Does God Need A Temple? - part 2

Your Body is the Temple of God


A New Meaning for God's Temple in the New Testament
The house of God in this, and similar passages now refers both to the tabernacle (or the temple) and the people of God. Stephen the first martyr of the Christian church comments as follows:

"Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, `Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?'" (Acts 7:44-50)

These discussions pave the way for the New Testament teaching that church buildings are never to be called "the house of God." The New Testament does refer to a "temple of God," but following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem the only temple of God is a group of people---never a building. During the entire present era of the outcalling of the church, God lives in individuals who live in a personal, covenantal relationship with Him through Yeshua the Messiah. This era of Biblical, redemptive history extends from Pentecost to the Rapture. This time period when Israel would have neither temple nor sacrifice nor national homeland was predicted by the prophet Hosea:

For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4-5)

Your Body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
When you become a believer, the Holy Spirit becomes a part of you -- is IN you. In short, your body becomes a container, or a "house," in this case, a "temple." So read in context, this verse is saying that your actual, physical body IS the Temple of the Holy Spirit. If this is not clear enough for anybody and everybody, please read this next verse:

Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath he that believeth with an
infidel? And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the
temple of the living God; as God hath said,
I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and
I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, And will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18

With Paul's logic expressed here, we could also ask: "What agreement has Christian doctrine with New Age teaching?" The answer should be abundantly clear, touch NOT the unclean thing (this applies to physical uncleanness, such as joining your body with a prostitute, or eating things God has declared unclean, and it also applies to the spiritual standing, don't partake of the doctrines of demons). The sad truth is, the false teachers that claim that God just doesn't care about your weak, fragile human body, are in grave error, because they do not know the scriptures. In a manner, they DO know the scriptures, but only as it was taught to them. They harbor the traditions of the elders in their hearts, setting aside the commandments of God for the "best thoughts" of men. They rip God's commandments out of the Bible, and paste in their own Post-It notes containing their own inarticulate scribbles.
God Himself determines what was and is and will be unclean, and what is best for you. Trust Him. But God says and then man says well I think He REALLY meant...
...these verses couldn't be clearer. YOU ARE the "temple of God," when you abide in Christ, when Jesus lives in you. Is it YOU, or YOU joined to everyone else?

The New Testament's bold assertion that man is the dwelling place---the temple---of God begins with the announcement of the Apostle John that the Second Person of the godhead had now become a man and come down to earth as Immanuel---"God with us."

And the Word became flesh and dwelt (Greek: eskenosen = tabernacled) among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John 1:14)

Shortly after at Passover in Jerusalem Jesus confirmed that He was in some special sense the actual temple of God, greater and more important that the Second Temple he was visiting:

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. (John 2:13-22)


Paul the Apostle in his clear reaffirmations of the moral demands of Torah and their applications to Christians of the present era teaches that the Shekinah---the Holy Spirit---of the living God now makes His sanctuary in the body of all those who believe in Jesus and who subject themselves to his Lordship:

Our normal, reasonable, daily service, he says, is to present our bodies, as temples to God's service:

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1, 2)

and
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

Paul continues,

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh." But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)

In his Second Letter to the Corinthians the Apostle again speaks of God's people as a collective temple,

Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

The New Testament also teaches that God corporately in the midst of the gathered community of his people. Each believer, a living stone, has been fitted into an invisible building which constitutes a dwelling place for God in the Spirit:

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands---remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:11-22)


The Ultimate Meaning of the Temple

There remains yet much mystery as to the meaning of the Jewish tabernacle and temples with their precise measurements, strange appliances and rituals, all given by God according to a precise set of divine blueprints. What does God wish us to learn from all this?

Some things are clear. Sinful men can not approach a holy God without a suitable sacrifice. The shedding of blood is somehow necessary to make atonement for human evil. Even forgiven sinners need washing and regular cleansing in order to enjoy fellowship with their Creator. No man can approach God directly without a proper Mediator. Men are weak and need not only a Savior, Kinsman-Redeemer (Goel), but a priest to intercede for them. The problem of human sin is deep, troublesome and persistent. Men sin against one another, against nature and above all against God. Yet God in His love wishes to teach us the depths of his love and forgiveness and mercy through the symbolism of the temple.

The temple, therefore, is a picture for all time of man as in relationship with God, a picture of God as man intended him to be.

"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:3, 7)

Does God Need A Temple?

Does God Need A Temple?
The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:1-4)

Why a Temple?

Primitive religions are replete with examples of buildings and shrines as a house or shrine to an idol or a god. Animistic religionists believe that spirits live in trees, rocks, caves, or sacred groves. The Egyptians deified crocodiles, cats, cows, birds and beetles. The Greeks and Romans assigned to their gods splendid mansions and palaces as their dwelling places.

But the God revealed in the Bible is fundamentally different than the gods of the nations. He does not need houses or temples to dwell in---the entire universe is God's house, "the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him" and His infinite Spirit can not apparently be confined in any way to man-made dwelling places:

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:1)
"Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:23, 24)
Disturbed in his spirit by the profusion of false gods, images and shrines when he visited Athens, the Apostle Paul boldly reasserted that God assuredly did not dwell in buildings made by men:
...while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there. Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities "--because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present? For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said:
"Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.

