection of Jesus is that He rose with a glorious body. He rose to die no more. Meaning that His resurrection completely defeated death.

And Jesus resurrection is the pattern of believers resurrection. He is the firstfruits of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).

Resurrection is the cornerstone of the gospel message.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19
12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Here Paul confronted heretics in Corinth, who said there was no resurrection from the dead.

Paul's argument was that, without resurrection we are liars, false witnesses, our preaching is in vain, our faith is futile, and remain sinners.

29/03/2026

14 SEPTEMBER 2025

SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICE

MESSAGE: ECCLESIOLOGY - THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE CHURCH | PART 6

The word "church" is "ekklesia" in Greek which means the called out ones.
It describes an assembly of people with a specific mission.
Nowhere in the scriptures the word "church" used in reference to an individual.

Church means an assembly, a gathering of people.
That's the plan of God.
The plan of God is not individualism but a congregation.

God walks and works in an assembly.
God moves by a congregation.

God's agenda in the earth can only be carried out by an assembly of people. Not an individual.

That's why even God Himself, when He came to the earth as a human being, He assembled a group of twelve men to work with.

Even while walking with the twelve, He drew many others to Himself who eventually became His disciples.

That's why in the day of Pentecost, about 120 received the Holy Spirit in the upper room (Acts 2:1-4).

After that they carried out great exploits, overthrew kingdoms, took over cities by the power of preaching and distributions of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 2:4).

So the mandate of God is carried by a congregation.

When you study the scriptures, first you have to factor out the plan of God.

When you read right from Genesis, what is God's intent?

Right now many wish, hope, and desire to go to heaven.

But, have we understood the plan of God??
Is the plan of God really to take us to heaven or to bring the heavenly realm to our earth?

Not everyone will correctly answer this question.
But this is very vital to know as the child of God.

Many believers have not been enlightened nor come to terms with the plan of God in the scriptures.

That's why many allow the devil to toy with their lives, ravaging them with sicknesses, hoping that one day they will be free and at rest in a planet somewhere called heaven.

There are many who still believe heaven to be a place somewhere outside the earth.

Many are hoping to go to heaven. However, according to the scriptures, believers will inherit this earth (Psalm 37:9,11).

According to the scriptures the plan of God has always been to bring heaven to the earth.

However, many are yet to come to terms with this reality.
They are so futuristic in their minds when it comes to heaven, such that they keep on missing on the present day glory.

They are so futuristic that they miss Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, who lives in us, and personally present with us.

The biggest challenge with many believers is that their minds are so wired to a false eschatology that says they will disappear from the earth and levitate on the sky, to a futuristic place called heaven, where they will have eternal rest, joy and peace.

But if you go through the entire Bible, God's plan is this earth.

God's plan never changed in the entire scripture.

And Scriptures were given by the Spirit of truth (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).

And one of the characteristics of truth is consistency.

When you go through the entire Bible there is consistency of truth. One message, given by the same Spirit was communicated across all ages of men.

So the word of God immutable (Hebrews 6:17-18). And the word is truth (John 17:17).
Unlike scientific facts, truth will never change.

God is not like human beings who are erratic.

Numbers 23:19
19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God does not react.
God does not change His mind.
God does forget.
God can never regret.
God cannot be taken by surprises.

God cannot say, I wanted to do this but it was halted, so let's do plan B."

There is what is termed foreknowledge in God. And because of foreknowledge there is predestination.

By knowing the end from the beginning, and the beginning from the end, He preplanned and purposed how things should end.

So the consistent character of God is that he can't be taken by surprise. Neither can He react.

The day God is taken by surprise then He is not God.
Likewise, the day God reacts He ceases to be God.

Everything about God, concerning man has been predetermined.
Our salvation has been predetermined by God.
So we should be able to factor the plan and will of God in the entire Bible.

When studied diligently, the scriptures consistently reveal that God's plan was never to take us away from the earth to another planet somewhere.

Rather, God's plan has always been to come to man on the earth.
The glory of the Lord has come to men.

Let's look at our proof text once again.

Matthew 16:13-19
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 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.
18 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.
19 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.”

The revelation that Peter received from the Holy Spirit is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

The word "hades" speaks of the grave, a place of the dead, or place of the departed souls.

