The Temple

Temples have a long history in every religion. Their earliest usage dates back before the Time of King Saul. Temples were sacred buildings where gods or a god was venerated, worshiped, and services we conducted. They often were elaborately made of cut stone or wood with collumns. Many pilgrims would travel across harsh regions to pay religious respects to their deities.

The Temple was never what the Almighty God of the Bible wanted. Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts said unto David who was obsessed with building a temple,
"Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling (1 Chronicles 17:5)/Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning
and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you.." (2 Samuel 7:4-11)

There are some interesting points to pay attention to in this passage. Firstly, the Lord tells David that He has always "gone from tent to tent," and that He never asked the shepherds (priests), "why have you not built a house for me of cedar?" The Almighty is clearly saying that He never required a building and that He has always gone with His people, wherever they go. Then in striking turn, the Lord promises to David that He shall built a house for David and His people, "The Lord himself will establish a house for you.." This is echoed by Jesus Christ himself when He says, "My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3).

The God of Israel was different from other gods. The major distinction that made Jehovah different was that He did not require a temple. All the pagan deities had temples and houses of worship, but the Lord dwelt with His people, from tent to tent, going with them in a portable Tabernacle. The God of Israel was saying to the world, "I go with my people, I cannot be contained in one place, and I love my people so much that I do not make them go to one destination far in Judean Hills, but habitat in their very homes." The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wanted the world to know that He was not like the other false gods made of stone, wood, and other materials. He was a God who dwells with His people and rather than have His followers build Him a house, He builds them a house.

Unfortunately, despite the Lord telling David He doesn't want a building. The Man after God's Own Heart still persisted and asked again and again for the right to build a temple. The Lord responded, "But then God told me, 'You will not build a temple to my name, because you are a man of war, and you have committed bloodshed." (1 Chronicles 28:3). It is interesting that God tells David no again, but this time for different reason. David was a man of war and committed bloodshed. But it was not because he killed many men in battle, the bloodshed really is "innocent blood." David had stolen Uriah's wife, Bathsheba and rather than shame his friend Uriah, David had him taken to the front line and where Uriah was killed. What I find interesting, is that this desire to build a temple comes after David has committed this horrible sin of adultery and murder.

The ambition to built a house of worship and temple could not been dismissed. The Lord tells David, "Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father." (2 Chronicles 28:6). I believe Jehovah finally permitted the building of the temple because of the hardness of men's hearts. Jesus said the same about divorce, "because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." (Matthew 19:8).

The First Temple of Solomon was built and then torn down by Babylon. This Abomination of Desolation took place when King Nuchadnezzar sacked the City of Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was led into captivity. The Prophet Daniel rose in Babylon and prophesied the return of the Israeli people to their Promised Land. In that time of captivity, two sects formed. One I am going to call the Tent Makers or Tabernacle, these Jews believed that Jehovah is with you wherever you are. Echoing the word of God himself, they believed, "I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling." (2 Samuel 7:6, 1 Chronicles 17:5). The other sect I am going to call the Templers or The Temple. These Jews believed you had to be in Jerusalem and in Temple to be close to Jehovah and that until they could return to Judea, they were cut off from God's presence. The Prophet Daniel was clearly a Tent Maker, because He prayed three times a day and even got visions of the Coming of Christ, 70 A.D., The Cold War, and The Return of Christ.

When Jesus came and ministered, He spent very little time in the Temple. The records in the Gospels we have is that when He was young He taught in the temple (Luke 2:41-52), He entered the Temple and drove out the money changers with a whip (Matthew 21:12, John 2:15), and He taught at Temple prior to being arrested and put on trial by the temple authorities (Luke 19:47). Aside from these events, Our Lord and Savior spent very little time in Jerusalem. He was often in Galilee, which is why many called Him "The Galilean." It is interesting that God incarnate spent very little time in the "House of the Lord." He did not call temple priests to follow Him, but rather fishermen of Galilee.

There is a moment when Jesus takes his closest disciples: Peter, James and John to a mount. There Jesus is transfigured and speaks with Moses and Elijah. Here is the response of Peter, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Peter God a response from the Father in Heaven!: "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" (Matthew 17:4-5). After words the disciples fell to the ground and then Jesus came to them and touched them on the shoulder and said, "Get up." Peter, and Sons of Thunder arose and saw only Jesus and the whole building three tabernacles never happened.

This is an important point to ponder. When Peter, like David wants to build a structure, a tent or building for the Lord, He is interrupted and told to listen to Jesus, who in turn never instructs the disciples to build temples For Him or the prophets. We can see that Jesus is carrying the mandate of His Father back in 1 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17.

The Temple and the sacrificial system was abolished when Jesus Christ was crucified. It says in the Gospel, "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" (Matthew 27:5). At that moment the prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled, "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days." (Daniel 12:10)

Thirty Seven years after Christ's Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension the Abomination did come. In 70 A.D. another Abomination of Desolation took place. Titus and the Armies of Rome surrounded Jerusalem, which was prophesied by Jesus Christ (Luke 21:20, Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14). The Romans ravaged the holy city and tore down the Temple, as witnessed by Josephus Flavius who recorded the events in His volume "The Fall of Jerusalem." It is common knowledge to Jews that an Abomination that makes desolate is that destruction of the Temple and its systems of sacrifice.

