Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14). Amen.
Good morning. As I said in today’s Winepress, today’s message is ‘The Temple Within’ and I am going to attempt to describe a relationship between us as Christians and Solomon’s Temple and how that relationship influences the way we live our lives.
A lot to be sure, so with no time to waste (I’m on a clock this morning), let’s go for a quick trip back in time.
When the Israelites wandered the wilderness and campaigned to claim the Promised Land, their worship was conducted at the Tabernacle. It was a temporary structure, a tent for all intents and purposes, and had an entire tribe devoted to packing and unpacking and maintaining it.
Once David had claimed Jerusalem and brought the Ark there, he sat in his magnificent palace and felt a little guilty:
1 Ch 17:1 “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”
So he decided he wanted to build a temple, a permanent place on Earth for Gods Spirit to reside. But God would not allow him to, as not only did he have the blood of battle on his hands, but it was not his assigned task to perform. God had reserved that task for David’s son, Solomon. But He did allow David to make preparations so that Solomon could complete the Temple. God even provided David with the exact blueprints for it and laid out what it would be built of and provided the resources for it to be constructed.
Essentially the Temple layout it is based on the plan of the Tabernacle, but increased in all dimensions. He also added some things, a porch and a couple of bronze pillars and some storerooms around the outside of the Temple itself. We'll come back to these shortly.
Now looking at it architecturally all of this is rather glorious, everything has its purpose, to worship God in compliance with the Laws. It’s the spiritual heart of Israel and a symbol for all Jews that they are Gods chosen people and that He dwells among them. To history it is famous for being torn down twice, the second time torn stone from stone, just as Christ prophesised. To Christians it’s also suggested that its rebuilding will be a sign of the coming return of Christ. And that’s where most people leave it.
But some ask us to look a little deeper, people like Chuck and Nancy Missler, Watchman Nee and Charles Scofield. They ask us to read the Old Testament through the New and reveal a deeper meaning to this.
So let’s walk through a plan of the Temple and examine its structure, starting from the inner most parts and working out.
First we have, at the inner most location, the Holy of Holies. It is the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested along with the Mercy Seat, the seat of God. It is where the Spirit of God resided on earth, and sat behind a veil that is only entered by the High Priest once a year to perform the required offerings.
Going out through that veil we come to the Holy Place where the main sacrifices and worship were conducted on a daily basis. This is where the table of shewbread resides and the lamp stands, and the alter. It is a magnificent display of gold and silver.
Moving out we come across the Porch. This is a transition in the Temple from the holy inner area which is encased in gold, through the doors, to the area which deals with sin and contains objects of bronze. Two giant bronze pillars stand at the entrance to the Porch like two guards supporting and controlling the entrance.
This whole structure, the sanctuary, was rested on a raised platform and around it were a series of chambers meant to be used by the Priests to store their worship items and historical records.
Around the outer of the sanctuary is an area known as the Inner Court which housed the molten sea, sacrificial alter and fires, all used by the Priests to prepare and cleanse themselves and the offerings before entering the Temple.
Finally, surrounding the Inner Court, and at a lower level, was the outer court which was the only part of the temple accessible by non-priests.
So this all wonderful you say, but what has this got to do with us? If it were around today we would only look from the outside, it would just be another religious building to attract tourists. So why bother?
We bother because the Bible tells us to bother.
We know a large amount of detail because it is extensively documented in scripture; in fact the description for the tabernacle is the lengthiest description of any structure in the Bible.
And we bother because Paul repeatable tells us to.
Let us start with one of today’s readings.
1 Cor 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
What is Paul saying here?
How about Eph 2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Or even 2 Cor 5:16 For we are the temple of the living God.
Repeatedly Paul creates an allusion between us and the Temple. We know the comparison being made is to Solomon’s Temple as it is the only place referred to as Gods residence on Earth.
So let’s revisit the temple architecture and look at its purpose in worship.
Again, starting from the inner most and working out.
The Holy of Holies was the holiest place on earth the place where the Spirit of God resided. He filled the Holy of Holies and shone forth a light. So what does Paul have to say about us and the Spirit of God
1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Eph 6:18 but be filled with the Spirit,
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
And just for good measure, how about some Old Testament confirmation:
Eze 36:27 I will put my Spirit within you
When we give our lives to Christ we receive the new spirit of the believer, Gods Spirit within us as we are reborn. Just as the most inner part of the Temple housed the Spirit of God, so too does the most inner part of us house the Spirit of God.