Hades was transliterated from the Hebrew word "sheol," which speaks of the grave, the place where the dead descend to, the place of forgetfulness and darkness, and by implication the place of the absence of God.

That implies Jesus had to defeat death in order to build His church.

There was no how the church would be built while death was still reigning among men.

Remember death came because of sin which came through Adam.

Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

This is in reference to the Genesis account where man disobeyed God's instruction, where he was forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

In chapter 3 we learn that Adam disobeyed God and on account of that death entered human race.

In actual sense there were no trees. That was a mode of communication describing the supernatural world.

Trees in scripture depict a contact with the supernatural.

From one tree was life and from one tree was death.

After the sin of Adam death entered human race.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

After the fall Adam began to give birth after his kind.

Genesis 5:3
3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

That is, the race of mortal beings. Those who can consciously sin and be ruled by sin.

Those who can choose what God does not desire.
Whatever you do, contrary to God's word is sin.

Adam's choice of eating from the forbidden tree was sin.

That brought judgement, condemnation and death.

For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Then death began to reign over mankind

Romans 5:14
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

From Adam to Moses is in reference to the Torah which is from Genesis to Deuteronomy. That is, as recorded in the scriptures.

Those who did not sin after the similitude Adam's transgression are those who believed in God, even those whose faith is chronicled in chapter 11 of Hebrews.

"By faith Abel.."
"By faith Enoch.."
"By faith Noah.."
"BY faith Abraham.."

That is, those who believed in God's promise of salvation through the Messiah.

Even though they had faith in God's promise of salvation, they also succumbed to death.

Thats because sin resulted in men becoming mortal beings. That is, to be subjected and susceptible to death.

God's grandplan was therefore to remove death by making available His life.

"On this rock I will build My church."

The rock describes the foundation upon which the church is built.

Jesus used the language of masons to communicate the plan and purpose of God.

To a normal Jew, Jesus's words would direct their minds to the scriptures, particularly to the temple which was built on a firm foundation of stones.

The rock is the revelation of Jesus Christ, that He is the Christ The Son of the living God. That's a confrontational statement against idol worship. Remember Caesarea Philippi was a center of idolatry, where Caesar was worshiped as lord, king and son of a god.

The church of Jesus Christ was to be built after resurrection when sin and death are totally defeated.

After man's rebellion separated us from God, He lovingly and acted a plan to restore a relationship with us and receive the praise of all people, nations and languages.

Thats why after the fall of man God asked, "Adam where are you?" Genesis 3:9

That was God's pursuit of man from the beginning.
God always wanted fellowship with man.
When God created mankind, His intention was to reproduce Himself.
Man is therefore God's physical imprint and representative in the earth, to express His glory in the earth.

That is God's purpose for creating man.

It's like minting many coins but looking exactly the same, and bearing the same inscriptions.

Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Remember Moses's immediate audience were the exodus people. Those were the people who lived all their lives in Egypt.
So he wrote to them in the language they could understand.

Take note of the creatures listed in this text

"Fish of the sea"
"Cattle"
"Creeping things"
"Birds of the air"

Those were the curved images which were worshipped in Egypt, which represented different deities or supernatural beings.

In Egypt, where the children of Israel lived for over 400 years, there were images of different creatures, which represented deities.

Those images were kept in temples and people paid homage to them even with offerings and sacrifices.

Take for example, in Japan they believe in a god called bhuda.
They have a statue that represents bhuda, and even built a temple for that statue where they sacrifice and pay homage to it.

Man is created with a natural desire that only God Himself can fulfil.
Only intimacy with God can satisfy that longing in man.

God intentionally created man with that void so that only Him can fill.

No wonder nothing of this earth can satisfy the longing soul of man. Even money cannot fulfil man's longing soul.

Only intimacy with God can bring satiation and contentment to man. So man is wired to long for God.

No wonder at any particular point of man's life he is in worship.

As long you have reached an accountability age, and have power of discretion, you are bound to worship a deity.

That's why at any time man is satisfying the agenda or desires of a spirit somewhere.
So the language of image and likeness is where we get the Son of the gods or Son of God.

Image means a an exact representation or representative figure.
Likeness means resemblance or similitude.
Those words are synonyms.

So the statement "Let us make man in Our image, after our likeness," implies that only man can be a physical representative of God.
Not statues. Not sculptures. Not curved Images of wood, gold, and clay which were worshipped by the Amorites.

