The Temple of God

Article Index

 

“Scriptures Taken From the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible,
Third Edition, Copyright © 1995.
Used by Permission of the Copyright Holder,
Jay P. Green, Snr.”

T here always has been, is now and always will be, only three earthly, corporate, tangible dwelling places of God.


Though the Bible makes reference to the dwelling place of man in just two chapters, it spans fifty chapters in addressing the first earthly, dwelling place of God.

The first is the Tabernacle of Moses, the second is the Temple of Solomon and the third is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each succeeds the former in both importance and magnificence.

The Tabernacle of Moses

One of the great verses of the Bible is

Exodus 40:33c And Moses finished the work.

Verses 33 and 34 read, “And the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation; and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to come into the tabernacle of the congregation because the cloud dwelt on it. And the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle."


Moses finished the work and the glory of God filled the house of God.

The Temple of Solomon

History repeats itself.

2 Chronicles 5:1 And all the work that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah was finished.

Verses 13 and 14 read, “And [they] were as one to the trumpeters, and to the singers to cause one sound to be heard to praise and to thank Jehovah. And when they lifted up [their] voice with the trumpets, and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah [saying], For He is good; and His mercy [endures] forever, and a cloud filled the house, the house of Jehovah; so the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God.”


Worship draws God.

Solomon’s Temple was dedicated in the Feast of Tabernacles.

Solomon finished the work and the glory of God filled the house of God.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is yet to finish building His church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. When completed the glory of God will fill the house of God!

This will fulfil the statement in Ephesians 5:27, a glorious church. It that means anything it means a church filled with glory! And this must occur prior to the Second Coming of Christ! It would appear from this declaration that that majestic event is sometime off in the future.

Haggai 2:9a The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, says Jehovah of hosts.

The end-time church will eclipse the glory of the early church, and we certainly have seen nothing yet that approaches that.

The Church of Jesus Christ was born on the Day of Pentecost two thousand years ago. The descent of the Holy Spirit changed the temple of God forever!

From now on God would no longer dwell in temples made with hands.

Acts 7:48-50 But the Most High does not dwell in temples made by hand, as the prophets says, “Heaven[is] My throne, and the earth is a footstool of My feet; what house will you build me, says [the] Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Did not My hands make all these things?” [Isaiah 66:1, 2]


The quotation of these verses by Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was the apex of his brilliant address. It was the application of these texts that sealed his death warrant.

Verses 51 to 60 conclude, “[Oh] stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always fell against the Holy Spirit. As your fathers [did], you also [did]. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who before announced the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers, who received the Law by the disposition of angels and did not keep [it]. And hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and gnashed the teeth on him. But being full of [the] Holy Spirit, looking intently into the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right of God And [he] said, Behold, I see the heavens, having been opened, and the Son of man standing at the right of God! And crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion. And throwing [him] outside the city, they stoned [him]. And the witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And saying this, he fell asleep.”


When the Holy Spirit is appealed to He will stir up the spirits of religious bigots.

In his marvellous address, Paul reinforces the position of Stephen in relation to the temple of God.

Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, this One being Lord of Heaven and of earth, does not dwell in handmade temples.


It is he who explains that the Christian’s human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of [the] Holy Spirit in you, which you have from God, and you are not of yourselves?


When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, among other supernatural occurrences, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom, exposing the Most Holy Place for the first time in history. Why was this allowed to happen? God was finished with man-made temples, never ever to return!

Matthew 27:51, 52 And, behold, the veil in the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth quaked, and the rocks were sheared! And the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.


Religious bigotry rises to the full when the greatest miscarriage of justice occurs in human history at the mock trial of the Lord Jesus.

Matthew 27:22 Pilate said to them, What then should I do to Jesus called Christ? They all said to him, let him be crucified. But the governor said, For what wrong did he do? But they the more cried out, saying, Let him be crucified. And seeing that nothing is gained, but rather an uproar occurs, taking water, Pilate washed [his] hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just one; you will see. And answering, all the people said, His blood [be] upon us and on our children.


