The Temple

As Christians, we sometimes get confused about how they worshipped and behaved in the Old Testament, and how things changed in those areas when it comes to living under the New Testament.

What do I mean by that? Well, many times we look at some of the laws of the Old Testament and think that they apply to us, such as dietary laws, the Sabbath, and the idea of worshipping in a temple. There are some truths that need to be laid out when it comes to how we worship under the New Covenant, and the freedom from religion that Jesus has died to give us.

The one I want to point out is this idea of a church building being a temple of worship. The follower of Christ is no longer bound to temple worship. How do we know this? I Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

This idea of temple worship is based upon the Old Testament way of worship. The temple of Jerusalem was the place that Jews had to go to at least once a year to give sacrifices to the Lord. It was the only place a person could go to accomplish forgiveness through the shedding of blood. But when Christ shed His blood upon the cross for our sins, the believer is now freed from having to go to a certain building to worship. Paul tells us that we are now the temple. Not only that, but he also explains why we are now the temple of God. Because the Holy Spirit now resides in every follower of Christ. In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit would descend upon the temple and then later ascend from it. We no longer have to worry about Him ever leaving us. 

This is such an amazing and wonderful truth that gives us freedom from having to go somewhere to meet with God, because now He is in us and goes with us. Now, since this is true, we must be very aware of how we treat these temples. We believers, are very careful about how we treat the room we call the sanctuary, and we should. But we must always remember that we are the temple of God, and we should live in such a way that acknowledges this truth. Just as we desire to keep the sanctuary clean and free from stuff that doesn’t belong, so too we must keep His temple clean and free from those things that would bring dishonor to our Lord.

The challenge is to look deep into ourselves and see where the temple of God may need a good cleaning so that real worship will happen in our very being.