Man was therefore created to be the exact representation of God in the earth.

When Moses penned those words, that was God's plan.

When Adam sinned against God, the image was marred.

So to have dominion is actually over different deities and gods. That's the dominion man was created to function in.

You don't necessarily need to have dominion over birds, animals, reptiles and fish. You can have one but still tormented be by evil spirits.

Infact you don't need to have the life of God to have dominion over all those creatures. Unbelievers are able to tame them.

That was a coded language which Moses used.

Mankind in the image and likeness of God must have dominion over supernatural beings.

When we talk of the church we talk of the sons of God. That is, those who bear His image.

Genesis 2:1-4
1Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

Here the writer intruduced his audience to God's resting place.

Again, this is a codified language which requires interpretation.

The number 6 in scripture is for man. It represents man without God, man's dead works, man's inadequacy and insufficiency without God, man alienated from God, man's works apart from God, man's frailty and shortcomings, and man's futile attempt to reach to God.

Whereas the number 7, which symbolises perfection and completion, describes God meeting man's inadequacy and imperfections.

Paul described this frailty of man as being fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The word "fallen short" means to be lacking, insufficient and deficient.

Therefore what perfects and completes man is the glory of God.

The word "rested" in Genesis 2 is a language that Moses's immediate audience understood.

It's a temple language, describing the deity resting in a temple.
After the completion of a temple, an image that represents a particular deity would be brought into that temple.
This signified a deity entering his rest or resting place.

Notice that the creation story began with God's plan.

Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This describes the union of divinity (God) and humanity (man), the supernatural and the natural.

In verse 26 we see the how God intended to execute His plan.

Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This describes God in humanity or God's tabernacle in men.

Genesis 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

This again describes God's plan to join Himself with humanity.
Dust represents mortality.

That's because man is inadequate and insufficient and wanting without God.

So the resting of God describes His resting place. Rest is when deities abide.

We learn in the prophets that God's intended place of rest is the whole earth.

The study of the church is the perfect way to factor out God's plan throughout the scriptures.

God's plan has always been to bring heaven and earth into union.
Not two separate planets as many misconstrued.

Meanwhile the word of God reveals heaven and earth as intertwined.

The only way heaven and earth can be brought together is when man of dust and the Spirit of God are fused together. That is, divinity in humanity.

Many think that there is greater glory than God in man. That's misconception and ignorance.

The ultimate revelation of the scriptures is God in man.

Colossians 1:27
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The word "church," which is "ekklesia" in Greek, is traced to the prophetic scriptures (Hebrew "qahal") where it is used 123 times.
Most applications of the word "qahal" were in reference to the assembly of Israel, either when they were gathered for war, or to celebrate feasts, or at Mount sinai to receive the law, or gathered to worship in the temple.

Notice that the first reference of the word "qahal" to the nation of Israel was on the eve of Exodus.

Exodus 12:6
6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

The word "assembly."

While still enslaved in Egypt, they were never referred to as the church.

Therefore the church describes the exodus people. That is, people out of exile.

The church stretches back to even before Israel.
Adam and Eve, who embraced God's message

Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

This is referred to as protoevangelion. That is, the very first gospel uttered directly to man.

When we paraphrase this text God said that the seed of a woman would bruise the head of the serpent.

Those were figurative expressions.

The word "bruise" means to crush.
The word "head" describes power, authority or dominion.
The word "seed" speaks of descendant or offspring.

Even Eve did not understand the meaning of those prophetic words. Thats why she thought her sons Abel and Seth were the seeds.

Genesis 4:25
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

Meanwhile those were a prophetic utterances.

According to prophecy, out of the woman would be born one who strips the devil of his authority.

What you have to observe in the scriptures is that truth is absolute but revelation is progressive.

What you read in Abraham's account, Jacob brought light into it. And the light got brighter as you study Joseph. And the light got brighter as you study Moses. The light got brighter as you continue with Joshua, then Samuel, David, Isaiah all the way to Malachi.

When John came his revelation was brighter than that of all the prophets.

This is depicted by "lights in the heavens" in the creation story.

Genesis 1:16-18
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

The illumination of the earth by the lights from heaven describes the revelation of God's word, which was progressive in the Old Testament.

When you study the scriptures, you will realise that all the prophets, like
Samuel, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Malachi etc read and interpreted the books of Moses in a progressive revelation.

