The Temple to Come

This is the last day of our Temple teaching! I absolutely love this topic and had about 14,390,908 more things to say. I guess I'll just have to write it all in a book!

Let's finish out with something beautiful, then I'll share with you what's coming up.

As we have learned, where the glory of God dwells is His dwelling forever. That's you and me. However, when Jesus comes back to take us all home to GLOR-eh (as we would say it in church growing up) then we will see something happen that has never been seen on earth before.

In the beginning of the Temple, God promised that His Name would always be there. Well, we found quickly that His Spirit now dwells in us and that His Name is now in us. So, what will all this look like when we hook up with Jesus in the end?

Well, it will be a sight to behold, that's for sure.

We are going to jump all the way over the New Testament Awesomeness to Revelation. Now, don't get jumpy because we're going over there. There is great hope in that book and it is not to be feared.

When John had his vision of heaven here is a part of what he saw. Now, being a good Jew, he would notice this...believe me.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation 21:22-27

I'm sure you caught much of what we have been studying.

The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And we know why now! They ARE the Spirit and the Glory! He is the dwelling and we are the ones who get to dwell with Him! There will be no need for sacrifice, incense, show-bread, lampstands, and all that other stuff. Jesus is the fulfillment of every requirement known to man when it comes to heaven, salvation, and even the temple.

This is what it will all be about in the end: Jesus and the Glory of God in Heaven. Let us keep our eyes on this promise and until then rest on the promise of old found in Ezekiel 36:26-27

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.



I hope you have enjoyed our time together during this study. I know I have!

Now, it's time for a little break as I prepare for the next studies to come. Stiletto Army will return on Monday, August 4th. Keep checking back in to find out what we'll be diving in to next!

Thank you all for staying with me. I know you're out there reading and it blesses my heart every day. If you live near here, and we see each other, let me know who you are so I can hug your neck!

Blessings to you and may God Bless Your Temple!

Walls Around the Temple

Tomorrow is the end of our study on the Temple! I can't believe we've done 15 days of this. All y'all are probably like, "Oh, believe us, we can!"

Still, two more days and then we'll jump in to something new! I want to remind you that if you have suggestions please slide over there to the suggestion link and share your thoughts.

We're going to look at one more thing concerning our temples, then tomorrow I'll leave you with a beautiful hope for the future with Christ!

As I said yesterday, Nehemiah was way in on this rebuilding business. His heart, however, was not just for the temple, but the walls that were around Jerusalem. Nehemiah knew that the great city needed a safe, strong wall around it and he was the man to do it.

He left his post with the current King, and made way for Jerusalem. He gathered the men and they worked hard and long to finish rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Sometimes they would work with a chisel in one hand and a sword in the other in case their enemies came to attack them.

Not a bad spiritual picture for us.

There is a healthy and smart thing about boundaries. If you have certain temptations that are difficult to overcome then you probably understand boundaries. If it's food, I'm sure you've set boundaries of what you can eat and when. If it's TV, same thing. Well, you don't eat it, but you know what I mean.

Gossip? Shut your mouth or stay away from those who you can't help but chat it up with.
Fantasy? Keep you brain out of romance novels and soap operas.
Worry? Don't mull over the problem again and again.

There are many things we set boundaries around us to protect us from falling into sin, and just as they built their walls with work and determination, they had sword in hand.

Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.

Nehemiah 4:17,18

We too must keep our sword, the Word of God, close at hand at all times. If need be, we'll keep it in hand, on the mirror, on the post card, in the kitchen, on the sticky note, whatever it takes to get that Word deep in our belief system to strengthen us and make us equipped for every good work, every encouragement, every moment we need to have grace!

This walk with Christ has times of great determination, stamina, fortitude, and purpose to ensure we do not fall into traps that we have found ourselves in too many times.

Do you find that you are weak in areas? Get the Word, strap it on close, and pray that God's Spirit who is in your inner being will transform you into the spiritual giant He has purposed for you.

Do you find that you struggle with the same thing over and over? Grab your chisel of determination to set yourself against it. Wield the Sword of God's Word over and over all the while humbling yourself to the inner work of the Spirit who will overcome the enemy in your life! In these things YOU WILL FIND FREEDOM!

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Be rooted and established in love. Do not look to the left or to the right. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Now, finally, as Christ builds Himself in you, take the words of Nehemiah to heart and use them when you feel you are slipping....

I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down!

Nehemiah 6:3

We cannot go down to apathy, or confusion, or depression, or anger, or bitterness, or gossip, or binging, or laziness, or fear, or worry, or....you fill in the next word.

We will not go down to those thing because we are carrying on a great project purposed by the Living and Loving God before the foundation of the world. We will not go down to those things because we are called by God to do good works. We will not go down because we have been chosen before the creation of all things. We will not go down because we are the beloved.

We will not go down because the Spirit of Christ dwells within us and in that we are very much carrying on a great and mighty project indeed!

I pray you are blessed by the Word of Christ in your life today.

Opposition Will Come A Knockin'

This post is for anyone, anytime, anywhere on their walk with Jesus Christ. This post is for anyone who has the Spirit of the living God in them. This post is for anyone who is considering following Jesus. This post covers all of us!

Just read this verse and you'll know where this is headed.

Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. Ezra 4:4, 5

For all of us who follow Christ, for all of you who might one day, as we grow in our walk and relationship with Jesus

there
will
be
opposition.

I won't go on and on here about our spiritual enemy because it goes without saying that he is out go take down our walls, our boundaries, our minds and hearts. He is the opposition.

But, what about those who aren't Satan? You know, family members? Society? Friends? Co-workers?

Do we ever encounter people who might "poo-poo" our relationship with Jesus? Do we ever find that in our society the Christian is called weak-minded-in-need-of-a-crutch-kind-of-person? Do we not find ourselves discouraged and afraid of building our faith?

Yes, yes we do. And we will until the end of the age.

BUT

What do we do with that? What have we been taught? What does the Word say to us with this opposition at our temple doors?

