Tag Archives: You are God’s temple

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A Temple That Pales In Comparison To You

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

Do you know who are you? You are not purposeless. You are not insignificant. You are not average. No way—you are the temple of God himself, a far more precious and glorious home of the presence of God than even the holy structure Solomon erected. Solomon’s temple pales in comparison to you. Seriously! That is who you are—you new identity in Christ. So live like it!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 9:2-7

The Lord said to Solomon, “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations. Then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name.

It took twenty years for Solomon to complete two of his major work projects—his palace, which was beyond spectacular, and more importantly, the temple, which housed the glorious presence of the Lord. And while we don’t know exactly what the temple looked like since the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it some 400 years later (keep that in mind—God is under no obligation to protect his holy places when his people persist in unholy living, cf. 1 Kings 9:6-10), it must have been magnificent, knowing the brilliant Solomon’s architectural achievements—impressive even by modern standards. But as jaw dropping as the building was, even that compared to God’s presence that inhabited the place as it was dedicated, which you can read about in 1 Kings 8.

When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord. (1 Kings 8:10-11)

While the temple certainly was equal to the Hellenistic list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, What made it so special wasn’t Solomon’s engineering brilliance or the building’s awe-inspiring beauty, it was the presence of the Lord. And what added to the inspiration of his presence was the certainty of his promise:

I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. (1 Kings 9:3)

Fast-forward to your life and mine today. Do you realize that Solomon’s temple in all its splendor has been replaced? Replaced by what? Not by what, but by whom. You—as a follower of Jesus Christ, who is the complete revelation of God’s presence, the fulfillment of his promise, and the expression of his power—are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is who you are, and me too, together with every other surrendered follower of Jesus: We are God’s temple. That is what the Apostle Paul says,

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:13)

Now the implications of that are huge. Not the least of which is the fact of your redeemed identity. You are not purposeless. You are not insignificant. You are not average. No way—you are the temple of God himself, a far more precious and glorious home of the presence of God than even the holy structure Solomon erected. Solomon’s temple pales in comparison to you. Seriously!

That is who you are—you new identity in Christ. So live like it!

Having trouble grasping that truth? My guess is yes! So I am praying this prayer for you today:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

By God’s sovereign grace, you are a wonder to behold.

Going Deeper With God: Take a moment before you go a step further to pray Paul’s supplication for a Holy Spirit revelation of your true identity as God’s holy temple. As God reveals that truth to you, it will change everything about your day.

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The Details of You

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

God has a plan. He never does things randomly, but he always does them redemptively. Every project he begins he brings to a completion befitting his glorious sovereign plan for the ages—which includes you.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 6:11-13

Then the Lord gave this message to Solomon: “Concerning this Temple you are building, if you keep all my decrees and regulations and obey all my commands, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father, David. I will live among the Israelites and will never abandon my people Israel.”

As you read 1 Kings 6, you could pick any verse in the chapter, save for those I have selected as our devotional focus, and you will encounter details about the construction of the temple. This is a chapter that an architect or a builder might enjoy, but the endless accounting of the building materials that were used in this project are mind-numbing for ordinary people like you and me. And this isn’t the first place in the Bible, nor will it be the last place, that we will be treated to the architectural minutiae of buildings belonging to God.

When Moses constructed the tabernacle, we were treated to the details. Between Exodus 25-31, pick a verse, any verse, and you will get more information on the construction of the tabernacle, its furnishings and the priestly garments that you will know what to do with. But those details mattered to God, who told Moses, “And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” (Exodus 25:40)

When we go to the end of the Bible, we are again invited into the architectural details of the heavenly Jerusalem—and this place we will call our eternal home is beautiful beyond words:

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelations 21:19-21)

I am not even sure what some of those precious materials are, but my guess is the stunning wonder of the place will cause my jaw to drop in amazement. And then John the Revelator adds this word at the end of his description:

But I saw no temple in the heavenly Jerusalem, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

So why is God so enamored with the details? Why did the Holy Spirit inspire the writers of scripture to include the minutiae of the building projects. Well, there are probably more reasons than I understand, but at the top of the list is the fact that God is preparing a place where he can dwell with us forever. As the Lord told Moses, “make it according to the pattern I gave you,” and as he showed John, “I will be the temple,” God is giving exacting attention to the place where you and I live forever.

