God's Dwelling Places, Part 1

Today I want to talk about some of God's dwelling places. Our homes are very important to us. We are defined in a way by the places that we live in. When people come in and see how we live, it tells them a lot about us. We take pride in the places that we live. I'm sure that we put a lot of time and attention to how we decorate, to the type of surroundings that we have. As we watch TV, and as Debbie and I watch TV, I think the thing that we watch most when we watch it is HDTV.

I don't know what we would do without HDTV. There's so little else on, but... You know, God's dwelling places in the Third Heaven. But he has some dwelling places that he talks about in the Bible as well. As we look at those dwelling places, we learn something about God. We learn something about what he has in mind for us. As I've gone through the Bible and I've listed seven of those places, we're not going to get to all seven today.

Don't worry about it and don't think... Don't look at your clock and think he doesn't have enough time to do it. We're going to stop somewhere, somewhere before seven. As we go through some of those, I want you to think and I want you to please some of the things that God put in his dwelling place and some of the things that he said about his dwelling place as he dwelled with man.

Let's turn back to Genesis 3 and verse 8. In the first place that I have listed here is the Garden of Eden. You know, that is the place that man first... Well, that's where man was placed after he was created. That's where God walked with him. And in Genesis 3 and verse 8, it's one of those verses that we have many of them that just kind of conjure up a picture in our mind.

And at least the first part of this verse makes us realize the peace and the unity and the comforts that was there in that Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3 and verse 8, it says, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Now, the rest of that verse, just forget it for right now, the first part of that verse tells us, though, that here's God in the creation that He made. It was before. Who knows how long it took Him to put, to create all the things that we just are accustomed with, all the vegetation, all the animals, all the things that has become the earth.

And in the Garden of Eden, we know it was a spectacular, spectacular place that we can only imagine what it was like. One day, one day when Christ returns, the world will become a veritable Garden of Eden as well.

But there's God. And you just sense this peace as He's walking in the Garden. Adam and Eve are there. The creation is all around Him. And God is walking in the Garden in unity with man, in unity with creation. At that point, at this point, Adam and Eve had already sinned, and the place they were in was going to change.

But we see the dwelling place, what He fashioned, where He would be with man. And we could go back through, we could go back through Genesis 1 and 2, and you can see the variety and the time and the attention that the love God placed into creating that environment for mankind.

All the variety. Everything was done just well. And if we look back at chapter 1, verse 29 of chapter 1, after the six days of creation, and then He created the seventh day to build into our lives the need and the recognition that we would have a day dedicated to God.

In chapter 1, verse 29, God says, See, I've given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, every tree whose fruit yields seed. To you it shall be for food, also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life. I've given every green herb for food, and it was so. God provided everything man needed. He was right there. God wanted Him to just have all of those things and to just enjoy what God had given.

There was other things man had to do, including tending and keeping the Garden of Eden, as we would read later. But in verse 31, it says, God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. It was just a beautiful, dwelling place for God and man on earth, a place that they could be together, a place that's unmatched in the world today, a place where God had some expectations of man. As we said, He would expect him to keep and dress that. But also in that Garden of Eden, we read here in verse 2, that there was a tree in the middle of a garden, the tree of life, that represents the Holy Spirit.

It was there in that garden as well, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God said to man, you need to make a choice. Don't take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't take and make your own decisions.

Follow my way is what He was saying. Keep the unity, keep the peace, keep the joy that's here in this garden. That's so beautiful. Take the tree of life, because it'll impart eternal life. But man had his own ideas, yielded a Satan, and took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And that perfect environment was violated. That perfect environment was defiled.

And at the end of chapter 3, we see the result of wrong decisions and what happens when a place that God has placed His name is defiled. Chapter 3 and verse 22.

The Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to no good and evil.

He wants to make His own laws. He doesn't want to follow our way. And now lest he put out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the eternal guide sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed chair of him at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

He was exiled. That dwelling place where God and man met, where God and man dwelt together.

Man, defiled. We learned the lesson if you're going to dwell where God dwells.

You must follow Him. You must choose Him. You must obey Him. You must do the things that He asks you to do.

