127 Unless the Lord ^(A)builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord ^(B)guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
² It is vain for you to rise up early,
To ^[a]retire late,
To ^(C)eat the bread of ^[b]painful labors;
For He gives to His ^(D)beloved ^(E)even in his sleep.

³ Behold, ^(F)children are a ^[c]gift of the Lord,
The ^(G)fruit of the womb is a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a ^(H)warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ How ^(I)blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
^(J)They will not be ashamed
When they ^(K)speak with their enemies ^(L)in the gate. (Psalm 127, NASB)

God designated and anointed Solomon to build his house, the first Israelite temple, on earth.  He also gave Solomon this psalm of ascent which declares that only God can build a man’s house. What does this mean? Don’t unbelieving men all around the world build fine mansions for themselves and their families? Clearly God speaks here of the spiritual dimension to any true house, not just of the physical house itself.

Men do build fine houses all around the globe without a thought toward God. Solomon declares here that they build these houses in vain. Certainly we praise them for their natural beauty, but God cares nothing for that. His interest lies within a house that honors his name, whether that house be magnificent or small, lofty or humble. And it is even more than that for God himself must be the builder of the house which he esteems. This applies to the natural houses we live in now and the spiritual house we will abide in forever.

My natural house includes the physical structure I call my “house,” the items of furniture, etc. that fill this physical structure, and the people who live within this structure, my wife, my children, and myself. The real thing that God is interested in, however, are the people inside the structure. In fact, Scripture teaches that he actively molds, chisels, purges, and refines every single person who obeys him (overcomers) in order to one day place them into a pre-planned, specific location in his house. Ultimately this is the meaning of Psalm 127:1. God is our builder, our maker, and until we come into agreement with him and allow him to build us all that we do is in vain. We may labor and labor to make ourselves better. We can exercise to get fit, go through psychological programs to “improve” our minds, and become experts in our fields with advanced degrees, but unless God builds our spiritual house all of our work is in vain. Paul says,

^10 (R)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a^(S)foundation, and ^(T)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a ^(U)foundation other ^(V)than that which is laid, ^(W)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ^13 (X)each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^(Y)by fire, and ^(Z)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^(AA)he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^(AB)but only as through fire.

^16 (AC)Do you not know that you^[b] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For ^(AD)God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:10-17)

Now, the really interesting thing is that all of our individual “houses” will one day become part of his one big “house.” Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2 KJV) And just as many houses comprise earthly cities so do many spiritual houses make up God’s great city, New Jerusalem.

In the book of Hebrew we learn that God has been building a city. Hebrews says that by faith Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 KJV) Revelation tells us that God calls this city New Jerusalem and describes it as follows:

⁹ Then came ^(Z)one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of ^(AA)the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(AB)the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”¹⁰ And ^(AC)he carried me away in the Spirit to ^(AD)a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, ^11 (AE)having the glory of God,^(AF)its radiance ^(AG)like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall, ^(AH)with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— ¹³ on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city had twelve ^(AI)foundations, and ^(AJ)on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ And the one who spoke with me ^(AK)had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.^[d] Its length and width and height are equal.¹⁷ He also measured its wall, 144 cubits^[e] by ^(AL)human measurement, which is also ^(AM)an angel’s measurement. ¹⁸ The wall was built of ^(AN)jasper, while the city was pure gold, like^(AO)clear glass. ^19 (AP)The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and ^(AQ)the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

²² And ^(AR)I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city ^(AS)has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for ^(AT)the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light ^(AU)will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth ^(AV)will bring their glory into it, ²⁵ and ^(AW)its gates will never be shut by day—and^(AX)there will be no night there. ²⁶ They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷ But ^(AY)nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s ^(AZ)book of life. (Revelation 21:9-27)

This passage is filled with symbolism that we will not now examine, but I want to point out that verses 9 and 10 make it clear that this city which God calls New Jerusalem is actually his bride, the Bride of Christ. Thus we see that glorified human beings comprise the eternal city of God to which Abraham and all overcomers sojourn. Yesterday we rested; today we ascend ever higher toward God, toward the day when he has finally fully prepared us, takes us and makes us part of his eternal habitation, literally part of himself.  This is the house which God makes and those who labor along side him building this house do not labor in vain!