In light of that, there are several things we learn about God as we consider his concern over how things get done:

  1. God is a God of details. He is orderly and purposeful; creative and organically artistic. What that means, among other things, is that he hovers over the chaos, as he did by his Spirit over the formlessness of creation in Genesis 1, and forth brings order, purpose and beauty out of it. And if he did that for the larger creation, he will do that for even the smallest features of his creation—you and me.
  2. God has a plan. He never does things randomly, but he always does them redemptively. Every project he begins he brings to a completion befitting his glorious sovereign plan for the ages—which includes you and me.
  3. You are God’s building. You are God’s temple. The Apostle Paul said, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) The implication of Paul’s context is that God cares about the details of how you are being built as his dwelling place. He is not pleased when his temple—you—are violated with unholy things, and he is pleased when you are edified with holy and eternal things. As he reminded Solomon, he is working on you because he plans to make his home with you and in you.

Why the details; why does God fixate on the minutiae of his buildings; why does he include these “laborious” accounts so often in scripture? Because he has you in mind. He cares about the details of you. He is watching over you, constructing you and has great plans for you that will be lovingly displayed throughout all eternity.

When you are getting bogged down in the details, just read yourself into the description. Just as God worked on the details of the tabernacle, and the temple, and is working on the details of the New Jerusalem, God is also just as committed to working out the details of you.

Going Deeper With God: Re-read this 1 Kings 6 in this light, that it is about you. Take a moment to celebrate God’s plans for your life.

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God’s New Temple On Planet Earth

Being With Jesus:
John 14:12-14 (NLT)

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” That is a pretty amazing promise Jesus made to his disciples—and by extension—to you and me!

Jesus was laying out his succession plans for God’s kingdom. He told his disciples that he needed to go back to the Father, and in his absence, they would carry on his works in the world, extending the kingdom wherever they went. And although he would no longer be with them physically, he would be with them—and more importantly, live in them and work through them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you” (John 14:16-18)

Literally, to his followers who would completely yield their lives in obedience to his word, commitment to his purposes, and availability to his work, Jesus promised, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) Make his home in them!

What a thought: through the initial infilling and ongoing indwelling, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Holy Trinity—would actually take up residence within Christ’s followers, making their lives, body, mind and spirit, the new temple of God on Planet Earth.

Those words are from the lips of Jesus himself, and they are meant for you! As you go about your life—wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you are with—you are God’s temple on Planet Earth, the dwelling place of God’s presence. Do you believe that? If you do, Jesus’ words will transform you to the core of your being. They will radically alter the way you perceive yourself and interact with your world. And they will lead you to have the kind of impact for Christ in this world you have always dreamed of having.

The story is told of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse. When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”

With one word the private had been promoted. When the general said it, the private believed it. He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on. He went to the officer’s quarters and selected his bunk. He went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because General Alexander had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He was simply now doing life in the authority of Alexander.

Why don’t you take the word of Someone far greater than Alexander and change your life accordingly. If you will, greater works will you do!

“We are Jesus Christ’s; we belong to him. But even more, we are increasingly him. He moves in and commandeers our hands and feet, requisitions our minds and tongues. We sense his rearranging: debris into the divine, pig’s ear into silk purse. He repurposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Little by little, a new image emerges.” (Max Lucado)

Getting To Know Jesus: Offer this prayer for radical alteration: “Lord, I believe what you said. On this day, I ask the Father, as you have commissioned me to do, to empower and embolden me to do the very kingdom works that you would do if you were in my place. And may all glory go back to you!”