Christians – God’s Temple

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. (1 Cor. 6:19,20)

This is an amazing truth. Every person who is a believer in Jesus is God’s temple. God wants to fill us with Himself, with His nature and divine attributes. This starts with His very presence, resident not just in our hearts and minds, but in our very bodies. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He enters our hearts, through His Spirit, and He brings with Him enough provisions for staying the rest of our lives. This alone should make it clear why true believers undergo a transformation when they receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. God, Himself is living within us. Something fresh and new takes place when God enters a life. He doesn’t just hang around, enjoying the view. He brings with

Him a holy broom and starts cleaning house! God wants to use each one of us, just as He designed us.

Each of us has good works that we were created to perform and in which to walk from the foundation of the world. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) God also wants to inhabit and fill His temple as He did in days of old. He wants this temple to be clean—free from sin—and useful for the purposes He has in mind.

Shadow of Things to Come

The Jerusalem Temple built by the Israelites had three major facilities: the outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of holies. The Holy of holies was the inner sanctum where the Ark of the Covenant (a solid gold chest) resided. The Ark held several items: the Ten Commandments, tablets of stone inscribed by the very finger of God; a jar with a sample of the manna (bread) that God used to feed to the Israelites in the wilderness; and Aaron’s staff, which miraculously budded with flowers to show where and on whom God’s authority rested during the establishment of Israel. With the resurrection of Jesus, God has moved His residence from this building to the hearts of men. Our hearts have become the Holy of holies. Instead of the Ten Commandments, we have Jesus, who is the end of the law (Rom.10:4) for all who believe. Instead of the manna from the wilderness, we have the Bread of Life—the Living Manna (John 6:58). Instead of the budding staff, we have the True Shepherd (John 10:11), who holds the authoritative staff and transfers that authority to us (Matt. 28:18). Remember, the Lord does not come to take sides, but to take over.

He is not like the Borg in Star Trek who comes to take over by force but by love and patient appeal he slowly transforms us from one degree of glory to the next (2 Cor. 3:18). In this way, we are vessels of clay that honor the Holy of Holy through our daily lives.