I'll leave you with the Word because God will do a better job at encouraging you that I can right now.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsider; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6,5

We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. I Thess. 2:4

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23, 24

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and over-flowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this word rather than on Christ. Colossians 2;6-8

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward.
Philippians 3:12, 14

I could keep going, but you get the idea. Our making of our "temples" is our business with God and no one can take that away from us. We are His and He is ours. You stay with Jesus. You fight the opposition in prayer and with your loving testimony. You keep your eyes on Christ, the author and perfector of YOUR faith.

Opposition is inevitable, but we don't have to be taken down by it now do we!!!

Foundational Things

There is something pretty cool in Ezra that we are about to see.

Way cool.

You know the whole Jesus-is-the-Sacrifice-before-the-Glory-could-fall-on-and-in-us thing? If you don't, go back to this post.

If you do remember that before the Glory of God could dwell withIN man Jesus had to die, then you're going to love this...

The people are back from exile and they want to do what is right. They assembled, although there was opposition to the rebuild (we'll come back to that), and they sacrificed to the Lord.

Ezra 3:6

On the first day of the month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord,
though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid.

Ironically, the people of God in the time of Jesus laid an offering, thinking they were doing the right thing in killing Jesus, and so His sacrifice came before He laid the foundation of Himself in us.

Follow?

He sacrificed Himself to become the foundation and before the foundation of the church, the apostles and prophets. It all comes back over and over to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Not only does He become the foundation, but the Bible calls Him the chief cornerstone! Without Him the whole darn thing falls apart.

In Him the whole building (the church) is joined together and rises to become a
holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a
dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:21, 22

There are not exclamation points in the scripture, but let's just add them, shall we?

And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God
lives by his Spirit!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that not THE verse for our entire study? I'm serious, this is fun stuff!

Read what Isaiah prophesied about Jesus. If not for anything else, this is just good learnin'!

See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure
foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. Isaiah 28:16

Don't you love the way God ties all this together? Let us not forget that all things for us are in Jesus, through Jesus, and, now we add, ON Jesus.

Seriously, we make following Him too hard. That's why He tells us to rest in Him.

I'm gonna go now. I need to go rest for a little bit on a big piece of a firm foundation.

Rebuilding the Temple

First thing out of the hat are some BIG thank-you's!!!

To Amy at Split Decisionz for designing the new look of Stiletto Army!! Whoop! Whoop!

Check out her design blog! And her personal blog too!

And a shout out to Lori for sharing her background! I like it so much, I had to "borrow" it.


ONWARD!

This week we will finish out study of the Temple. (I warned you that it might be longer than 10 days, but we're close to the finish!) I've had a couple of suggestions for other studys to do after this. If you have anything you'd like to talk about please put a comment over yonder at the suggestions link on the left!

Our story and journey will end in Ezra and Nehemiah at the stories of the rebuilding of the Old Testament temple.

The Hebrew people had gone into captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar and during all the hub-bub the temple took a beating...like to the ground kind of beating.

After years of being in captivity, the people of God returned to their homeland under the decree of King Cyrus, king of Persia. Their eyes were fixed on Jerusalem. Their home. Their Temple. And, boy, did it need some work.

Cyrus is typically considered a type of Jesus. One who delivers people, restores hope, and shepherds the people. Cyrus was the savior of the Israelites as Jesus is the world.

With that being said, two dudes of the exiled nation, Ezra and Nehemiah, took it upon themselves to not only be in direct involvement with the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem, but they took the time to write it all down for us. Isn't that super of them?

We're going to look at two cool things in Ezra today and see how these truths will be an encouragement to us!

First, Ezra 1 tells us that King Cyrus knew that God had given him the authority to build the Temple for Him in Jerusalem. Only God could give out the authority to rebuild the Temple. He told Solomon the first time, and gave the authority to Cyrus this time.

Second, He had all the articles (gold and silver) belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away, returned and placed in the temple of his god.....uh oh....that just means he brought everything back that was taken. Everything was returned and articles of the temple were brought back to Jerusalem.

Let's look and see what this could mean to you and me as the new "temples" of God.

Last week we looked at ways our temple can be undisciplined (we focused on the body), neglected (without the Word), and taken into captivity by the enemy as a stronghold of sin.

Those things can all be detrimental to the strength and glory of who we are in Christ. If we consider that Christ's Spirit now dwells within us, we can be sure that just as His heart beat loud and proud of His Temple it is no different when it comes to us.

If there is anything in our lives that has caused even the slightest ruin of who we are then Jesus is here to restore, redeem, and rebuild all that has been taken and ruined in us! Our bodies, souls, and minds will not be perfect this side of eternity, but in the meantime, Jesus has died and risen again to make sure we come as close as possible through living a life of NEWness with Him, right here, right now.

Just as Cyrus was appointed and anointed to restore the Old Testament Temple, Christ has been anointed to restore all things to Him. Consider this verse:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him (Jesus), and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19, 20

All things.

That could be your broken heart. Your shame you still carry from a past sin. Your anger who hold in against someone. Your insecurities. Your undisciplined strengths. Anything. All things.

For me, it was shame accompanied with sin that I knew was forgiven for, but I couldn't get over the shame of it all. It wasn't until I laid prostrate on the floor before God begging for His forgiveness again that I GOT it. He told me that not only had He forgiven my sin years ago, but He had restored every ounce of dignity I thought I had lost.

Jesus doesn't just forgive, which in and of itself is enough, but He goes beyond and restores, reconciles, and redeems. He makes us new even when we were in sin. He took my sin, threw it away, and did what He did for the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Leviticus 26:13

He didn't just set me free, He gave me position, pride, a lifted head, and a renewed life!

See if what Jesus said of Himself doesn't fill you with joy that He would do such things for us. But, then again, it's just what He does for those He loves.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed e to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke 4:18,19

It's exactly what He did when He brought the Israelites out of exile, only this time, the new temple, the place of God's indwelling Spirit would be house in the skin of overweight, lost, unreliable, and desperately in need of a Savior people.

And He did it willingly.

Praise Him. Only Jesus has the authority to not only declare that we be filled with His Spirit, but once His He has the authority to bring back everything that was taken by our enemy.

But I the Lord will answer them...so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. Isaiah 41:20

Temple Trackback

I'm going to take today to pause and recap all we've been talking about and then next week we'll wrap up the entire study. This will give you time to go catch up on any you may have missed. I warned you this could go longer than 10 days! And there is much more to look at next week, then we'll end with a bang!!