So mankind was ushered out of the Garden of Eden and spent his time growing food, rather than growing in the spirit of nature and having a harder life than he would have had.

Well, that's one place where God dwells.

It's a couple books later, many centuries later, another place that God dwelled on earth, where He is talked about. And that's the tabernacle in the wilderness. God had brought Israel out of Egypt, delivered them from the bondage they were in, gave them a future where they had no future, gave them hope, and promised them a land.

And for 40 years, Israel wandered into the wilderness. And God was with them. It was totally and only because of Him that they ever came out of Egypt and had the life that they had and the hope that they had. But He told them to build a tabernacle in the wilderness and that He would dwell there among them. Let's look over at Exodus 35. We did the Bible reading program a couple years ago. I know it was set up a couple times in Exodus. All the detail that is given about what the tabernacle would entail, just the tremendous detail that God gave about how it would be built, how big it was, all the instruments that would be in place, how things were going to be set up, even the garments that the priests would wear and where they would enter and where they would not. Let's just look at a few verses here in chapter 35. As God is commissioning Moses, build this tabernacle. Build this tabernacle and I will dwell there among the people. In verse 4 of chapter 35, it says, Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the eternal commanded, saying, Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering, gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet thread, fine linen and goat's hair, ram skins dyed red, badger skins and acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, onyx stones and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. And then he calls on the gifted artisans, Come and work with us. And the people we read gave willingly. They wanted to give to this work. They wanted a tabernacle, a place that God would dwell among them. And as you read through chapters 35 to 40 and earlier in Exodus and again in other books where God lists the detail, he left nothing to chance. He told them exactly what his dwelling place would look like. Nothing was left to the imagination. And he expected Israel to build that temple in exactly the way that he told them to build it. And if they followed that principle, he would be there among them. Well, the people did. And they offered very willingly. The commentaries say that when you add up, I guess, everything that's listed of what the people donated, it amounted to 1,900 pounds of gold, 6,400 pounds of silver, and 4,500 pounds of bronze. All that was used in the tabernacle. A spectacular place. And it was mobile. I mean, you can imagine all that weight in just those precious metals. And yet, this place was moved from place to place as God had Israel moved. And they tore it down, and then they put it back up again. But Israel did exactly what God had asked them to do. Let's go down to chapter verse 30 here in chapter 35. Most it says of the children of Israel, See, the Lord is called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Er, the son of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And he has put in his heart the ability to teach in him and these people that would assist him. God's Spirit was there. God's Spirit was there. He gave all the detailed instructions, and he put his Holy Spirit there and the leaders who would be fashioning and building that temple, because he wanted it done exactly the way that he said he wanted it done.

And Israel did it. If he said, put blue here, they didn't take the time and say, you know what, I think that green would look better there, right, than blue? They just did it. They followed every detailed instruction that God gave them. And it took some time, but they completed the tabernacle. Let's look over in chapter 39 and verse 42.

According to all, chapter 39 verse 42, according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. And Moses looked over all the work, and indeed they had done it, as the Lord had commanded just so they had done it. They did it down to the letter.

They paid attention to all the detail. They didn't compromise. They didn't take shortcuts. They didn't think, I've got a better way than that. They just did it the way God said. And when the tabernacle was completed, it was a beautiful thing to behold. And God was pleased with the attitude, with the generosity of the people, and He blessed that tabernacle. Let's look over at chapter 40 and verse 34.

The cloud, chapter 40 verse 34, the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

God showed His pleasure with the work that had been done. He was coming there to dwell. That's where He would dwell among His people. They had done the work right.

