July 2: HOLY WRITING IN THE TEMPLE
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. Revelation 7:15
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8
Throughout God’s word, we may observe Him pursuing His beloved, erring people; steadily teaching the way back to Him, for He desires our company. Is that amazing, or what? Can you think of anything greater? Neither can this throng that John is seeing!
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? Psalm 77:13
The symbolism in Revelation carries meaning that goes back to the foreshadowing contained within the very first earthly sanctuary. The Most Holy place of the portable tabernacle housed a miniature model of the throne of God: the ark of the covenant which contained the tables of the Testimony, the Ten Commandments, the Covenant. A small, visible manifestation of God’s glory hovered just above the mercy seat and between the cherubim (Exodus 25:22). His desire to meet with [us] called for intense preparation on the part of His people, hence the very involved design instructions, every beautiful detail of which represented and taught something of God’s character. The joyous multitude that John saw in vision was a picture of the fulfillment of the LORD’s dream of dwelling with His people—not just “meeting” with them.
The idea of the temple of God has been richly developed throughout Scripture. The portable sanctuary was replaced by a magnificent stationary one (see 1 Kings 6:1), where the symbolic sacrifices were to continue, until . . . Jesus! The temple—dwelling place—of God was getting closer. Those religious leaders who rejected Jesus preferred to continue their temple routine, but apart from acknowledging the Son of God, it became only an empty ritual. That beautiful building was declared by Jesus to be desolate, meaning uninhabited! (Matthew 23:38). However, mercy lingered nearly 40 years more; then the temple building was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.
Jesus referred to Himself—His body—as a temple (John 2:19,21). The New Testament refers to each of our bodies as a dwelling place for the Spirit of God, a temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). In the spirit of building His kingdom, we are collectively referred to as the body of Christ, and He is the head. We, the church, are also referred to as living stones. Christ is the cornerstone. (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:15; 5:23; 1 Peter 2:5, 7) This change of temple referencing shows the progression of God’s relationship with us. Once terribly broken and far distant from Him, we move through stages of understanding of just how intimate He desires to be with His people, for we are precious to Him. With individual permission—each of His people allows Him to mark them as His dwelling place. The Most Holy place is where it is written . . .
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant . . . I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:31a, 33b (see also Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; Revelation 12:17; 14:12; 22:14)