All the Trimmings: This day we began to unpack the real Temple and look at the contents inside. There was even a picture of the Tabernacle! (oooo and awwww here.)

Glory In the House: Here we saw how the wonder of the glory of God fell on the Temple and how we too share in the the indwelling of the Glory of God in us!!

When He Comes Down: Here we talked about the amazing truth that God enters our Holy of Holies when we get out of the way!

You Have Jewish Roots, Sister: This day was fun talking about how Solomon dedicated the Temple to God; the first Hanukkah! We too get to dedicate our "temples" to God every day.

New Testament Awesomeness!: There is a red thread of grace that connects the Old Testament covenant with the new. We unpacked the Temple pieces and talked about how each piece represented a fulfillment in the New Testament.

You Might Not Like This Post: If God now lives in us, then our entire body must be dedicated to him. That means we must take a look at how we treat our physical bodies as well as our spiritual "bodies." gerr

Now, Where Did I Put My Bible: When the Temple was neglected too long, King Josiah wanted it fixed! Amazingly, the priests came across the Book of the Law! We talked about the importance of keeping the reading of the Word of God a daily practice in our lives.

It Can Get Nasty People: The people of God made some big mistakes and ended up in captivity. Our enemy is not unlike King Nebuchadnezzar when it comes to being ruthless against the people of God! We talked about how we can come against him in Jesus!

Now, go catch up if your behind and come back next week as we finish our study on the temple!!

Have a great weekend!

It Can Get Nasty People

On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple...and they set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem...so Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36

The Temple is mentioned over and over in the Old Testament. Her plight and her plunder are the main point of each story as the people of God when into captivity. The sin of the people left them broken, lost, and punished by the hands of their enemy. Their sin led them into the hands of captors.

They had been ushered into captivity and their temple had been raped and ransacked. I'm certain the heart of God broke that day.

He had warned her, Israel, His people. He had given them enough warning that would dictate their lives. They could either believe Him and obey Him and be blessed beyond measure. Or, they could keep unbelief tied around their hearts, disobey Him and be led into a place of captivity. It was their choice.

Let us not be too quick to read these passages and say, "But, it says that God brought this on them." Yes, but not without fair warning. At first glance, it doesn't seem fair. Well, God isn't fair, He's just.

Remember, God is about His glory and His Name within and out of His Love. These things only go hand in hand with the firm grip of Justice. Sometimes, justice is the heavy hand of Love.

This is true in our lives as well. We too can be spiritually raped and ransacked by an even greater Captor than Nebuchadnezzar. This one is ruthless. The Bible calls him The Father of Lies, the Lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour, the Snake, the Enemy.

Has he ever made it inside your temple? Have you ever found yourself wrapped up in sin and realized your temple had plundered?

How did I get here?
What happened to my faith?
How could I do that again?

Captive. Or, another word...stronghold.

Let's take some Old Testament imagery and apply it to us.

I like doing this!

...he set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem

Our enemy will not only ransack you personally, but our sin and what we do with it affects our entire circumstances. Sin is never isolated. It always affects something or someone.



He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord's temple

Satan doesn't stop at just temptation. He'll come right in and try and strip you of what you hold dear: your faith, your hope, your belief, your truth. This is why it's so important, so imperative that we stay incredibly connected with Jesus at all times. Our enemy knows our weaknesses and will prey on them. But, do not be afraid, the One in us is greater than the devil and when we are tempted God will provide a way out!! (2 Corinthians 10:13)


and broke down the wall of Jerusalem

Picture the outer wall of the tabernacle like your heart, soul, and mind. What you do with your mind, how you ingest the Word, who you are accountable to, these are the things that make up the fortifying wall around you. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit will take up position around you and guard your heart and mind in Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) You must be yielded to the power of the Spirit to ensure that the devil can tear down your wall of Faith, Hope and Love!


so Judah went into captivity, away from her land

This is NOT where we want to be. Our God will give us the power through Jesus to tear down every stronghold, every thing that sets itself up against God and puts us in captivity (2 Corinthians 10:5), away from the spacious land of free , can be brought down by the Word of the Lord and the Blood of Jesus. (Psalm 32:7 and 18:19, Revelation 12:10, 11)

Just like the Temple of Old, we were not made to be left in the hands of our enemy. We were made to house the Spirit of God and make Him glorious! Our sin will keep that from happening. Only through the power of that Spirit can we be all God destined for us to be.

Jesus has become for us the repairer of our Temples. He will return to you your faith, hope, love and truth and make you strong in Him by the same power that raised Him from the dead. (Ephesians 1:15-23)

This is why we surrender everything to Him. Everything. He will make us strong against our enemy and we can have the victory!!

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop! I needed to do that because the post was waaay serious. Well, what do you expect when we talk about stuff like this!

Now, go relax in Christ and give the devil a swift kick in the booty!

OUTTA OUR TEMPLES YOU FIEND!

Now, Where Did I Put My Bible?

Whew! Thanks for coming back! I'm bummed because my "temple" isn't feeling well right now! Sore throat, sleepy body, but my heart and mind are right here with you so let's get goin'!

I'm thinking that you are going to like today's topic. It's not so ugh! But, yesterday's message to us has been one that's close to my heart for over a year. My "outer court" is coming under His authority and it's worth every drop of sweat and every carrot. Except cooked ones, because I don't eat cooked carrots.

Onward!

We'll be in 2 Kings 22 if you want to have your Bible open to it. As you know, I don't always give you the entire text, so I encourage you to go and read the whole context of everything we ever talk about. Makes for some good readin'!

2 Kings 22

The first verse right out of the hat is amazing:

"Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years."

Eight.

I have an eight year old and I'm thinking that even though I adore her, there's no way she'd make for a good Queen right now!

Good thing is this: "He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left."

Now, David was not is father-father, but his "father" in the sense that Josiah came from the blood line of David. I guess it's easier than saying "...and walked in all the ways of his great-great-great-great-great grandfather David." Saves times, you see.

He was a good guy and saw that there was some serious trouble with the natives. Apparently the temple had been neglected and needed some attention. (sidebar, we've gone back in time a bit. We're 70 years out from the building of the temple. Yesterday we were further down the time line, but I wanted to post about Hezekiah because, well, I wanted to.)