We must also take into consideration that the prophets, Jesus and the apostles never interpreted Genesis chapters 1 to 4 as an account on the creation of the universe.

For example, Paul interpreted the light in the beginning (Genesis 1:3-5) as the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:5-6
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Here Paul was revealing Jesus as the light in Genesis.

Genesis 1:2-3
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

John corroborated Paul as he revealed Jesus as that light.

John 1:6-10
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

That implies John is the lesser light, and Jesus is the greater light.

Four times Jesus announced Himself as the light of the world.

John 3:19
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 8:12
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 9:5
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

John 12:46
46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

Paul described Jesus not only as the light in Genesis but also as the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Again Paul was referencing the Genesis account!

Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Colossians 1:15
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

The phrase "firstborn over all creation" is in reference to the opening text of the scriptures.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The word "beginning" means chief, principal, firstfruits, head and firstborn.

The next verse brought clarity

Colossians 1:16
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

This text expounds on the phrase "the heavens and the earth."

Heavens means the spiritual, supernatural and unseen world.
Earth describes the physical, natural and visible realm.
In Christ Jesus brought the realms together.

Colossians 1:19-20
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Ephesians 1:9-10
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

These two text describe the church, which is the assembly of the sons of God.
So every time Paul interpreted Genesis, he never mentioned physical creation.

In chapter 5 of his letter to Ephesus, Paul taught on marriage, instructing wives to submit to their husbands, and husbands to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25-29).

However, he concluded his sermon by uncovering a mystery in Genesis.

Ephesians 5:29-32
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Mystery means a hidden truth, that requires interpretation.

Paul quoted from Genesis

Genesis 2:23-24
23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

So the mystery of Adam and the woman is revealed as Christ and the church.

That's how Jesus and the apostles interpreted the scriptures.

In their interpretations there is unison of truth. They corroborated one another. No contradictions.

That's why their revelations are so interwoven.

In Genesis Moses wrote that the Seed of a woman will bruise the head of a serpent (Genesis 3:15).

In the natural sense women don't produce seed.

That remained a mystery until Isaiah interpreted the prophecy about 800 years later.

Isaiah 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

The ultimate revelation is recorded in Paul's letter to Galatians.

Galatians 4:5-6
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

So the gospel has been preached from Genesis chapter 3.

We see in the lineage of Seth, after the birth of Enosh that men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Genesis 4:25-26
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”
26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

Adam means man
Seth means appointed
Enosh means mortal or frail.

When uncovering this mystery, we see that men were apointed to death.

On account of that, men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

The phrase "call upon the name of the Lord" is a biblical description for worship, prayer and praise.

The name "Lord" (Hebrew "Yahweh") expresses His personality. He who is and causes to be. Yahweh reveals God's care for His people and His desire to commune with them.

Because of misconceptions and lack of knowledge, everytime the Jews had to pronounce the name of Yahweh they had to take a bath first.

Also whenever the scribes had to transcribe Yahweh they had to wash their pens.

They treated that name as sacred that they felt unworthy and unholy to mention it. That form of ignorance brought a distance. Yet Yahweh describes God who is ever present.

Yahweh was pronounced only by the high priest once a year, when he offered blood in the day of atonement.

Yahweh was first revealed to Moses

Exodus 6:2-3
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them.

The Hebrew word for God Almighty is "el shadday."
Shadday means a big land.

Yahweh describes God who is personally present, ready to care for His people and to meet their needs.

Not God at a distance.
Not God in the future.

No wonder the prefixes "thus says the Lord" or "the lord said" dominating in the scriptures.

That was God's commitment and promises to meet the needs of His people, and to have personal relationship with them.

"Men began to call upon the name of the Lord."
That's where we get the concept of altars from.

An altar is a place where men meet with supernatural beings.

Or where men invoke spirits/deities.
An altar is where the natural and the supernatural collide.

In his sorjouns, Abraham built altars in different places like Sechem (Genesis 12:7, Bethel Genesis 12:8) and Mamre (Genesis 13:18) where he called upon the name of the Lord.

Altars in the old Testament were places where men called and sacrificed to their gods.

In His tolerance, God met men at the altars - a physical location.

But altars were never God's ultimate plan.

God's grandplan is the house to dwell in.

Let's look at Jacob's vision of the ladder.