It is bad enough to live under a curse, to have family DNA run riot in your life. Thank God the Lord Jesus has redeemed every Christian from the curse of the Law. But to curse yourself voluntarily must be the height of stupidity. To curse your children is insanity and borders on demon possession.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it has been written, “Cursed [is] everyone having been hung on a tree.” [Deuteronomy 21:23]

Ephesians 2:14-16 For He is our peace, He making us both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, in His flesh causing to cease the enmity, the Law of the commandments in decrees, that He might in Himself create the two into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, slaying the enmity in Himself.

Ephesians 2:20-22 Being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being [the] cornerstone, in whom every building having been fitted together grows into a holy sanctuary in [the] Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in [the] Spirit.


The Lord Jesus Himself reinforces the truth of the “third” temple immediately following His cleansing of the restored temple:

John 2:18-21 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do you show to us, since you do these things? Jesus said to them, Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, This sanctuary was forty six years being built, and do you raise it up in three days? But he spoke about the sanctuary of His body.


Indeed, the New Testament writers record in unison that the Church of the Lord Jesus is not a physical building made with hands. Rather, it is a spiritual temple. The N.T. knows nothing of a physical temple. The oft misquoted statement of Paul of the [one] opposing and exalting himself over everything being called God, or object of worship, so as for him to sit in the temple of God as God, proclaiming that he himself is God, is recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:4. This, in turn is spawned from an incorrect application of Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm a covenant with the many [for] one week. And in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on a wing [of the altar will be] abominations that desolate, even until [the] end. And that which was decreed shall pour out on the desolator.

Firstly, it is Jesus Christ who confirms the promises made to the fathers over a one week [seven years] period. The first half was confirmed by the Lord Jesus Himself throughout His 3 ½ year ministry. The last half is confirmed by the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, for a time, times and half a time, 3 ½ years, 42 months, 1,260 days, the length of the Great Tribulation.

It surely must strike the reader as being strange that of the 74 times the number seven is used in the Book of Revelation, not once is it mentioned in reference to the tribulation period!

Secondly, it was the once for all offering of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, and that alone, which caused both the sacrifices and offerings to cease! When He screamed it is finished, it really was finished. Nothing more can be done. The work has been completed. To attempt in vain to reinstitute animal sacrifices in a rebuilt physical temple is not only superfluous, it is both blasphemous and an abomination!

Thirdly, it is to the fulfillment of this statement of Daniel, that reference is made to the abominations which make desolate even until the end. This is directly applicable to the abomination of Isaiah quoted in part by Stephen as has already been shown.

Isaiah 66:1-3 So says Jehovah; Heaven [is] My throne, and the earth the footstool of My feet. Where the [is] the house you build for Me? And where then [is] the place of My rest? And My hand has made all these things, even all these things exist, declares Jehovah. But I will look to this one, to the afflicted, and [to] the contrite spirit, even trembling at My word. He who kills an ox [is as if] he struck a man; he who sacrifices a lamb [is as if] he broke a dog’s neck; he who offers a present [is as if it were] swine’s blood; he who makes incense [is as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their way, and their soul delights in their abominations.


Animal sacrifice is compared to killing a man! A sacrificial lamb is compared to a dog! Offering a present as pig’s blood! And incense as worshipping an idol!!!

Consider the KJ3 update [2005] of the phrase in verse 3: it reads, ‘he making mention of incense is as if he blessed iniquity.’ All that is required today is just to make mention of incense. Incense speaks of prayer and praise. Making mention of incense is as blessing iniquity!

What is contended here is not that a “third” temple will be built in Jerusalem, but that should it be erected, God will not be in it!

Talk is made of the Ark of the Covenant being concealed in Jerusalem, the final ingredient of the anointing oil having been found, the rediscovery of the red heifer, the restitution of the ancient Sanhedrin, the preparation of the Levitical priesthood and the building of the temple.

That there is to be a regrafting of the Jewish people into their own olive tree there can be no doubt. See Romans 11 in this regard.

But the stubborn fact remains: Every human being stands in need of a Saviour. The blood of bulls and goats can never fulfil the requirement. Only the blood of Christ can do that.

To declare that the Jews have their own approach to God, apart from Christ, turns out to be the most blatant for of anti-Semitism ever devised by a human or demonic brain. To withhold Jesus from the Jewish people is to escort them to hell.