So, Josiah sends his secretary, Shaphan, to go check it out, get the money, and start repairing the temple. And as any good servant of a King would do...he did.

Look at verse eight and see if you don't find this, well, kind of sad and unbelievable at the same time.

"Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.' He gave it to Shaphan who read it."

Did they forget where it was? Was the high priest looking through a closet and was like, "What's this? Ooohhhh, I heard about this. Hey Shaphan! I found the Book of the Law! You might want to take a look!"

I just wonder if the actual state of the temple and the priests was so bad that they had forgotten about the Book of the Law and then just happened upon it during some spring cleaning. (Which, if you are wondering what the Book of the Law is. It is the first 5 books in your Old Testament, also known as the Pentateuch.)

Shaphan takes The Book to the king and began reading it to Josiah. At this time, Josiah is 26 years old. Some maturity under his belt. Out of the awkward geeky teen stage. Through the rowdy early 20's stage. Pert near a grown man. He was fully King and knew that his responsibility was to take care of the temple.

When Shaphan read The Book to Josiah "...he tore his robes." Now, we don't go around tearing our clothes when things are read to us, but in his day, the tearing of the robes was a sign for great grief. It would have been obvious to those watching that Josiah was heartbroken or grieved because the people of God had gone so far off course. Josiah knew this was not good.

He inquired a prophetess who gave him a message from the Lord. It was not good, BUT, and there is always a but with God, BUT, God said to the King,

"Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place
and its people...I have heard you."

Then God promised him that he would not see the bad stuff coming to the people of Israel.

Josiah then had The Book read in front of all the people and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord - "to follow the Lord and keep His commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his should..and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant."

You really have to go read 2 Kings 23 because you're going to see a whoopin' up on all things evil and see what Josiah did to consecrate the people of God! It is amazing!

Here's the deal...is "The Book" for you something that you might find lying around every now and then? Do you brush the dust off the Bible when you pick it up? Or, is the Word of God treasured by you so much that it is wearing out around the pages? I'm just askin'.

When Josiah found The Book of the Law he went in 100% to make sure that his life and the life of his nation rested upon that Word. He gave heart and soul to the promises of God and commands of God to the point that he ransacked anything that was set up in opposition to the Word.

What about us? Are we so committed to Jesus and to His word that our first priority is to be obedient? Do we have the kind of relationship with Jesus that His Word inspires us to greatness and humility? Do we eat of His Word in such a way that our lives are ransacked with Truth?

I pray that we do not neglect the Word of the Lord. It's not just about rules and regulations, it's about an organic, living, breathing relationship with the Almighty who has chosen to make himself known and dwell IN us!

Remember that Jesus said the Holy Spirit will teach us everything (see John 16:12) and if we remain in Jesus and His words in us we will bear much fruit, meaning our lives will be a life that shows we know Jesus! Furthermore, He says that if His words remain in us we can ask Him for anything and He will give it!

The great thing is, the more we're in His word and in a relationship with Him, the more our hearts and minds will be like His and when we ask for stuff, it will be in accordance to His will.

"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God...We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught us by the
Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12

If you have the Spirit of Christ in you and you are feasting on His Word, then you have just made room in your heart for the Spirit to do what He does best...wield the Sword of the Word in you.

He will teach you as you read the Word.
He will guide you as you study the Scripture.
He will give you insight and understanding.

Colossians says that Jesus holds the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that we have been rooted and built up in Him. We have been given all the fullness of the Deity who is head over every power and authority.

In your very being is everything you could ever need to know found in the Spirit of Christ!

Do you believe?

Do you have questions? Ask Him.
Are you struggling with a big decision? Take it to Him.
Are you dealing with a difficult person? Talk to Him about it.

In Jesus is all the wisdom and knowledge we will ever need. Will He guide and teach you? YES!

We have to be people of the Word of Christ. In those pages we find life, freedom, knowledge, wisdom, faith, and a hope for the future.

Will you be like Josiah and do whatever it takes to make sure the Word of the Lord is back in it's rightful position?

Will you "feed" your Temple?

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the
glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

You Might Not Like This Post

I'm just going to jump on in with it.

We are the Temple of God and with that beauty, there is great expectations. We already know that there is nothing we could do to become right with God. We also know that is is nothing we can do to make the Spirit dwell in us outside of believing in the saving work of Jesus Christ. He has sealed us in Him and we are His (Ephesians 1:13).

Howeve-ah...

We have there right to contaminate our Temple. We can make it yucky and ugly and have very little room for the Holy Spirit to do His thing.

Let me assure you, my Temple doesn't shine very brightly when it's left to me, BUT, when I yeild to the power of the Holy Spirit and let Him do some cleaning up, there is nothing I can't do with and for Him.

Grab your Bible and go to 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1.

If you don't have one, I'm going to put this entire thing riiiiight here...

"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my
people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves
from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

Paul begins his talk in regards to believers yoking with unbelievers and how what the pagans practice and believe is in no way appropriate for believers. But, he continues with a broader command, "...let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit..."

Hmm, that's a little vague, but we know deep down what he's talking about. That deep down is most likely the Spirit of God.

Let's unpack this a little bit. In fact, let's head back to the Old Testament and get the focus off of us for awhile!

About 170-ish years after the Temple had been built be Solomon, King Hezekiah needed to get in there a clean things up a bit. After so many ungodly Kings and priests the place was, to say the least, pretty neglected. You can find his story in 2 Chronicles 29.

Outside of the Temple among the people, they had become a people that followed any kind of god and worshipped anywhere. In that process, the people also "were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord and forsook him. They shut the doors and put out the lamps. They didn't burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the Lord..."

Not good.

Hezekiah got busy. He told the Levites (a clan in Israel that the priests came from)

"Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord...remove all defilement from the sanctuary...My sons do not be
negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense."

So, they cleaned out the Temple, began sacrifices again, they worshipped again, they knelt down and worshipped, they sang praises and the temple of the Lord was reestablished!

Think about your own life. Is there anything in your temple that is contaminating your body or spirit? Is there anything blocking your "insence," your prayer?

