Another reason can be assigned why the dwelling of the blessed is called a house: namely, that houses — especially royal houses — have very many ornaments in their halls, in their chambers, and in their bedchambers, which the rest of the city does not have. For who could recount the costly hangings, the vessels of gold and silver, with which the palaces of kings gleam? Nor are the interior ornaments alone of great price; the very outward structure is wont to be a marvel, for its precious marbles and columns, its gilded or painted porticoes, its hanging gardens, and other things of the kind, which it would be long to enumerate. Solomon, king of Jerusalem, after he had built a temple for the Lord with the magnificence that was fitting, built his own house also with such splendor that he spent thirteen years in building it (1 Kgs. 7); although he had many workmen and overseers of the works, and material of precious stones and cedar wood was at hand. And with no less outlay and labor he built a palace for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, and the house of the forest of Lebanon; the description of which is found in the first book of Kings (1 Kgs. 7), so sumptuous that it seems incredible.
Therefore, when sacred Scripture calls that dwelling — which it had called the city of God and the kingdom of heaven — a house of God, it meant to signify that the whole of that city, and the whole of that kingdom, so gleam and shine as a royal house shines and gleams. For, as we have heard from the Prophet Baruch, the house of God is so immense that it can occupy the whole kingdom of heaven (Bar. 3).
It seemed altogether admirable, a little before, that some whole kingdom should shine with that beauty in which its chief city shines. Who, then, would not be astonished to consider that the whole kingdom of heaven is called the house of God, because it is all adorned, all beautiful, all precious, as is the very house of the Lord God? Rightly does the Prophet David cry out: My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord (Ps. 83). For who would not long with his whole heart to see and possess a most noble royal house, which equals a whole kingdom in its size; and on the other hand, to see and possess a most ample kingdom, which equals any royal house in ornaments, in beauty, and in price? Nor would our soul only long for such a house and such a kingdom, if it considered these things attentively and believed them faithfully; it would even plainly faint away and be rapt out of itself, on account of the incredible beauty and greatness of so great a thing. But we, lying prostrate on the ground and intent on earthly things, think those things great which we discern here, and therefore give no thought to invisible things: just as little children do, who, having never gone out of their father's house, love their little cottage and do not even think of the palaces of kings. So too are peasants wont to do: because they have never seen cities, they are anxious about tilling their little field and repairing their little house of wood and clay, should it happen to threaten ruin; while for palaces, for the forum, for the theater, for honors, for dignities, for increasing their wealth, and for splendid banquets, no care whatever gnaws at them. And perhaps peasants and little children are happier than wealthy citizens and great princes: since the things that seem lofty in this world bring more trouble and danger than solid profit or dignity. But the good things that are in that heavenly house of our Father are truly the greatest, and bring no trouble and no danger; nay, they free us from all trouble and danger, not for a time, but for everlasting ages. And so St. Paul — who was neither a little child nor a peasant, and who knew the goods of this world, being a most learned man who had conversed with the wise; and who had also been in the house of God and surveyed the heavenly city, caught up into Paradise and into the third heaven — says of himself: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4); and again: Our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3). And exhorting us all, he said: Seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth (Col. 3).