Slideshow image

Ron Writes

As Christians, we don’t often think a lot about the Temple. The Temple was the place where heaven and earth came together. In the Bible God is described as living in heaven (“our Father who art in heaven”). Man is known to live on earth.  

In the beginning God and man dwelt together in a beautiful garden. However, man became corrupted, so God had to send them out of the garden. He was afraid that man would eat from the tree of life and be eternally corrupted. His plan was to redeem mankind. To fulfill His plan to live with man forever, He prepared to return to earth.  

There were reminders of God’s desire along the way. He had ordained for a Tabernacle to be made. This was a place where God and man could meet.  

Is it too much to read into the text to think that the 7 years it took to build the Temple might remind us of the 7 days it look to create the first meeting place in the garden? Solomon’s prayer of dedication recognizes that is impossible for the Temple to contain God, but then even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him (2 Chron. 6:18). Yet, God would listen and hear the prayers of those who came before Him there.  

In the gospel of John especially, there is an emphasis on the Temple. When John says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” he literally stated that Jesus “tabernacled” among us. It was God dwelling with us. When Jesus came to the Temple in Jerusalem, He didn’t receive the warm welcome one might expect, but was despised and rejected. However, He tells us that won’t be the case for us, He’s going to prepare a place for us in God’s presence and adds, “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14). In Revelation, John says, “I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying “Behold the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people and God Himself will be among them” (21:4).

While it doesn’t explicitly state that they were at the Temple on the day of Pentecost, what better place could there have been? Everything that is represented by the Temple came together in Jesus.  We have the forgiveness of sin and God Himself dwells within us (Acts 2). As Paul would say “Or do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19)?  

The concept of the Temple says so much. What a comfort to know that God wants a relationship with us. He loves us. Wants us. And has made a way for us to be together eternally.