Everlasting Temple of God

Jesus answered them and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

(John 2:19–21)

The Body of Christ is a temple.

Just as in “Herod’s” Temple in Jerusalem (the temple to which the Jews refer here, the temple Jesus had just swept clean with a whip of cords), there are sacrifices—of the lips, of the heart, living sacrifices—in the Body-of-Christ temple. There are priests in it who pray and proclaim the Word of God. Praise to the heavenly Father is lifted up in this temple day and night. And the holy shekinah of God Himself resides there. Beautiful is the Body of Christ, as beautiful as ever shone the glistening gold and polished stone of the first-century temple on Mt. Zion.

There are differences as well, however. Herod’s Temple is no more, decimated to its last foundation only forty years after Jesus’ triumph and never rebuilt. The temple of the Body of Christ, on the other hand, has risen from its destruction, just as Jesus predicted, never to be destroyed again. The Body of Christ has been and will be persecuted in innumerable ways, but she will never be taken out.

Thus the worship of God continues forever, world without end. And all those who take shelter in this Temple-Risen-from-the-Dead will never die either, their voices preserved for the glory of God, their hearts rewarded for their undying praise.

“Great God in heaven above, we give You thanks for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and for our resurrection in Him. Thank You for establishing Your Church on the foundations that will stand forever, Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone. We pray, dear God, You would cleanse us and make us holy, that we as the Body of Christ might bring You glory and pure worship, and we pray You would fill us with Your Holy Spirit as You filled the temple of old with the cloud of Your Presence. For unto You alone belongs all praise and honor and glory and worship forever and ever. Amen.”