Genesis 28:12-16
12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying,

Notice that this was a vision.
And visions don't show reality nor substance. Rather they show pictures that symbolise or represent the reality.

Many visions recorded in the scriptures were not literal hence require interpretation.

The ladder symbolised a connection or bridge between heaven (divinity) and earth (humanity).

That's because after the fall there was separation between God and man.

There was no intimate relationship.

The ladder indicated that heaven and earth would be joined together.
The ladder is what was to bring God and man into a union.

The grandplan of God in the scriptures is the union between Himself and mankind.

Notice that in that encounter Jacob received the same prophecy of the promised land, that his fathers Abraham and Isaac received.

That implies Jacob was around the same physical location where God met Abraham and Isaac his fathers.

Jacob is the prophet who shows us the concept of heaven and earth in the scriptures.

Therefore the house of God (God's dwelling place) is the gate (access) of heaven.

Notice that every encounter the prophets of old had, carried within them God's revelation, message and His divine plan.

Hence they named places and even their children according to prophecy.

The Hebrew word "Bethel'' is dirived from two Hebrew words bayith (translated "house") and el (translated "God").

Bethel therefore is translated "house of God."

Bethel was a place in Canaan.

House of God describes God's dwelling place.

Remember we factored from the scriptures that God desired a place to dwell in.
The dwelling of God refers to His home in heaven, His sanctuary on earth like the temple or tabernacle, and ultimately the believers.

The word "house" means dwelling place
The word "gate" means access.

That means the house of God is access to heaven.
Once you are in the house of God you are in heaven.

House of God is where heaven and earth are united, overlap and intertwined.

That's the destination of man.

The house of God is where His name is manifested.
The house of God is where His presence is.

The house of God is where His glory dwells.
The house of God is a place of worship and service.
The house of God is a place of offering to God.
The house of God is a place of prayer.
The house of God is where we call upon His name.

Notice that in the scriptures God's dwelling was symbolised by the ark of the covenant within the tabernacle, and later the temple.

The church is described as God's dwelling place, where He expresses Himself and works through His people.

God's plan has always been to dwell in and with His people.

The term "house of God" appears 81 times in the scriptures.

The first mention is where we just read in Genesis 28:17, referring to God's dwelling place.

In 1 Chronicles the term "house of God" was used a total of 13 times, 9 times for the tabernacle in the city of David, and 4 times for the temple that Solomon was about to build.

22 times in 2 Chronicles in reference to the temple that Solomon built.

24 times in the book of Ezra referring to the temple that Zerubbabel built.
After that the term "house of God" was used figuratively.

The word "dwell" is found throughout the pages of the scriptures. It's very keyword in the scriptures concerning the plan of God.

Exodus 25:8-9
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

The Hebrew word translated "dwell" is "shakan.''

Here God was reiterating and restating His desire to dwell among men.

Exodus 29:45-46
45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

After that they constructed a tabernacle. A tabernacle was a portable tent, which the children of Israel carried throughout their wilderness journey.

The tabernacle was where the glory of God oftentimes rested.
But that was a portion of God.

Even when the Israelites were carrying the physical tabernacle in the wilderness, God restated His plan to tabernacle men.

Leviticus 26:11-12
11 I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

After the forty years wildeness journey, which was followed by Israel's conquest of Canaan, the tabernacle of Moses was moved to a place named Shiloh.

Joshua 18:1
1 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.

That was the first time the tabernacle was stationed in one place.

The tabernacle remained in shiloh throughout the period of Judges.

Shiloh was a city in Ephraim. Shiloh means whole, sound, quiet, secure or abundance.

That's the place where Hannah prayed to have Samuel.

So after seven years since the conquest of Canaan, the Israelites moved the tabernacle from Gilgal to shiloh, where it remained there for 369 years.

Shiloh became a center of worship in Israel throughout the period of Judges and Ruth. That is, during the pre mornachic period.

At some point the tabernacle was enclosed with stones (previously a tent).

It became a place of inquiry from the Lord.

It became a place of revelation

It became a place where they called upon the name of the Lord.

Shiloh is a place where Hannah prayed earnestly that she may have Samuel.

1 Samuel 1:9-11
9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord.
10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.
11 Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”

The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh.

1 Samuel 3:19-21
19 So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord.
21 Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

By implication, the ark of the covenant (symbolising God's presence with Israel) was placed at Shiloh.

