WHO AM I? PART TWO

I am God’s temple, a building

“…, you are God's building…Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1Cor3:9-17

“…Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1Cor6:19-20

“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 2Cor6:16

“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Eph2:19-22

ü  The temple was a structure or building that was supposed to contain God or a god.

ü  The difference between a house and a temple is that houses were lived in by people while temples were lived in by God or a god. God lives in us as a person and yet He also lives in us as God.

ü  We humans are designed to receive and contain in us the divine presence of the living God within our body and spirit. The living God wants to live and function within the temple of our body!!

And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us. Jn1:14

What does it mean and what has it got to do with God living in us. We shall look at some of the characteristics of the tabernacle in contrast with the temple;

 The tabernacle was temporary, the temple is permanent;

Not only does God dwell in our permanent spirits as His temple, but God also lives in our temporal bodies as His house. Our bodies are a temporary tabernacle for God where He lives while we are still on this earth. We as Christians are God possessed!

 The tabernacle was in the wilderness. The temple was in Jerusalem

While we are on this earth, our bodies are in a wilderness. The wilderness was the place of hunger and thirst and dryness. It was the place of transitioning from Egypt into the promised land. In the wilderness the people lived in tents and God also lived in a tent, the tabernacle. Now God lives in our bodies as his tent while in this wilderness called earth. Meanwhile our spirits are already in the heavenly Jerusalem, in heavenly places in Christ. They are already the temple of God and also in the temple of God.

 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2Cor4:16-5:1

 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Heb12:22-24

 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Eph2:4-6

 “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth” Col3:1-5

 The tabernacle was not beautiful; the temple was very beautiful;

 Compared to our spirits which are identical to Jesus in every way, our bodies are pretty ugly. Just like the tabernacle in the wilderness there is nothing special about them. The tabernacle was made of animal skin and wood coated with gold. Our bodies are simply earthen vessels, made of clay and soil. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” 2Cor4. The temple on the other hand was a very beautiful place, made of well chiseled rocks and the utensils were of pure gold and silver and bronze. Our spirit man is much better than the flesh. We can take courage in the fact that as Jesus is so are we in this world (1Jn4:17).

 The tabernacle was the place where God lived among men;

 Jesus is the place where God lives among us and because He is in us we are the place where God lives in this world today. We are the house of God. Everywhere we go we carry God. We are God carriers. Just as God lived in the tabernacle among men and just as God lived in Jesus among men (Immanuel), now God lives in us among men!!! This is awesome

 The tabernacle was the place where God met with man.

 Jesus is the place where God meets with us. Only in Jesus can we meet with God. That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus. He is the only mediator between God and man. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” 1Tim2:5

 The tabernacle was in the center of the camp;

 Jesus is the center of the Church, He is the apple of God’s eye. Jesus is the center of God’s plan, God’s first born among many brethren and He takes pre-eminence in all things. We all should be able to sing everyday ‘Jesus be the center of it all…’ Is Jesus the center of your life???

 The tabernacle was the place where the tablets of the law were preserved;

 Jesus said He did not come to destroy the law but to keep it. Only Jesus ever fulfilled the law in all its entirety. By being in Jesus we also have fulfilled the law, we have been made His righteousness. Only in Jesus do we fulfill the law.

 “For as by one man's disobedience (adam) many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience (Jesus) many will be made righteous.” Rom5:19(emphasis mine)

 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Rom8:3-4

 The tabernacle was the place where sacrifice was made

 Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice before the Father. We don’t go to God with our sacrifices which are hopeless, we go to God with Jesus, His sacrifice. We need to stop thinking that we can ever please God independent of Jesus. Jesus is everything to God, we don’t need anything else. We all need to learn this equation. Jesus + anything = Nothing. Jesus + nothing = Everything.

 The tabernacle was the place of worship;

 Jesus is our place of worship. Only in Jesus do we worship God in spirit and in truth. If you are not worshipping in and through Jesus, you are just singing good songs. God only accepts our worship when it proceeds out of a heart filled with Jesus.