All the physical things had been done appropriately. He even told the priests how to dress. Remember that? Remember that He gave them specific instructions. This is what you'll wear when you go into the temple. And not everyone was allowed in. Only priests were allowed in, and only the high priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies on one day a year. But He told them exactly what to wear. And you know those priests, they needed to be clean. When they came into the presence of God, when they were in His dwelling place, when they came into His temple, that He had given them the instructions to build and that He built because His Spirit led that process there, they needed to be ceremonially clean. God provided that they would be washed. He provided that their sins wouldn't be forgiven. Jesus Christ did that later, but they would be ceremonially clean. Let's look back in here at chapter 40 and verse 30. This is just one of the examples of where God put the washings and the cleanliness and coming before Him clean. Chapter 40, verse 30 of Exodus, says, He set the labor between the tabernacle of meaning and the altar and put water there for washing. And Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meaning, and when they came near the altar, they washed, just as God had commanded Moses. They were clean, ceremonially clean when they went into that altar or into that temple. You read through Exodus, you read through Leviticus, you see other things that they needed to do to become clean so that they could come into the temple of God. The temple of God was a holy place, not to be, or the tabernacle here, not to be defiled. And so we see that God dwelt there, and for 40 years that tabernacle followed God where He led the people of Israel. And then He led them to the Promised Land where He said He would. And after they were there for a while and after they had gone through a period of Judges and a couple kings, God allowed Solomon to build the third dwelling place. So we'll talk about, and that's the temple, the temple that was there that Solomon constructed. And it was a beautiful place. It was a beautiful place. I don't know if it's listed as one of the wonders of the world, but I'm sure when we see what that place looked like or if we were alive at that time and saw the magnificence of the building that was there, we would have been in awe that this was God's house. This is where He would dwell among His people. And the people there, when they built the temple, they did it just like they did back at the time in the wilderness. They did it and followed God's directions explicitly.

Let's look over at 1 Kings 6.

1 Kings 6.

And verse 11.

The temple is being built. Of course, it gives the detail again of how the temple was built exactly to God's specifications. And then in verse 11 of chapter 6, it says, The Word of the Eternal came to Solomon's thing, concerning this temple, which you are building. They were building the house to God's specification. It was going to be beautiful. It was going to be awesome. It was going to be a place to behold, and God would dwell there. But He said, concerning this temple, for something I want you, Solomon, I want your people to do. You live your lives in accordance with my will. You follow my precepts. You follow my commands. You live the way of life. You adopt that way of life. And as long as you do that, I'll dwell there among you. I'll dwell in that temple, and I'll be among you. And the temple was complete, and it was probably more than everyone expected.

God wanted to live there. In chapter 8, chapter 8 and verse 10, they brought the Ark of the Covenant to be placed in the temple there.

And in verse 10, it says, it came to pass, verse 10, it came to pass when the priest came out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests couldn't continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled His house. Same thing that happened back at the time of the tabernacle. God was pleased with what the people had done. They had followed His instructions implicitly. They had built Him a place to dwell, and He was going, that's where He would be.

The cloud was there. And Solomon, if you remember, gave a very moving prayer of dedication to that temple. He said that the people, when the people looked there, that He prayed that God would hear them, that they would look to that place where God dwelled. And He had to imagine in that time, if you looked at the temple and knew that that was where God was dwelling. What a feeling of peace and security. What a feeling of just a feeling of awe it would be to know that the God, the only true God, dwelt among you in that temple that you were looking at. And He had given the conditions how He would stay there as He would live in that temple. Let's go over to 2 Chronicles 7.

2 Chronicles 7 follows the prayer that Solomon gave in dedication to that temple. And in this chapter, God responds to Him. He's pleased with what is going on so far. He's pleased with the people's attitude, how they've worked, how they've contributed, how they've worked in unity, and how they have followed His instructions implicitly. And in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 7 says, The LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I've heard your prayer, and I've chosen this place for myself as the house of sacrifices. When I shut up heaven, and there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. I'll dwell here, and if my people want to hear me, then they will need to recognize their sin. They will need to acknowledge it. They will need to turn from it. They will need to turn back from me. I'll be there, but they need, they need to acknowledge and ask for forgiveness and repent, and then I will heal their land. First, 15. My eyes will be open, and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever. God wanted to dwell among them. He didn't have any time limit on it.

He told them what he wanted, and it wasn't going to be his decision or his choice to leave.

It would be Israel's. And my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked and do according to all that I have commanded you, if you keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom.

As I covenanted with David your father, saying, you shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.