And he made from one (man, i.e., Adam) every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for `In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, `For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man (Jesus) whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:16-31)


The Tabernacle of Moses

Yet in spite of these clear teachings throughout the Bible that God does not live in man-made buildings there is an apparent paradox the moment we join the Jews in the wilderness at Mount Sinai: God Himself, at Mount Sinai gave Moses specific instructions concerning the building of a remarkable tent, or tabernacle, in which, He, the Most High God would dwell:

And let them make me a sanctuary [Hebrew, miqdosh, sanctuary, i.e., a holy place], that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle [mishkan, dwelling-place. This word gives rise to the Hebrew Shekinah which denotes the personal presence of the Divine God], and of all its furniture, so you shall make it...And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain. (Exodus 25:8,9; 40)

The tabernacle, mishkan, is referred to 139 times in the Old Testament, primarily in Exodus and Numbers. 100 times it is referred to as the "dwelling place" of God! Incidentally, in the New Testament (1 Cor. 10, Hebrews 3,4) may be found specific references concerning the personal presence of Yeshua, the Son of God with His people in the wilderness. The Tabernacle gave tangible evidence that God was with His people as did the Pillar or Cloud by Day and the Pillar of Fire by Night (the Shekinah).

And I will make my abode among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (Leviticus 26:11-13)

The First Jewish Temple

Whereas the tabernacle was mobile, and served Israel for forty years in the wilderness, during the conquest of the land, and for nearly 400 years at Shiloh during the time of the Judges, the temple was anchored to bedrock at a fixed, specific spot on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem,

Now when the king (David) dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about, the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." And Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart; for the LORD is with you." But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, `Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'

Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He (Messiah) shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. (2 Samuel 7:1-13)

David desired to build a temple in Jerusalem after the unsettled years of the Exodus, the conquest, and the period of the Judges. His son Solomon was given the actual task. Yet even Solomon recognized that God could scarcely be contained in a stone building:

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27, cp. 2 Chron. 2:6, 6:18)

The First Temple, usually called Solomon's Temple, was finished after a construction period of seven years, employing some 30,000 workmen in the task. That God approved of this building and accepted it as his house is more than evident from the record of the temple dedication service recorded in 2 Chronicles:

When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshipped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever." Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD ---for his steadfast love endures for ever---whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel stood.

And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the cereal offering and the fat. At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that 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 humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. (2 Chronicles 7:1-16)

The downward course of spiritual and national life in ancient Israel from the time of Solomon to the Babylonian captivity is thoroughly described in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, as well as by the prophets, both major and minor.

A vivid summary of the Lord's displeasure with both the whole house of Israel was recorded about the time of the captivity of the ten northern tribes:

...Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced.

And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree; and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this." Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets."

But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves; and they made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.

Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. (2 Kings 17:5-20)

Some of the events leading to the destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem on the 9th of Av in the year 586 BC are known from secular sources. The Assyrians who plundered and pillaged the ten Northern tribes, finally capturing the capital of Samaria in 722, had disappeared from power by 586 BC, (136 years later) exactly as foretold by prophets such as Isaiah who warned that the threat to Jerusalem would come from the rise of the new power known as Babylon.

Solomon's temple was not only magnificently beautiful but adorned within with many billions of dollars in gold and silver, to say nothing of the monies and temple treasures stored in underground rooms beneath. The Babylonians had waited covetously more than a hundred years, for the opportunity to plunder the temple:

At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them." Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." (2 Kings 20:12-18)


The Second Temple
So modest was the Second Temple compared to the First that some of the old-timers who had left Jerusalem at the time of the captivity were deeply disappointed at the unimpressive, small, and unimportant temple the returning exiles were building. Encouraging them that their efforts would be blessed beyond all their expectations the prophet Haggai urged the people to finish the building and put it into service. In an amazing and far reaching prosperity the Lord declared that this Second Temple would not only come to be filled with gold and silver, but receive a higher honor than mere riches. It was into this Second Temple, enlarged and expanded by King Herod, that the Messiah himself, Jesus, Son of David would appear.

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, `Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit abides among you; fear not.

For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.'" (Haggai 2:1-9)

Closing the canon of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi spoke of Messiah's forerunner, John the Baptist and also announced that the Lord Himself, Israel's true Messiah would himself visit the Second Temple:

"Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? "For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. "Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1-7)

God "Tabernacling" Among Men

The New Testament opens with a four-fold announcement that the long-awaited Messiah has come.

It was in the Second Jewish Temple that the month-old infant Jesus was dedicated by his parents (Luke 2:22-38). At the age of 12 at Passover, Jesus remained alone in the Temple apart from his parents in what was probably the equivalent of a Bar Mitzvah dedication to the Lord. It may have been at this age of accountability that Jesus first realized He was the promised messiah with a specific mission and calling to fulfill (Luke 2:39-52).

At the beginning of his three-year ministry (John 2:13-17), and again at the end, following his entry on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:12-13), Jesus drove out the money-changers. On the second occasion Mark's gospel (11:15,16) records that He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. It is likely, therefore, that he stopped the temple sacrifices (at least temporarily) on this second occasion, giving notice to all that they were no longer valid and had been set aside by God. Jesus, the Paschal Lamb of God was about to offer himself as the once-for-all-time perfect sacrifice for all sin. In weeping over the fate of Jerusalem he declared "See your house (the temple) is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall not see Me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-38)

That same week Jesus presented his disciples with a sweeping prophecy of the next two thousand years of history. He began by speaking of the approaching total destruction of the Second Temple, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly I say to you, not one stone will be left here upon one another, that not be thrown down."

Fulfilled literally and in detail by the total destruction of the temple during the siege of Titus in A.D. 70, this prophecy of Jesus has long since come to pass. No Jewish Temple has stood on the Temple Mount to this day. The emphasis in the New Testament after brief accounts of the early history of the church in Jerusalem in the Book of Acts shifts abruptly away from Jerusalem and Jewish community life. The temple in Jerusalem is no longer the central focus point for God's presence in the world.

