The Temple of Great Price

by Alan Cornett

The world had never seen anything like it. Gold, ivory, cedar, olivewood and more gold: Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. 1 Kings records: “And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.” (6:21-22)

King David had longed to build the house for God. Because David was a man of blood, a warrior, God forbade him from doing so. But God promised that David’s son Solomon would have that privilege. The new king spared no expense. From our perspective the temple was gaudy!

Solomon and his kingdom were blessed with great wealth so that they could even begin to afford such a task. This was the earthly dwelling place of the God of heaven. The highest price that mankind could possibly pay was paid.

Centuries later, the Apostle Paul pointed us to a new temple. This temple was not overlaid with gold, but made of flesh. Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) What an amazing thing that God’s Spirit would dwell in me, and that the God of heaven would be so aggressively protective of me!

But when I begin to compare myself to the amazing temple of Solomon I fear that I pale by comparison. What could make me so valuable in God’s eyes? Paul explains to us that we, too, are of exceptional value, value that far exceeds gold and ivory: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Bought with a price? Paul explains to the Romans when he writes that we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (3:24-25) The idea of redemption is to “buy back.” The price that paid for this new temple—you and me—was Jesus and His blood. The Son of David Himself became a “man of blood,” but in a dramatically different way than the son of Jesse. This blood did not keep Him from the temple, but made it possible for Him to have this dwelling place.

Paul specifically tells us that there are consequences to being the temple of God. We must flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18). We must avoid being yoked with things of the world, idols, that which is an affront to God (2 Corinthians 2:14-18). In other words, we must pay the price of ourselves, being a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1).

But nothing that I offer up can ever compare to the valuable price paid to make me a dwelling place, a place that God calls home: the blood of Jesus.

 

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