Then/Stone

God is pleased

Here’s what they did, and God was pleased. God changes not! If He was Pleased with it then, He will be pleased with it now.

Josiah Restores True Worship

2 Kings 23:1-4 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. ² The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. ³ Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. ⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

Worshipping God

2 Samuel 12:20 So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.

Psalm 5:7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

Jeremiah 7:2 “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’”

Jeremiah 26:2 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.

Isaiah 66:1-2 “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? Where is the place of My rest? ² For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “ But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.

Matthew 2:11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

God is not pleased

What else happened in God’s house of worship? Is He being worshiped there? Can He see the practises taking place in the place of worship? Yes He does! (Nothing New). Here’s what they did, and God was not pleased. What makes us believe He will be pleased with it now? Be warned, if this is happening in God’s temple, or place of worship.

Psalm 79:1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

Acts 7:41-42 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. ⁴² Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets.

Idol Worship

Ezekiel 8:16-17 So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.

Isaiah 37:38 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Money handling in the temple

Matthew 21:12-13 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³ And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

1 Corinthians 3:17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

John 2:18-19-22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²² Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now/Flesh

Where, or rather who is God’s temple today?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

God’s Temple

Matthew 12:6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is ONE greater than the temple. (Building or people)

Matthew 24: 1-2 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

Why was the stone temple destroyed? It could not be trusted. He replaced it with a flesh one. YOU and ME saints. God does not dwell in temples made by man. He created His own temple. You and I were created in God’s image, and so He lives in us, and we are today His temple. Keep it holy.

God’s temple

John 4:21-23 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

God’s Temple Now: His people, not a building. The old temple is destroyed, and the present temple is made of flesh. Soon, this temporary temple will be changed into heavenly bodies, which will never be destroyed, and the eternal temple will be The Father and The Son. GOD’S EVERLASTING TEMPLE. (Rev 21:22 – But I saw NO temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple). God be praised!

God’s Temple

1 Corinthians 15:50-54 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

God’s Temple

Matthew 12:6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is ONE greater than the temple. (Building or people)

Soon/God & His Son

The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Revelation 21:3 I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21: 22-26 But I saw NO temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.²⁵ Its gates shall not be shut at all by day there shall be no night there. ²⁶ And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. ²⁷ But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Revelation 22: 1-5 He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. ² In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. ⁴ They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. ⁵ There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

Can we even for a short time be trusted with God’s temple? Please, keep God’s temple HOLY. They could not be trusted with the stone temple, we cannot be trusted with the flesh temple, but Glory be to GOD! HIS SON has finally proved that He can be trusted with it, and will share this (Temple) with God, guiding us in its light. Only the Father and the Son are its temple (Rev.21:22). I pray God will enable His Holy Spirit to sustain us, as we travel on the narrow way to victory.