It was at Shiloh that Samuel and Eli ministered to the Lord.

Shiloh was eventually destroyed by the Philistines, and they captured the ark of God.

Shiloh was destroyed because the ancient Israel refused to walk with God. Rather they went after other gods.

1 Samuel 4:10-11
10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.
11 Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

The Israelites were defeated because the priesthood was corrupted.

The two sons of Eli, who were to inherit the priesthood, were unholy and profane.
They disregarded God's tabernacle, treating it as a common place.

Eventually a child was born to Phinehas, and his name was Ichabod.

1 Samuel 4:19-22
19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.
20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.
21 Then she named the child ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

The ark was a symbol of God's presence with His people.
Whereas the tabernacle symbolised God's union with man.

The temporary tabernacle eventually gave way to the temple of Solomon.

1 Kings 9:3
3 And the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

This was the temple of Solomon.

Years later God warned Israel of idolatry lest the temple would be destroyed like the tabernacle of Shiloh.

Jeremiah 7:12-15
12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,
14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.

Jeremiah here spoke many years after the tabernacle of Shiloh was destroyed.
There were abominations which were going on in the temple.

The Lord therefore instructed Jeremiah to use Shiloh as an example to warn the stubborn leaders of Israel.

Jeremiah's words became prophetic because twenty years later the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

The Psalmist testified also

Psalm 78:58-61
58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59 When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
60 So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had placed among men,
61 And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.

High places are places where men sacrificed to idols.

The reason God forsook the tent of Shiloh was because of idolatry.

We see that God was looking for a dwelling place.

David, being a prophet was looking forward to dwell in the house of the Lord.

Psalm 26:8
8 Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells.

What we derive from this text is that the house of God is where His glory dwells.

The house of the Lord is also the dwelling place of His people.

Psalm 23:6
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

The word "dwell" means to be enthroned.

David here desired to dwell in God's house.

Psalm 27:4
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 84:1-4, 10
1 How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young— Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah

10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

David longed for the house of the Lord which was not yet built.

But before now, where was God dwelling??

According to the Bible, heaven is first and foremost the dwelling place of God.

Even during the period of the prophets God didn't yet have a place to dwell.

2 Chronicles 2:1,6
1 Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal house for himself.

6 But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?

Notice that the words "temple," "tabernacle" and "house" were used interchangeably.

Solomon being a prophet, know that the temple he was about to build could not house God.

Remember this teaching focuses on the house of God, that is, God's dwelling place.

Even at the completion of the temple, Solomon put a disclaimer on it that it's not God's ultimate dwelling place.

2 Chronicles 6:18
18 “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!

Solomon is rightly humbled over and therefore asked this question.

During the period of Judges the house of the Lord was where the ark was kept.

Judges 20:18, 26-27
18 Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The Lord said, “Judah first!”

26 Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
27 So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

Deuteronomy 26:15
15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

Psalm 33:13-14
13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;

Heaven is God's habitation. Heaven is the supernatural realm of God's manifest presence.

The reason they used the word heaven it's because it simply means above.

Heaven is pictured as being up or above in the scriptures.
It's not that heaven is physically in the sky.
Rather it means where God's throne is. That is, God is over all and his authority over all.

The concept of heaven conveys that God

Psalm 2:4
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.

The word "sits" means to be enthroned.
God is enthroned in heaven.

Psalm 11:4
4 The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

Heaven is God's holy temple.
Heaven is God's throne. That is, where He rules from.

Isaiah 66:1-2
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
2 For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,” Says the Lord.
“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.

When Isaiah prophesied, the temple of Solomon was still standing yet God was still looking for a resting place or place to dwell.

Just like during the tabernacle of witness God was still looking for a dwelling place.

That implies the temple of God was still in the future.

Zechariah 6:12-13
12 Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: “Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the Lord;
13 Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’

Here the construction efforts to rebuild the second temple was opposed by Gentile politicians. And so the construction of the temple was halted.

Then God gave Zechariah a word of encouragement that He would build His temple.

During the building of the second temple, Zechariah prophesied that the real temple would be built by the man the Branch.

This goes with the words of Jesus "I will build My church."

Also this fulfil the prophecy of the son of David who was to build the house of God (2 Samuel 7:12-14).

Jesus is the one who ultimately built God's dwelling place.