The Temple

In my last blog, I explained how our problems are part of God’s plan for hope and a future filled with blessings, when we enter into an intimate relationship with Him. One day, we will share eternity with our creator in spectacular splendor and there will be no more tears or suffering. But for now, God has left us with free will and His word to teach us His ways. The choice is ours to be part of His plan or not. I explained how Bible history, namely the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of Jesus sacrifice and our need for a savior.

In the golden years of Israel, Solomon was King. He was the wisest and most prosperous person that ever lived. Like his father David, he had a heart for God… for a time. God chose Solomon to construct a temple for His Name to dwell among His chosen people. It  was a magnificent marvel of the ancient world, constructed from the finest woods and precious stones, much of it overlaid in gold.

This temple was built for a great King, the King of Kings, God Almighty. Even Israel’s King could not enter into its most Holy place. It was reserved only for the high priest, who would intercede for the people and carry out the sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. The high priest was required to undergo a very stringent ritual cleansing before he could enter, because nothing unholy could be in God’s Holy temple, no sin, disease, impurity, or imperfection. Even the animals selected for sacrifice had to be without blemish. The sinless blood of these animals covered the sins of the people for a time. And without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of sin.

The temple was a very symbolic structure designed to glorify God. However, when the people’s heart turned away from God, the temple was destroyed and the people went into exile, held captive in Babylon. They returned to the land seventy years later, fulfilling the prophesy.  Eventually a second temple was built. Jesus himself prophesied that this temple also would be destroyed. And in the year 70 AD the Romans invaded Israel and destroyed the temple.

In God’s ultimate plan for salvation, there was no longer a need for a physical temple building. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn in two from a great earthquake that took place at the moment of His death. It symbolized the end of the sacrificial system because Jesus became the final sacrifice!

He was the Passover lamb that was slain to cover our sin. It is amazing that at Passover, the blood of the lamb that each family had to sacrifice was put on their door posts as a sign for the angel of the Lord to pass over. saving them from death. And it is the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that saves us from eternal death. Jesus is the way each person comes into an intimate relationship with God Almighty, The Creator and Father.

Jesus became our high priest, and as brothers and sisters in Christ, we become part of a royal priesthood. We become children of God, sons and daughters of the King. Our body now  becomes a Holy temple that glorifies God.

Nothing unholy can dwell in God’s Holy temple. It is only through the Father’s love and compassion, that He had a plan to purify us and wash us clean of all unholiness. It is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to send us to come and  dwell within our soul and help us prepare our body to be that temple that glorifies God.

Jesus not only offers salvation, but health and healing here in the land of the living. Acknowledging God’s sovereignty in your life is intentional. You must constantly ask Him to search your heart and show you any anxious or otherwise sinful ways. Being made Holy is a lifelong process called sanctification. The Holy Spirit convicts our mind and heart little by little, slowly changing us into the image of Christ.

Oh, how I wish the moment I accepted Jesus in my heart as Lord and savior, I was instantly made perfect, incapable of ever sinning again. But that is not part of God’s plan, because He uses our problems to achieve His purpose. It is in our trials and hardships that we are purified, one sin after another, as we become a witness of Christ to those around us. We are all a work in progress.

Let me clear up any confusion you may have regarding your body being the temple of The Holy Spirit. You may reason that if I am a Christian and my sins are washed away, why am I sick? Am I truly saved? My friends this is a lie, a seed of doubt planted in your mind by the enemy of your soul. Don’t believe it!

Although you may repent of a particular sin and change your ways regarding it, you may still end up afflicted. That’s because the devil tries to keep a hold on you in hopes to draw you away from God, as well as a lack of awareness in the Word. It’s interesting that the devil uses your problems,(that he is allowed to afflict you with) to draw you away from God, but Father God uses them to draw you to Himself to make you well. It is your choice who you will believe, the lies of the devil or the Word of God.