Solomon, it's great. I'll dwell here. You follow my precepts. You follow my command. Verse 19. But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and if you go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot them from my land, which I have given them, and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And as for this house, this temple, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, why has God done thus to this land and this house? And they will answer because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore, he has brought all this calamity on them. The house was built, but the people had the responsibility to live God's way. He would dwell among them as long as they didn't defile their relationship with him. As long as the temple wasn't defiled, and God defined that as, you live according to my way of life, and as long as you do that, I will dwell here with you. But if you forsake me, if you go look after other gods, if you sin, if you turn away from me, I'll leave you. And this house, beautifully built, strongly built, that would stand forever if you follow me, it'll be destroyed. It'll be destroyed.

And people will look at it and think, what happened? How could that have happened to that people and that building? And they would answer because they turned from their God.

They defiled His way. They didn't follow His precepts and His laws. And they lost the place where God dwelled among them. Well, you know the story of Israel, you know the story of Judah. That's exactly what happened to them. They turned from God. They went into captivity. And Judah, even though they were warned and saw Israel go into captivity before them, they just continued their own way. They didn't follow God. They wouldn't turn back to Him no matter how many warnings they had. And finally, Babylon came in and destroyed that temple and burned it to the ground.

Read about that in 2 Chronicles 36. It stood there for 410 years, the commentaries say, but it was destroyed. A magnificent building with so much history in it, but the people, but the people made the choice to turn from God and He left them.

And as they left, God said, in 70 years people will come back and they can rebuild the temple.

And that's what they did. And so we have the fourth place that God dwelt among men. The temple, the second temple, it is called Herod's Temple, some people call it because He made some renovations to it later on in its life. But the second temple, let's read about it.

1 Ezra 1 verse 2.

70 years later, it says, the King of Sirer...

Well, let's pick it up in verse 1. Ezra 1 verse 1. In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that He made a proclamation throughout all His kingdom and put it in writing saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven, has given me, and He has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah, who is among you of all His people. May His God be with him, and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is God, which is in Jerusalem. And so 42,000 people went back, and they began the process of building the Second Temple.

And you remember, as you read through Ezra and Nehemiah, it wasn't a simple process. They had the decree of the king, but then a few years later, another king came in place. Then people didn't want that temple built. The people around didn't want to choose re-inhabiting the area. And so they caused all sorts of problems. They spread rumors. They tried to disperse the people. They threatened the people. They did whatever it would take in order to keep that temple from being built. And it took some time for it to be built, but it was finally completed in 350 B.C.

Interesting things about the temple. The Second Temple was a little different than the First Temple. It wasn't as large, but as they constructed it, while they still followed the principles of God, they did things in a little different order than they did the first time around. Let's go look at chapter 3 of Ezra and the first four verses of chapter 3.

Let's see a little change in the order of construction. They knew what the temple used to do. They knew what the temple could be. And they were eager to get back to Jerusalem. They were eager, the people who went, to start serving God again in all the processes of the temple. So in chapter 3, verse 1, it says, when the seventh month had come and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Joshua, the son of Joseph, and his brother and the priest, the Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its basis and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. So the first thing they did, they built the altar to its specifications. They set the altar up and they began sacrifices on it.

I won't go more into that right now, but keep that in mind because the next time we talk about the temples we don't talk about today or the God's dwelling places we don't talk about today, and that will have some prophetic implications that we won't get to today, I want you to remember the order with which they did things here in the second temple when they built it. Let's go down to verse 6 just so that we wrap it all up. The order they did things is, from the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. Although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid, so the first thing they did is build the altar and they began to sacrifice. That was a little different than the order of the first time. Nothing wrong with it. God doesn't condemn it. That was just what they had done. Now, if you read through the Talmud and the commentaries, they'll tell you that there are things that are different in this temple, things that this couldn't be reproduced that were in the first temple. When that first temple disappeared or when it was burnt, there were just things that couldn't happen again unless God had provided for them. One of the things is the Ark of the Covenant wasn't there in the second temple. Second thing is, there was no holy fire. Remember that God had started the fire and He said, you keep this fire lit the entire time. And it was Moses, not Moses, Aaron's job to make sure that that fire was continually lit. But when the temple was destroyed, of course, it went out, so there wasn't the holy fire. There wasn't the Shekinah glory, the tabernacle say, or the commentary say. There wasn't the spirit of prophecy, and there wasn't the Urim and Thumen. I'm not going to go into that right now. We'll talk about that maybe a little bit later or the next time. The five things that were notable that weren't in the second temple that weren't in the first temple.

