The Temple

The Lord God promised David that from his lineage would come one who would build the Temple of the Lord. Before this, though, God had told David that only God could build the House of God. Which is why it is so odd that Solomon was allowed to build the temple.

But consider the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. It was destroyed twice. Surely the House of the Lord cannot so easily be removed from this world.

Enter a man named Jesus. When asked about the Temple, he said that if it was torn down, he could undo the damage in three days' time. He was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day, he rose again.

The temple was made to, among other things, make sacrifices as atonement for sins. Christ's body was sacrificed as atonement for the sins of all humanity.

As mentioned in my post "Jewish Views on the Messiah", there were two views on the Anointed One: that it would be God or that it would be a king. I state that Christ fulfilled both of these views. This is further proof of that: Jesus is man in that he is the descendant of David who could build the true Temple and he is God for the very same reason.

This post is inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote, "The temple which the Jews were looking for was the Body of Christ, of which the temple of the Old Testament was but the shadow. Jesus was speaking of his human body. He knows that the temple of his earthly body will be destroyed, like the temple of Jerusalem. But he will rise again, and the new temple, the eternal temple, will be his risen and glorified body."

Rock on.