Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Worshipping the Temple
(From Forerunner Commentary)
|
Jeremiah 7:4-12
The people declare that they were safe because they had the Temple in their midst, but God calls their assumptions useless and profitless (verse 8). In verses 4 and 8, He says their overt emphasis on the Temple is tantamount to a lie—fatally deceptive. How? Their reliance on the Temple as a supposed guarantor of safety imbued them with false confidence. This illusory sense of security derived from the fact that God had erected His house in their city, and surely, God would not allow His own house to be destroyed! Yet, He asserts that He surely will! Verses 5-11 list a number of the people's sins, predominately transgressions against fellow men, in which is a remarkable connection: Judah's seemingly unshakable trust in the Temple fostered an abuse of those who were most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves. They felt so secure in God's favor of them—after all, they had the Temple!—they were careless in judging between a man and his neighbor. It did not seem to bother them at all to oppress the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless, or to shed innocent blood. To them, stealing, murdering, adultery, and lying were inconsequential because, again, they had the Temple. Idolatry also receives mention, so plainly, their relationship with God was deplorable. God makes an association that most people miss: that abuse in relationships occurs when a person trusts in the wrong thing. Verses 9 and 10 show that the people were behaving as if they had a free pass, a get-out-of-jail-free card. They were sinning against God, apparently believing that He had given them license to live however they pleased. They took the presence of the Temple among them as God's complete approval of them and the course of their lives. Their confidence was in their ability to look up and see a magnificent building of stone, cedar wood, gold, silver, and bronze, and know that God was with them. That God dwelt in their city meant more to them than where they stood with Him or whether He was pleased with their direction and conduct. Unwittingly, the Temple, a mere building, became more real to the people than the God it was meant to glorify. By placing their trust and security in the Temple rather than in God, the Temple became an idol—and God destroyed it. We can see a similar thing in our time and circumstances. If we substitute the phrase "church of God" for "Temple" in the stories of Israel and Judah, many correlations come into view. God's words against Israel and Judah serve as powerful warnings to us, as we are all aware of instances where greater emphasis has been placed on the church rather than on God. To some, the church—whether an organization or the believers with whom we were fellowshipping—became more real or important than the God they were supposed to be coming to know. In many cases, a tremendous amount of security came from the fact of being "in the church." Yet, as we have seen, such confidence is deceptive and misplaced. In some corners, church leaders are even making what amount to "guarantees" of safety and deliverance during Jacob's Trouble and the Day of the Lord based on where a person attends Sabbath services and sends his tithes, rather than on his relationship with God. Idolatry in the form of trusting in a structure commissioned by God—whether physical or spiritual—is bad enough, but encouraging others to do likewise is worthy of even greater condemnation (see Matthew 5:19; Luke 17:1-2; James 3:1). Presuming that we will be "kept from the hour of trial" (Revelation 3:10) because we have reasoned that our church is "Philadelphian" is little different than concluding that Jerusalem was unassailable because it contained the Temple. The truth is, though, that if one's relationship with God is not on good terms, nothing else really matters.