In comparing Jesus and Moses and the Exodus, the writer of the Epistle of Hebrews in the New Testament comments:

Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God's house. Yet Jesus has been counted worthy of as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house. (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope. (Hebrews 3)

Any room for Jesus?, Give your heart to god and let Jesus in

Any room for Jesus?
Have YOU room for Him?

"Well," says one, "I have room for Him, but I am not worthy
that He should come to me." Ah! I did not ask about your
worthiness; have you room for Him?

"Oh!" says another, "I have an aching void the world can
never fill." Ah! I see that you have room for Christ.

"Oh, but the room I have in my heart is so base!"
So was the manger at Bethlehem.

"But it is so despicable."
So was the manger a thing to be despised.

"Ah! but my heart is so foul."
So, perhaps, the manger may have been.

"Oh, but I feel it is a place not at all fit for
Christ!" Nor was the manger a place fit for Him,
and yet there was He laid.

"Oh! but I have been such a great sinner! I feel as
if my heart had been a den of evil beasts."
Well, the manger had been a place where beasts had fed.

Make room for Jesus! Make room for Jesus now!

He will come to you, and He will cleanse the manger of your
heart; nay, more, He will transform it into a golden throne,
and there He will sit and reign for ever and ever!

Jesus is willing to find a home in every
humble heart that will receive Him.

Here is the Son of God made flesh,
have you room for Him?

Here is He who can forgive all sin,
have you room for Him?

Here is He who can take you up out of the horrible pit,
and out of the miry clay, have you room for Him?

Here is He who, when He comes in to your soul, will never
go out again; but will abide with you for ever, to make
your heart a heaven of joy and bliss through His presence!

Have you not room for Him?
That is all He asks, room.

Your emptiness, your nothingness, your lack of goodness,
your lack of grace -- all these will be but room for Him.

It is a splendid act of Divine grace, that He should
take us, who were heirs of wrath, and make us heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ!

Appreciate purity of heart

You keep yourself pure because you appreciate purity or because you hate to be dirty. Keeping your heart pure is not possible with your own strength neither with human cleaners.

Dirty or pure?
When do you consider yourself dirty? Everybody has his own standards on dirtiness and purity. This is true concerning the dirtiness of clothes and human body and much more with the dirtiness of heart.

The things that make your heart dirty come from both outside and inside you. What you hear, see or feel can make your heart dirty and also what you think, say or do. Because your bad thoughts have been food for your inner man, you have become a sinner. You are what you have thought.

Did the ears of your spirit rejoice at a dirty thought and did the mouth of your spirit eat fruit of pride? Did the eyes of your spirit admire a filthy sight and did the eyes of your soul fasten on greediness? Did the members of your spirit feast on an unclean feeling and did the hands of your spirit reach for dissolute selfishness?

Your bad thoughts are the dirt which tempts you to do evil things that are condemned by your conscience. The being produced by your bad thoughts is the sin that lies in ambush at the door of your heart. Its desire is for you, and you cannot rule over it, if your spirit is deadened by your guilt. When you open your heart for bad thoughts sin occupies you so that you cannot make a difference between it and your ego.

Although sin has killed you, clean thoughts can make your spirit alive again. If you have not awoken to desire clean thoughts, you cannot get a clear conscience. If you don't want to face the judgments of your conscience, you don't allow clean thoughts to settle down in you either.

Of what kind of dirt you, in your opinion, should be cleansed? In this matter we usually follow the public standard. If you face someone who is more pure than you, you realize yourself to be unclean. Jesus, the Son of God is pure! Compare yourself to Him. He who loves God, adopts the opinion of Jesus about what is dirty and what is pure.

God's words can wash you pure. Let the ears of your spirit rejoice at His pure thoughts and let the mouth of your spirit eat fruit of the humbleness of Jesus. Let the eyes of your spirit admire the revelation of God's love on Golgotha and let your soul fasten on the sacrifice of God. Long for the presence of Jesus and enjoy peace given by His grace and reach the hands of your spirit for His deeds.

When Jesus purifies you with His words, your conscience will wake up from its dormancy. Then you will feel guilty and you begin to thirst after God's grace. If you confess your sins to Jesus, His atoning blood will touch your spirit and purify your conscience. Then He also separates your spirit from the ego of your bad thoughts with the sword of His word and you become a new creation, if you let Him do this circumcision of your heart! Starting from this moment your spirit has power to resist the thoughts of your old ego.

Do you appreciate the purity of God? Maybe you are satisfied if you are pure in the eyes of men, although you are unclean in the eyes of God. If you are going to get to Him, you have to be purified.

Pure heart and clear conscience
If you feel that your conscience doesn't accuse you, it doesn't mean that your heart would be pure. If the thoughts and attitudes of your heart are after God's heart then your heart is pure. If you are satisfied with getting forgiveness of your sins and having a good conscience, you are in danger of falling again.

Don't only reach for a good conscience and a salvation from the judgment of God, but ask for a change of your mind and for purging of your thoughts. The water of God's word changes your thoughts and attitudes. This means that you ask for yourself light of God's word that rebukes you.

If we live according to the thoughts of God then we live in light. If we live according to our dirty thoughts we live in darkness. The blood of Jesus cannot cleanse our conscience in the darkness of our unclean thoughts.

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." 1Jo.1:7

If you don't watch over your thoughts, you will fall into the power of darkness. Let the stream of your consciousness follow Jesus. If the Holy Spirit lives in you, you are able to watch yourself just by His influence. When you notice that a dark thought tries to come into your consciousness, immediately pray to Jesus to help you to reject it.

