Proverbs 14:11, Houses or Homes?

August 10, Proverbs 14:11

Heb. 12:18-28; 1 Peter 2:11-12 “These all died in faith.”

Houses or Homes?

House and Tabernacle both refer to what we call a home. They mean more than bricks and mortar or canvas. They indicate our real home, what absorbs our chief interest, what gives us most pleasure, where our heart is, so to speak. It is our true real estate, the source of our actual strength in life. A real-estate agent can only offer your “House for Sale,” but many have already sold their homes over their own heads to the devil.

1. Two Dwellings: No doubt there is some contrast intended by the two words house and tent. House perhaps suggests an imposing structure, something to be admired, a symbol of success. Tent is the same word as Tabernacle, and, in contrast, probably indicates a humbler, moveable abode of a true pilgrim whose citizenship is in heaven. The one is built on the earth, and, like the first man, it is of the earth, earthy (1 Cor. 15:47). Its vision goes no higher than its roof. The other is only the pilgrim’s lodge. Here there is nothing permanent. It is merely a probation for that better house, and that better country. We sing lustily, “A tent or a cottage, why should I care?” Is that true for you?

2. Two Dwellers: There is a contrast between the wicked and the upright. The word wicked refers to the restless activity of fallen human nature. Here is the evil person who uses improper or foolish methods and materials in the construction of the house. His soul is absorbed with business or wealth or social status. If so, he has not built a home but only inhabits a haunted house. The word upright means straight, right. Here God’s service is first, and the society of the godly prized above all other society. This house looks like a tent, but is really a palace, a foretaste of the mansions in Heaven. At the bottom of the portrait of godly old Puritan Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) we find this couplet:

Of this blest man let this just praise be given;
Heaven was in him, before he was in Heaven.

3. Two Destinies: Both verbs are very graphic. Overthrown means exterminated, annihilated! This home is doomed to ruin, for even the strongest supports of man totter (Ps. 49:12). Paul declares, We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we carry nothing out (1 Tm. 6:7). The word flourish conjures up the image of a tree “bursting into bud or full flower.” What the world too often sees is the flourishing of the wicked, and the overthrow of the upright. Truly, here we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). It is the feeble tent of the upright and not the imposing castle of the wicked that stands at the last (Heb. 11:13-16). A visit to the Sanctuary of God will explain it all, for then the Psalmist saw the perspective of Eternity (Ps. 73:16-17). Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29).

Thought: Is the foundation of your house (home) rooted in heaven?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the Kingdom that cannot be moved.