Casa de Deus: o que a Bíblia diz sobre este lugar
O que a Bíblia chama de casa de Deus
Na Bíblia, a "casa de Deus" não é uma construção física feita para conter o Criador, mas o espaço onde Ele escolhe manifestar a sua presença e se relacionar com as pessoas. Esse conceito se desenvolve ao longo das Escrituras: começa com altares e tendas no deserto, passa pelo templo de Jerusalém e culmina no Novo Testamento, onde a morada divina passa a ser o próprio crente e a comunidade da fé.
A primeira vez que a expressão surge associada a um lugar específico ocorre quando Jacó acorda de uma visão no deserto e chama aquele local de Betel — que significa literalmente "casa de Deus":
Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it." He was afraid, and said, "How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven."(Genesis 28:16,17)
Mais tarde, Israel ergueu o tabernáculo móvel e, depois, o templo de Salomão. Ainda assim, os profetas e apóstolos sempre enfatizaram que Deus transcende qualquer espaço construído por mãos humanas:
Yahweh says:
"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build to me?
Where will I rest?
For my hand has made all these things,
and so all these things came to be," says Yahweh:
"but I will look to this man,
even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at my word.(Isaiah 66:1,2)
"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
‘heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord.
‘Or what is the place of my rest?
Didn’t my hand make all these things?’(Acts 7:44-50)
O desejo pela presença nos Salmos
Nos Salmos, a expressão "casa do Senhor" frequentemente expressa a saudade e o anseio pela comunhão viva com Deus, e não mero apego às paredes do santuário. Estar na casa de Deus significava desfrutar de paz, segurança e abrigo sob o cuidado do Criador:
One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after:
that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life,
to see Yahweh’s beauty,
and to inquire in his temple.(Psalms 27:4)
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.(Psalms 84:10)
I was glad when they said to me,
"Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!"(Psalms 122:1)
Os autores bíblicos usam essa imagem para descrever a estabilidade espiritual de quem confia no Senhor:
Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.(Psalms 23:6)
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house.
I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.(Psalms 52:8)
Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near,
that he may live in your courts.
We will be filled with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.(Psalms 65:4)
Jesus e o zelo pelo templo
Nos evangelhos, Jesus trata o templo físico com reverência solene, confrontando os líderes religiosos que haviam transformado o local sagrado em mercado lucrativo:
Jesus entered into the temple of God and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves. He said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!"(Matthew 21:12,13)
A postura de Cristo ao expulsar os vendilhões cumpriu o sentimento profético registrado nos Salmos sobre o compromisso irrestrito com as coisas do Pai:
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. He made a whip of cords and drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money and overthrew their tables. To those who sold the doves, he said, "Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will eat me up."(John 2:13-17)
For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.(Psalms 69:9)
Nesse mesmo episódio, Jesus apontou para a transição definitiva: ao anunciar que reedificaria o templo em três dias, Ele falava da ressurreição do seu próprio corpo, inaugurando uma nova forma de encontro com o Criador.
A morada espiritual: a igreja e o corpo do cristão
Com a nova aliança estabelecida por Cristo e a vinda do Espírito Santo, o conceito de templo físico perde a centralidade. A morada de Deus deixa de ser um endereço geográfico e se torna pessoal e comunitária.
Individualmente, o corpo do cristão é santuário do Espírito:
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,(1 Corinthians 6:19)
Coletivamente, a comunidade dos que creem — a igreja — é a verdadeira família e habitação viva de Deus na terra:
but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.(1 Timothy 3:15)
but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.(Hebrews 3:6)
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