Study Number 25 JEHOVAH SHAMMAH – WE ARE NOW THE TEMPLE OF GOD.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that your body is the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.

All the earthly dwellings of God were only temporary, the tabernacle was substituted by the Solomon’s Temple; after that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Zerubbabel’s temple was pulled down by Herod. Then the sinful people crucified Jesus. You are now the Temple of God.

2 Corinthians 6:16 For we are the Temple of the ever-living God; as God has said, "I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM, AND WALK ABOUT AMONG THEM; AND WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND IT IS THEY WHO SHALL BE MY PEOPLE."

Colossians 1:27 to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that 'Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'

Adam Clark comments: “We find here the sum and substance of the apostle’s preaching.

1. He preached Christ, as the only Saviour of sinners.

2. He proclaimed this Christ as being in them; for the design of the Gospel is to put men in possession of the Spirit and power of Christ, to make them partakers of the Divine nature, and thus prepare them for an eternal union with himself. Should it be said that the preposition εν should be translated among, it amounts to the same; for Christ was among them, to enlighten, quicken, purify, and refine them, and this he could not do without dwelling in them.

3. He preached this present and indwelling Christ as the hope of glory; for no man could rationally hope for glory who had not the pardon of his sins, and whose nature was not sanctified;”

Christ in you the hope of glory” (Christos en humin hē elpis tēs doxēs). He is addressing Gentiles, but the idea of en here is in, not among. It is the personal experience and presence of Christ in the individual life of all believers that Paul has in mind, the indwelling Christ in the heart as in Eph_3:17. He constitutes also the hope of glory for He is the Shekinah of God. Christ is our hope now (1Ti_1:1) and the consummation will come (Rom_8:18).

Applications.

1.      Jehovah Shammah has come to dwell in His Temple, our body, so that we can express the Shekinah Glory of Christ on earth.

2.      Recognize who lives within you. Let His Spirit permeate everything in your life.

3.      Care for your body as the Temple of the Living God. Don’t abuse it, nor neglect it; tattoo it with graffiti, nor paint it like a prostitute. The Gnostic taught that the body was nothing; it was the spirit that was important. No YOUR BODY is the TEMPLE of the LIVING GOD.