The Daily Word of Righteousness

Maturity in Christ, #3

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22)

Notice that the new Jerusalem itself is the Temple of God.

The splendor of God's holy Presence fills the city. There is no need of a separate temple by which to conceal the Glory of His Presence from His servants, because each of them has been made holy and wholly fit to behold His Face.

Jerusalem is destined to become the Throne of God, to become "Heaven."

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)

The new Jerusalem itself is the tabernacle of God. It is constructed from living stones, each of whom has been fashioned separately and uniquely into the image of Christ; each of whom is of the Substance of Christ through partaking of the Divine Nature (II Peter 1:4; John 6:57; I John 3:9; Hebrews 2:11; John 17:22).

We do not mean to imply there is not an actual city in which the saints will dwell and into which the nations of the saved may enter. The Scriptures state that there is.

However, the city itself reflects the virtues of character that have been created in the saints during their discipleship on the earth. These virtues are expressed in the precious stones that embellish the twelve foundations of the wall (I Corinthians 3:12).

When the Word of God comes to maturity in us we will be a suitable temple for God and Christ (John 14:23; Ephesians 2:21,22; 3:16-19). When the Father is satisfied with the work that has been done in us, we having been properly cut, seasoned, formed, finished, and polished, He then will put us into our place in the corporate Temple of God, the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Body of Christ.

We have stated that the mature Word of God is the image of Christ created in us, and that the image of Christ consists of the Character of Christ, the indwelling of the fullness of God, and a body fashioned from eternal resurrection life.

The maturing of the Character of Christ in us, and the indwelling of the Father and the Son, require that our body be brought into the state of eternal life. New wine must be put in new bottles. It is not surprising that the Apostle Paul groaned for his house from Heaven (II Corinthians 5:4)!

The body of the believer is the Temple of God.

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. (I Corinthians 6:15)

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (I Corinthians 6:19) (from Christ in You)