Metaphors of the Church: The Temple

When Jacob was fleeing from his brother and had a dream of a stairway to heaven and a promise from God, he named the place where this happened The House of God, that is, Bethel, because, he said,

“Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16,17)

There were certain places where the space between heaven and earth was extraordinarily thin and the presence of God emerged.

Such also was the temple that Solomon built. When Solomon consecrated it, something amazing happened:

¹⁰ When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of Yahweh. ¹¹ And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled his temple. ¹² Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; ¹³ I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.” ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.” ²⁷ “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! ²⁸ Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Yahweh my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. ²⁹ May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. ⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God and that there is no other. (1 Kings 8:10-13, 21, 27-30, 59-60)

Such also is the church. We are God’s temple, the place where earth intersects with heaven and the presence of God emerges, the place which gives testimony to all the earth that Jesus alone is God.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

We together comprise one dwelling place for God by His Spirit. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this temple, the apostles and prophets its foundation, and we the bricks of the superstructure. We are holy to God.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16,17)

Because we are holy to God and His Spirit dwells in our midst, we must be careful how we build upon it with our teaching. And if we teach heresy that destroys the church, God will destroy us.

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)

¹⁹ 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; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)

And because we are holy to God, we must not pollute ourselves with idolatry nor with immorality. We corporately are God’s temple, and individually we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

As a spiritual temple to God, we must offer acceptable sacrifices to God, our praise, our obedience, and the souls of those we win to the Lord. We are the place where unbelievers can meet the living God. We are God’s temple.