If you didn't watch, you fell into darkness and sinned. If the Holy Spirit lives in you, He will grieve in you and wait for you to come soon away from the darkness to the light of God so that He could give you forgiveness. However if you love to be in the darkness, you will finally claim that you have done nothing wrong. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1Jo.1:8


Power of the blood of Jesus
God has created for us a conscience that demands punishment for evil deeds. Therefore the sacrifice of Jesus is needed so that we could be set free from our guilt. Either you yourself suffer or the Lamb of God suffers your punishment. The conscience of many people doesn't accept a vicarious sacrifice and therefore they don't believe in Bible's Jesus. This results from some religious ceremony that has given their conscience a false peace.

Those religious acts are dead works. You can be released from their hold only after you have experienced the power of the blood of Jesus. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God!" Heb.9:14

You cannot serve the living God, if your conscience has gained peace by trusting on any other thing than the sacrifice of Jesus and on the power of His blood.

How can the power of the blood of Jesus affect in your heart? Firstly you must be in the faith of Jesus. To be able to experience the power of the blood of Jesus He must live in your heart by faith. If He is outside He cannot wash from the inside.

Secondly you must confess your sin just as the truth is. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1Jo.1:9

You must confess your sin to God with all your heart, in thoughts, in words and in deeds. Think about your deed deep in your heart, confessing your evilness that gave birth to your bad deed. Don't speak to God only about your bad deeds, but abhor your bad thoughts and attitudes that have caused your deeds. Repent your thoughts and accept your responsibility for your bad deeds. Prove by thinking and saying right that you want to change.

Many ask forgiveness for their bad deeds only because they are afraid of the punishment but they don't want to change their thoughts. God doesn't forgive you only because you asked. He forgives you because you repent your evilness and you confess your sins.

By confessing your sins you ask for forgiveness. By defending your sins you ask for judgment. What you confess in the light of God's words that is washed away by the blood of Jesus.

"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus ... let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb.10:19-22

If the body of our thoughts has been cleansed by the water of God's word and our conscience has received the atonement with the blood of Jesus, we are able to enter the dazzling brightness of the face of God.

GRACE ABOUNDING!

"God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."-- 2Co_9:8.
ABUNDANCE IS characteristic of God! Go forth on a spring morning, and look on the flowers with which He has carpeted the woodlands.
Daisies and buttercups, primroses and cowslips in myriads, bear witness to the prodigality of His thought and power--His thought to fashion, His power to produce. But this profuse carpeting of the earth's nakedness is equalled in the heavens! There, depth opens beyond depth, lighted and inlaid with constellations, and the wonders of the sky answer to those of the earth. How multitudinous is God's creation!
But what shall we say of His Grace? His Joy is unspeakable, His Peace passeth understanding, His Love is beyond knowledge! Get great thoughts of God, who holds the ocean depths as a drop in the hollow of his hand, and weighs the mountains as grains of dust in His scales. Lie upon that bank of flowers, and consider their multitude; sweep the skies with a telescope and see if you can tell the stars; number the sand-grains upon the shore, and count the shells strewn along the strand; and when you have considered the gifts of His hand, ascend to the wealth of His heart. Study the infinite map of God's nature; compare it with the need of your little life, and then remember that the Father loves you infinitely, so much so that for your salvation and mine He gave His Only-Begotten Son. He has set His love upon you, and will certainly deliver you! He will set you on high because you have known His Name. All the resources of eternity and infinity are at His disposal, and He can make all grace abound toward you, that always having all sufficiency in all things, you may abound to every good work.
This is a very wonderful text! Count the number of universals in it. All Grace Always! All Sufficiency! All things! God abounding to us that we may abound. The word translated abound might be rendered literally "to flow or pour over." "My cup runneth over." Our Lord said: "I am come that they might have life, and have it overflowingly"; "Where sin overflows, grace much more overflows" (Joh_10:10; Rom_5:20).
Let us remember that God does not pour in unless we pour out. If we are filled with the Presence and Grace of Christ in our hearts, we must give ourselves out to others.

PRAYER
Give me grace, O Lord, to see the beauty lying at my feet in the commonplaces of life; and to feel that Thou art as near, and that life is as wonderful today, as when men beheld Thee in the days of Thy flesh. AMEN.

The Riches of Grace

Ephesians 1:3-8

Scripture says that Jesus chose to become poor--leaving heaven and everything that belonged to Him as God's Son--so we might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Those riches of grace are described in Ephesians 1. We are . . .

• Chosen by God. Since we belong to the Lord, life has purpose, and we are eternally secure.

• Liberated. Every one of us was in slavery to sin and unable to free ourself. "The flesh" permeated our thinking, attitudes, and behavior. We know this to be true because we formerly kept doing the wrong we didn't want to do instead of the good we had intended. But Jesus broke the power of the old sinful nature so that we might be able to obey God.

Redeemed. Jesus' death satisfied divine justice because His perfect life met every biblical requirement (Deut. 17:1; Rom. 6:23). When we place our trust in the Savior, God considers our sin-debt "paid in full," and we are at peace with Him.

United with Him. At salvation, we enter into a personal relationship with God. He becomes our heavenly Father, and we are His adopted children.

Citizens of heaven. We have been given permanent citizenship in God's kingdom and an inheritance that won't perish (1 Peter 1:4).

Many of us don't realize that we are rich, because we think in earthly terms--bank accounts and material possessions--instead of spiritual ones. While these temporal items provide us with comfort and pleasure, they have no eternal value. Our real wealth is found in the spiritual blessings we've been given through Christ.

