God's Sanctuary
Since believers are God's
New Testament temple,
we should more and more reflect
His holiness as we grow together in Jesus Christ.
Here's Gene:
Going back to Exodus 25, verses 8 and 9.
This is what God is saying now.
He's revealing His law and His plan to Moses.
They are to make a sanctuary for Me so
that I may dwell among them. ...
God has a plan to dwell among these
people through the tabernacle,
which involves the most holy place--
with the ark of the covenant.
Where He will reveal Himself.
His holiness will be there.
Only the high priest could go into the
holy of holies. But only once a year,
after a lot of purification rites.
Then there's the holy place.
It's separated with a veil.
And the priest could go into the holy place
but not into the most holy place.
Only the high priest could go there and
only once a year.
And so God reveals this sanctuary
where He's going to reveal Himself to these people.
God goes on to say:
...You must make it according to all that I show you--
the design of the tabernacle as well as
the design of all its furnishings.
Very complex plan, which God is revealing.
Now let me make a comment here
about God's sanctuary that was
revealed there at Mount Sinai.
After outlining the Ten Commandments...
and we've seen how God did that.
The Ten Commandments:
our relationship with God,
our relationship with one another.
...followed by a series of specific laws...
on how to actually apply the
Ten Commandments there in this
Old Testament setting.
...God then revealed a detailed plan for
building the Tabernacle,
including various pieces of furniture.
And that's what we see in Exodus 25
through chapter 27.
Very detailed explanation of all of these
pieces of furniture.
How the tabernacle was going to be built--.
it was supposed to be built.
Now, moving on into the New Testament,
we still have the word 'sanctuary' used
but in a totally different way.
When Jesus died, the huge veil in the
temple in Jerusalem separating the holy place
from the most holy place was split down the middle. ...
Now let me simply say that back in
Moses's day, they had the tabernacle
which was transported.
Eventually they built a temple.
But within this temple was the most holy place and the holy place.
And that always existed in the temple.
In Solomon's temple.
In Zerubbabel's temple that was rebuilt.
In Herod's temple--the one he rebuilt
when Jesus walked the earth.
That holy place and most holy place
was within the temple.
Always there. Which was part of what originally was the tabernacle.
But the veil--that veil, a huge veil--
that separated the most holy place from the holy place.
When Jesus died that veil miraculously
was rent from the top to the bottom.
And what that means is:
no longer are we separated from God
and worshiping Him and coming into His presence.
Because Jesus Christ became the
once-for-all sacrificial Lamb.
So let me just restate this:
When Jesus died, the huge veil in the
Temple in Jerusalem separating the
Holy Place from the Most Holy Place
was split down the middle.
From that point forward, there was no
need for an earthly tabernacle.
An earthly sanctuary.
...[You see,] all true believers, both Jew and Gentile,
are God's living sanctuary.
We are God's living, holy sanctuary.
And we read about this in Ephesians chapter 2,
where Paul used several metaphors. He says this:
So then you are no longer foreigners
and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints,
members of God's household...
There he uses the metaphor that we are
God's household, God's family.
...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
The whole building...
And now he moves from the household
metaphor to the building metaphor.
We're a building.
Now, not literally a building like the
tabernacle but we are a building.
...The whole building is being fitted
together in Him and is growing into [what?]
a holy sanctuary in the Lord...
We are God's sanctuary.
God dwells within us through His Holy Spirit.
The veil of the temple has been rent
and we can go right into the very presence of God.
But we are to become a holy sanctuary,
reflecting who Jesus Christ is.
...a holy sanctuary in the Lord,
in whom you also are being built together
for God's dwelling in the Spirit.
And so that raises another question and that is:
How can every local community of faith--
every local church--
which is God's living sanctuary, reflect His holiness?
We know we're to do that because
we're to become a holy sanctuary.
Paul talks about that in Ephesians chapter 2.
But when you get to chapter 4,
we have very specific instructions on
how we become this holy sanctuary.
And so we see Paul saying--
and he uses a metaphor to do it. He says:
I, therefore, [chapter 4] the prisoner in the Lord,
urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.
You have been called to be this holy sanctuary.
You are members of this building.
You are members of God's household.
Now, how do you actually reflect God's holiness?
How do you become this holy sanctuary?
Well, he goes on and he uses the same
verb "peripateo" is the Greek word, the verb "to walk."
And so he develops that metaphorical
word when he says in Ephesians 4:17:
Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord:
You should no longer walk...
That's from that same Greek word.
...[You're] no longer [to] walk as the
Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.
So, he's explaining how we become
this holy sanctuary.
He goes on in Ephesians 5:1 and 2
to use the word again.
Therefore, be imitators of God,
as dearly loved children.
And walk in love... [same word].
...walk in love, as the Messiah also loved
us and gave Himself for us,
a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
There basically, he is saying what Jesus said.
That we're to love one another as
He has loved us.
As we walk among each other and also the world.
And then in Ephesians 5:8 he uses
another metaphor combined with the
metaphor "to walk."
For you were once darkness,
but now [you are] light in the [world].
Walk as children of light..."
How do we walk in love?
How do we not walk as the Gentiles walked?
...[We] walk as children of light--
for the fruit of the light [results] in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth--
discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.
Walk in the light.
And then he culminates with this. He says:
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk...
If you're going to walk worthy,
you have to give
careful attention to how you walk--
...not as unwise people but as wise--
making the most of the time,
because the days are evil.
So don't be foolish, but understand
what the Lord's will is.
And that's a fascinating statement if
you compare it with Romans 12:1 and 2.
Because in Romans 12:1 and 2,
we are told to present our bodies to the Lord,
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is our reasonable service.
Don't be conformed to the world.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you'll be able to [do what?]
prove what is the good, acceptable, and
perfect will of God.
See, Paul is saying the same thing in the
letter to the Ephesians but spelling it out
in terms of how to become this holy sanctuary-- God's holy sanctuary.