The Temple of God

The temple, in the Bible, is the place of God's presence in the midst of his people. From the tabernacle pitched in the wilderness to the temple of Solomon, then to the body of Christ and finally to the church (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), the temple reveals God's eternal desire to dwell with redeemed humanity. The tabernacle, a portable sanctuary, accompanied Israel on its journey and already showed that God wished to dwell among his own. The temple of Solomon then became the wonder of the ancient world and the center of Israel's worship, the place where the glory of the Lord filled the house. But Jesus directed every gaze toward a greater temple still: his own risen body. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," he said, speaking of the temple of his body (John 2:19-21). In him dwells bodily all the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 2:9). By the work of the Spirit, the believer himself has become a living temple: "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). The church collectively is God's building where the Spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 3:9). At last, the eternal temple described in Revelation has no structure of stone: "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (Revelation 21:22). The whole history of the temple thus culminates in perfect, unveiled communion between God and his people.