But the first temple or the second temple just didn't hold the awe that the first temple did. Let's look at verse 12 here of chapter 3.

Many of the priests, it says in verse 12, and Levites and heads of the fathers, houses, old men who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. It just didn't look the same. It wasn't what they remembered. It wasn't going to be on the grand scale that the first one was. It was going to be rebuilt, and God was going to dwell there, but it just wasn't the same place that the first one was. And those who remembered that temple wept. Others shouted for joy because they were glad to see the temple being built again, and God's work back in that area. Over in Haggai, who was prophesying during this time, he had some words about the construction of the temple and the people there, and words of encouragement, really, because, as I said, as that temple was being built, there was a lot of consternation among the nations from around. Whatever they could do to disrupt the building, they would do it. They used every resource known to them. We talked about that before, but as we read through those things, it's the same type of things that can interrupt us from the process and the walk that God has called us to. In Haggai 2, verse 4, God, or Haggai, inspired by God, says, Be strong, Mr. Rubabel, says the Lord, Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, and work, for I am with you. You just keep working. Don't let these people derail you. Don't let these people discourage you. Don't give up. Just keep going. God is telling them through Haggai, I am with you, according to the word that I covenant with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you. Do not fear. This temple will be built. God wanted it built. It would stand for 420 years. Verse 6, For thus says the Lord of hosts, Once more, it's a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, the gold is mine, the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give peace.

It may not have looked to the outward appearance that it was as nice or as great as the former temple. God said its glory will be even greater, and that temple stood for 420 years. Jesus Christ was alive during that time. He was at that temple. He taught many lessons on that temple, and He said many things about that temple. And it wasn't until 40 years after His crucifixion that it was destroyed. That it was destroyed no longer, no longer to be there, no longer the place that the Jews would look to as God dwelling among them. That's the fourth place that God dwelled among men. Before we go to the fifth one, let me recap for you some of the things that we've talked about. Some of the things we've learned about the first four temples that we have discussed. One, they were all beautiful. They were all beautiful because God's Spirit is the one that was in it. God's Spirit led to their development, their building. And God's Spirit saw that everything was done exactly the way that He wanted it done.

Two, they were places where God communicated with men. He walked with Adam and Eve into the garden.

He told the people of the Tabernacle Temple, when you pray to this place, I will hear and I will answer. It was a place for reconciliation, and we've talked about some of those things. The temple was a place where God dwelt among men, or these dwelling places we've talked about.

He gave exact instructions on how those places should be built. Didn't leave anything to the imagination. Do it this way. Follow the principles. Do it exactly to scale. Do it exactly in the colors that I say. Even the garments of the priests. Do it exactly as I say.

Not everyone was allowed in. Only the priests, and only the high priest in the most holy place.

And fifth, nothing unclean or unholy was allowed into the temple. The priests, as they entered in, had to be cleansed. God's place was a place of holiness. Nothing was to defile the area that He defined as His. And He tied the relationship or the behavior and the conduct of the people to His dwelling among them. And so we come to the fifth dwelling place. Let's turn over to John, John 1. John 1, verse 14.

The Word became flesh. John 1, 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

In Old Testament times, He dwelt in the tabernacle among the people, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. He dwelt among us. Over in John 4. Christ speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. And He says some interesting words to her, understanding the frame of mind and where she was in life and what she understood. In verse 19 of chapter 4, the woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. Well, He had just told her that she had five husbands. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. We have one temple, you have the other place that we ought to worship. And Christ said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you don't know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour is coming. And now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

He said, it's not going to matter whether you're at that temple that you call holy or the one in Jerusalem that's holy. There's another dwelling place of God among men. In Acts 17, Acts 17 verse 24, Acts 17 verse 24, God, who made the world and everything in it since the is Lord of heaven and earth, doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is he worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed anything since he gives to all life, breath, and all things.

Paul, to a group of people who were very in tuned with the temple, who looked to the temple as this is where God dwells, told them God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. Back in chapter 7 of Acts verse 48.

