In the Old Testament it was hugely important to the Israelites and Jews that they had a temple, because that was the place in which God dwelt. That was his house, his home, and the visible evidence that he was with them. It was king Solomon who echoed the thoughts of every Israelite, when at the completion of the temple he had built he cried out to God, “I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever,” 1 Kings 8:13.
And God responded to that, providing marvellous visible proof that he truly was dwelling with them, because at the opening ceremony of the completed temple “fire came down from heaven….and the glory of the Lord filled the temple,” 2 Chronicles 7:1.
But shock upon shock, 400 years later in 586 BC Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, leaving the Jews with no place for God to dwell in and no visible proof that he was with them.
On their return from captivity in Babylon 70 years later, therefore, the Jews set about rebuilding the temple as their top priority, which they completed in 515 BC. And it lasted nearly 500 years too, until 20 BC, at which point King Herod dismantled it and built a new temple for the Jews that was so magnificent it became one of the wonders of the ancient world. It took 46 years to complete (John 2:20), so imagine the massive shock again when just a few years later the Romans destroyed that temple too.
Which seems odd, because even Jesus had called that temple “my Father’s house” in John 2:16. But when challenged to prove his authority in verse 18, Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days,” verse 19. By which he meant the destruction and raising back to life again of his own body (21-22) – but – in comparing the destruction of the temple to his own body, he was also hinting at the temple itself being destroyed and a new temple being raised up – this time in himself, and no longer in a physical building.
So how did that work exactly? Paul answered that in Ephesians 1:22-23, when he wrote that “the church is his body.” So the visible proof that God is dwelling with us and the house he now lives in, is the people in whom “Jesus lives in all his fullness” (23). Or as Paul put it in Hebrews 3:6, “We are his house”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 