I got to thinking about that and was convicted that my physical temple, my Inner court, if you will, was being left to ruin. Oh, there are other areas that need continual examination like what I watch on TV, or the conversations I have, or even what I think about. But, what about the seriousness of taking care of the actual physical body of the New Covenant Temple.

Again, everything we experience is a shadow of what is to come. Our bodies in heaven will be perfect, but until then, these bodies must come under the authority of Jesus. Not that he's like, "Uh, get that body into shape!" No, for me it's more that I need my body to be under His authority so that I have a sharp mind to study, a strong body to work, a rested body to manage and house, and a healthy body to live as full as I can.

For me, my contaminants have been the neglect of my physical body. What about you? What needs to come out of your Temple?

Gossip?
Hate?
Bitterness?
Lack of self discipline?

What is in your Temple that is not good for you or not healthy? We talk an awful lot about having a healthy spiritual heart and mind, but what about having a healthy physical heart and mind? Are they not a physical extension of our Holy of Holies? Are they not to be offered to God for His work?

Indeed they are:

"Therefore, I urge you, (sisters!), in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1-2

This concept can cross all sort of things in our lives. From what we eat, to the emotions we carry. All of it must come to the sweet mercy of God and there we can let His Holy Spirit gently cleanse anything that might be contaminating our Temples.

Take time to examine and spend time with Jesus. Ask Him if there is anything that needs to come out and be tossed away. The more we get rid of the junk, the more room He has to take over!

New Testament Awesomeness

People! People! People! I cannot tell you how excited about today I am!

Oh, my BFF, Kim, and I sat at her computer Saturday night foolin' around with our blogs and we finally joined the smart people and added the Reader buttons to our blogs! Dude, I know...waaaaay behind. So, you can not only just subscribe to FeedBlitz, but I added the RSS button for your subscription pleasure! :)

Okay, back to how simply, totally, and incredibly excited I am! I hope that you get just as jazzed as I do about this day because today, we look at the beautiful blood bridge between the Old Testament temple and the New Testament Awesomeness of US being called the temple.

And, yes, I typed "blood bridge". eeewww

The Temple of the Old Testament had three distinct sections: The Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. And within each place there were certain pieces of furniture. I told you we'd come back to the things in the temple and draw some connections between those and what they mean to us today. Each thing in the Old Testament's Temple was a "type" of what was and is to come. Not all is fulfilled, as with much in the Word, because Jesus isn't back yet. So, until then...enjoy this...

Here is the run down that will get you fired up! Come with me as I give you a little tour.

Our first stop is the Outer Court. Basically, anyone could enter here.

The Outer Court had one specific thing that you will find interesting: the altar of burnt-offering. At this place there, a fire was to be burning at all times. As a dear Professor at my Bible College puts it, "This suggest to us that as the sacrifice was constantly upon the altar, so also the atoning death of Christ is always available to us for forgiveness of sins...so the death of Christ is adequate to meet every special need of our souls." 1 (hold that thought)

There was a brazen laver, more commonly known in our day as a sink. The Priests had to wash up before going in. We too have been cleansed by Christ to enter into God's presence.

"...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22

Please follow me into the Holy Place. Only the Priests could come in here. No-no to everyone else.

In here you will find that "the furniture of the court was connected with sacrifice, that of the sanctuary itself with the deeper mysteries of mediation and access to God." Meaning, this place was full to the brim with connection with God.

I had a first room. In it was the altar of incense, the table of shew-bread, and the lampstand.

The altar of incense is prayer to us. But, not OUR prayer. The priest would take some of the fire off the altar and would throw incense on it. Meanwhile, the people would pray outside. The priest doing this incense typified the intercession of Christ in heaving, making his people's prayer on earth acceptable. Jesus prays for us and with us and takes them to God as the priest of our prayer. Amazing.

The table of shew-bread or the Bread of the Presence (conjure up any ideas?) I'm thinking about when Jesus said He was the Bread of Life! He is the Presence of God with us at all times.

One more thing in here...the lampstand. This light was to be lit all night. A light shining in the darkness. Jesus calls us the light of the world in Matthew 5. John calls Jesus the light of the world. There's not getting around it...we are the lampstands that shine the light of Christ in the darkness at all times.

Now...please, lower your voice, turn off your cameras and cell phones and follow me into the Holy of Holies. It's just through this curtain.

It changes in here. It's heavy. We're not supposed to be in here. It's reserved for the High Priest, but He said it was okay to come on in. What you are looking at is the Ark of the Covenant. Beautiful isn't it? Within it is the Law which is covered there by the Mercy Seat. If you stare long enough it will change shape. Now what do you see?

He's probably average height, brown hair, Middle-eastern face. In Him is the fulfillment of the Law and from Him comes Mercy to set us free from that Law.

Now, if you wait just a minute, get out of the way for a second, you'll see it. Here it comes.

The Glory. You'll notice, it not only goes to Him, but through Him and is coming to us.

"But we didn't do anything?" you say.

I know.

He did.

We were just guilty by-standers who got the Glory.

Remember when we discovered that the Glory of God came down, it seemed, before His love. Then we discovered that His Glory makes His Love Lavish and His Love makes His Glory Glorious? Well, you just saw it in it's purest form.

Way back when Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle there was always one thing that happened prior to the Glory falling.

Sacrifice.

An offering was made. Something died before the Glory of God would or could come down to dwell with man.

That Sacrifice was made complete the day Jesus died. He was The High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies and became the Sacrifice for everyone. One High Priest. One Death. One final Sacrifice.

He did it all.

Then, the craziest thing happened. The Glory came down.

Read this and tell me if this isn't crazy.

"Now I am going to him who sent me...It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away (i.e death) the Counselor will not come to you (i.e.
Glory of God in the Spirit); but if I go, I will send him to you...But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it know to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine." (all that emphasis was definitely mine)

You want more crazy? Okay, read this...

(think temple)

"Now, if the ministry that brought death which was
engraved in the letters on stone (the 10 commandments) came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was... (sidebar: when Moses came down from the Mountain with God, his face was glowing and the people couldn't look at him...okay, continue on) if that came with glory, "will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men (the law) is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!" 2 Corinthians 3:7-9

Did you follow that? Good. We have been given such mercy through Jesus. He truly opened the way for us to be reconciled to God. Having an understanding of the Old Testament and all the rituals and commandments concerning the temple makes His death even more beautiful and unbelievable.

