The Temples of God (15): The Temple Blueprint (1)

Explore the divine blueprint of God's Temples and learn how they reflect His ultimate Temple: redeemed man in Christ. We're designed to be Temples of the Living God, in the image of Christ, the perfect human Temple of God. In union with Him, by His Spirit, He transforms us into His image from glory to glory. God’s will for us as His Temples is to be filled with His Spirit, who indwells our holy of holies (SPIRIT), and also wants to fill our holy place (SOUL) and our BODY. The Tabernacle with all its furnishings was made according to a Divine Pattern (Ex 25:9,20, 26:30, Num 8:4, Acts 7:44, Heb 8:1-6). So, the earthly Tabernacle was made after the image of the heavenly Temple. The primary fulfilment of the typology of the Tabernacle is Jesus Himself. God came down to dwell among His people, by dwelling in a perfect human Tabernacle (John 1:1-14). The prophetic picture of the Tabernacle was perfectly fulfilled in the human nature of Jesus (Col 2:9). He was also filled with God’s glory through the indwelling Spirit. He was the perfect prototype human Temple of God, the basis for all future human Temples of God. By His death & resurrection, He made it possible to multiply Himself in us, like a seed planted in the earth & rising again in multiplied form (John 12:24). When anyone receives Jesus, they are put into union with Him and become living stones in His Temple built on Him, their living Foundation, and He begins to change them into His image - first, by recreating our spirits in the New Birth, then by transforming our souls, and finally by glorifying our bodies. So, Christ is not just the fulfilment of the Tabernacle pattern, the perfect human prototype Temple, but also, the transforming power that changes us into His image as God’s Temple, on the basis of His death & resurrection, so that we also become Temples of God, like Him. Thus, the pattern of the Tabernacle of Moses is primarily fulfilled in Christ, and 2ndly in us, His Body. God now lives in us, and wants to shine His glory through us. To make this all possible, on the Cross Christ fulfilled the Law of the Burnt Offering (Lev 1:1-12) & the Sin Offering (Lev 4:1-35). During the first 3 hours on the Cross, He offered Himself up as a sweet-selling burnt offering to the Lord (Eph 5:2). He identified with us and offered Himself for us, offering up His perfect human righteousness to God, to be accepted on our behalf, so that in Him we might be possess & be covered in His righteousness. On the basis of this aspect of the Cross, His righteousness is offered to us as a free-gift. From noon until 3pm, He fulfilled the type of the Sin Offering. He who knew no sin became sin for us on the Cross (2Cor 5:21). God signified this in the heavens by turning the sun to darkness, a picture of the radiant Sun of righteousness being covered with the darkness of our sin. In His Atonement, He paid the penalty in full for all our sins, so we can be forgiven, if we trust in Him. As our Sin-Offering, He took our sin and the punishment we deserved, releasing God's forgiveness & mercy to us, and as our Burnt Offering, He released His righteousness & life to us as a free-gift of grace. Christ's Altar of Burnt Offering is the everlasting power source for all of God’s human Temples forever, for He gave Himself for us to release His everlasting righteousness & life, which will uphold us for all eternity. The truth that His Sacrifice is forever effectual in satisfying God and in releasing His grace to us is revealed in the Law of the Burnt Offering (Lev 6:8-13). His act of obedience in offering Himself up for us on the Cross provides for us an abundant everlasting source of grace (Rom 5:8-21). By His once for all perfect offering, He gave us His righteousness, grace & life, as our everlasting possession. As one moves toward the Holy Place of worship, after the Altar of Burnt Offering was the Laver (Ex 40:30). (1) He sacrificed Himself on the Cross for His Bride (represented by the Bronze Altar), so that (2) He might sanctify & cleanse us by the WASHING of His WORD (the Bronze Laver) - Eph 5:26. The LAVER represents God's WRITTEN WORD, which reveals His LIVING WORD – Christ, the source of eternal life (John 5:39-40). As we look into the Mirror of God’s Word, the glory of the Person & Life of Christ is revealed to us, and His Spirit cleanses us from sin & sanctifies us to God (2Cor 3:18). The more we're cleansed & sanctified, the closer we can draw near to God to fellowship with Him and know Him (Heb 12:14, Matt 5:8). The Holy of Holies represents the spirit of man, in which was: “the Ark of the Covenant, in which were the Golden Pot of Manna, Aaron’s Rod that budded & the Tablets of the Covenant” (Heb 9:3-4). These 3 items in the Holy of Holies correspond to the 3 items in the Holy Place, for the soul is made in the image of the spirit, designed to express & manifest the life & nature of the spirit.