The Lord sent His servant Moses away
from the people to
give him the law and instructions for the tabernacle, which is the precursor to
the temple. “Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he
stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights” (Exodus 24:18, NIV). Jesus
also was led by the Spirit away from the people to be prepared for forty days.
This will be examined further as we progress. The point here is that there was
a great deal of care and detail placed on the plans and function of the tabernacle/temple.
This is for good reason as the temple was far more than a
building to the Hebrews, it was the one place on the planet where heaven and
earth met. “The temple, like its predecessor the tabernacle, was regarded as a
meeting-point between heaven and earth, the place where the transcendent Lord
of all was pleased to manifest his glory in the midst of his people Israel.”[1] Purification and the
redemption from sin through the sacrifice of blood took place at the temple.
It contained elements of
both humanity as well as divinity and it was through the temple that God was
able to interact with His people.
The temple was intended to bring in peoples from all
nations as a refuge and place of prayer. This may come as a surprise for
today’s believer but the temple was the starting point in fulfilling the
covenant of Abraham. The temple was to be a blessing to all the nations. “These
I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my
house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7, ESV).
While the temple has changed from the First Covenant to the New, the promise
that it will be a blessing to all the nations is still in effect.
Jesus fulfills the First or Old Testament and in doing so
also fulfills the function of the temple. Just like the Apostles after Jesus
had to refute false teachings, the Lord also makes His stand against false
theology concerning the temple as well. “Jesus entered
the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He
overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those
selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to
them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making
it ‘a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13, NIV). A house of prayer for all
peoples and yet those in leadership placed sacrifices of convenience in the
same section dedicated to the foreigner for prayer.
The temple was essentially robbed of its function. This
was done by the same means that can nullify the Word of God. Tradition and even
practicality acts as that little bit of yeast that can work its way through the
entire batch of dough. As with anything the pendulum can swing dramatically.
The temple itself was not to be worshipped but the One who dwells within the
temple is the object of our praise.
Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the
earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what
is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these
things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will
look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.’ (Isaiah
66:1-2, ESV)
God reminds the people
that while He may rest in the temple He is One who is greater than the temple.
As Jesus prepares Himself to fulfill His mission we are
allowed to hear the conversation Jesus has with the Samaritan woman. The
Samaritan woman tells Jesus that the Jews tell her people they can only truly
worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus does not hesitate to get to the point
and informs her that, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they
are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24, NIV). This
should sound familiar to the Isaiah 66 passage referenced earlier. “But this is
the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and
trembles at my word.”
This is the most sacred of tasks as the temple required a
holiness and seriousness in order to allow its proper function. If Jesus were
to attempt to become the new temple He would need to be blameless and without
sin. This is easily said and we are accustomed to reading these words but we
must recall that Jesus is the Son of Man as well. “The tabernacle testifies in
its structure and function to the holiness of God. Aaron bears the engraving on
the diadem, ‘Holy to Yahweh’ (28:36). The priests are warned in the proper
administration of their office ‘lest they die’ (30:21), and the death of Nadab
and Abihu (Lev. 10.1) made clear the seriousness of an offense which was deemed
unholy to God.”[2]
The statement that Jesus makes to the Samaritan woman literally put His life on
the line.
Jesus is the new temple. We will not be focusing on how
His followers become the temple in Christ but rather just on His role as Lord
and Messiah. As Jesus upholds His role as Lord we must also uphold our role as
servant. The follower today cannot merely gather information and proclaim their
righteousness by way of temple sanctuary. “Thus says the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you
dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord’”
(Jeremiah 7:3, ESV). While the temple was in place it performed its role but the
temple did not save without sacrifice and the obedience of the worshipper.
Jesus is both human and divine and therefore can provide
that place where heaven and earth meet once more. The temple is in place to this
day but the worshipper is still called to be of truth and spirit. “Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21,
NIV). Both covenants make this clear concerning the temple, contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word versus worshipping in spirit and in truth. This theme
of worshippers being obedient to the will of God is nothing new. It stands as
one of the foundational statutes in having a relationship with God.
From the Law of Moses to the grace of Jesus the theme
remains the same. Both should produce a worshipper who worships in truth and in
spirt, who is contrite in spirit and trembles at His word. One of the easiest
rhetorical devices used in the Scripture is repetition. “Although the basic
unit of thought remains the individual line, the most recurring feature of
Hebrew poetry is repetition.”[3] When we see warnings or
sayings multiple times this is by design and demands our focus and attention.
It calls to our most basic understandings of parenting and childhood. There is
a reason for the frustration a parent feels when they say, “How many times have
I told you…”
Today’s contemporary follower of Jesus must worship in
the temple. They must also recognize the temple is not a building any longer.
The temple did not exist for man’s glory and even with all the effort and
attention to detail placed in its construction man could never take credit for
God being among them. “The God who made the world and everything in it is
the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human
hands” (Acts 17:24, NIV). So why worship in the temple today? Jesus is the temple
and He is both Spirit and truth and this is what the Father seeks.
When we marvel at the wrong object we can be assured that
the Lord will redirect us towards His Son the true temple and the true object
of our worship and awe. “And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples
said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful
buildings!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There
will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Mark
13:1-2, ESV). Jesus is the One who forgives our sins through His own eternal
and everlasting sacrifice of blood. Jesus is the one place where heaven and
earth meet through His own person being both human and divine. Jesus fulfills
the covenant of Abraham and is the blessing to all the nations. In Him we
become the house of God.
[1]
Peterson, David. Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992, 81.
[2]
Deffinbaugh, Robert L. Exodus: The Birth of The Nation. May 17, 2004.
https://bible.org/seriespage/32-tabernacle-dwelling-place-god-exodus-368-3943#P3537_1339631
(accessed March 7, 2017).
[3]
Köstenberger, Andreas J. , and Richard Patterson. Invitation to Biblical
Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and
Theology. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2011.
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