Temple of the Most High God

Isaiah 2:2-3 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

The dwelling place of God took many forms throughout history. God dwelt in Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, and in the man Jesus. Solomon's temple was the first physical building. After Solomon finished the temple God's presence filled it. 1 Kings 6:12-13 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.” 1 Kings 8:6, 10-13 "The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.'" 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 "When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said:“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." The dedication of the temple would have been an exciting event to witness. Being in the crowd and knowing God's presence is just beyond the walls in front of you would have been awe inspiring. The temple and the tabernacle before it were physical locations on earth where God had chosen to dwell with man. It was a place that God paid special attention to. His ears were uniquely attentive to the prayers offered in it. The desire of God to dwell with man is one that is repeated many times through scripture (Exodus 25:8, 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:11-12, 1 Kings 6:13, Ezekiel 37:27, 43:7, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Revelation 21:3). This tells us something encouraging about God. He loves us and wants to live with us. He wants to be around us. He wants to be near us. How should we respond to this? Well lets look at some examples from scripture of how people felt about the temple and God living among us. "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." Psalm 84:1-2 The writer here is expressing a physical desiring and yearning to be near God. He feels it in his very self. He wants to be around God. "How happy are those who reside in Your house, who praise You continually. Selah Happy are the people whose strength is in You,whose hearts are set on pilgrimage... They go from strength to strength;each appears before God in Zion." Psalm 84:4-5,7 HCSB He explains that those who are in the temple are happy, and those who travel to visit temple are happy. He is teaching us where true happiness comes from, a life that is near God. We grow stronger when we journey closer to God. "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield" Psalm 84:20-21a These are strong words. There is no place on earth that the author would rather be than in temple of God, than to be near the Lord Almighty. I am sure if you asked someone if they could be anywhere is the world and where it would be, you would get a very different answer. I myself would love to be on a beach. But he saw through the distractions of this world and desired to rather be with the one who made them. A similar desire is expressed in another Psalm. "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." Psalm 27:4 Again we see very strong language, this time if the author could ask anything of God he would ask for permission to live in his presence forever. We ask God for all sorts of things, I would venture to guess that it is rarely to dwell in God's presence, but this is exactly what we need. All of our earthly desires are us trying to fill the whole in our hearts that only God can fill. The situation is different for us. For us there is no physical temple where we can go to be in the presence of God. However there is today a temple, albeit of a different nature. "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple." 1Corinthians 3:16-17 "What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them,and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" 2 Corinthians 6:16 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord." Ephesians 2:19-21 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 According to God's word, the church, not the building but the group of believers on earth, is the temple today. The church is where God dwells through his Spirit, and when the church gathers together God is there among them. So just as the Psalmist longed to be in the temple, we should be filled with a longing to be with the church, because when we are there we are in God's presence. In God's presence is where we grow strong, where we find true happiness, and where we find what our hearts long for. So let us like the early church devote ourselves to the fellowship, even daily fellowship (Acts 2:42-46).