Jesus entered the true Holy of Holies in heaven unlike the Priests in the Old Testament who entered a temple that was only a shadow of what was to come. Jesus became the sacrifice once and for all--one time. This is why we go through Jesus for forgiveness and through Him to receive the Holy Spirit.

Everything passes through Him: love, forgiveness, cleansing, reconciliation, grace, mercy, faith, and the indwelling of the Glory, the Holy Spirit. He paid the sacrifice, but we get the Spirit. And there is the indwelling Glory that settles on the now fleshy temple of God.

That's why ALL THINGS are in Him and through him. All confession, all blessing, all struggles, all answers.

And that my friends, is why there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God.

What is more, He makes and calls us His Temple.

The Glory has fallen and it has fallen on you.

We'll look more at what that means practically for our in our everyday lives all this week! More New Testament Awesomeness on it's way!

Told you you'd get excited!!! Now, sit back, and let that soak in for a little bit.

You Have Jewish Roots, Sister

First of all HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!

Secondly, I hope that all of you understood that I wasn't saying that the love of God isn't His primary goal for and with us! I want us all to be clear that His Love and His Glory are the same thing. One operates in and out of the other and each explode from the center of His being. His love for us IS His Glory! His Love makes His Glory Glorious!!

Yesterday we looked at the Ark entering the Temple. What a par-tay, to say the least! Once that puppy was in place, Solomon gave a speech the people of Israel would not soon forget.

Jump over to 2 Chronicles 6 to read Solomon's prayer of dedication of the temple in it's entirety. I'm going to pull out some stuff for us to chew on and get down into our belief system as we think about being the Temple. (sneak peek: Monday I'll jump to the New Testament for a little "tying the thought strings together")

Before I point out some wicked awesome stuff about this prayer, I want us to read this with Christ Follower eyes.

Think of it this way: The Ark is the Spirit of Christ now seated in the inner place of who we are. After the Ark came, THEN Solomon prays the prayer of dedication. How many people have said they will follow Christ, said they want Him as their Lord, yet never dedicated their life to Him?

Dedicated means consecrated, sold out, being all in, wholly set apart for something. This is what Solomon was doing with the Temple. It is what we get to do all the time, every day if need be. We can have the Ark, the Spirit of Christ fill us up and move in us at all times. We take the action of dedicating ourselves to Him and He does a bang up job of being God in us.

Let's get to Solomon's prayer.

Seriously, go read the whole thing. It's amazing.

Again, apply this to your life as a follower of Jesus.

From 2 Chronicles 6:12-7:16

The first thing off Solomon's lips was recognition of Who God Is.

"O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth - you keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way."

Worship of the Glory of God was the first thing out of Solomon's lips. If I were a bettin' girl I'd bet Solomon knew deeply the love of God. I'm certain he was around his daddy long enough to hear many of those Psalms sung throughout the palace. The love of God was but a breath away for Solomon, thus making the Glory of God that much more glorious! *sigh*

He also knew God was a promise keeper and honored Him for that in verses 16 and 17.

I love Solomon's question in verse 18

"But will God really dwell on earth with men?"

Is that not rich with wonder for us on this side of the cross? Let's walk across the pages of time for a moment and read something GORGEOUS!

You seriously might get chills.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

The red line of grace runs rich and deep through the pages of the Word!

YES! God will really dwell on earth with men! We are living proof that He does! Oh, what does that mean for us!???? We'll get to that....hee hee

Okay, back to the prayer.

Solomon knows that what is about to happen is unfathomable and so unreal that he sounds like he was probably dumbfounded when he said the next phrase...

"The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!"

I would tag on, "How much less this body I have walking around in my living room unable to get in the shower until about 4 pm!?"

Still, I pray the next prayer as Solomon did.

"May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there."

Our God is the same forever and if we are the Temple then His Name is forever in us. That thought makes me want to close my eyes and sit a spell.

Go ahead. You can stop reading for a bit. I'll wait.
.
.
.
.
.
You back? Okay, me too. Let's continue.

Solomon goes into a long stretch in his prayer about the different circumstances that would bring people to the Temple.

Those who do wrong.
When Israel has had a butt whoopin
When the people sin and come to confess
When the foreigner comes

Each of these is linked with a request: That God would hear, judge, and forgive. That God would listen to His people so that all the peoples of the earth may know His name and fear him.

Do we not do the same? Father, hear my prayers of confession! Hear my prayer for dedication and commitment to you! Hear that I love you and that though I fail you will lift me up! Father, may people know your Name because of my life!

Yes, I think we pray many of the same prayers.

When Solomon finished praying that oh so amazing prayer (you're going to love this)

FIRE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND CONSUMED THE BURNT OFFERING AND THE SACRIFICES, and......wait for it....

THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TEMPLE!

Can you imagine that! Fire came down from heaven, lapped up everything and then the glory of God came down. DUDE!

You might enjoy this little piece of New Testament Awesomeness!

There were 11 guys hanging out when..."suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..."

Yep, New Testament Awesomeness at it's best!

Wanna see another one? okay! "...since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire"

Oh. My. Moses. That is good.

So, the fire came down and swallowed up everything. Now, this is a cause for a chuckle:

7:3

"When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, 'He is good; his love endures forever.''

Uh, I bet it was more like they fell down! But, did you catch it: His love endures forever.

Oh yes, they knew the Love of God.

And then they dedicated themselves. You might know the word better if I said it this way:

Hanukkah.

Dedication.

It was the day the people of God dedicated themselves to His dwelling among them. It was their Hanukkah. Their celebration of His coming to them on earth.

We too can have our Hanukkah. We too can dedicate ourselves to the miracle that God dwells in us. We get the chance to do it every day. It is truly by grace we live and move and have our being.

Have a Happy Hanukkah today and have a great weekend. See you Monday!

When He Comes Down

I hope you had a good time thinking about the Glory of God coming before His tender revelation of love and compassion. Interestingly enough, when Moses asked God to show him His glory...He did. Read the words God said to Moses when he requested such a thing:

"I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

And as the glory of the Lord passed by Moses the Lord said,

"The LORD, the LORD the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."