The Ministry of Silence

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psa_46:10
There are certain voices which we never hear except when everything is silent. They reach us as a revelation of the stillness. Sometimes on a summer afternoon one gets away from the city or the village and climbs up the grassy hillside till all the noise of human life is lost, and it is often then that there breaks upon the ear a certain indistinguishable murmur as of the moving of innumerable wings.
Travelers tell us that there are rivers flowing beneath the streets of the ancient city of Shechem. During the hours of the day you cannot hear them for the noise of the narrow streets and the bazaars. But when evening comes and the clamor dies away and the dew falls on the city, then quite audibly, in the hush of night, you may hear the music of the buried streams.
There are many voices like those hidden waters. You can only hear them when things are still. There are whisperings of conscience in the heart which take only a very little to drown. There are tidings from the eternal Spirit who is not far away from any one of us; tidings that will come and go unnoticed unless we have learned the grace of being still.
The Art of Being Still
And yet the very element of stillness is one which is conspicuously lacking now. We have been taught the art of exercise, and we have lost the art of being still. A recent writer, in a brilliant essay on the music of today, tells us that we are living nowadays under "the dominion of din." And whether or not that is true of music, of which I am not qualified to speak, it is certainly true of ordinary life. Our forefathers may have had very imperfect ideals of Christian service. They may have tolerated social abuses which we would never tolerate today. But they had one element in their Christian life in more abundant measure than we have it, and that was the blessed element of silence. What peace there was in the old-fashioned Sabbath—what a reverent stillness in the house of God—what a quiet and peaceful solemnity in worship at the family altar! And if today we cannot but be conscious that something of that old spirit has departed, we know that something precious has been lost. It is gain to be immersed in service. It is a high ambition to be energetic. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." And yet the Bible never says to us, "Be energetic, and know that I am God." It says, "Be still, and know that I am God."
Indeed, we are so in love with noise today that stillness is commonly looked upon as weakness. And it is well to remind ourselves occasionally that often the very opposite is true. When the rain beats against the window pane, we are awakened by its noise. But the snow falls so silently, that never an infant stirs within its cradle. And yet the snow may block up every road quite as effectually as a landslide and dislocate the traffic of a kingdom. Set a thousand digging shovels to work, and you produce a certain effect upon the soil. But when the frost comes with her silent fingers and lightly touches field and meadow with them, in a single night that silent frost will work more effectually than a thousand shovels.
God does not work in this strange world by hustling. God works in the world far more often by hush. In all the mightiest powers which surround us, there is a certain element of stillness. And if I did not find in Jesus Christ something of that divine inaudibility, I confess I should be tempted to despair. When Epictetus had had his arm broken by the savage cruelty of his master, he turned round without one trace of anger, and said to him quietly, "I told you so." And when a heathen satirist taunted the Christians, asking what nobler thing their Master did, one of them answered, "He kept silence." There is a silence that may speak of weakness. There is another silence that is full of power. It is the empty husk that rattles in the breeze. It is the brook and not the river that makes the noise. And it is good that we should remember that when we are tempted to associate quietness with weakness, as perhaps we are all tempted nowadays.
The Stillness of Absorption
There is, of course, a certain kind of silence which is only the outward sign of self-absorption. It does not indicate that a man is hearing anything; it just means that he is withdrawn into himself. I have heard runners say that in long races they have been oblivious of every sound. There may have been a thousand voices cheering them on, and yet they seemed to run in a great silence. Perhaps all of us have had hours such as that—hours of suffering or of intense activity—when we felt ourselves alone in a deep solitude. That is the stillness of absorption. It is not the stillness to which our text refers. It is of another quietness that it speaks; the quietness which is the basis of communion. For there are times when we never speak so eloquently, and times when we never hear so finely, as when the tongue is silent and the lips are closed and the spirit is the one interpreter. A love that has no silence has no depth. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." There are people whose love we instinctively distrust because they are always telling us about it. And perhaps it is simply because God is love, in all the glorious fullness of that word, that we have to be still if we would know Him.
Indeed, there is often no surer sign than silence that the heart has been reached and the depths been broken up. In their greatest hours men are seldom noisy. I have watched sometimes an audience at a concert—for to me the audience is more interesting than the music—and 1 have watched the listless attention which they gave to music that reached no farther than the ear. And then perhaps there was some perfect melody, some chord which had the insistence of a message, and it was as if a voice had cried out loud, "Be still, and know that I am God."
Charles Reade, in one of the best of his novels, tells a story of some Australian miners. He tells how they traveled through a long summer Sunday to hear the singing of a captive thrush. And they were reckless men familiar with riot, but when they heard it, there fell a hush upon them, for it brought back memories of childhood again and of England where they had been boys. In a greater fashion that is true of God. We do not clamber to Him by the steps of logic; we reach Him by the feelings of the heart. And it is just because, when the heart is moved profoundly, there falls upon it a silence and a stillness, that we are bidden in our text to be still and know that He is God.
Probably that is the reason, too, why great silences have a divine suggestion. Great silent spaces speak to us of God. I remember a year or two ago visiting the cathedral at Cologne. I suppose it is the most magnificent example of Gothic architecture in the world. And I recall vividly, as though it had happened yesterday, how, passing in from the crowded city streets, the thought of the presence of God was overwhelming. I knew He was present in the teeming city. I knew He was present in the crowded street. I knew that where the stir and traffic were, the infinite Spirit was not far away. And yet it is one thing to know, and it is quite another thing to feel; and in the calm and solemn quiet of the cathedral I felt that God was there. That is what spiritual men have always felt under the silence of the starry sky. That is why they have always thought of God when they lifted up their eyes unto the hills.
Our noisy, talkative life is like the surge breaking on the edge of the shore, and away beyond it is the silent ocean carrying the message of infinity. We lose our sense of God in a big city far more readily than lonely dwellers do. And we lay the blame of that upon a score of things—on the strain of business, on our abundant pleasures. Perhaps there is a deeper reason than all these; it is the loss of the ministry of silence: of the field and the meadow and the hill; of the solitude's which are quivering with God. Spare your compassion for the Highland dweller. The man may be far richer than you think. It may be he has kept what we have lost in the keen and eager zest of city life. It may be he has kept, in all his poverty, those intimations of a present God which are given where a great silence is, as of the lonely field or meadow.
Why God Makes Silences
I close by suggesting that this is the reason why God makes silences in every life; the silence of sleep, the silences of sorrow, and then the last great silence at the end. One of the hardest things in the world, as you all know, is to get little children to keep still. They are in a state of perpetual activity, restless, eager, questioning, alert. And just as a mother says to her child, "Be still," and hushes it to sleep that it may rest, so God does sooner or later with us all. What a quiet, still place the sickroom is! What a silence there is over a house of mourning! How the voices are hushed, and every footstep soft, when someone is lying within the coffin. Had we the choosing of our own affairs we should never have chosen such an hour as that; and yet how often it is rich in blessing. All the activities of eager years may not have taught us quite so much as that. There are things which we never learn when we are active. There are things which we only learn when we are passive. And so God comes, in His resistless way, which never ceases to be a way of love, and says, "Be still, and know that I am God." If that is so with the passive hours of life, may it not be so with the passive hour of death? What is death but the Almighty Father saying to our talking lips, "Be still"? And I for one believe that in that stillness we shall awaken to know that He is God, in such a love and power as will be heaven.

