17 Apr 2016
When one travels to Europe and elsewhere, one can see many beautifully-built Cathedrals and Churches. These buildings were erected for man to worship God and dedicated to His glory. Therefore, it was appropriate that it should be as grand and as beautiful as wealth and human skill could make it.
During the time of King Solomon, when the first Temple was built, it was to be a place for God to dwell with the people. King David had wanted to build a Temple for God and had declared to the prophet Nathan, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent” (2 Samuel 7:2). However King David was told by God that King Solomon will build the Temple for Him. Sadly the Israelites did not meet God inside the Temple. Only the priests were allowed to enter the Temple with the sacrifices and only the Chief Priest enters the Holy of Holies once a year. When King Solomon built the Temple, he prayed: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place” (1 Kings 8:27-30).
It was in the New Testament Epistles that the teaching of God dwelling in Christians individually and collectively was taught. This was because Jesus, the Son of God, had come to die on the cross to redeem people from their sins. Christians can now have direct access to God.
In the Old Testament, there were strict orders on the sacrifices to be made at the Temple. The animal sacrifices were all to be without defects. Similarly, Christians who had been saved by the precious blood of Jesus were to live holy lives and to be separate from the world. Apostle Paul pleaded with the Christians in Rome to offer, instead of animal sacrifices, themselves to God’s will and His service as the way of proper worship: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). When we meet regularly as a Church we can joyfully sing:
We are gathered as the body of our Lord
And we worship Him in one accord
For He does not dwell in buildings made of stone
He dwells within the hearts of men alone.
