A Temple of His Own - August 18, 2010

Good Wednesday morning! Do you ever receive counsel from your Christian brothers and sisters? You should, why else would Jesus want two or three to be gathered together? We can worship and pray alone; we can worship and pray in small and large groups, but sometimes we need to gather together in our small groups to advise each other. I felt a strong need to do this yesterday, and God provided me with Christian counselors. We don't and can't know everything on our own. We won't know everything in a group of two or three either, but we have this promise from Jesus: "For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them." (Matt 18:20) This is not to mean that when we are alone, we are alone and without Jesus. The Holy Spirit is with us everywhere, alone or in a group. However, something special is going to happen when two or three (I don't believe Jesus meant this to be an upper limit) gather together in the name of Christ. Always be ready to give and accept counsel in the name of Jesus among your brothers and sisters in Christ.

I realize that I'm not giving any details about why I needed this counsel, but I must maintain a confidence for a bit before I let you know what happened. Please be patient. Speaking of gathering in groups though: in our little town of Sidney, school begins today. It's hard to even say a muted "hooray", and I am not among those going to school! May God's blessings go with the children on their way to another long school year this morning.

Did you ever use a word with different meanings? We all do; sometimes by mistake and other times with intent. English is famous, or infamous, for having many words with multiple definitions. The language is so bad that we have not only denotations, dictionary defined meanings, but connotations, or words used with a popular meaning that is not listed in the dictionary. We know now that Jesus referred to his body as a temple, but to the Jewish leaders the Temple meant the big building where they offered the sacrifices (and fleeced the foreign Jews arriving for Passover, but that's another story). Today, John gives us an explanation for Jesus' bold statement a couple of verses back.

But by "this temple," Jesus meant his body. (John 2:21)

I took the liberty of finding a few other verses about the Temple in the scriptures this morning. The first verse is one of those that reminds us of our place in this world. We often build fancy churches and temples expecting God to be pleased. If we are referring to the effort and giving that goes into the church building, He may very well be pleased with our work. But if we expect God to come into a building just because we spent a lot of money and made it extravagant, we might want to check our motives. Even Solomon's temple, probably among the most beautiful buildings ever built, was abandoned by God when the people of Israel abandoned their Creator and God.

This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for me? - Isaiah 66:1

The second verse speaks of the unbelief many nations and peoples had after the Lord allowed the Babylonians to destroy his Temple. The Lord speaks of the future time when all nations will acknowledge the God of Israel and the Temple.

"...And since my Temple will remain among them forever, the nations will know that I, the LORD, have set Israel apart for myself to be holy." - Ezekiel 37:28

I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the LORD Almighty. - Haggai 2:7

...which brings us to the third verse where a prophecy is made about the treasures that will be brought up to the Lord's Temple during the thousand year reign of Christ. And finally...

But the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him. - Habakkuk 2:20

One day we will all be silent for one massive worship service, probably the first of many, where the entire world will worship our God in his holy Temple. What a day to look forward to!

Have a great new day in Christ Jesus!

Bucky