The True Temple

When he was 48, Johann Sebastian Bach (who died in 1750) acquired a copy of Luther's three-volume translation of the Bible. He pored over it as if it were a long-lost treasure. He underlined passages, corrected errors in the text and commentary, inserted missing words, and made notes in the margins. Near 1 Chronicles 25 (a listing of Davidic musicians) he wrote, "This chapter is the true foundation of all God-pleasing music." At 2 Chronicles 5:13, which speaks of temple musicians praising God, he noted, "At a reverent performance of music, God is always at hand with his gracious presence."

Understanding the temple we find very quick the relationship of the temple and the presence of God. This is the beauty of what we find when it comes to the character of our living God… He desires to be with His people. He desires to tabernacle with us. To live with us, to dwell with us. All the fuss over the temple of the Lord. The end of exodus concerned the tabernacle of God. The entire book of Leviticus is about us standing before the Lord and the second half is walking with the Lord. How amazing the desire of the Lord for His people.

But many of us today struggle with this reality. Have we as the church taken up the posture that the Lord is just no where to be found. He is the absentee landlord. Why does He let so much injustice happen? Why does He not not do anything about all this stuff going on in the world today? Lord where are you? For many of us in the church today we have been asking this question for so long that we are beginning to just live as if God is not there. The label today… some Christians today are called functional atheist.

Paul Tripp writes, “I’m concerned with the level of functional atheism that exists in the church of Jesus Christ. Yes, we believe that God exists, that he created the heavens and the earth, that the Bible is accurate, and that paradise awaits, but we often live—at a functional level—as if there is no God. We worry too much. We control too much. We demand too much. We regret too much. We run after God replacements too much. We do all these things because we have forgotten God’s presence, power, and glory. If you look around and look at yourself, you’ll see evidence of functional atheism everywhere in the lives of Christians. This week, how many thoughts did you have, words did you speak, or decisions did you make that omitted the Lord from your process entirely?”

We believe that Jesus said he will never leave us nor forsake us, but we live as if He never said it at all. The reason why we do this, is because we always judge the nearness of God in light of our circumstances. The presence of God is decided by how well or how bad our lives are going. Everything going well, God is near. Everything going bad, God is far. We will never get it right if we keep assessing our Lord this way. We have got to trust the scriptures. We will fail in our interpretation of the character of God and His work if we look outside of the scriptures. We will fail to properly measure Christ. And we will diminish Him. We will lose sight of what truly matters when it come to the matters of the Heart of God. But the scriptures show us so much. The scriptures make it clear. The word is the lamp. Let’s take a look today.

Haggai 2:6–9 NLT

“For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

A Shaking

The Silver and Gold

The Future Glory

The Prince of Peace

The first thing we will look at today is the startling picture of the Lord’s shaking the world event. The second thing we will encounter is the sobering reality riches. Third, we see the beautiful reality of what is intended by a glory that is greater than the past glory. And finally, we will rejoice because the Lord has brought us peace through His Son the prince of peace.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to lose hope in the apparent distance we feel because of our sinful perspective, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will help us to see the beauty of the presence of Christ the real and greater glory of God in the universe.

I. A Shaking

- The picture of the power of God.

A. God is making it clear to us all that it is His mighty power that will restore everything to its fullness. So be patient people of God. The Lord is mighty and He will begin to shake it up. Nothing and no one in this world can shake the heavens and the earth. The author of the book of Hebrews tells us what this means...

Hebrews 12:26–27 NLT

When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

B. God, when he redeemed his people from Egypt, as well as from Babylon, moved the earth: but now the Prophet announces here something greater—that God would shake the heaven and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. Something super powerful was gonna happen.

C. Do not fix your eyes on the temple at hand. Do not despair. Do not be concerned… I am with you. And instead of failing in His promises to His people, He will shake and transform the universe. If I gotta move the heaven and the earth, if I gotta dry up the oceans and flood the land… I will not fail at restoring you my church you my people.

D. There is nothing in this world that can keep the Lord from fulfilling His promises. Take heart children of God today. God will not hesitate in throwing the world, the universe, the heavens, into utter confusion if that is what it will take to fulfill His promises. And know what He did in Egypt. And you know what He did while you were in Babylon. He just shook the earth, now I’m gonna shake it all up. You know I am able to do this.

E. There is no question today… Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine. Do we believe that He is able. In our struggle with functional atheism do we doubt that God can do it? Do we walk through life showing the World that we know that our Lord is able? Do we walk through life showing the world that we believe that our God will shake the whole world if it means keeping His promise. Look… lots happening to me in my life today and I want all of you to know that He will shake the heavens, the earth, the oceans, the dry land to ensure that I bring glory to Him and that I will enjoy Him forever. Do we believe this? Do we walk as if He is able?

II. The Silver and Gold

- All the riches in the World belong to God.

A. Yeah… He will even shake the nations. He will arrest the attention of the mortals in the world and He will bend them to do His will. No one can resist the Lord. He will cause the nations to bring their desires and their wealth to accomplish the purposes of the Lord.

Dr. Baldwin writes, “Haggai foresees the whole universe in such a series of convulsions that every nation will gladly part with its treasures. These will be brought to add beauty upon beauty to the temple until it is filled with splendour.”

B. The silver and Gold belong to God… what ever riches anyone has it belongs to God and He will shake it loose from you to accomplish His purposes. He will transfer all of the wealth in the world to and from anywhere He wants, because it is all His. We see a real demonstration of it all in Ezra...