From 33 A.D. to 311 A.D. the Church was in houses. The Holy Spirit went from tent to tent. There was no massive buildings, no cathedrals or lavish ceremonies. During the Apostolic Age the faith was contained in flesh. For the Apostle Paul said, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?" (1 Corinthians 3:16), "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), "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Romans 8:9), "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you," (Romans 8:11). Paul is proclaiming the fulfillment of another prophecy, that Lord spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah. The Lord said unto Jeremiah, "They will be my people, and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I  will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." (Jeremiah 32:41).

The Lord promised to dwell His people, telling Moses and Ezekiel the same as He told Jeremiah. But in Jeremiah prophecy there is some details that are striking. Firstly that the Lord says, "I will give them one heart and one way.." Jesus Christ unites the hearts of His followers and He is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6). In fact, the early Christians were not called Christians, but Followers of the Way or The Way.

It is clear that God was restoring the relationship back to a personal one. Rather than have His people; who are now all people and nations in Christ, go to building and offer sacrifices and be at distance; Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice and propitiation for our sins so that we may come to the Father, Him, and have God's Spirit dwell in us! The Temple, the building made of stone or cedar is no longer needed, because We, the believer, the Body of Christ are the temples of God! This would have been a counter culture idea for Jews and Greeks. If a Greek asked a Christian, "what temple do you go to worship your God?" The Christian would point at themselves. To which the Greek would ask, "Are you saying you are a god?!" The Christian would reply, "No, God dwells in me. I am His temple. All who believe in True God, Jesus Christ, are walking and breathing temples that carry Him."

Alas, this unique and return to God being with His people rather than in a palace made of stone by men would not last forever. In 311-323 A.D. Constantine Augustus brought an end to the 400 years of Great Persecution against the Christians. Due to a sign Constantine saw in a dream or in sky that was the cross, "In Hoc signo vinces: in this sign you shall conquer" Constantine won a battle against Maximin, a wicked emperor who persecuted the Christians. Constantine then made decrees to liberate the Christians and allow them to have freedom of worship, to fund rebuilding their houses of worship, and to make clergy exempt from normal duties like manual labor or to be drafted into the army. (The History of the Church, Eusebius, Copy of an Imperial Letter Commanding the Heads of Churches to be Exempt from All Public Duties, Penguin Publishers pg 327). As a result the Church was saved from physical death, but entered in a spiritual death. Here is an script from the moment that the cathedrals were raised upward,
"I need not go into details now about the perfection of the overall design and the superlative beauty of the individual parts, for evidence of our eyes makes instruction through the ears unnecessary. But I will say this: after completing the great building (Hagie Sophie) I have described, he furnished it with thrones high up, to accord with dignity of the prelates (high clergy), and also with benches arranged conveniently through. In addition to all this, he placed in middle the Holy of Holies-the altar -excluding the general public form this part to by surrounding it with wooden trellis.." (The History of the Church, Eusebius, Penguin Publishers, 316);  and thus the veil of the old temple was rebuilt, the very veil and separation Christ died to destroy.

The  old system was rebuilt; the Temple re-erected and the separation between God and man reestablished. Before Christians knew God dwelt in their hearts; his Spirit was inside them. Now thanks to Constantine, the new Zerubbabel or Solomon (The History of the Church, Eusebius, Penguin Publishers, pg 314-316), the Church became like all other religions, having a building or temple, when as Paul and Apostles knew the temple was the body of believers. (1 Corinthians 3:16).

For one thousand years, the church lived in darkness. Class systems were created, with clergy ranging from Bishops to Presbyters to Cardinals and Priests, and eventually even a Pope. Those who were not full time priests, were called the Laity. And yet in Early Church, all Christians were priests, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9). For ten centuries the church fell into shadow, leaving the truth of the Scripture for the canons of corrupt men. The entire old system of temple sacrifice was reborn in the form of "penance" and "indulgences." All that Jesus came to abolish, and the Apostles fought so hard to break free from was reestablished in one swift stroke and would have stronghold until 14th and 15th centuries when men like Jan Hus, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, and Martin Luther would finally question this temple system and make the Holy Scriptures available again to all people! 

By the 16th century or late 1500 A.D. The Reformation was in full swing and the return to Christians all over the world being the temples of God and the Holy Scripture being for all saints and servants of Christ to read was made possible again. Not without major risk and hardships. Both John Wycliffe and William Tyndale who translated the Bible in English were killed as heretics. Martin Luther miraculously survived after opposing the Papacy and translating the New Testament into German. These men may not have been perfect, but they paved the way out of the old and obsolete temple and sacrificial system back to have God's presence and dwelling place in the Christian believer.

At last in 21st Century or 2015 A.D. the Church is finally leaving the building! All around the world cathedrals are collapsing either due to being torn down or corroding do to a lack of funds and membership. The church has moved back into the house, where the first churches were in 33 A.D. to 300 A.D. The Lord seems to be finishing the breaking away from the old stone and cedar temple building. The Church is returning to the personal body of Christ, and the services, pomp, and separation between clergy and laity is being done away with at last! For it was never suppose to be that way in the beginning! While some more the burning of the building, we should not. God is moving His Bride back into the home, away from the old system that was abolished two thousand and fifteen years ago! To quote Hebrews, "By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." (Hebrews 8:13). The Old system and covenant that was practiced at the temple before 70 A.D. and was resurrected by Emperor Constantine is obsolete and passing away at last! For we are under new covenant in Christ Jesus and not compelled to live according to Law, but according to Spirit. We now can have intimate personal relationship with the Bridegroom Jesus Christ!