David C. Grabbe
Worshipping the Temple (Part Two)
|
|
Jeremiah 17:5-7
We are blessed when our trust and confidence are in God. On the flip side, we are cursed when we trust in man, his abilities, his work, or when our heart becomes set on anything other than God. The contrast is between trusting in the eternal God and trusting in any man—living or dead. In comparison to God, man will always fall short. This does not mean that men can never be trusted or that God does not work through men. The physical Temple served an honorable purpose, and it was a fine thing as long as people did not ascribe more to it than was warranted. The same can be said of any man or organization. In the New Testament, God's church is not the only spiritual temple of God. The individual Christian is also called the "temple of God" in I Corinthians 3:16: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" In type, we are each a temple—an instrument for worshipping and glorifying God. Because of this, the accounts of worshipping the Temple in Ezekiel 24:21 and Jeremiah 7:4-12 take on additional gravity. The "man" in whom one can trust in Jeremiah 17:5 does not have to be somebody else—it can just as easily be oneself! Put another way, if our trust or confidence is in ourselves as the temple of God, we are following the same destructive path as Israel and Judah. In this light, God's testimony against His people in Ezekiel 24:21 applies with even greater weight. We have the potential to boast—arrogantly or subtly—about ourselves rather than God. We could be the "desire of our own eyes," considering ourselves pleasant to look upon—perhaps not physically but spiritually. We are supposed to be pointing people to God, not to ourselves. Perhaps we delight in ourselves, just as Ezekiel castigates Israel for delighting in the Temple at the expense of delighting in God. The prophet also refers to the Temple as Israel's "stronghold" (verse 25), and we can likewise make our strengths and abilities our source of confidence. Ezekiel says the Temple was "that on which they set their minds." Applying this to the New Covenant temple, it would indicate self-centeredness and self-absorption, in which all attention and consideration are focused on the self rather than God and fellow man. Jeremiah's admonition adds even more (Jeremiah 7:4-12). The people of Judah put their trust in the Temple as their source of security and confidence, but they ended up sacrificing their relationships with their neighbors. Similarly, if our trust and confidence are in ourselves—or with a group that constitutes the empirical self—rather than God, the pattern shown in Jeremiah 7 predicts that we will be unable to evaluate and discern properly, with disastrous effect on our relationships. Putting our trust and confidence in ourselves will result in various forms of oppression, personal injury, stealing, killing, unfaithfulness, and dishonesty. None of this is to say that a church organization, or the individual Christian, is superfluous or inherently bad, any more than the physical Temple was. What the individual does determines whether an organization—or an individual—becomes an idol. However, if we regard the church or ourselves as ancient Israel regarded the Temple, it is not surprising that God would respond similarly in both instances. If God sees a church organization or an individual competing with Himself in the members' hearts, it should go without saying who will win that contest. The physical Temple of God, like the Tabernacle before it, served an honorable and necessary role for God's people. The spiritual temple—whether the individual or the whole body of believers—is likewise fundamental to what God is working out. But God's testimony and deeds, both anciently and presently, show that proper regard for the Temple of God, keeping it in the right perspective, is essential to having a right relationship with Him.
David C. Grabbe
Worshipping the Temple (Part Three)
|
|
Ezekiel 24:20-21
God promised to profane His own sanctuary! He promised to break and pollute His holy place—His own Temple. What would prompt God to destroy His own habitation on earth? The words He uses to describe His sanctuary give us a clue as to what aroused His jealousy. In verse 21, God describes the Temple as "your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the delight of your soul." These are strange descriptors, as the Temple was supposed to be His house, His dwelling place, and a place of sacrifice to Him. Yet what God emphasizes is the perspective of the people. In verse 25, He further describes the Temple as "their stronghold, their joy and their glory, and that on which they set their minds." Their focus was entirely wrong. Their boast, the desire of their eyes, the delight of their soul, their stronghold, their joy, their glory—all of these should have been God! They were supposed to be setting their minds on God—not on the physical Temple! The Temple was a means to facilitate the proper worship of God, and as such, it was extremely important. God commanded it to be built, and commanded it to be rebuilt after He caused it to be destroyed. But the Temple was not supposed to become more admired than God or to be the source of their security. In the same way, God founded the church—the spiritual Temple—to be a community of called-out believers, given His Spirit. It is a spiritual organism, not contained within the confines of a physical organization. Its purpose is to "perfect [or, complete] the saints"—to foster spiritual growth into the image of God. The church—and the corporate organizations into which the believers are gathered—serve a vital role, for God does nothing on a whim. Yet, like Israel and the Temple, either other believers or the individual organizations can become larger in our minds than God. Because they are visible and tangible, they can receive more of our attention than God, causing us to forget Him—even if only slightly. If regarded or used improperly, these things transform from being the means to an end to the end itself. As the example of Israel shows, God is quite willing to dismantle violently what He has commissioned to be built if it ends up drawing His people away from Him. The church of God is not immune to this.
David C. Grabbe
Worshipping the Temple (Part One)
|
|
 |
The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment
Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 155,000 subscribers are already receiving each day.
Email Address:
|
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time. |
|
|