renew and be sure of your faith

Being Sure of Your Faith

There is a story about a boy flying a kite. The kite was so high that it had disappeared into the clouds. A man came by and asked, "What are you doing, son, holding on to that string?" The boy answered, "I've got a kite up there." The man looked up and said, "I don't see it." The boy replied, "Well, I know it's there because I can feel the tug."

That's like the witness of the Holy Spirit within us. We may not always see the evidence, but we feel a tug in our hearts constantly, letting us know that we are in touch with God. That is the witness of the Holy Spirit.

John's first Epistle is an examination book written so that we might have assurance and not doubt. Besides the witness of the Holy Spirit, five other points are brought out in 1 John that must characterize us if we are to be sure that we belong to God.

First, we must believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Someone asked Sundar Singh, the great Indian Christian, why he was a Christian and what he found in Christianity that he couldn't find in the other religions of India. He answered with these two words: "Jesus Christ." There is no other One who died for the sins of the world. There is no other One who rose from the dead. There is no other One who gives the hope that He is going to return and set up His Kingdom.

The Scripture says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," (Hebrews 11:1, NASB). Faith carries with it the idea of accompanying assurance. If we have faith, God gives us the assurance, the certainty, the knowledge, that we have passed from death unto life.

Believe
Do you believe? That word "believe" carries with it the idea of total surrender, putting total assurance in what Christ did for us on the cross-not trusting our good works, not trusting our money, not trusting anything, not even church membership, but trusting in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Second, we must have a changed attitude toward sin. What does that mean? Well, 1 John 5:18 says, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not," (KJV). "Oh, but," you say, "certainly Christians sin." Do you know what "sinneth not" means? It means "does not practice sin." We don't practice sin. Sin is no longer a habit in our lives.

Confess
But suppose we do sin. Suppose we slip and fall. Suppose we yield to temptation for a moment. What happens? We have to confess that sin. Name it to the Lord and say, "Lord, I have sinned." The Scripture says, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," (1 John 1:7, KJV) and "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," (1 John 1:9, KJV).

Not only are we to confess, but we are to forsake. There's no use repenting of sin and saying, "I'm sorry, Lord, I've sinned," and then going back and repeating it. That's not repentance. Repentance carries with it the idea that we do not repeat it. In other words, sin is no longer a practice in our lives. We may slip and fall from time to time, but it's not a practice. We don't deliberately do it.
That's the reason the Bible teaches that the Christian life is a daily life. The Scripture says we are to "exhort one another daily," (Hebrews 3:13, KJV). We are to take up our cross daily. We search the Scriptures daily. And we must renew our fellowship daily. The Scripture says deny self daily. It's hard. We are living in an age when the pressures on us are greater, perhaps, than in any other generation in history.

Third, we must have a desire to obey God. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments," (1 John 2:3, KJV). That doesn't mean that we can keep them all the time, but we have a desire to keep them. We want to. We try to, with God's help. We do good, we feed the poor, we visit people in prison. "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," (John 10:21, KJV).

Jesus commanded, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel," (Mark 16:15, KJV). Our Team has been going to every continent, to the nations of the world, declaring that Christ is the Answer, that Christ died to save us, that Christ rose again, that He's coming back. And on every continent, in every culture with every ethnic background and every political ideology, we've seen people by the hundreds say "yes" to Christ.

Partake
Fourth, we must try to be separated from the world. First John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," (KJV). What does "the world" mean? That word in Greek is "cosmos," and it means the world system that is dominated by evil. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world," (1 John 2:15-16, KJV). That means the order, the behavior, the fashion, the entertainment, whatever is dominated by evil. Satan is called "the god of this world" and "the prince of this world." The Bible teaches we are to live in the world, but we are not to partake of the evils of the world.

We are to be separated from the world of evil. "Touch not the unclean thing," says the Lord (2 Corinthians 6:17, KJV). When I face something in the world, I ask, does it violate any principle of Scripture? Does it take the keen edge off my Christian life? Can I ask God's blessing on it? Will it be a stumbling block to others? Would I like to be there, or be reading that, or be watching that, if Christ should return at that time?

