The Temple of God.
The Temple of God.
The building of the eternal Temple of God is one of the main subjects of the Scripture.
Part of God’s reaction to the rebellion of the angels appears to be the movement of His throne from His palace in Heaven into the personalities of mankind, His new creation. In fact, it appears that man was created to be the eternal Throne of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only man ever to appear on the earth who truly is in God’s complete image in body, soul, and spirit. As glorious as the Lord Jesus is, the most significant aspect of His personality is that He is the dwelling place of God, the eternal Temple of God. God has created all things through the Lord Jesus Christ and upholds all things through the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christ has been formed in us and is dwelling in us, it may be said that the eternal Throne of God, the Temple of God, has been formed in us and is dwelling in us.
The Book of Hebrews states that God has given to man authority over all the works of God’s hands. This is true only when Christ, the Temple of God, is dwelling in man.
The Book of Isaiah tells us that God is looking for a house. In Acts we notice that Stephen brings this desire up to date. God is still looking for a house. Paul informs us that we Christians are being constructed into a holy temple in the Lord.
Heaven is the Throne of God and earth is His footstool. But Jeremiah prophesies that Jerusalem finally will become the Throne of God. The Book of Revelation announces that the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be located forever in the holy city, the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is the glorified Christian Church.
There is no temple in the new Jerusalem because the entire city is the Temple of God, and the Throne of God and of the Lamb is located therein.
What an awesome concept this is—that we are being made the dwelling place, the Throne of God Almighty. This fact adds a most significant dimension to our Christian experience. We are not just being saved to go to Heaven; rather, we are being made the Temple of God, the Throne of God.
Now, what does this fact mean in practical terms? It means that our salvation is not merely a case of our being forgiven. We have to take up our cross and follow the Lord each day of our discipleship so that a place may be prepared in us in which God may rest.
Since Christ is the only Throne of God, the only Temple of God, Christ must be formed in us if we are to serve as the dwelling place of God. Christ cannot be formed in us until we are willing to lay down our own life, our own thoughts, our own desires, our own plans and ambitions, that the Life of Christ in us may be fully developed and expressed.
God will dwell only in Christ. If we want God to dwell in us we must work with the Holy Spirit until Christ is formed in us. Christ is the dwelling place of God.
God will not dwell in our adamic nature, only in Christ.
In God’s house, His temple, there are to be many rooms. God’s Temple is Christ. So we are saying that in Christ there will be many rooms in which God can dwell. We are those rooms, those living stones in the great Temple of God.
Since this is undeniably the truth of the Bible, let us lay aside all else that we may be crucified and Christ may live in us.
This is why we were created—to be the dwelling place of God. Until we die to our first personality and Christ is formed in us and is living in us, we will never enter that state of being for which we originally were designed.