Verse 47, says Solomon built him a house. Verse 48, however, the most high doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build from me? says the Lord. Or what is the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these things? He did dwell in the temples before. He did dwell in the tabernacles among men before. He was there in the Garden of Eden, but now he doesn't dwell in temples. Jesus Christ came. Jesus Christ lived, died, so our sins could be forgiven, resurrected so we had the hope of eternal life. When he died, the veil in that temple was torn from top to bottom, opening the way where before only one person had access to the Holy of Holies, now all men would have it.

Things changed when Jesus Christ died.

1 Corinthians 3. Today, the temple of God is not made with physical stones. It's not made. A building is not the place that God is looking to. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16.

Don't you know, Paul writes, that you are the temple of God? Don't you know that you're the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? There's the temple where He dwells today. There's the temple He's building today.

Don't you know, Paul said, you're the temple of God, you and me?

Let's back up to verse 9, the same chapter. We are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, Paul says, as a wise master builder, I've laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how He builds on it. God is building a temple in you and me, and collectively, as we will see. The foundation has been laid, Paul says in the next verse. No other foundation can be laid except Jesus Christ. We have that. That's why we're here.

We know that God called us. We know who He is. We know the Bible is truth. We know we must live by those words. And as we live by those words, after we repent and are baptized, the Spirit is in us. He gives us the Spirit and He builds the temple. But He says, take heed how you build that temple. He gave explicit instructions in the Old Testament on how to build a temple, but today we have to make decisions and choices on how that temple is built.

Let's go on in verse 11. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. We're all building a temple. God wants to build a temple in us. He gives us the instructions. He gives us what to do. He gives us His Holy Spirit to lead us in that building process. But what do we build it with? Gold, silver, wood, hay, straw?

Those are our choices. How we live our lives, how that temple is built. Will it stand the test of time? Will it stand for eternity? Or when the fire comes, will it reveal that it was a very weak temple? The day will come, He says, the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sword it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he'll receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. God is building. God is working. He's building a temple in us.

And just like He gave the Old Testament Israelites the plans for how to build that temple so that it would endure the fire, so that it would endure until the end, He gives us the same principles.

He tells us what to do, just like He told Solomon, this building will stand. I'll be here forever.

But you, Solomon, and your people must obey my principles. They must obey my statutes. They must obey my commands. They must have their heart with me. And if they don't, this building will disappear. And God tells us the same thing. I've given you the way of life. I've given you the principles that you need to live by. I will build the temple. My Holy Spirit, I will put in you, and it will do the building if you allow it to. And if you make the right choices along the way, and if you believe in all the other things that we've talked about, and it will be built. Let's go over to verse 17 here. Verse 16, he says, after that, don't you know you're the temple of God? Don't you know the Spirit of God dwells in you? Verse 17, if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. Just like God destroyed the first temple, just like the second temple was destroyed. It became polluted. It was defiled. The people didn't do what God had said, and the temple was laid waste. God says, you're the temple. I'm the temple, a temple that he's building. And he says, if anyone defiles that temple, anyone defiles that temple, he'll destroy it. You know, Antiochus Pithynies defiled the temple. Certainly the people of Israel defiled the temple by the way they behaved and turned to other gods, but Antiochus Pithynies defiled that second temple when he entered in 167 AD. And he entered in and he set up an idol of Zeus in that temple. He perverted it. It became known as the Abomination of Desolation. He went into the altar and he offered swine, unclean meat on that altar. He defiled the temple. He did that. It's called the Abomination of Desolation. Jesus Christ talks about it in reference to a future temple.

We can't be people who defile the temple. We can't be people who allow the temple that God is being built to be defiled. Let's go over to Ephesians 2. You can keep your fingers there in 1 Corinthians 3. We'll be back there in a second. Ephesians 2. He's building temples in us individually.

Verse 19 of Ephesians 2 says, Now therefore, brethren, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, the fellow citizens with the thanks and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God and the Spirit.

Building a temple in you, building a temple in me, building a temple with all of us, a temple that he wants to return to, his people, his own special people, that he has called out of the world, his own special people in whom he has put his Holy Spirit that are willing to allow him to build and that are dedicated to building that temple and having God build it in them and showing that dedication by the choices they make each and every day so that when Jesus Christ returns, he has the temple to return to that he's looking for, individually and collectively.

