Through King David’s final exhortations to Solomon, David made known to his son that he would be the one to succeed him, and that he would be the one to “build a house for My name” (1 Chron 22:10).

Yet for us as New Testament believers, living on this side of the glory of the Cross, there is no need to collect the materials for the temple of God. We are the temple of God. Listen to the words of Paul to the church at Corinth in 1 Cor 6:19-20 (NKJV):

¹⁹ Or 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?

²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

Consider, my beloved, that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells within you by His Spirit. He is in us. Wherever we are, He IS!

This changes everything. Our temple worship is different from that of the Old Testament believer. For one, we do not make the annual journey to the Holy City where David did well to establish worship among God’s people.

Our duty is still to glorify God, nonetheless, and we do so with this Holy Spirit Temple. You see, we are not our own. We were bought at a price – the “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:19).

While I was an intern in the Spanish Ministry at Grace Community Church during my seminary years, a Spanish-speaking man came, seeking to pray with someone. He seemed to be troubled and anxious and wanting to urgently pray with somebody.

He said nothing of his circumstances but asked if I would pray with him with one condition: that we would go into the sanctuary and pray there in one of the pews. I had a lot of questions about this man, none of which he was willing to answer at the moment, except that he was determined to pray with someone in the sanctuary.

We walked through the office building and went into the sanctuary, where I prayed in general terms asking God to save this man in spite of his circumstances. “Grant him salvation, Lord.” In the end he thanked me and walked away. I never did see that man again.

I was left puzzled for days, and recalling this incident today, I remain puzzled. All I know is that this man was troubled by something he wouldn’t reveal, but for him, praying meant going “to the temple” to pray.

My prayer was and still is that this man would listen to the message of truth, the gospel (Eph 1:13); that God would save this troubled man; that he would know that to be a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit of God dwell within you (Rom 8:9); that he could pray as a true child of God and God would hear him, no matter the place, circumstance, or time.

I wonder how many of us take advantage of His presence in us. Does it change the way we live, our thoughts, our emotions, our actions?

As His people we bring our offerings – our very lives – as a living and holy sacrifice (Rom 12:1-2). We do not travel far to come into His presence. We do not need to storm the red doors of our sanctuary in Garden Valley to be with Him, but we come having confidence “to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 10:19), making known to Him our praises, our troubles, our thanksgivings. We draw near to Him and live to His glory, remembering that this house, this body, exists for His Name.