Exhortation, September 12

The Bible gives a lot of attention to sacred architecture. About 1/3 of the book of Exodus is a detailed and repetitive description of the dimensions and furnishings of the tabernacle. We have two descriptions of the temple of Solomon, in 1 Kings 6-8 and 2 Chronicles 1-7. The last quarter of Ezekiel is a lengthy description of a temple that was never built, and was probably never intended to be built.

God could have told us all kinds of other things �Ehow Abraham felt when Yahweh told him to sacrifice Isaac, what exactly happened to the ark of the covenant after the exile, whether Jesus actually made clay birds fly during his childhood or where Jesus was between His death and resurrection, the exact timetable of the last days. We�d like to know a lot more about angels, and even more about demons. But Scripture gives us none of this. Instead, God saw fit to include chapter after chapter of detailed, obscure, nearly incomprehensible verbal blueprints. For those with an interest in architecture, or in ancient religion, these chapters are fascinating and their very obscurity is tantalizing. For many, they are drudgery. Our eyes glaze, our minds numbed. Paper was a valuable commodity in the ancient world; why did God, we wonder, choose to use so much for instructions that seem to have so little practical value?

In fact, there is much practical value in studying the sanctuaries of Israel, provided we learn to read them in the light of the New Testament. These chapters present the gospel, and point us to Jesus; they tell us what the church is; they give us instruction regarding our personal sanctification.

Your life as a Christian is a story of temple building: Each of you is a dwelling of the Spirit, and you look forward in hope to putting off the tent you are in now so that you can receive a temple, the resurrection body. And because each of you is a temple of the Spirit, you have to guard your life and heart from defilement. As I read the description of the temple later this morning, ask yourself: Does my heart resemble the glorious interior of the temple of Solomon? Is it adorned with gold, silver, precious stones? Or is it more like the temple in the time of Ezekiel, with idols carved on every wall? Is my life full of garbage that will drive the Spirit out? Or do I humbly confess my sins, seek cleansing, and diligently guard myself from everything unclean? Don�t let your eyes glaze or your mind wander. Instead, use these passages as an occasion for self-examination.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, September 12, 2004 at 08:51 AM

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