And as we look at 1 Corinthians 3, we go back there, and as you read through 1 Corinthians, and especially the first few chapters here, and you see what Paul is talking about, don't you know you're the temple of God? And he knew that that church in Corinth, which was a troubled church, they lived in a time probably not unlike ours. Corinth wasn't a great place to live. It was full of that it was full of spin just like America is today and everything known to man was happening in it.

But he said, don't you know that you're the temple of God? And as you look through Corinthians, you see him the things that he's talking about. Earlier on in the book, he talks about how people are choosing their leaders. One says, I'm of Apollos, another one says, I'm of Paul. And they're all divided and they're all separated and they're choosing men rather than all being following Jesus Christ.

And Paul's a little agitated with us. He follows chapter three, don't you know you're the temple of God? It's not men that build you, it's God that builds you. Follow him and be together and be in unity just like it was in the Garden of Eden, just like Israel was at the time of the temples. One God dwelling among people. And he's a little put out by that. In chapter three, we read in chapter three, we read, we read about him planting.

But over in chapter five, he talks about the church. The church is supposed to be the temple being built. And in chapter five, verse one, he says, it's actually reported that there's sexual immorality among you. And such sexual immorality is not, as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife.

He's looking at the church. He's looking at this temple that God is building and he's saying, you know what's going on? Do you people realize that this is defiling the temple of God and you're letting the temple be defiled? The Hunkdol temple is supposed to be a holy place. The temple is supposed to be a place where people are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, led by his Holy Spirit, not a place where the defilement goes on and goes unaddressed.

You can see what Paul is saying here. What are you thinking? Don't you realize what God is building? Don't you realize it's a temple he's working in? Don't you realize you're a holy people, a special people? Don't you know that you can't let this abomination go on in your midst? It needs to be cleansed. And so Paul then says, put him out, not because he wanted to see him forever be condemned, but because he wanted him to come to the realization of what he was doing, how long it was, so he could repent and come back and be part of the congregation and no longer be part of the defilement, but be part of the building process.

And so the man did just that. He left. He realized. He repented and he came back to his benefit. And the people followed what Paul had said. He was building a temple. The temple is a holy place. The temple is a place where people do God's will. In chapter 6, he talks about brothers taking brothers to attorneys, going to other people to solve their problems rather than solving it with God.

And down in verse 9, he becomes more specific on what some of the defiling things of the temple is. Now, we know that any time we sin, we defile the temple. And we know that we all sin. There's no one of us that doesn't sin.

But just like the print, the priests had a cleansing process. When we sin, we repent, we ask for forgiveness, and we get up, and we get back on it again. But here Paul talked about some of these things in chapter 6, verse 9. Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Don't deceive yourselves, you might be saying. Some people will rationalize in their minds, oh, it's okay. God doesn't care about that. There's a lot bigger fish in the sea to catch than that one. No, God cares about the detail. He cares about how we're living our lives. He cares about the compromises that we make and hopes and helps us not to make those compromises. Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't deceive yourselves. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. That won't be part of the building materials in his temple.

That is defiling the temple. And we could list many, many more besides that. But Paul is making a point. And then he says, such were some of you. This defines. We all have past. We all have backgrounds. We would be embarrassed to say some of the things that we've done before. But such were some of you. But then we repented. Then we were baptized and had our sins walked away. Then we received the Holy Spirit. Then we realize we're building the temple and it can't be defiled. And when we defile it, we go right back to God. We repent and we ask him to cleanse us that the building process may continue, that it may not be contaminated, that the building can continue in the way that he has so that when Jesus Christ returns, the temple is intact. A strong temple, individually and collectively. Such were some of you, he says in verse 11, but you were washed.

You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. It's part of our past, dead, buried, gone away. New creation when we come up out of the waters of baptism. New people that God puts his spirit in and begins building. Verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful, Paul says. All things are lawful for me, but I won't be brought unto the power of any.

He remembered he was building a temple. While it might be legal, maybe that wasn't helpful to the building of the temple. Maybe there were things that he had to make decisions along the way and say, you know what, that's not part of the materials that's going to build a strong temple.

