Blessed be the God of all the earth who promised to feed us with meat in due season, despite the spiritual famine that will plague the world. (Amos 8:11).
In the last episode, we embarked on a topic: The Temple of God and the Materials Used We had looked at the various components of this Temple and their individual spiritual significance to the 21st century Christian.
This week, we opened discussions around the “Materials” Christ, the Son of David, is using to build his Spiritual Temple today.
Exodus 25:1-8 NIV
The Lord said to Moses,2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.3 These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze;4 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;5 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather[a]; acacia wood;6 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;7 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece.8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
Clearly, God has been in the habit of demanding from his Children from time immemorial. This is not because He lacks the power to speak what He needs into existence, but He wishes to bless the ones who brings to Him.
Painfully, even though God gave us all the physical things He sometimes demands of us, we often find it difficult to give them up to Him, when He demands them – An obvious result of lack of Faith in God.
To refresh our minds, we highlighted how the thought of glorifying God by building Him a temple never crossed Saul’s mind. He rather sought popularity (2 Samuel 7:1). And a heaven-conscious man should never seek to be popular. God may Himself popularize you as He did David, but do not seek it for yourself.
THE MATERIALS
The very materials God employs to build the universal Temple of Christ, which is the entire Body of Christ, is the same materials He is building individuals with.
2 Peter 1:5-7
The very foundation of the Temple is Faith.
Amazingly, the base as represented on the Pyramid, is the widest portion. This base represents the inauguration of the church on the Day of Pentecost, when from just one sermon of faith, 3,000 souls were added to the church. At this time, the door of salvation was wide enough and the fear of God still governed the hearts of men.
Towards the end of the Pyramid however, we see that it narrows out, and that speaks to our Age today. Remember, God builds the church with each of these materials in each age, including the age we live today (More on this in later episodes). The narrow end of the Pyramid shows the door is almost closed. Consequently, people no longer hunger or thirst for the Truth!
A good illustration; during the late 70’s in Nigeria, if one stood by the road singing and clapping to invite people to come hear the Truth, gradually, people would gather to actually listen. Today however, you are tagged an extremist if you try to do that and you will well be ignored. This just reflects how much the fear of God is gone out from the land. It shows we are at the narrow end of the Pyramid; the peak is not as wide as the base anymore.
How does this Affect Me as An Individual?
For a moment, lets crystallize this to the individual Christian.
2 Peter 1 :5
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Can you sincerely do a critical self-appraisal?
Friends, if you are where you were 5 years ago in your spiritual growth, it may be that you are not being built as a Temple unto the Lord. A stark hallmark of one who’s been built is: The Lord will add to you from time to time. And shockingly, if one is not being built, could this signify that one is not a temple of God? And if one is not a Temple of God, truth unfeigned is, one may well be the Temple of the Devil.
Presumably, you have believed that there is only One God, you have baptized in the acceptable name of Jesus Christ and many more faith based truth you have duly observed…
All these are FAITH…. And forms the foundation of the building. You then need to add one virtue per time as God continues to form you into His dwelling place.
James 2:18 – 26 “Your Faith is dead without Works.”