Truly Blasphemous

 

For the last few days I have been reading the end of 1 Chronicles and the beginnings of 2 Chronicles in my devotions, and I am even more convinced than ever that the temple cannot and should not even be attempted to rebuilt. Indeed, to do so would be a terrible blasphemy.

Why?

Well if you read 2 Chronicles 1-5 you will see that the building of the temple is presented there to be an act of pure worship. Even before that with David collecting the resources to build it, it was done in worship,

“14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. 19 Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision” (1 Chronicles 29:14-19).

David got it into his heart to build the temple because of his love for God, and his desire for God to be honoured above all other gods. Solomon who actually built it had the same desire. But David carefully and extravagantly provided Solomon with the plans, the resources, the workers, the trade alliances, and the peace to make it happen. Because he loved God so much. The building of the temple was an act of worship.

How can a nation which rejects God outright build something which must and can only be an act of worship? The country called Israel does not worship the God of the Bible. Their leaders reject him, their nation as a whole, with some exceptions, reject him. Some Christians think Israelis do worship God apart from Christ. But this is to confuse everything the Bible says. Jesus is not only the perfect representation of the father, he is the only way to Father (John 14:1-9). To reject Jesus is to reject the Father and choose the devil (John 8, 1 John 3). No exceptions. This is the basis of bible's teaching about salvation, you must come through Jesus. So, those who reject God cannot build a temple unto him, if they were to build it, it would be a temple to Moloch or Remphan (cf. Acts 7:42-43). Hence it would be blasphemy to rebuild it. God will not rest his presence on such a structure hence it would never be the temple.

Christians, however, do worship him. But we know that Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed and he would rebuild it in three days, and the Apostles tell us in the gospels he was referring to his own body (John 2:18-22). For Christians Jesus is the temple, and his presence makes our bodies and our gatherings also the temple (1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19-20). Not the church buildings, but the people themselves. To put a physical temple in place of this would be blasphemy.

And to reconstitute sacrifices? Hebrews says that there is one sacrifice and one return of Christ, "27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (Heb. 9). And Hebrews 10 reiterates this again several times. To reinstitute the sacrifices would be in Christian terms blasphemy, because it would be to offer something in place of the once for all sacrifice. This is Christianity 101 and thank God it is because we don't want to bring back something like animal sacrifice.

The references to a rebuilt temple in the Bible have all been fulfilled. It was rebuilt by the returned exiles and then it was enhanced by Herod the Great, so quoting the Old Testament to prove it will be rebuilt is no help. God put his exclamation mark on the end of that temple system in AD 66-73 when Jerusalem and the temple were levelled by the Romans. I encourage you to read the end of 1 Chronicles and the beginning of 2 Chronicles and see the heart of the temple builders. They did not build just a building. With hearts moved by their love of God they built a physical manifestation of that love and God placed his presence inside of that to point to a time when he would dwell more richly among his people. We now live in that fulfillment. We who believe are the temple, because the true temple, Jesus Christ, lives in us.

It is no wonder that any attempt to recreate the Jerusalem of the Old Testament leads to such death and destruction. God appears to be very much against the recreation of a physical building that is called his temple. In Jesus is life, outside of him is futility and destruction. Those who seek to pursue the things of God without God actually pursue and beget evil in his name.