In verse 13, he talks about food. He goes on then and he talks about the body is in verse 13, foods for the stomach, stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And to God both raised up the Lord and will raise us up by his power. Verse 15, he says, don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Down in verse 19, he says, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have from God and you aren't your own? It's his temple you're building. It's his temple that you said when you committed to him, build, take me, I sacrifice my own desires, my own will, I sacrifice my body, build what you want in it as I yield to you.

And so we know the things that can defile the temple, we would never, the priests, the Israelites wouldn't defile the temple, but look how they live their lives. They defiled it by the way they lived.

Do we defile the temple of God? You know, God gives us just for instance, the law of clean and unclean meats. I know we all abide by that. We wouldn't put unclean meats in it, just like we wouldn't offer unclean meats on the altar of God. And yet, there are other things that aren't so good for our bodies. If we remember that they're the building point of God that we might put in them.

No one here does this. Illicit drugs. Would you ever put illicit drugs in the temple of God, in the body that houses His Holy Spirit? Would you ever put tobacco in the body that houses God's Holy Spirit, the temple that He is building? Would you ever commit sexual adultery or sexual fornication or commit adultery with the body that God is building? Would you do that to His temple? Would you defile it in that way? No, you wouldn't. And fornication and adultery in this day and age is not just two people. It doesn't take two people anymore. Don't fool yourself. When Paul says in 1st 18, please sexual immorality, it's more than just fleeing the contact that can lead to it. Computers, many, many people defile themselves with the computers and what they look at on computers. Many, many people defile themselves with the things that they watch on movies or in magazines they buy. It's an epidemic in America and it touches the church as well. When Paul says, flee sexual immorality, he means flee it all. Remember the body that God has given. Remember what He's building in that body, the temple that He is building in it. You would never defile the temple that you were walking into it. So Paul is saying, don't defile this temple. Keep it in mind. This is where God dwells. He dwells among His people today in the men and women He chooses, that He calls, that responds to Him, that repents, that are baptized, and that He puts His Holy Spirit in. Don't defile that temple. Live the way of life that God has called you to. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 6.

And verse 12.

Paul, in another epistle to the Corinthians, again talking to him about some of the things they do, he says, you are not restricted by us. It's not us. That's your problem, Corinthians. You're restricted by your own affections. You just won't let some of your things go and allow God to do His will in your lives. Now, when you return for the same, he says, I speak to you, be open. Verse 14, don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with flawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness, and what accord has Christ with Belial? They just don't go together. Doesn't mean we never interact with them. Doesn't mean we don't work with them, go to school with them, live in the neighborhood, or have relationships with them, but you don't bind yourself to that. You've got a temple that God is building in you. And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? No idols in our lives, no God except the one true God. No idol of work, no idol of wealth, no idol of whatever it is that stands between us and God's. God, for you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, I will walk among them, I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Don't touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. Keep yourself clean. I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. And continuing right on into verse chapter 7, because there was no chapter breaks than Paul's epistle, therefore having these promises, these promises that God wants to build His temple in you and me, and collectively in the church, that God wants to be our God. He wants us to be His people. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, which is fitting the temple of God, perfecting holiness in that in our lives, and letting God cleanse us continually so that the temple does not become defiled. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, says, whatever we do in food and drink or anything we do, do it to the glory of God. A verse we should all remember, a verse that should be there as we make choices, as we go through our lives and we're faced with things and temptations day by day, to remember why we're here, to remember what God is working in us, to remember what we have committed to Him that He would do. Let's conclude over in 1 Peter.

In 1 Peter, as we look at the temples that went before us, the temple that God is building now, we know that He was with them, but we know why they were destroyed. And we know that in the building of some of those, there were high points and low points, just as certainly are going to be in our lives. 1 Peter 4 and verse 12, Beloved, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

If you are reproached toward the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you in the temple that He is building, for He has put His Spirit. On their part, He's blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified. Do everything to God's glory. Remember what He's building in us. His dwelling place on earth now is with the people who He has called, who He repents, who He baptized, who He puts His Holy Spirit into. Next time, we'll talk about a couple more dwelling places of God.