I have always wondered why the landlord lived upstairs and the tenant lived downstairs in most housing arrangements. But it’s been revealed by the Grace of God and I wonder no more. The landlord-tenant dynamic is always an interesting one. The arrangement where the higher authority sits upstairs and the lower sits downstairs is supposed to convey some humility on the tenant and reverence for the landlord. The dream of every man and woman is to own their own home and be a landlord and not a tenant living under someone (pun unintended). Most take on debt or a death pledge (french term ‘mortgage’) for that reason and spend the greater part of their lives paying back.
When altars are established for worship, whether for righteous worship or in idolatry, always the altars are placed on an elevated platform where the worshippers look upwards towards the idol or deity being worshipped. The bible always refers to worshipping in high places in the instances of idolatry. It is, therefore, no coincidence that God, the Creator sits up there in His heavenly kingdom and we sit down here in our earthly kingdom. And the One who sits above always has the Power and is the Head of all things. Even our own heads sit on top of the shoulders of the body. CEOs and the executive of corporations sit at the top floor of the building and the rest sit below.
When you are a tenant, it behooves on you have to live by the rules and instructions of the landlord. You are likely to sign a tenancy agreement and be required to pay monthly rent for the provision of utilities and maintenance of the property. When there’s a great relationship between a landlord and tenant, the tenant can live quite long in the same property and become almost like family. On the other hand, when the relationship is not great, the tenancy agreement will be likely be terminated sooner rather than later.
No landlord will tolerate a pompous and disrespectful tenant who behaves as if he’s in his own house and is not prepared to live according to the Landlord’s rules contained in the tenancy agreement. This holds true in most living conditions where there’s a landlord and tenant arrangement.
When a landlord signs a tenancy agreement with a tenant, he legally cedes authority, responsibility, and care of the property to the tenant for a specified period. He gives stewardship of the property to the tenant. When this happens the landlord has no authority to interfere or intrude with the tenant’s domain and the rented property without the tenant’s permission. This is the law of dominion.
When God created man on the sixth day of creation he signed a tenancy agreement with us and gave stewardship (dominion) over the earth.
Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
And like every tenancy agreement, it is renewable and can lasts as long as the tenant lives according to the laws of the Landlord and practicing good stewardship of the property. The law of the Landlord of the earth is contained in the Ten Commandments which were provided to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden given when God told them not to eat of the fruit in the midst of the Garden, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (see article on the Ten Commandments in the Garden of Eden).
However, things have not gone well in our relationship with our Landlord and He has issued an eviction notice to us contained in Revelation 3:14-22, the letter to the church of Laodicea, the seventh and last church or generation of earth’s history.
“14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
Our Landlord’s notice to evict us from His basement suite is plainly stated with the statement “I will spue thee out of my mouth”.
Also in Isaiah 24 he plainly tells us the reasons wants to evict us from the basement:
“24 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word….4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”
But thankfully He has given us conditions that if met, will change His mind from carrying out His threats, these conditions are stated in Revelation 3:18-20/
“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Many landlords will not tolerate insubordinate or unruly tenants who constantly break the rules contained in the tenancy agreement and would quickly terminate the agreement. However, we have in God a patient Landlord who’s prepared to give us chance after chance to repent so He does not cast us out to outer darkness. How fortunate and blessed we are that we have an opportunity to turn back to Him. He says he wants us to come and live upstairs with Him and become His sons so he can give us inheritance to rule over His property as landlords ourselves. “And the meek shall inherit the earth”
Psalm 25:12 What man is he that feareth the Lord? he shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 13 His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth.” Psalm 37:9 “For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.”
God is going to make us owners of the entire earth if we repent and turn back to him! How cool is that? Basement dwellers becoming owners of the property without having to take on a mortgage (death pledge). It’s a no-brainer! I pray that everyone who’s not repented and turned back to God yet will see the need now and pray, “LORD, I surrender my life to you now, take my life and let it be according to your will and desire”. Amen.
Revelation by Grace Ministries 