God's glory, His Name was shown to Moses willingly because He loved Moses and was pleased with Him. There, in that intimate moment, God revealed His character, His love, and His purpose. (see Exodus 33 and 34)

I love that!


Let's get back down to the temple.

Okay, David was just told by the Lord that the Lord would build the place through David's son Solomon. We are going to jump ahead to 1 Kings in the Old Testament.

Solomon knew the task set before him and he took it very seriously. He asked for wisdom from God on this thing and sure enough he got it. Loads of it. And it made for a great perk!

And so in 1 Kings 6 the Temple designs and structure came to Solomon from God. He built everything according to the word of the Lord. It was gorgeous. Full of gold, cedar, and olive wood. It had amazing carvings of cherubim, palm trees and flowers. The floors were covered in gold. It was a sight to behold. Seven years in the making and then it was ready for the crowning piece...

The Ark of the Covenant was brought to the Temple and placed in the Holy of Holies, the inner part of the Temple. The place reserved for the High Priest, once a year. The place the Glory would come down.

And did it ever!

"Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the
Lord filled the temple of God."

Reflect on that for a moment.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we are called a royal priesthood. We are given the title of those who were in the temple. We have been given the title of priest as ministers and those who participate in the divine.

It was only when the priests left the Holy of Holies that the glory came down. In the same sense, when we decide to remove ourselves from being in charge of the inner places, that is when the Spirit of God can take up more and more room. Then we'll be free from trying to "perform our services" because we will learn to operate out of His power and not ours. We'll understand more of His love and His nature when we let Him have full control in the inner places of our lives.

Psalm 51:6 says

"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

He gets in there and replaces His truth for whatever might be inside. And He does it with pleasure.

The Ark of the Covenant for us is Jesus. He takes His dwelling in the hearts and minds of those who choose to believe Him. He comes down in His glory, with the Truth of God, and willingly resides in broken, wishy-washy, sinful creatures so that He is glorified and we are satisfied. If you want to see the Glory of God, look only to Jesus!

Then you will see that

The LORD, the LORD the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Thank you Father for showing us your glory in the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ!

Glory in the House!

Get your coffee, it's kinda long. I promise they won't all be like this, but there is much to say and much to be discovered!

We are going to fast forward some years to King David. At this point, the Tabernacle wasn't used much, or at least we don't read about it. We do read much about the Ark of the Covenant and so this is where we begin.

In 2 Samuel 6, David has brought the Ark to Jerusalem. He brings the Ark in with much celebration and excitement and joy! In 2 Samuel 7 we read that David had settled back into being King and all in his pretty palace and it struck him, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

I wonder if he was sitting on a terrace eating dates and glanced out into the field and saw it. A tent where the Holy Ark of God sat. I wonder if it looked sort of, you know, lonely? Somewhat cast aside, shrunken against the might of the palace. Whatever it was, David couldn't stand it.

His good friend, the prophet, Nathan told him this, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you."

Pretty good advice.

The most spectacular thing is is that David thought this was his idea. I think he may have thought he was doing God a favor by building Him a temple. God decided to clear the air on this subject.

"That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

'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 took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be 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 provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them...The Lord declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you...your offspring to succeed you..He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.'"

God is pretty darn clear who is in control and who is calling the shots. Not that David's attempt was bad or anything, it's just that, it wasn't David's idea.

You see, God is in the business of making sure that the one thing He loves most is at the forefront of everything. And what is it that He makes sure is championed in everything, you ask?

Two words: His Glory.

Above all things and in all things is found this one thing - His Glory

The reason He does all things and loves in all things is for this one thing - His Glory

At first glance that might sound a bit egotistical, but I think He has the right to it. Let me put it this way and echo the teachings of John Piper.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

And.

We are most satisfied when God is most glorified.

The more we are humbled to the work of God in our lives; the more we rest in His love; the more we understand what it means to house His dwelling, then He will get more and more glory while we gain more and more satisfaction.

It can be no other way. And God knows this.

David could not establish the Temple for God in his own strength and power and creativity. God would be the one to say when and where and by whom the Temple would come about.

Time after time God established His Name, His Glory before He ever showed His love.

Wha?

Take the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt, for instance. Why did He do that?

Because He loved them.

Yes, but, read what He says to Moses to tell the Israelites about their upcoming freedom.

"Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."

That name is I AM WHO I AM

His name, His glory. And out of those comes His love. He is Love. He is Glory.

Furthermore, He told them that He would rescue them so that they would know that "I was the Lord God who brought them out from under the yoke of their oppressors."

It goes even further than that. When He told Moses to tell Pharaoh about the upcoming end of slavery He said He was doing all this so that "...the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." Exodus 7:5

You'll be hard pressed to find that God said He was bringing them out of Egypt because He loved them. Oh, you'll find it later in scripture, but what came out of His mouth to Moses was the passion for His glory.

Why is this so important to us? Because God is the same today. He will reveal His glory first before He lavishes you with His love. Oddly enought, the two are intertwined like lover's fingers. You will be changed by it. Through that Glory you will see and know His love, His Son, and His Spirit.

Are you still with me? Hang on, let's bring this up to the New Testament, shall we? We'll be done in a minute and then I'll leave you to your thoughts!

One other story comes to mind immediately.

This time the glory appeared to some shepherds out in the field.

Luke 2, our famous Christmas pageant narrative shows us the same God doing the same thing. Poor guys were minding their own business when all of the sudden an angel of the Lord appeared to them and scared them to death. Luke adds something you and I will now find interesting.

Chapter 2 verse 9 says it this way, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”

His glory preceded the revelation of His goodness. Which here, was JESUS!

The angel then continues, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”

Pretty cool, huh?

One more story comes to mind. This time, Jesus is all grown up and has started His ministry.

John, his beloved disciple, knew who Jesus was. He knew that Jesus was the great I AM. So, he writes in his book about Jesus this: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 emphasis mine)

“We have seen his glory…” When? What did He do? What did He say? He said much and did much. Slide over with me to chapter two of John.

Jesus has gathered up His first disciples and they were invited to a wedding. How fun! Girls love to parade off to weddings and drag the men. I wonder if it was the same back then too. Did Jesus go because he was just so darn nice? Some things are reserved for answering when we see Him. Regardless of the want to go or not, Jesus went, His new friends went, and…His mother.

