…You Yourselves are Gods’ Temple…

“So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God,”

Haggai 1:14

 

 

I want to speak just a little bit about the Old Covenant vs. New Covenant as regarding where the presence of God was or where it dwelt and now dwells.

In the OT where did the presence of the Lord dwell?

Where did the people look to for His presence?

It was in the Temple wasn’t it?

Specifically it was in the Holy of Holies.

Gods’ dwelling place – His presence in the OT was seen, by the people, to be in the Temple in Jerusalem and before that in the ‘portable’ sanctuary they had built in the wilderness.

Now let’s move ahead to the NT and ask that same question.

In the NT where does the presence of the Lord dwell?

Same place isn’t it?

In His holy temple.

Aahhh, but you say – there is no temple in Jerusalem.

No, there isn’t and yet God still dwells in a temple – where might that be?

Well, I think we know the answer –

I Corinthians 3:16

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”

Ephesians 2:22

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

So, in the OT God’s presence was in the temple and in the NT Gods’ presence is still in the temple.

The Lord does not change - in the Old Covenant and in the New Covenant He is in His holy temple.

He does not change – the temple where His presence dwells did.

You and I are the dwelling place of the presence of God.

We are the temple in which His presence dwells.

Meditate on that for a bit!

What a wonderful, holy God He is!