T he Root of the Matter

 

Galatians 4:21-26 Tell me, those desiring to be under law, do you not hear the Law? For it has been written, Abraham had two sons, one out of the slave woman and one out of the free woman. But, indeed, he of the slave woman has been born according to flesh, and he out of the free woman through the promise, which things are being allegorized, for these are two covenants, one, indeed, from Mount Sinai bringing forth to slavery (which is Hagar, for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, and she slaves with her children), but the Jerusalem [from] above is free, who is the mother of us all;

What Paul is going after here is neither Hagar nor Ishmael: it is the Law!

Observe that Hagar is Mount Sinai, [the Law], and corresponds to the present Jerusalem! Sarah portrays the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all.

Revelation 11:8 And their bodies [will be] on the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified.


That Sodom and Egypt equate with the Jerusalem which now is, there can be no doubt, for Jesus was crucified in neither Sodom nor Egypt, but rather in Jerusalem!

Hebrews 12:18-24 For you have not drawn near to [the] mountain being touched, and having been lit with fire, and to gloom, and darkness, and tempest, and to a sound of trumpet, and to a voice of words, which those hearing begged that not a word be added to them; for they could not bear the thing enjoined: “Even if a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned, or shot through with a dart.” [Exodus 19:12, 13] And so fearful was the thing appearing, Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” [Deuteronomy 9:19] But you have drawn near Mount Zion, even [the] city of [the] living God, to a heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, and to an assembly, a church of the firstborn ones having been enrolled in Heaven, and to God [the] judge of all, and to spirits of just ones who have been perfected, and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to blood of sprinkling, speaking better things than [that] of Abel.ying this, he fell asleep.”



O ne of the Great Principles of the Bible


First the Natural, Then the Spiritual


1 Corinthians 15:46 But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.


When God led His people to Mount Sinai, He gave them five areas of learning that the Christian is required to know like the back of his hand.

These are the Law, The Tabernacle, the Feasts of the Lord, the Priesthood and the Sacrificial Offerings.

Each has an historical application, Also, each is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, there is an application to the Christian Church. Then in Restoration, and finally, in the personal life of the individual Christian.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, each of these teachings advanced from the natural sphere to the spiritual. [The Old Testament is physical, the New Testament is spiritual.]



For example:

 

T he Law Has Changed

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 So that if anyone [is] in Christ, [that one] is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea no longer is.

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in Heaven.

Romans 3:21-28 But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth [as] a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a showing forth of His righteousness through the passing by of the sins that had taken place before, in the forbearance of God, for [the] showing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being just and justifying the [one] that [is] of the faith of Jesus. Then where [is] boasting? It was excluded. Through what law? Of works? No, but through a law of faith. Then we conclude a man to be justified by faith without works of law.


The word law in the Hebrew text is Torah! The old Torah is out. A new Torah is in! The Torah of works is out. The Torah of faith is in!


Jesus gave us a new Torah: a Torah of faith, hope and love.

All the Law can do is bring condemnation and death. This is not the law of carnal commandments written on paper, but rather, that which was engraved in letters of stone, the ten Commandments. This is The Law that has been nailed to the cross.

The Ten Commandments were never given to govern the New Creation of God, the Christian Church.

2 Corinthians 3:6-9 Who also made us able ministers of a new covenant, not of letter, but of Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive. But if the ministry of death having been engraved in letters of stone was with glory, so as the sons if Israel could not gaze into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was to cease, [Exodus 34:34] how much rather the ministry of the Spirit will be in glory! For if the ministry of condemnation [was] glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory.


Only One Person has ever kept the Law. That was the Lord Jesus Christ.

The law made nothing perfect.

Galatians 3:21 Then is the Law against the promises of God? Let it not be! For if a law had been given which had been able to make alive, indeed righteousness would have been out of law.



T he Temple [Sanctuary] Has Been Changed

 

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of [the] Holy Spirit in you, which you have from God, and you are not of yourselves?



T he Priesthood Has Changed


Hebrews 7:12 For the priestly office having been changed, of necessity a change of law also occurs.



T he Offerings Have Changed

 

Romans 12:1, 2 Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what [is] the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

1 Peter 2:5 You also as lively stones are being built a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 66:3 He who kills and ox [is as if] he struck a man; he who sacrifices a lamb [is as if] he broke a dog’s neck; he who offers a present [is as if it were] swine’s blood; he who makes incense [is as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their way, and their soul delights in their abominations.

