David was a man who fervently desired to dwell in The LORD’s house. It was his chief desire. He says in Psalms 27,

"One thing I have desired of The LORD, that will I seek after, 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."

David wanted to be in the temple and to behold The LORD’s beauty and also to inquire, to pray. He greatly desired this, and we should too. But the application is even more glorious for us than David. For we have something far better than David had.

We are covered in the grace of The Father, eternally filled with The Holy Spirit, the promise of God which those saints of old all looked forward to, who “all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” [Heb 11:13]

But notice how David seeks out a physical location. He wants to be in the temple to be in God’s presence. In contrast, we can be in God’s presence at all times for He dwells within us! The LORD desires this more than a building, and to us this glorious promise has been granted. He promised in Isaiah,

"Thus saith The LORD, the heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been ,saith The LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." [Isa 66:1]

Though David had to go to the temple to gaze upon The LORD’s beauty, we have the infinite privilege of gazing upon Jesus Christ, who is “the radiance of [The Father’s] glory, and the exact image of His substance…” [Heb 1:3] We can gaze upon Christ like no other Bible figure in the Old Testament. We have an exceeding precious gift here. Notice what Hebrews says about this,

"God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, having laid aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, we should run with endurance the race having been set before us, looking away from all else to gaze upon Jesus the Author and Completer of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, lightly esteeming the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For reflect upon Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your souls." [Heb 11:40-12:3]

CONCLUSION

God has provided something better for us!! Something better than calling fire down from heaven; from building an ark in faith; from passing through the fiery furnace; from closing the mouths of lions; from any act of faith David performed – we have something BETTER. We have the privilege and extreme grace of gazing upon Jesus Christ and His perfect life. We have Jesus living inside of us and we can reflect upon Him.

We don’t have to just desire this! We can experience what David so earnestly longed for every moment of every day!