What Makes God’s House Beautiful?

Beautifully remodeled home

A home is a place for hospitably welcoming family and friends, for sharing moments around a table with our loved ones, for relaxing and reflecting on God’s goodness. Many of us want to have a nice home. We take pride in our remodels, landscaping, fresh paint, and new furniture. Time and resources are spent making our dwellings just right. That we spend $790 billion per year at places like Lowe’s and Home Depot confirms this fact. We want to make our homes aesthetically pleasing, but what makes God’s House beautiful?

In Isaiah 60:7, we read, “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you (Israel); the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful House” (ESV, emphasis mine). In this passage, the nations are coming to Israel to exalt the one true God, a picture of the ultimate endgame of God’s Mission—when people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation gather around the throne of Heaven (Revelation 5:9).

Model of the Temple in the Time of Christ

Israel was to be a light to the Gentile nations around them (Isaiah 49:6), welcoming sojourners (non-Israelites) into the worship of Yahweh (see Exodus 12:38, 43-49; Joshua 8:30-35). One finds the command to welcome sojourners into the faith and community of the Israelites all throughout the Old Testament (See Exodus 12:19, 48-49; 20:10; 23:12; Leviticus 16:29; 17:8-10, 12-13,15; 18:26; 20:2; 22:18; 24:16, 22; Numbers 9:14; 15:14-16, 26, 29-30; 19:10; Deuteronomy 5:14; 29:11; 31:12; Joshua 8:33, 35; 20:9; 2 Chronicles 30:25; Ezekial 14:7; 47:22-34). Indeed, God’s mission for the nations is revealed throughout the Old Testament. One commentator highlights an oft-missed point of this former covenant:  It’s “not a matter of race but grace.”[1]

Arab men

What’s poignant about the Isaiah passage is its specificity. Nebaioth was the firstborn son of Ishmael, and Kedar was his second (Genesis 25:13). This means that the later Arab tribes that descended from these men would one day come up to Israel, and offer acceptable offerings, a picture of God’s redemptive plan for Muslims, the literal [and in most cases spiritual] sons of Ishmael.

The promise is sure; the only question that remains: will you share in the joy? We all like to show off our home remodels. So does God. Will we share in His joy in seeing people from all backgrounds, Muslims included, now walking in the light of the LORD? May we say with the Psalmist, “Let the nations be glad,” (Psalm 67:4) for there is no greater thing to give ourselves to than God’s great mission for all peoples.

Want to give your life to something great? Spend yourself on beautifying God’s House.

[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus:  Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL:  Crossway Books, 2005), 360.