Worldliness does not fall like an avalanche upon a person and sweep him or her away. It is the steady drip, drip, drip of the water that wears away the stone. And the world is always exerting a steady pressure on us every day. Most of us would go down under it if it weren't for the Holy Spirit who lives inside us and holds us up and keeps us.

Fifth, we must be filled with the Spirit. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death," (1 John 3:14, KJV). Do you love? Does love dominate your life?

Belong
I'm asking you to make a commitment and be sure that you belong to Christ. You see, Christ took your sins on the cross, those sins are behind God's back. He has forgotten them because of Christ. That is what happens when you come to Christ. He doesn't see your sins, He sees the blood of Christ.

God offers you the greatest and most expensive gift in the whole world, eternal life, but you must receive that gift. God gave His Son. His Son rose from the dead. You can be sure of it. If you truly receive Him, you will be sure.

How to Renew Your Faith

Many people slowly drift apart from their faith and religion. Soon they start to lose their personal contact with God. This is a good thing. God the Father, is the reason why we are all here, and even though some things are hard to believe, there is a way to slowly come back to your faith. Read on, and be nourished by the word of God.
Build Your Faith
"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God"
You build your faith by reading and speaking God's word. The Bible tells you that as you renew your mind, you will be transformed.


You renew your mind with the word of God

If you're feeling defeated, it could be because you've been listening to the lies of the enemy.

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"

Let God's word tell you who you are and what you have. Don't give any attention to anything that tells you differently. God's word is true.

Acknowledge, agree with, recognise, confess and speak, the word of God
Choose to see yourself as God sees you
Speak out these truths even when you don't yet see the reality

When God called Gideon a mighty warrior there was no evidence to suggest that it was true. God saw and spoke what Gideon would become.

Learn what God says about you and accept God's opinion of you. Believe what God says about who you are in Christ and you will become what you are in Him. By faith, believe the truth and act on what you believe.

You will build your faith as you constantly remind yourself of who you are in Christ.

Biblical Confessions To Build Your Faith
Apart from Jesus, I can do nothing; but in Jesus I can do all things. I choose to see myself as He sees me according to His living Word. My life is hid with Christ in God. I will say the same things that God says in His Word. How can two walk together if they don't agree?

I choose to trust God. His Word will be the final authority in my life. I base my entire life upon God and His living Word. Because I meditate upon His Word day and night and carefully do all that is written in it, I will prosper.

I'm not just an ordinary person; I'm a child of the living God. I'm not just a person; I'm an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. I'm not just a sinner; I'm a new creation in Jesus. I'm part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. I'm one of God's chosen people.

Jesus has declared me not guilty. I refuse to be discouraged. God is the God of all encouragement. There is no condemnation for me because I'm in Christ Jesus.

Satan is the father of lies. I won't listen to his accusations. I am cleansed by Jesus' blood. No weapon formed against me will succeed. I will disprove every tongue that rises against me in judgment.

My mind is being renewed by the word of God. I will pull down strongholds and cast down imaginations. I will bring every thought captive to the will of Christ.

I am accepted by God. If God is for me, who can be against me? Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world. Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. As the Father loves Jesus, so Jesus loves me. I have the righteousness of God through Christ. I am not a slave of sin, I'm a slave of God and a slave of righteousness.

I will continue in God's word. I know the truth and the truth has set me free. I am free indeed because Jesus has set me free. I have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness. I'm now part of the kingdom of God.

I will submit to God. When I resist the devil, he has to flee. No temptation will overcome me which is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let me be tempted beyond my strength. With any temptation He will also provide me with a way of escape, so that I can endure.

Jesus always causes me to triumph. I'll reign as a king in life through Christ Jesus. The Word of God lives in me. I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me. I am an overcomer. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God gives me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord.

I am a success to the glory of God. All His blessings will come upon me and overtake me because I obey the voice of the Lord, my God. I am confident that those who seek the Lord will lack no good thing.

I will not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Speak God's word daily. Believe it. Allow the living and active Word of God to build your faith, renew your mind and transform your life.

Be Prepared

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. . . .
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

In our study one of the things we learned is that often times Jesus uses analogies and metaphors in his stories that may or may not be real clear to us, because we aren't living at the time Jesus told these stories and aren't real familiar with the context of the times.

Today's parable is one that can be somewhat confusing unless we understand the meaning of the analogy Jesus is using, which is how the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding, at least like the kind of wedding that took place about 2000 years ago.

The parable of the Ten Bridesmaids is about a wedding, a special wedding. In the time of Jesus the wedding day was a big deal, much like today. On the wedding day the bridegroom went to the bride's house for the ceremony; then the bride and groom, along with a great procession, returned to the groom's house where a feast took place, often lasting a full week.

At the particular wedding Jesus is talking about, ten virgins, which is more accurately translated from the original Greek as bridesmaids, were waiting to join in the procession, and they hoped to take part in the wedding banquet.

But when the groom didn't come at the expected time, five of them ran out of lamp oil. And by the time they had purchased extra oil, it was too late to join in the feast.

Now let's look at the parable with an understanding of the characters involved. The bridegroom is Jesus. The bridesmaids represent the church, which is all of us. The lamp is our Christian witness. The lamp oil represents our spiritual preparedness.

So let me re-read the parable with our understanding of the characters involved and let's see if we better understand the point Jesus is making.

