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Living Stones
https://youtu.be/XRItDu1WQP4
25-Jun-2023
Ephesians 2:20-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
I have been spending some time looking at the re-built temple in the Old Testament; how the returning exiles from Babylon had to rebuild a derelict temple. I have reminded us of the New Testament imagery of the temple as depicting both Christian individuals (1 Corinthians 6:19 – your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit) and the church:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Back in the Old Testament, the temple was a sacred and holy place. People came from miles around to worship, to bring their sacrifices, to celebrate amazing festivals, and to seek God’s presence. Here in the New Testament we see that we as God’s temple are still just as sacred! 1 Cor 3:17 says that this temple is so sacred that if anyone destroys it, God will destroy that person.
My daily readings have this week taken me to 1 Kings 6 which tells us all about the building of the original temple, built by Solomon.
As I read the details of the building of this spectacular building, constructed to give glory to God and symbolise the place of his presence, one verse stood out to me. Let’s read a portion of that chapter and I bet you can’t guess which verse it is!
1 Kings 6
14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, panelling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
The verse that stood out to me was this:
18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
I said you wouldn’t guess it!
The reason? First we see that the temple was made of ‘dressed stone’, meaning each stone was shaped and finished, rather than rough and raw from the quarry. This means it didn’t need to be covered up, plastered over or concealed with render as such. It was presentable as it was. If you go into some of our most ornate and beautiful ancient buildings today you will often see exposed stone. It’s a beautiful thing!
And then I remembered that although the Bible refers to Jesus as the cornerstone of our spiritual temple, we as Christians are also like ‘living stones.’
We have been dressed like stone when Christ pulled us out of the quarry, washed our sins away and made us holy in his sight. Now as far as he is concerned, we are saints!
View all episodes
By Brixham Community Church
4
11 ratings
https://youtu.be/XRItDu1WQP4
25-Jun-2023
Ephesians 2:20-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
I have been spending some time looking at the re-built temple in the Old Testament; how the returning exiles from Babylon had to rebuild a derelict temple. I have reminded us of the New Testament imagery of the temple as depicting both Christian individuals (1 Corinthians 6:19 – your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit) and the church:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Back in the Old Testament, the temple was a sacred and holy place. People came from miles around to worship, to bring their sacrifices, to celebrate amazing festivals, and to seek God’s presence. Here in the New Testament we see that we as God’s temple are still just as sacred! 1 Cor 3:17 says that this temple is so sacred that if anyone destroys it, God will destroy that person.
My daily readings have this week taken me to 1 Kings 6 which tells us all about the building of the original temple, built by Solomon.
As I read the details of the building of this spectacular building, constructed to give glory to God and symbolise the place of his presence, one verse stood out to me. Let’s read a portion of that chapter and I bet you can’t guess which verse it is!
1 Kings 6
14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, panelling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
The verse that stood out to me was this:
18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
I said you wouldn’t guess it!
The reason? First we see that the temple was made of ‘dressed stone’, meaning each stone was shaped and finished, rather than rough and raw from the quarry. This means it didn’t need to be covered up, plastered over or concealed with render as such. It was presentable as it was. If you go into some of our most ornate and beautiful ancient buildings today you will often see exposed stone. It’s a beautiful thing!
And then I remembered that although the Bible refers to Jesus as the cornerstone of our spiritual temple, we as Christians are also like ‘living stones.’
We have been dressed like stone when Christ pulled us out of the quarry, washed our sins away and made us holy in his sight. Now as far as he is concerned, we are saints!