WORSHIP THE LORD IN HOLINESS IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE - IN YOUR HEART!
Original temple had the same pattern as the tabernacle of Moses: “Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain.” Exodus 26:30.
David collected all the materials for Solomon to build the temple. “Now with all my ability, I have provided for the house of God the gold for the things of gold…and give my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, .. and to build the temple, for which I made provision.” I Chron. 29:2,19 ; I Kings 5:5
Solomon built the temple in 7 years, with 183,600 workers and overseers and approximately $14,000,000,000(billion) !!! The inside walls were covered with pure gold. II Chronicles 2:17-18;I Kings 6:38
They sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep to dedicate the temple. It was filled with the Shekinah -glory and light of God. II Chronicles 7:1-5
Solomon acknowledged an important truth or spiritual principle: “And the house which I am about to build will be great; for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?
But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built.” II Chron. 2:5-6; 6:18
Solomon’s temple was destroyed in 586 B.C by the Babylonians under K. Nebuchadnezar. Zerubbabel restored it in 520-516 B.C. (Ezra 5:11;6:14-15) King Herod restored this new temple in the time of Jesus. It was this temple that Jesus cleansed in John 2. It was this temple that the disciples spoke about: “And as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another which will not be torn down.” Mk. 13:1-2
Jesus told the woman at the well: “Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the father. ..But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” John 4:21,23
Stephen preached before he was stoned to death: “And David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘ HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME? Says the Lord; OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE? WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’ Acts 7:46-50
Stephen was preaching the New Testament doctrine of worship. The Jews killed him for this teaching: “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place, and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” Acts 6:13-14
Jesus was killed for the same kind of false accusation: ”We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.” Mark 14:58
Paul also was accused of trying to desecrate and defile the temple by bring some Greeks into it. The Jews were fanatically interested in the temple. Acts 21:28; 24:5
The Holy Spirit through Paul wrote in Hebrews: “…we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man”. Hebrews 8:1-2
He also wrote: “Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkles clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22
The temple is not in Jerusalem any longer. It is US!! The church made up of living stones is now the temple. We have been brought into the holy place in heaven by faith. (Eph.2:6) God Himself lives in us. Look at these verses:
“Do you not know that your are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” I Cor.3:16
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own. For you have been brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” I Cor.6:19-20
“Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said: ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” II Cor.6:18
These verses prove that when we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we have God living within us. Colossians 1:25-27: “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; ;but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
As the Prophet Jeremiah said in Jer.31:31-34, the New Covenant is not like the old covenant. We are a royal priesthood. I Pet.2:9 We are the house of God, built of living stones. We worship Christ in Spirit and in Truth. We are living sacrifices. Romans 12:2 The Jews killed the Christians for preaching this message. May we have the grace of God to understand it properly and worship God as New Testament Christians, not like the Old Testament Jews. Read II Cor. 3:12-18