The Temple

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE TEMPLE

Luke 21:5-9

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."  7 "Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?" 8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away." 

NIV

We know from history what happened to the temple was exactly what Jesus told his disciples would happen. In AD70 under the command of Titus a Roman Emperor, the temple was torn apart, every stone was torn down to a point not one stone was left atop another. What is amazing is it recorded some of the stones were 70 feet long 10 feet wide and 8 feet high. We cannot imagine the weight of those stones and how the Roman army managed to disassemble the whole temple, with everything that adorned them. We see two ways in which we can interrupt this to apply to our lives. First, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we have to be on watch so that the enemy of our soul does not get a chance to tear down the temple and disassemble every stone. We would certainly think because the Spirit lives in this temple the army of evil could not tear it down, yet the Temple was where God dwelled with His people and the army of evil tore it down. However, God has adorned us with his very own armor, to protect us from that army of evil, however, we do need to get dressed each morning or recognize that God has dressed us in His armor, therefore the temple of the Holy Spirit will take its stand and stand firm against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms and the dark forces of evil in this world. The second way we can see the tearing down of the temple applying to our lives is we could be building our own temples and adorning them with beautiful things. This could be seen in the physical sense, as well as in the spiritual sense. Physically, we can see how some have created a display of abundance of wealth for themselves, adorning themselves with all the stuff of this world. God will tear that down someday and lay everything bare as we stand before him naked and exposed without anything but Jesus. Spiritually, we can adorn ourselves with pride, self-esteem, and self-worth, flattering ourselves, congratulating ourselves, with this self-love almost to the point of smugness or a sense of loftiness, being on an ego trip or snobbery taking satisfaction in our achievements and accomplishments. God will tear all that down someday as we stand before him bare and exposed for who we have become. It is imperative, as we have been dressed in the Armor of God, and indwelled by the Spirit, that we remain standing humbly before him each day, both bearing his image, reflecting His image, not ours, to the world, knowing that all we have, all we do and all we are is totally because of God. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. God is our refuge, He is our fortress, our shield, let us live humbly before him.