Ezra 6:8–12 NLT

“Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this Temple of God. You must pay the full construction costs, without delay, from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted. “Give the priests in Jerusalem whatever is needed in the way of young bulls, rams, and male lambs for the burnt offerings presented to the God of heaven. And without fail, provide them with as much wheat, salt, wine, and olive oil as they need each day. Then they will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the welfare of the king and his sons. “Those who violate this decree in any way will have a beam pulled from their house. Then they will be lifted up and impaled on it, and their house will be reduced to a pile of rubble. May the God who has chosen the city of Jerusalem as the place to honor his name destroy any king or nation that violates this command and destroys this Temple. “I, Darius, have issued this decree. Let it be obeyed with all diligence.”

C. This financial provision probably arrived just after Haggai’s daring claim that their God owned all wealth and would meet their need. Later Herod the Great and his successors were to lavish wealth on the temple.

D. We are not to worry about getting what we need. This is a clear demonstration of the way wealth works in the kingdom of God. No matter how it is gotten and or acquired, the bottom line is that all of it belongs to God. He will shake it from you to give it to whom He desires. This is a clear illustration of the proverb...

Proverbs 13:22 NIV

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

E. If God needs to get us resources, He will get us the resources we need to accomplish what we need. We ask but then we fret not. We believe we pray and we do not panic. We make our requests known and we do not freak out. The Silver and the Gold all belong to the Lord. Do you believe it today?

III. The Future Glory

- Christ has come.

A. It is not hard to understand what is meant by the future glory of the temple will be greater than the past glory. But it can be if we do not understand the real point and purpose of the scriptures.

B. Don’t get me wrong… Herods work on the temple of the Lord was amazing, outstanding, and unbelievable. The disciples of Christ marveled at it. As amazing as it was could it really compete with Solomon’s? It was bigger and it has a lot of precious treasure, but no shekinah glory, no miraculous fire, no smoke, and the Ark of the covenant was not there. No way Herod’s temple was gonna out do Solomon’s. So was God wrong? No. But think about it… there is only one way the glory would be greater than Solomon’s. The only way you are gonna beat the shekinah glory, the miraculous fire, and the Ark of the covenant in its place. Only one way to top the mighty powerful and holy symbols of the presence of God… only one way to beat it… The actual presence of God.

C. And Haggai’s depiction of the glory of God in this temple being greater than that of Solomon’s temple was fulfilled the minute the King of kings, the alpha and the omega, the Son of God, the mighty prince of peace… our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ stepped foot in that temple. And what a wonder that was...

Luke 2:27–32 NLT

That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

D. This was not a symbol of the presence of God… it was the word made flesh and dwelt among us presence of God. In the way and the only way we could say anything about being greater than the powerful and awesome presence of God in Solomon’s temple. The saw the miraculous work of God in the temple, we saw the zeal of God in the temple, we saw the passion of God in the temple as well as the mercy and compassion of the Lord in the temple. The glory was greater because Christ was present at the temple. And the curtain from the temple was torn when Christ died and God shook the earth once more when the Romans came in AD 70 to destroy the temple once more and it has not been rebuilt to this very day. Why?

Matthew 12:6 NLT

I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple!

John 2:13–22 NLT

It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

E. Jesus our Lord and Savior is the true temple of God. It does not now nor never need to be rebuilt because we have one that is infinitely better and He is doing much more than any earthly temple can do, because He is alive and well sitting at the right hand off the Father with all authority in heaven and on earth given to Him as we now watch as the Father is making the enemies of Christ His footstool. He ruling and reigning right now on the earth as king in the hearts of His people here who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And he though the power of the Holy Spirit is applying the power and benefits of the salvation and restoration of God on all creation, with the Jew first and then to the Greek. The blood he shed on the cross is infinitely greater than any blood shed on the brazen altars of any temple that would be built here. The perpetual fire is not greater than the consuming fire that our God is. The cleansing of Christ is greater then the cleansing that happens in the copper basin the laver for washing. The light that Jesus our Lord gives is greater than the light that the golden lampstand would give. The body of Christ that we eat is greater than any of the showbread on the golden table. The prayer and intercession of Christ is greater than any incense buring on the golden altar of inscence. And as for the Ark… In Christ is the righteousness of God, in Christ is life and life more abundant, and Christ is our mediator and intercessor, so much greater than the tablets, the manna, and Aarons staff that budded. And as for the mercy seat...

IV. The Prince of Peace

- He brought peace with God.

A. Haggai said that God would bring peace.

Romans 3:25 NLT

For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

B. Peace came when the blood of Christ was shed. For we were all enemies with God. At war with Him through our rebellion. At odds with Him though wickedness. Separated in conflict because of our sin. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. If you have broken the smallest of commands you are as guilty as those who who have broken all of them. We are deserving of the outer darkness, deserving of the eternal fire, we are deserving of weeping and gnashing of teeth. But God brought peace. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

C. Is there salvation? You better believe it. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

D. And the promises continue that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Confess your sins and he faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Luke 2:14 NLT

“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

E. He sent Jesus and now we have peace. And what a wonderful peace. And not just for today but forever. And we have it because of the wonderful presence of the living God. And we will have it forever. Jesus said and Lo I am with you always till the end of the age. He is with us and He will always be with us. He is the true temple of God.