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. The church folks thought they were ready to meet Jesus. 2 Half of them were foolish, and half were wise. 3 When the foolish shared their Christian witness, it was clear they were not fully prepared for Jesus return; 4 but the wise were prepared. 5 As Jesus was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is Jesus! Come out to meet him.' 7 Then the folks of the church got up and waited to share their witness.

8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Help us prepare, because our Christian witness is not strong.' 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! We can't prepare you; you had better go some place else to get ready.' 10 And while they were preparing, Jesus came, and those who were ready went with him into the heavenly kingdom; and the door was shut. 11 Later on, the other half of the church came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open the door to us.' 12 But the Lord replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' 13 Keep awake and be prepared, for you know neither the day nor the hour I will return." Jesus told this parable about the ten bridesmaids to clarify what it means to be ready for his return. When Jesus returns will we be spiritually ready, will we be prepared?

This parable teaches that everyone is responsible for his or her own spiritual condition and Christian witness. This means that no matter how much we may want to, we cannot project our faith or give our faith to another person.

However, what we can do is share our testimony, live as an example, and share the Gospel with passion; hoping people will claim Jesus Christ.

Nor can we take someone else's faith and claim it as our own. At the end of the day each person needs to make his or her own decision about Jesus. Each person has to accept or reject grace for themselves.

Preparation, we spend many hours of our lives preparing for things: Begin a new day For work To get the kids off to school Marching band competition last night A meal A date Conversation or perhaps a meeting Coming to church Retirement

There is no doubt we spend a great deal of time preparing for things, all of which is important. But in the midst of all this preparation do we take the necessary amount of time to prepare for the return of Jesus?

Right at the beginning of the parable Jesus says there are ten bridesmaids, five of them are foolish and five were wise. He tells us this because on the surface they all looked the same. All have come to the wedding; all ten have their lamps aglow with expectation; all ten presumably have on their bridesmaids gowns, there wearing color coordinated shoes, and carrying the same style lamp. We would never guess from their appearance, five were foolish and five were wise. Now it's not how the bridesmaids looked, the lamps, or the long dresses that sets the wise apart from the foolish – it's their readiness. Five of the bridesmaids are ready for the bridegroom to be delayed, but the other five are not.

The wise have enough oil for the feast to start whenever the bridegroom arrives; the foolish have only enough oil for their own time table. Five are prepared and ready, even for a delay; five are not.

Readiness means living the life of the kingdom, living the quality of life described in the scriptures, living a life of faithful Christian witness. Now many folks can do this for a short while; but it's when the kingdom is delayed, problems arise.

Being a peacemaker for a day or two isn't as demanding as being a peacemaker year after year, when hostility continues to break out time and time again, when Jesus is delayed.

Being understanding and merciful for an evening can be alright; however, being understanding and merciful for a lifetime, when the bridegroom is delayed, requires preparedness.

Feeding the hungry and providing a shelter for those with no housing might be ok over a couple of months; however providing for others for a lifetime, when Jesus is delayed, requires perseverance.

Being prepared for the return of Jesus is hard work, it requires patience, perseverance, persistence, and a daily choice to live as Christ prescribed, by loving God, loving others, and serving in the name of Jesus.

At the beginning of a life of faith, we can't really tell the followers of Jesus apart. We all look the same. We're all excited and eager to be good disciples. We read our Bibles, attend worship, and are excited about helping others in the name of Christ. Using the words of the parable we all have lamps; we're all excited about the coming wedding; we all know how to sing praises to our Lord. But as time goes by we soon spot some persons, or perhaps we see ourselves, attempting in vain to fan a dying flame back to life, our lamps begin to go dim, our passion wasn't what it once was, our Christian witness fades behind a veil of cultural influences. And as we observe others or look hard at ourselves we begin to distinguish wisdom from foolishness.

So the question we are challenged with today, is are we like the wise bridesmaids or are we like the foolish. Are we peacemakers, or problem makers? Are we understanding and merciful, or do we just not give a hoot? Are we focused on the kingdom of God, or are we focused on ourselves?

Are we prepared to meet Jesus when he comes, and are we prepared for his delay, meaning are we willing to be faithful over the long haul until he does come, or are we happy being nominal Christians, what John Wesley calls "almost Christians?"

Are we prepared to keep the faith through good times and bad, the up times and down times, through the desert times and mountain top times? We have a choice and it's not too late to make the choice to accept God's grace, to accept Jesus, to begin a new life, and to begin preparing for the coming of Christ.

The years we lived without Christ are gone, the years we lived as nominal Christians are gone, they can't be recaptured, we can't have a mulligan or a redo. We can't rewind our life and try again. The past is the past, and what's done is done.

But this doesn't mean it's too late. We can still get prepared and be ready for the coming wedding feast. What matters most is what we do from this moment forward. Do we take the time to prepare, or do we wing it hoping we can fool God?

So how do we get prepared? Do we have to do some ritualistic thing; do we have to say some special words?

No, what we need to do is accept the saving grace of Jesus, recognize that he is the Son of God, and follow his teachings. We need to live the Gospel in a wise and persuasive way, not foolishly or hypocritically.

We need to take the time every day to take that next step on our faith journey, to grow in our understanding of God and his call on our lives. We need to read scripture every day even if it's just a verse or two and pray to God to help us apply it to our lives. We need to seek to understand better our faith and what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and we need to serve others with our whole heart.

This is what it means to prepare and if we're to busy to prepare, then we're just too busy, and something needs to change with how we prioritize the things we do in our lives. Preparing for the coming of Christ is eternally wise; blowing Jesus off is eternally foolish!

So be prepared, stay faithful to your Christian witness, keep the lamp of hope burning, and be ready, because when Christ comes, he comes for the wise not the foolish. Amen!