Temple or Marketplace?
In the Bible, we read about various temples. They served many purposes, including being the places where gods lived among the people and places of worship and offering sacrifices. The books of 1 Samuel and 1 Chronicles mention the temples of Ashtaroth and the temple of Dagon. Acts also mention a temple of Artemis. The Bible refers to other temples dedicated to false gods elsewhere. People dedicated these temples to false gods.
The tabernacle and the stone temple
The Bible also mentions that Yahweh, the LORD Almighty, had a dwelling place among His people. First, His glory lived in the tabernacle, a mobile sanctuary for God during Israel’s exodus. In Exodus 25:8, God commanded a tabernacle to be made for His dwelling among His people.
Exodus 25:8 (ESV)
8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
And in Exodus 10:34-35, the glory of God filled the completed tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34–35 (ESV)
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
God’s presence filled the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle, a place that was separated from the Holy place by a veil. The Most Holy Place had the mercy seat and the Ark of the Covenant.
Leviticus 16:2 (ESV)
2 and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.”
After Israel had settled in the promised land, King David was determined to build a house for the Lord (2 Samuel 7:1-3). God, however, revealed to David that his son would be the one to build a house for His dwelling (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
Solomon, David’s son, was determined to build a house for the name of the LORD and God promised to dwell in the temple upon its completion (1 Kings 6:11–13). Solomon built and finished the temple in seven years, as 1 Kings chapter 6 records.
Scriptures say in 1 Kings 6:11-13 that God dwelt in the temple which Solomon built.
1 Kings 6:11–13 (ESV)
11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
Israel failed to fully observe God's commandments. And as Jeremiah had prophesied, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Babylonians breached the city and burned the temple that Solomon had built (2 Kings 25).
After many years without a temple in Jerusalem, exile returnees from Babylon, led by Zerubbabel, built a second temple on the ruins of the first one, which was later expanded by King Herod the great. It is at the second temple where Jesus taught during His ministry.
Besides being a dwelling place for God (like the Tabernacle, the stone temple included the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 6:16)), it served other purposes.
The temple was a place to offer sacrifices to God. After Solomon had finished the first temple and dedicated it to God, God appeared to him in the night and said to him “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice” (2 Chronicles 7:12, ESV).
The priests and Levites offered sacrifices such as burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings at the temple before the Lord.
The temple also served as a place of teaching and instruction. For example, the prophet Jeremiah preached at the temple as recorded in Jeremiah chapter seven. Jesus also taught in the temple frequently, as did the Pharisees. And after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the Apostles too taught in the second temple. However, the Romans destroyed this second temple in AD 70, as Jesus prophesied in Mark 13:1-2.
Mark 13:1–2 (ESV)
1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 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.”
There remains no temple in Jerusalem to this day. This raises the question: Where does God dwell among his people? There are two places we are told in scriptures where God now makes His dwelling amidst His people.
First: The Christian, a temple of the Holy Spirit
Individually, every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Promised the Holy Spirit, and the Father sent Him to every believer.
John 14:15–18 (ESV)
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Later in the same chapter, in His reply to Judas, Jesus stated that He and the Father would live in those who keep God's Word.
John 14:23 (ESV)
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
And in verse 26 of the same chapter, Jesus promised God would send His Holy Spirit to His disciples.
John 14:26 (ESV)
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (ESV)
Jesus instructed the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4). At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled those who were waiting (Acts 2:1-4), and continues to fill those who believe in Christ.
Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians reminds us we are temples of the Holy Spirit and edifies us to glorify God in our bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (ESV)
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.
Individually, we glorify God in our bodies by submitting to the Holy Spirit. We must cast out sexual immorality, malice, bitterness, anger, gossip, greed, pride, self-pity, hatred, among others, from our bodies for the glory of God.
Second: The Church, a temple of living stones
Although the Romans destroyed the physical stone temple, God maintained a dwelling place with His people. He built a new temple made of living stones as we read in 1 Peter 2:4-5.
1 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV)
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Collectively, the body of Christ is the temple of God, a spiritual house built with living stones.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV)
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Note: In Greek, you is plural in verse 16 and 17. The Church is God’s dwelling place.
And Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” God is present wherever His people are.
And just as God received sacrifices at the old temple, so too should He receive spiritual sacrifices from us, the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
1 Peter 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The spiritual sacrifices we offer to God in our bodies must be holy and acceptable.
What is happening in the temple? Worship or trade?
According to the Gospel of John, one day Jesus went into the stone temple and found it bustling with trade. People were exchanging goods for money in the house of God and it seemed to be normal business. He promptly drove them out.
John 2:13-17(ESV)
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
In the Jerusalem temple, the Jews were trading sheep, oxen and pigeons and changing money, but are we also doing trade in the temple of God that is the Church? Are we doing trade in the temple of the Holy Spirit that is our bodies? Are you a temple or a marketplace? Is the Church of Christ about offering spiritual worship to God or about business?
Today, many are trading God’s Word for secular ideologies in God’s temple. Exchanging God’s truth to be more inclusive with the world. Trading perseverance for a life of comfort with the world. Bartering self control for hedonism, which is the pursuit of pleasure and sensual self-indulgence. Trading everlasting life for empty vanity. Christians and the church are embracing secular ideologies at the expense of their spiritual worship to God. Is your life a temple or a house of trade? Is the Church of Christ a temple or a marketplace?
Purge what does not belong in the temple
The scriptures do not say anyone invited Jesus into the temple to drive out the traders; it was His Father's house. He came in, saw what did not belong in the temple, made a whip, and drove them and their merchandise out of the temple.
If you are truly God’s temple, the Holy Spirit does not need your permission to come in and purge His temple. He is going to make a whip and drive out sin from His temple. He will say to you, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.”
He will drive out sexual immorality, malice, bitterness, anger, gossip, greed, pride, self-pity, hatred etc. Purge from your life what does not belong in the temple of God. Sometimes He will drive people out of your life. When he comes to clean His house, do not harden your heart. Do not fight Him about the merchandise you are about to lose. It doesn’t belong in His temple, let Him clean it.
1 Corinthians 6:18-19 (ESV)
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We should pray God to make us worthy temples. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. I am a living stone building up a spiritual house for God.
Amen.
