A Christian Temple

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If you are like me you have customarily viewed a temple as being a building in which something or someone other than Jesus Christ is worshipped.  The most common association is with the historical Jewish temple, although one no longer exists.  When traditional Jews gather together for worship, they meet in a building called a synagogue.  Then, there's the Yaarab Temple, which is the gathering place for Shriners, the highest order of Masonic worship.  Again, not Jesus Christ.  Then, around the world there are temples to other false gods of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc.

So, why is the title of this post, "A Christian Temple".  Christians don't worship in temples....do they?

My family attends church in a lovely building.  It does not resemble a traditional church, which has earned it the nickname in the community "the ski lodge".  Is that our "temple"?  Not hardly. Architecture does not define the Christian temple.  Take a look at what does.

17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-22 (NET)

Try to realize how controversial these statements would have been to Jews of Paul's day, people who had been trained from birth to conceptualize the Temple as a sacred stick-n-stone building, a holy building, a physical place where the presence of God dwelled.  You might as well tell a Catholic today that the Vatican has been moved to the bottom of the ocean and is now called Atlantis.  It was unheard of, a sort of heresy!

But, the point that Paul was trying to make is that the Christian temple is not a physical building at all.  So, what IS it?

1.  The Christian Temple is wherever the Holy Spirit of God resides.
Now, don't be confused.  God's spirit is omnipresent, which is to say He is "everywhere, all at once". But, being present is not the same as "dwelling".  Example:  you may attend a business meeting. You are THERE; you are present.  But, that meeting place is not your home.
The home of God's Holy Spirit is ever "under construction", because there are always "additions" being built (vs. 22).
God's Holy Spirit's home is in the heart of every believer in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  As more and more people become part of God's family by accepting Christ, God's "home" expands and grows.

2.  Temple Features
What is this temple like?
a.  Its cornerstone, the stone that holds the hold building together, is Jesus Christ.  Without Him, God's Spirit is absent.
b.  It's firm and sure foundation are the holy scriptures, those eyewitness accounts, both Old and New Testaments, from the prophets and apostles.  Any claim to represent God that is divorced from the written Word of God is heresy.
c.  It's building blocks, holy stones, if you will, are WE, God's children...Jesus' disciples.  This makes us members of God's home, God's household (vs. 19).  HE has built us into His home.  And, it is in us He dwells.  Our very bodies are His Temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

This means that our citizenship is not here.  If you are Jesus Christ's own beloved, His own dear child, it doesn't matter where your physical body resides.  Your citizenship is not in America or Canada or Ireland or Dubai or in any other earthly geographical locale.  You are a "stranger and alien" in this sin-scarred world, on this battleground.  Your spiritual country's capital is in Heaven, in another dimension of "reality" altogether.

"I have found a desire within myself, that no experience in this world can satisfy;

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
C.S. Lewis

I was reading this morning about the extreme opposition currently raging against a faith-based enterprise in Williamston, KY.  Some of you readers may have visited it - - the Creation Museum, soon to be the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.  If you have time, read this piece:

https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2016/05/11/secularists-want-to-hurt-kentucky/?utm_source=facebook-aig&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook-aig

But, if you don't, let me briefly summarize to say that this organization has had to fight Satanic opposition to its "creation", every step of the way!  I was just amazed at the degree of vitriol.  Then again, maybe not.  We reside in a "foreign land"....

Do you see it?  The Temple?  Look at the picture at the top of this blog.  There's one visual representation. I could have chosen many.  No one picture can capture the beauty of the Body of Christ, the Bride ... the Temple!

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, thank you for making your home in me and corporately in all of Your true children.  Please continue to "build us", to make us more holy, a Temple suitable for Your presence. In Jesus' name, amen.