Being the Temple

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

BEING THE TEMPLE

1 Cor 3:16-17

16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

NIV

Because we are God’s temple, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us, there are several interesting parallels we can see. First, there was the first temple, or as it was called a tabernacle which God gave Moses specific instructions as to how it was to be built. This was the place in which God would come and dwell among his people. Of course, being his temple, he has designed us, created us with his own hands, forming us from the dust according to his own specifications, so that we would bear his image. Then there was the first temple in Jerusalem. Of course, the first was built by  Solomon, but it had to be rebuilt later so that when Jesus went to the temple, it was not the one that Solomon built, but the rebuilt temple that Nehemiah started the work and it seems that Ezra was involved in the project seeing it to completion. Nevertheless, this temple was again the place where God came to dwell among his people. When Jesus cleansed the temple, it was another great parallel in our lives. As we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Before he came to dwell within us, Jesus cleansed our hearts. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the work he did on the cross, taking our sins upon him, cleansed us from our sins, as God forgave us because we were washed in the blood of Jesus. This cleansing of his temple was needed much like the consecration of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus cleansed that temple from the humanism that invaded his temple, and he quoted Isaiah, saying, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”. Jesus did the same thing within us, cleansing us from our humanity as the Father declared us holy and blameless in his sight. Thus, we have been cleansed and consecrated by God so that we are able to receive the Holy Spirit living within us as God continues to dwell with his people. We are the sacred temple of God. Therefore, it would behoove us not to destroy it. Now, this is where there has been some confusion over the years as to what constitutes destroying the temple of God, which is us. Some would suggest that means our bodies. So those rules about not smoking and drinking were instituted as signs to keep us holy, yet nothing was said about overeating which does just as much if not more damage to the body. It is not the body which the Spirit dwells in, but it is our spirit, or the inner man, that only occupies the body. This is who Jesus cleansed, he did not cleanse our bodies. The Spirit is not physical and thus he dwells within us, within our spirit, making us the spiritual temple of God. We are the holy temple of God. That is so awesome to comprehend fully, yet that is who we are, declared so by God. It is our spirit we should be concerned about destroying, or compromising by taking on some of the philosophies and ideologies of this world. the temple in Jerusalem stood apart from the world around it, in fact, it was the greatest influence in the realm of Israel. If we stand as the temple of God, then we are the greatest influence in our land. Therefore, we should live as being the temple.