Time for Temple Inspection!

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? ²⁰ For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

When I visited the Temple Institute in Jerusalem this year, it was exciting the see the many preparations undertaken for the rebuilding of the Temple.  Our tour was led through a maze of rooms displaying artwork, models, the ephod and breastplate which will be worn by the high priest, the table of showbread, the altar of incense, and silver trumpets.  As the guide presented the articles and talked of the future temple, there was a sense of awe and excitement.  With all the expense and effort being expended in preparation for the building of the third temple, one might think the temple was always reverenced, being the dwelling place of God.  A brief examination of biblical Jewish history proves otherwise!  Though the Jews were the people God chose as His own, committed to them His Laws, and dwelt among them, the condition of the temple varied greatly.  When we realise that under the New Covenant of Christ's blood born-again Christians are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, looking back at the conditions which existed is instructive in self-examination.

So what are some of the negative conditions we find in the tabernacle or temple historically?  Here is a brief and hardly exhaustive list:

• The priests did not know the LORD, robbed God of sacrifices brought by the people, and fornicated with women in the tabernacle - 1 Samuel 2:12-24
• The light was allowed by the priests to burn out at night - 1 Samuel 3:1-4
• In the days of Joash there were leaks and gaps, the Levites were slack to organise repairs, and Athaliah's son's had broken into the temple and presented the holy things to idols - 2 Chronicles 24:2-7
• King Ahaz took the holy vessels and cut them into scrap, polluted the holy place, and sealed the doors of the temple - 2 Chronicles 28:24
• Hezekiah commanded the unsanctified Levites to sanctify themselves and cleanse the holy place.  The doors had been shut, lamps extinguished, and no incense or burnt sacrifices had been offered - 2 Chronicles 29:4-7
• The holy place was polluted with so much filth it took 8 days to cleanse it - 2 Chronicles 29:16-17
•  The book of the Law was lost in the temple, and therefore it had not been read, heard, or obeyed - 2 Chronicles 34:15-21
• The high priest Eliashib allied himself with the Ammonite Tobiah, an enemy of Israel.  He prepared a large room for Tobiah to live in which should have been reserved as a storeroom for tithes and offerings - Nehemiah 13:4-5
• On two occasions Jesus cleansed the temple of moneychangers, animals, and kept merchants from using the temple as a thoroughfare - Mark 11:15-17, John 2:13-18

The people God had tasked to build the temple as a house of prayer did not always maintain the purity and reverence of which God is worthy.  This fact should lead to a critical question for every born-again Christian to consider:  what is the current condition of my temple?  Have I robbed God of sacrifices?  Are there impurities in the holy place?  Have I misplaced and ignored the Word of God?  Since we are called priests unto God, have I been slack to be sanctified and do the work of the ministry?  Have I allied myself with enemies of God and provided them space to live and oppose God's work in my heart?  We observe when the nation of Israel was ruled by a wicked king who promoted idolatry, the temple and worship of God was polluted and neglected.  It is the same for us.  Should we allow ourselves to be ruled by sin, lusts, and pride, our temple falls into spiritual disrepair.

Praise God that in every case mentioned above, there remained sure hope and help when people returned to the LORD in humility, repentance, and obedience.  This means there is hope for those who have not kept their temple in holiness and purity.  Even if the temple has been utterly destroyed, it can be rebuilt.  Twice the temple was destroyed, but the Bible reveals it will be built again.  God is more concerned about the people created in His image than mere buildings fashioned by the hands of men.  Those who destroy the temple God will judge, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? ¹⁷ If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."  We are to remain pure in a world filled with sin because our God is holy.  2 Corinthians 6:16 reads, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Allow me to close with an excellent exhortation from 1 Peter 2:5-12:  "...You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." ⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," ⁸ and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. ⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. ¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹² having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."