Coming out through the veil we have the Holy Place. If the Holy of Holies is the Spirit, then the Holy Place is the heart of the Temple where the continual procession of offering is performed. Ezekiel describes this same action being performed on us, this process of cleansing our heart:
Eze 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you.
In Hebrews we are reminded of this:
Heb 10:22 with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
And David even recognised this whole process himself in
Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me
When we are born again to Christ we are given a new heart, so the Holy Place represents our new Heart.
Outside the Holy Place, through the great doors, is the Porch. This is representative of us living in Gods Will and not our own will, and it is the transition from the spiritual to the flesh. It is where we make the conscious decision of letting God enter and guide our lives.
The entry to the porch is guarded by two giant bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz, I told you they had names. As some of you will know, names in Hebrew have deeper meaning. According to Dr Missler, in this case Jachin means "in his counsel" and Boaz is "in his strength".
This porch is the most important part of our lives as a Christian. It is where we make that conscious decision to follow Gods counsel and work in His strength. As we are told in
Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
If we replace Gods will with our will and start making decisions in the conscious mind based on emotion and desire instead of on faith, we close the door on the inner heart and spirit, and the power of sin starts to take hold of our lives.
So when we listen to the guards at the door, when we work in God’s strength and listen to God’s counsel, we let the light of the new Spirit and new Heart flow out the doors into the world through our flesh and we need that light to shine for the draw of sin in the flesh surrounds the Temple, as it surrounds us.
The Inner Court is the place of dealing with sin. It is where the sacrifices were made and the priests cleansed themselves before entering the Holy Place. It is representing our conscious Soul. The Greeks use the word 'psyche' which has a twofold root. It can mean either "it shall have life" or "it shall wax cold". This could be looked at as a Spirit filled life with Gods light shining forth or an empty cold space devoid of light and the love of God. The Soul is designed to reflect the inner beauty, to be filled with the light of God emanating from the inner spirit.
The Chambers which are in the outer court are our subconscious; they are the hidden parts of our Soul. Originally they were designed to be used by the Priests to store their tools of the trade but in reality they were used to hide their secret idols and private possessions. In the same way, it is the place where we hide our secrets and fears. If we do not choose to open the doors to our inner self but focus on fears we become inwards focused and cold. But the light of the Spirit can cleanse those fears and show them for what they really are. In 2 Chronicles 29, Hezekiah shone light into those dark places as he cleansed the temple and showed them for what they were, things to be carried out and thrown in the Kidron.
Which brings us to the Outer Court, which is our body. This is the part of us exposed to the world, the part that is fully exposed to sin. It is also the part of us that demonstrates the inner spirit to the world around us, it should show the light of Gods love shining forth.
Luke 11:36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.
But again if we are focused inwards on our fears, or too busy working in our own strength to gain salvation through continual worship at the alter, how can that light shine? How can we bring the Lords message to those around us?
Now when David got it into his head to build a home for Gods Spirit to dwell on earth, God stepped in to once again clarify things. The analogy of the tabernacle was not enough so he made it larger and spelt out the symbolism in massive bronze pillars.
God didn’t need a place to dwell, he had already built a place to dwell. God doesn’t need a temple, WE are his temple and more effective than any building will ever be. His light is not to be locked away from the world to be seen only by a few.
Every week we end our service with the words “we are called to be Christ’s light in the world, let us GO in peace”. We are supposed to be his Temple going forth with the inner light of the Spirit shining forth from us.
But it is up to us to ensure that we let that light shine forth, that we walk in His counsel and in His strength and don’t close the doors of our porch. For when we do that those fears start to build up, the doubts grow and the faith grows weaker.
So let us not worry about buildings and structures.
Let us not worry about dark closets and secrets and fears.
Let us open our Temple and let the light of Gods Spirit shine through our lives, through our Church, through our community.
Prayer
So let us pray
Father, you commanded us in the beginning to love you with all our heart, all our soul and all our might.
Lord Jesus, you reminded us to love you with all our mind as well, and to love those around us as much.
To love with all our mind, with your Spirit that fills us
To love you with all our heart, that great new heart that You gave us
And as we choose to live in your strength and will, we love you with all our soul
So Lord, fill us with all the strength of our body as we carry those parts into this world and demonstrate the inner light of Your love to the rest of the world in the way we live.
Let us be your Temples, let us carry your light and let it shine forth across our lives, across our Church and across our community.
Amen.
