A New Kind of Temple
“So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.” 1 Chronicles 22:2 NIV
When Solomon inherited his father's rock collection it had a very special purpose. He would go on to build God's temple... the center of worship and communion with God. This was the place in which God said He would LIVE.
“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Will you build a house for me to live in?” 2 Samuel 7 NIV.
As we watch the building and destruction and rebuilding of the temple, we are watching the foreshadowing of the temple becoming something very different in the New Testament.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 NIV.
We all begin our spiritual rock collections with a very specific stone. The stone of our hearts. The love of God and rebirth through the Holy Spirit tear down that heart of stone and rebuild it as a heart of flesh...a living, moveable, growing, functioning life source through which God is “pumped out” to the world.
Just following His water-to-wine miracle in John 2, we find Jesus doing some housekeeping. He goes into the physical temple courts and in a literal table-turning display, shoos the sacrificial animals being sold out and, through this prophetic act, shows Himself to be the replacement sacrificial animal- not able to be bought by money. Upon being asked to prove His authority to direct the temple activities,
“Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days'.”...“But the temple he had spoken of was his body” John 2:19, 21 NIV.
Jesus proposes a trade. Our stone heart for a living one. Our temple stones for His resurrection and Holy Spirit. As we live for Him, we ourselves become the stones crying out! Christ is called the cornerstone because He came to build. His body that He called the temple in John 2 has now become us.
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV.
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-20 NIV.
We were created to build. The question is what are you building through your life? How could you, a perfectly crafted piece of His body...His temple...best be used by Him to advance His kingdom? As we conclude our series next week, we'll take a look at the incredible HOPE written in some new Biblical rocks that we will add to our collection.