A Simple Description of the Spiritual Significance of he Temple
1 Corinthians 3:16 (CJB) Don't you know that you people are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CJB)
19 Or don't you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit] who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don't belong to yourselves;
20 for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God.
We live in a day when people are encouraged to hold any religious beliefs that “work” for them and that they are comfortable with. But the directions given by God for building and furnishing the temple show that God must be worshiped on His terms – not ours. The temple of Israel made it clear that God must be worshiped with a clean heart.
The temple is and always has been an illustration of God living among His people, and gives us a pattern, which was ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. The message of worship on God's terms is clear: the manner in which we approach God is as important as what we believe and do.
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai he brought with him the Ten Commandments and detailed specifications for the tabernacle, which was a collapsible, portable temple for worship. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments He also gave him the plans to build a sacred structure to be a companion to the moral law.
The design for this structure, called the tabernacle shows God's mercy in providing for people who could not live up to His rules. Not only does it show the terms by which God lives with His people, but also how His people could in turn, prepare to meet and live with their God.
As a pattern, the tabernacle shows us the need for (1) a sacrificial death, (2) regular spiritual cleansing, (3) daily dependence on God, (4) all encompassing mercy, and (5) the presence of God Himself.
(1) The need for a sacrificial death – the Bronze Altar of Sacrifice
Just inside the only gate into the tabernacle was a bronze covered altar of sacrifice where innocent animals were sacrificed in a ceremony that symbolically transferred the guilt of the human to the head of a certain animal.
This altar of sacrifice was not involved in social or civil justice (meaning, if a man stole his neighbor's donkey, he could not satisfy the requirements of justice by sacrificing an animal on this altar. The Law of Moses states that a thief makes generous restitution for this crime.) but when an individual realized his inability to live up to the requirements of God, the guilt would be covered through the blood of a “sin offering”. (Leviticus 17:11)
Consider the symbolism involved here. A person would bring an unblemished animal to the priest, place his hands on the animal's head (to be identified with the sacrifice), and then slit its throat. Then the priest collected the blood and disposed of the carcass, all in a particular manner.
In the New Testament the significance of the bronze altar of sacrifice is explained. In Hebrews we are told that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin (Hebrews 10:1-14) and that animal sacrifices were simply “shadows” of another sacrifice that could take away sin. Of course, we know they were symbols of Jesus Christ being crucified. (II Corinthians 5:21, I Peter 1:17-20, 2:24).
1 Corinthians 3:16 (CJB) Don't you know that you people are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CJB)
19 Or don't you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit] who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don't belong to yourselves;
20 for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God.
We live in a day when people are encouraged to hold any religious beliefs that “work” for them and that they are comfortable with. But the directions given by God for building and furnishing the temple show that God must be worshiped on His terms – not ours. The temple of Israel made it clear that God must be worshiped with a clean heart.
The temple is and always has been an illustration of God living among His people, and gives us a pattern, which was ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. The message of worship on God's terms is clear: the manner in which we approach God is as important as what we believe and do.
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai he brought with him the Ten Commandments and detailed specifications for the tabernacle, which was a collapsible, portable temple for worship. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments He also gave him the plans to build a sacred structure to be a companion to the moral law.
The design for this structure, called the tabernacle shows God's mercy in providing for people who could not live up to His rules. Not only does it show the terms by which God lives with His people, but also how His people could in turn, prepare to meet and live with their God.
As a pattern, the tabernacle shows us the need for (1) a sacrificial death, (2) regular spiritual cleansing, (3) daily dependence on God, (4) all encompassing mercy, and (5) the presence of God Himself.
(1) The need for a sacrificial death – the Bronze Altar of Sacrifice
Just inside the only gate into the tabernacle was a bronze covered altar of sacrifice where innocent animals were sacrificed in a ceremony that symbolically transferred the guilt of the human to the head of a certain animal.
This altar of sacrifice was not involved in social or civil justice (meaning, if a man stole his neighbor's donkey, he could not satisfy the requirements of justice by sacrificing an animal on this altar. The Law of Moses states that a thief makes generous restitution for this crime.) but when an individual realized his inability to live up to the requirements of God, the guilt would be covered through the blood of a “sin offering”. (Leviticus 17:11)
Consider the symbolism involved here. A person would bring an unblemished animal to the priest, place his hands on the animal's head (to be identified with the sacrifice), and then slit its throat. Then the priest collected the blood and disposed of the carcass, all in a particular manner.
In the New Testament the significance of the bronze altar of sacrifice is explained. In Hebrews we are told that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin (Hebrews 10:1-14) and that animal sacrifices were simply “shadows” of another sacrifice that could take away sin. Of course, we know they were symbols of Jesus Christ being crucified. (II Corinthians 5:21, I Peter 1:17-20, 2:24).