When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord because of his sacrifice on the cross and believe it in your heart, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s all it takes to have God’s plan for salvation, and make you a new creation in Christ.  All of your sins are wiped clean at that moment; you become the righteousness of God in Jesus. However, the changes that take place in behavior are a process.

Some sins are deeply hidden in our psyche. We may have long forgotten about them, having chosen not to think about those past hurts. However, at some point in the process of our sanctification, they must be brought to remembrance in order to repent. Then we will no longer permit the devil to keep a foothold in our mind. Keeping sin secret allows the devil to keep us sick!

In other words, sometimes we don’t realize that we are holding on to negativity, especially when we are sick. It takes emotional energy to hold on to hurts and bury them in the back of our mind. It leaves us drained of the emotional energy needed for other things. Repenting from past hurts, regardless of who the perpetrator was, requires forgiveness. Our Heavenly Father forgives us our sins through faith in Jesus and in turn we are to forgive others, especially ourselves.

Reading Gods word to increase our faith, taking our thoughts captive to Jesus and dispelling the lies of the enemy, all require emotional energy. When you are in the midst of suffering or heartache and troubles of many kinds, it is the hardest time to refocus your emotional energy towards God and off of yourself.

There are many ways in which we sin by putting self before God, and do not recognize or acknowledge it as sin. We often call it by other names, for example: hostility and temper are called “ self expression”, gluttony is the good life, perversion is an alternative life style, adultery is a cry for help in a troubled marriage, and self pity, self righteousness, self protection, self absorption, self esteem and self reliance are all sins of idolatry and pride. Worldly people not only look upon these as normal, they applaud them.

Now before you get all hot and bothered by this statement, let me remind you once again that sin is merely missing the mark of God’s perfection. ( I have noted this in many of my previous blogs). The devil will also take delight in getting you to doubt your salvation by bringing to mind your difficulties in overcoming some sins. You will not lose your salvation due to existent sin unless you completely turn your back on God. The Holy Spirit will begin the process of renewing your mind little by little, one day at a time. Sanctification is a process! Praise God He is slow to anger.

Jesus will help you overcome any sin brought to mind, should you desire to do so. If you chose to ignore it, for what ever reason, at least now you have been made aware of how and why most affliction is permitted. I do not tell you this so much as an exhortation to you in particular, but rather from a place where I have been.

We all have habits that we are reluctant to give up, even after we know deep down in our heart we should. (This is the conviction of the Holy Spirit) When we ignore those convictions, problems arise. But, God will use those problems to win our hearts back to Him. Unless of course, you would rather believe the lies of the devil.

The point of all of this is, Jesus came not only to save us from our sins but to heal us of sickness, disease, and strongholds. Healing can come in many ways, but it always comes from God because He alone is sovereign. Many times He allows us to be healed through medicine, and other times we are granted divine healing. Sin is a major obstacle to divine healing. In my previous blog I said, it may not be your sin, it may be the affects of someone else’s sin, wreaking havoc in your life. Or it may be the affects of living in a sinful world that has caused your problems or illnesses. Whatever you perceive the cause of your troubles to be, how you handle it makes all the difference in conserving your emotional energy for what will truly bring God’s peace, relief and healing. Just know this, that the Gospel message of salvation is in every way connected to divine healing, whether here on earth or in heaven.

Many times during Jesus’ three year ministry when he walked this earth, He healed multitudes of people. And in many of those instances He said to those he healed, “Your faith has made you well.” ( Luke 18:32; Mark 5:34) But, it is also written that Jesus said “Go and sin no more, so nothing worse will happen.” (John 5:13-14) God has a  plan for your life to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. It only requires faith in Jesus!

A final word and a question to ponder

The temple was built as a dwelling place that glorified God’s Name. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, your body is now that temple that glorifies His Name. How well does your temple reflect the Name of Jesus?

Thank you for reading my blog. I’m praying for each of you to deal with the tough stuff I have presented here and be blessed for having done so. In my next blog I hope to continue writing about affliction, healing and persecution for righteousness sake, as not all affliction is due to sin.