Throughout the celebration, the poor partiers ran out of wine. Quick, like mom’s are, and always wanting to show off their kid’s talents, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus said.

Jesus said to the servants (maybe with a sigh and a gleam in His eye) “Fill the jars with water… Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” Wouldn’t you know, it was wine. And darn good wine at that!

John 2:11 gives us the inside scoop. “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee.” Here it comes…

“He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.”

His glory preceded revelation. He started with Glory and then lavished on the Love.

He didn’t even come right out and say anything. Here’s something else, He revealed that glory to some servants and a couple of no name guys who decided to follow Him. He hasn’t changed a bit. He continues to reveal His glory to the most unlikely in the most unlikely places.

Back to David. God has made it very clear that His Temple is His Temple. But, there is great joy in seeing that He uses broken, fumbling, wishy-washy people to accomplish such a task.

Funny, He's still doing it today.

Just think about it for awhile as you consider that you are now the Temple.

All the Trimmings

Oh mercy! Here we go!

I am truly so excited about this that I could pop! I told you yesterday that we would, remarkably, start at the beginning. It’s the first time God has asked His people to build for him a place to dwell.

Refresher:

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” Exodus 25:8

Let’s break down some words just so we’re all on the same page.

Sanctuary literally means “holy place,” or “place set apart.” He was serious about this being His place.

Tabernacle literally means “dwelling place” signifying the place where God dwells among his people.

Those two words will become very familiar to us and will, in fact, become very precious to us as we learn more. Of course, the tabernacle becomes the Temple further down the calendar, but we’ll get to that!

The tabernacle was a sight to behold! It was massive and, would you believe, mobile. They could break that sucker down faster than a traveling circus caught in thunderstorm!

Because I’m no architect and can’t explain what it looked like, I’m going to show you a picture.

It had that outer court for any Joe to enter. The inner court was for priests only. And the Holy of Holies, well, that was reserved for the High Priest and only once a year.

This was the first place God chose to make His dwelling. Think about it. God came down and dwelt in that! He would come down into the Holy of Holies, the deepest most sacred place of the entire tabernacle. There, the ones who were allowed, would meet their Maker. The Tabernacle would be covered in the shekinhah glory of God, which meant that His actual glory, would fall on that place.

I’m sure it was a magnificent. THE place that God would descend and talk to His peeps was surely a wonder.

Let me give you the kind of run down that people want when it comes to what was in the Tabernacle. Not that it’s boring, but the Bible already does a bang up job at the details, so I’ll give you the sum up.

You can find all of this in Exodus chapters 25-30. Take note that each of these things is a picture of all that will be revealed in heaven. God does nothing haphazardly. And as the days follow, we’ll get into a little bit more of what these things mean for New Testament, new covenant followers of Jesus.

If you want a super duper explanation and description of all this go here.


The Ark: Oh man, this was the most precious thing in the tabernacle. This sucker killed people, won battles, was the political power of the King, represented the presence of the Lord, and to this day, is a mystery. Okay, it was God that killed people and won battles, but you get the idea. It looked something like this...

And in it was the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s staff, and manna. It had an Atonement Cover that was it’s top so, it was the very place where God’s justice and judgment of sin was satisfied.

The Table: This held the Bread of the Presence. This bread represented a perpetual bread offering to the Lord by which Israel declared that she consecrated to God the fruits of her labors, and by which she at the same time acknowledged that all such fruit had been hers only by God’s blessing.1

The Lampstand: I love this one! You’re going to too! Picture a menorah and you’ve got it. The lamps were to burn all night in the tabernacle, tended by the priests oil for the lamps was to be supplied by the people; the light from the lamps represented the glory of the Lord reflected in the consecrated lives of the Israelites – Israel’s glory answering to God’s glory in the tabernacle.2 Can you see why I love this one?!

Altar of Burnt Offering: kind of self explanatory

Altar of Incense: the fragrant smoke symbolized the prayers of God’s people. This is so good. It was placed “in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony – before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony – where I will meet you” Ex. 30:6.

Basin for Washing: Gotta wash up in the Holy place.

I read somewhere that in today’s estimation, it would be about $12,000,000. That’s twelve million. Dude.

Okay, my Sassy Sisters, that’s all for today. Now, I won't leave you hanging with all this. There is a point I will make soon enough. But, for now, take time to jump into the Old Testament. Exodus is a good place to start for where we all are together. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see this wonderful connection between the Old and the New. It is so good.

See you tomorrow!

1The NIV Study Bible, Study Notes, pg. 123. Zondervan 1985.
2 Ibid. pg. 125.

Oh, This is Gonna Be Good!

Stiletto Army from Natalie Witcher on Vimeo.

First of all, the still shot is terrible.

Second,don’t be surprised if there is more video!

Third, I hope you felt and saw the intensity in me about this topic! I am so excited and a little overwhelmed about this, but I know this is the route for us right now. To end our introduction day, I want to look at the verses that are our launch pad for everything to come over the next 10 days.

Exodus 25:8-9

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”

God was speaking to Moses after they were brought out of Egypt. It was time to establish a place for the Name of the Lord to dwell. It was time to have a place where God would come down and dwell among His people. It was time to change not only the landscape of the earth, but of the souls of the people.

This verse sets up for us the way God would speak to His people for a season. Soon to follow, God changes the dwelling place again – the hearts of man.

Before we jump to that wonder, we must go back to the beginning of the tabernacle to understand what is truly second to faith in Jesus Christ!

I do hope you come back! This has been such a great time of learning for me. I can’t wait to share it with you!

Up for a study about the Temple and what it means for you? Great! Then dig in!

Stiletto Temple

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WEEK 1

Oh! This is Gonna Be Good

All The Trimmings

Glory in the House

When He Comes Down

You Have Jewish Roots, Sister

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WEEK 2

New Testament Awesomeness

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Now, Where Did I Put My Bible?

It Can Get Nasty People

Temple TrackBack

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WEEK 3

Rebuilding the Temple

Foundational Things

Opposition Will Come a Knockin'

Walls Around the Temple

The Temple to Come