We must keep in mind that God is as gracious as He can be to all people because He loves all. So, He prefers mercy over judgment. He will bless things done for Him as much as He can, but He will only inhabit what He initiates and what He builds. Much of the book of Revelation is about the conflict between the church God is building and those men are building. Men may attach His name to their works and presume they are building for God when they are really building for themselves. It is similar to the motive the men of Shinar had when they built the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4: “And they said, ‘Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.’”
Men have never quit trying to build such works to gather people around a project and to make a name for themselves. This is called “Mystery Babylon” in Revelation. This is modeled after the Tower of Babel, where the Lord looked down upon their project and scattered their languages so they could not go on building. In like manner, the Lord looked down on the church men were building in the Middle Ages, saw their folly in trying to bring the kingdom of God to earth by their might and power— by their swords rather than by His Spirit—so He scattered their languages. Now, we have over 10,000 church denominations.
God is not the author of confusion. Babylon means “confusion,” and when the world looks at the church that men have built, they see confusion. This will change, and before the end of this age there will be Christians who are known for their love and for His presence with them. The brilliance of what they build will be because He is building through them, and He will inhabit what He builds. This will happen when there is a remnant that seeks Him more than His blessing, and has the wisdom and humility to let Him build His house through them.
The Lord’s messages to the seven churches in Revelation are guidelines to lead His people to become a part of what He is building and to avoid what He is not. These messages reveal the inroads of distractions and deceptions that will lead God’s people away from His purpose, and how we can discern and overcome these.
Now that we stand at the end of this age looking back over it, it is apparent how accurate these warnings to the church through this age have been, and how the same deceptions are still working to deceive even the elect if they can. Can we see ourselves and our churches in these examples? If so, how do we repent and turn away from the diversions and back to our purpose of building the house the Lord will inhabit?
We’re told this in Isaiah 66:1-2: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, so all these things came into being,’ declares the Lord. ‘But I will look to this one, at one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word.’”
When we hire a builder, we likely look to things such as their reputation, the quality of their workmanship, their efficiency, and their ability to finish the job on time and on budget. These are no doubt important, but the Lord is far more concerned about the heart of the builder. He looks for the humble and contrite of heart, because only those who are humble and contrite will be correctable and patient enough to be led only by Him.
This is the first and most important foundation of those the Lord will use to be and to build his habitation, but there are other qualities that we see in the Scriptures. Those who were called and anointed to build His first dwelling place on earth, the Tabernacle of Moses, were the first in Scripture about whom it was said they were “filled with the Holy Spirit” (see Exodus 31:1-3).
The craftsmen called to build His dwelling place on earth had skills and wisdom beyond what even the most brilliant and skilled in worldly craftsmanship have. Those He called to work on His dwelling place must have been given their skills and wisdom from above. Therefore, they are holy, consecrated to do His work, have their hearts on things above, and have humility that keeps them contrite before Him, always seeking to please Him, not men.
Think about it: what would the church look like if it was built with the intention of attracting God, not men? Do we not build our “houses of worship” more for what we think will attract people? Of course, the Lord wants His children to be at home in His home, but if we give our priority to building what the Lord wants, we can be quite sure that it would draw far more people than most of what is built in His name without Him. His people signed up for Him, not us, and they are worn out by all the projects that they’ve been drawn to instead of Him.
© 2025 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
