The Temple of God

The Temple of God

By Apostle Felix

14 Don’t continue to team up with unbelievers in mismatched alliances, for what partnership is there between righteousness and rebellion? Who could mingle light with darkness? 15  What harmony can there be between Christ and Satan? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16  What friendship does God’s temple have with demons? For indeed, we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said: I will make my home in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 17  For this reason, “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch nothing that is unclean, and I will embrace you. 18  I will be a true Father to you, and you will be my beloved sons and daughters,” says the Lord Yahweh Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 18

The temple is a place regarded as a holy place and devoted to a deity’s habitation and activities. In religion, a temple is revered in the same way a deity is revered. It is holy and sacred. In both, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the analogy of the temple is quiet distinct. There are temples of the devils and the temple of God. The distinguishing factor between the two is the Christ. Any temple that is void of Christ is of devils, no matter how decorated with scriptures it can be. Christ is the game changer. In the Old Testament, before God ordered Moses to build a sanctuary for His presence, there were other temples dedicated to other gods. The Israelites were not ignorant of those temples. They worshiped the Egyptians gods in those temples. That was the reason why they resorted to making a golden calf just after they crossed the Red sea. It was a thing they did all the time they were in Egypt, worshiping other gods in their temples. The nature of worship had to with extreme indulgence in sinful acts, such as sexual perversion (homosexuality, adultery, fornication, bestiality etc), drunkenness and all sorts of wickedness. So when Israel came out of Egypt, God decided to give Israel the template of His temple, and the order of worship.

15  Don’t you know that your bodies belong to Christ as his body parts? Should one presume to take the members of Christ’s body and make them into members of a harlot? Absolutely not! 16  Aren’t you aware of the fact that when anyone sleeps with a prostitute he becomes a part of her, and she becomes a part of him? For it has been declared: The two become a single body. 17  But the one who joins himself to the Lord is mingled into one spirit with him. 18  This is why you must keep running away from sexual immorality. For every other sin a person commits is external to the body, but immorality involves sinning against your own body. 19  Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. 20  You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God! 1 Corinthians 6: 16 – 20

True worship starts with the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. True worship can only happen in a temple where Jesus is domiciled. Jesus talked about true worshipers that will come in the last days, who will worship the Father in spirit and truth, John 4: 23, 24. The contention there, between Jesus and the woman at the well was a place of worship. The woman’s view of worship was a particular location that was dedicated to a deity, regardless of how one’s lifestyle is. But Jesus came to dismiss that view and turn our very lives into living temples. God never intended to live in  buildings built by men, but to live in temples He Himself built, which are our lives. This is the reason why the devils are competing to occupy humans is because these are real temples. Devils are not interested in living in houses built by men, but they want to live in human bodies. This is the reason, you and me cannot afford to live without Christ in our lives. When a life is infested with devils, it becomes a temple of devils where all evil is bound to happen. But thanks be to God who has saved us through the death and the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. His body was destroyed because He became sin for our sake so that we can become the righteousness of God.

21  For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5: 21

Your body has become the temple of God, where God dwells. Your body is no longer a temple of devils, therefore your body is meant for worship. Child of God, you are longer the old you, but you are now the new creation in Christ. The old, that is the temple of sin,  is gone. Jesus destroyed it and gave us a new temple. A holy temple. Live like one.