Living as a Temple

Normally I preface my thoughts with a story from the last few days or something that has always been on my mind but what I have to share today is a new revelation or maybe an old one that never came to the surface. This is something God placed on my heart last week and I shared it with the youth, but I think it could have meaning for all of us.

First I want you to consider what "church" means to you. I don't mean just the church building or what you do on Sunday mornings, but church as a whole, what does it mean to you? When I was growing up church often felt like school. There was a teacher and I was in a classroom listening to them lecture to me about something I would forget as soon as the test was over. Some people are great students in school and of the Word, but I wasn't in the category and still struggle a bit to engage in church. This had me wondering what the purpose of church (being a part of the body of Christ, attending church, reading the Bible, etc)  really was.

When I presented this question before God, He took me back to what I will call the "first church." The church today is a sacred structure built to be a place where we can glorify God with our praise and worship. The first structure built to honor God was the ark of the covenant and it was housed in a tent. Only leaders were allowed to enter the tent because the glory of the Lord was too much for anyone else to experience. They presented their sacrifices to the Lord and trusted their leaders to guide them. This is how the Lord dwelt among His people and this is the way things were until David and Solomon.

During David's reign it was customary for king's to live in temples. David has this revelation during of his reign as King: “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent” (2 Samuel 7:2). Nathan initially tells him to go ahead and why not. David wants to thank the Lord and glorify him for what he has done for David, but the Lord says:

 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever’”(2 Samuel 7:5-16).

David accepted this and scripture goes on to tell us that Solomon builds a temple for the Lord, but I believe God is talking about the eternal in this passage. It is Jesus Christ who establishes "the throne of his kingdom forever." He was from the bloodline of David and he was punished for our sin by the hands of men because God loved us enough to send his son. The Lord desired to always be among his people. He wasn't meant to dwell in a tent forever, but he also didn't intend to be harnessed in a temple either. The temple of the living God was to be sent down in human form.

Jesus came to the earth as a living temple sent to Glorify his Father in heaven, but God didn't intend to stay forever in human form either. Jesus came to establish the throne of God's Kingdom on earth and to free us from our sin and to offer us eternal life, but his time on earth in the flesh was limited. He had to die, but he left something behind.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." (John 14:16-20)

When Christ death and resurrection are complete, he leaves his disciples with the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in them forever. When we are born again and are baptized by the spirit, we become temples of the Holy Spirit built to glorify God with our entire being. We have been given life everlasting. We are the body of Christ; we are the church built to Glorify the Lord in the sanctuaries and out in the world.  Let's do it.

"Take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory, Take my life and let it be yours" - Glory to God Forever by Steve Fee