Hebrews 10:12 But He, offering but one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity [at the] right [hand] of God.



T he Feast of Tabernacles Has Changed

 

[Two of the Three Feasts Have Already Been Fulfilled]

Passover, the Lord Jesus, the Passover Lamb, dying on the cross of Calvary.

Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost.

These two feasts in the individual Christian application portray Salvation (through the Blood of Christ) and the mighty Baptism of the Holy Spirit.


The great Alfred Edersheim in his masterful book, “The Temple: Its Ministry and Services as They Were in the Time of Christ,” makes this profound statement: ‘ ….. and we still look for the accomplishment of the one yet unfulfilled type – the Feast of Tabernacles, as the grand harvest festival of the Church.’ ‘Whether or not our suggestions be adopted as to the typical meaning of the two great ceremonies of the ‘pouring out of the water’ and the temple illumination, the fact remains, that the Feast of Tabernacles is the one only type in the Old Testament which has not yet been fulfilled.’

John 7:2 shows that the Feast of Tabernacles (this is the only time that this feast is referred to in the New Testament) connected to the outpouring of waters – not the Feast of Pentecost, as is quoted in so much Charismatic literature.

 

John 7:37-39 And in the last day of the great feast [Tabernacles] Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The [one] believing into Me, as the Scripture said, “Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. But He said this concerning the Spirit, whom the ones believing into Him were about to receive, for [the] Holy Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.


What remains for the Church is not a trickle, neither a stream, nor even a river, but RIVERS!

Only one change is marked for these last days. Tabernacles must have a spiritual fulfillment and application prior to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The much accepted concept of the seven trumpets being the second Coming of Christ, (we know the seventh is, but what about the preceding six?), the Day of Atonement is the Revelation of Jesus and Tabernacles is projected way out into the Millennium need only be paid little attention.

 

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Jehovah your God in the place which he shall choose: In theFeast of Unleavened [Bread], and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty;


Did you notice that? Three times in one year, that is, in its application, three times in one dispensation. Tabernacles must be fulfilled within the two thousand year period of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, commencing with Jesus dying on the cross of Calvary and the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit! We are fast approaching that time.

 

Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of patience, that having done the will of God you may obtain the promise.

 

Joshua 3:3, 4 And [they] commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests, and the Levites bearing it, then you shall move from your place and shall go after it. Only, keep a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. You shall not come near it, so that you may know the way in which you are to go. For you have not crossed over [this] way yesterday and the day before.


There it is again, two thousand years.

Observe also the change of leadership: from Moses to Joshua; from an intercessor to a fighter, indicative of the coming change of leadership in the Christian Church.

The Christian Church Has never been this way before. This is a completely new day and an exciting new hour.

As God took the people out of Egypt, through the wilderness and in to the Promised Land, so it is and will be, in Church history.

Out, Through and In. It is in this day every promise of God is to be realised in the church.



C ode 1 English


reveals the following numeric values:

Tabernacle Moses 152
Tables of Stone, The Kingdom of God 153
Temple Solomon, Multiplication 174
Jesus 74
Feasts of the Lord, Tabernacle of Moses 173
Feast of Tabernacles 172
The Altar of Incense 175
Blowing With Trumpets, Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight 274
Tabernacle 81; Temple 71; Church 61

That there is a linkage here with these phrases, there can be no doubt.

Each of these three words, in reference to the Temple of God [Tabernacle, Temple and Church], appear on the “Back Cover” of the Bible in precisely the same order as they have been dealt with in this article. The last mention of Tabernacle is seen in Revelation 21:3 (2 times) And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men! And He will tabernacle with them, and will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. The last occurrence of Temple is seen in Revelation 21:22 (2 times) And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, even the Lamb. The final appearance of Church(es) in found in Revelation 22:16 I Jesus, sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

[The “Front Cover” of the Bible is Genesis Chapters 1 and 2. The Bible proper commences with the Fall of Adam and Eve [Chapter 3] and concludes with the Millennium [Revelation Chapter 20]. The “Back Cover, ” embraces the New Jerusalem and Christ Coming Quickly, contained in Revelation Chapters 21 and 22.] From eternity to eternity, [Genesis 3 – Revelation 20], God’s Master Plan of Redemption is both initiated and concluded.