Programme 5: Temples of God
This is the truth found in the Word of God (v31). What is this truth? It is the perfect work of Christ setting our spirit free from sin, curse and death by the miracle of New-Birth. Jesus said: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”(John 8:36). This speaks of our New Birth where He set our spirit free from sin and filled it with His life. He also said that we must discover through studying the Word of God, who we are now in Christ in order for this new life and freedom to be manifested in our lives: “If you continue in My Word you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free”(v31,32). Once we know and believe the truth, we can act upon it, and thus release the new-life within. God wants to TRANSFORM us by a METAMORPHISIS - changing us from the inside out, so that the life and nature of Christ within is revealed and manifested.
According to Jesus the key to this transformation is KNOWING the TRUTH of the Word. Romans 12:2 says we are to betransformed by the renewing of our MIND. God changes us from the inside out. We are spirit, soul and body. He started by imparting eternal life to our spirit. He continues by imparting knowledge (truth) to our soul through His Word, so that we can act on the truth and as a result the life of Christ can flow out of our spirit so that our soul is saved (transformed) and we become more like Christ.
There are three Stages to our total salvation and transformation.
(1) Our SPIRIT was saved in the New-Birth which happened when we received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. As a result it possesses the life and nature of Christ, and is indwelt by the Holy-Spirit.
(2) Our SOUL (mind/personality) is being savedJames 1:21,22: “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to
save your souls, but be doers of the word not hearers only.”
We must renew our minds with the Word, so that we know the truth (PT). This allows the new-life within to be expressed and revealed, so that we are transformed (changed from the inside out). PT is true whether you believe it or not, but until you know the truth, you will not be able to experience it.
(3) Our BODY will be saved in the resurrection.
At that time our transformation will be complete and the glory now within our spirit will be fully manifested in every part of our being. We will shine like a star with the light and glory of God:
“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1John 3:2).
He has already done a perfect work of saving our spirit. He is presently working our sanctification from within, forming the character of Christ in our soul (the saving of our soul - James 1:21) through the process of transformation, whereby the life and nature of Christ in our spirit is expressed in our lives (through us knowing and doing the Word). The Spirit both illuminates the Word to us, and then helps us to do it (Philippians 2:12,13). Finally, when the future resurrection (salvation) of our body is accomplished, our transformation will be complete and the glory of God within our spirit, will be fully manifested. Then our whole being will be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29, 1Thess 5:23).
So now we are in Stage 2. God has changed our spirit, and now wants us to receive a transformation, whereby the glory within our spirit is released and manifested in our life. We are being changed (transformed) as we allow the life of God in our spirit to flow out and controls our soul and actions. The first step for this to happen is KNOWING and BELIEVING the TRUTH of the Word (PT).
This is essential for transformation (the manifestation of the truth).
Why is this ESSENTIAL to our TRANSFORMATION?
Man is spirit-soul-body: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Thessalonians 5:23). We are a triune being created in the image of the Triune God. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. Think of 3 concentric circles. The inner one is the spirit, which is designed to be in direct contact with God (who is Spirit). The middle one is the soul (our mind, will, emotions composing our personality) and which contacts the realm of thought. The outer one is the body that contacts the physical world.
We were designed as a Temple (the dwelling-place of God), and so the Old-Testament Temple buildings were made according to this 3-fold pattern of man (they were a physical image of God’s true Temples). Thus our spirit is the holy of holies, designed to be lit by the glory of God dwelling within. Our soul is the holy-place, illuminated by the seven-branched Menorah (the light of the Spirit through the Word). Our body is the outer-court, lit by the natural light of the world.
Now when Adam fell, the glory left the Temple and the spirit died, leaving sin in dominion. Though reproduction, sin (the sin-nature) was transmitted through the flesh so that every man also became spiritually dead. Then Christ came as a sinless Temple (through the virgin birth), filled with the Holy-Spirit. Through His death and resurrection, He became the prototype New-Creation Temple, which was multiplied according to His pattern or blueprint. Now, all who believe in Him receive a perfect reborn spirit, indwelt by the Holy-Spirit, and thus become true Temples of the Living God: Jesus said: “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16,17).
“Do you not KNOW (PT) that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16).
“Do you not KNOW (PT) that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you” (1Corinthians 6:19).
“For you are the Temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2Corinthians 6:16).
“Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world” (1Jn 4:4).
“You also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). In Christ we are Temples of the Holy-Spirit and He now indwells us forever!
This was prophesied by Ezekiel 36:26,27:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
through receiving and acting on the truth (PT) of the Word of God.
Jesus in John 4:14:
“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become IN HIM a fountain (spring) of water springing up into eternal life.” This describes our reborn spirit filled with eternal life and the Holy-Spirit.
Luke 5:37-38: “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new (or, renewed) wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Our old wineskin (spirit) was not able to contain the new-wine of the Holy-Spirit. It needed to be renewed by being rubbed with the oil of the Spirit (in the New-Birth), so that our new reborn spirit can now contain the new-wine of the Spirit.
Thus the Holy-Spirit (God’s glory) came to live inside our reborn spirit. He abides in our holy-of-holies (spirit) and now He wants to flow out through our soul and body. In the visions of God’s Temple there is a river of life flowing out of the Holy of Holies transforming and bringing things to life wherever it flows (Ezekiel 47).
Likewise the Holy-Spirit wants to flow out of our holy of holies as rivers of living water transforming our lives and giving life to others: “Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39).
Thus, our reborn spirit has been changed into the likeness of the risen Christ, and this new-life (the fruit of the spirit) wants to flow out into our lives, but it has to go through our soul first. The glory of God dwells in the holy of holies, but it can be hidden behind a veil of unbelief in the soul which stops it shining in our life. Only when our mind is changed by KNOWING the TRUTH (PT), can this glory shine through. The truth produces an image in our soul corresponding to the reality in our spirit. When the two are in agreement, the spirit can flow through the soul unhindered.
*Moreover, it is only when the soul possesses the truth (the Word), can the faith be present (Romans 10:17) to act on the Word (PT), and it is by this action that the blessing is released (James 1:25).
Therefore it is essential to KNOW the TRUTH of the freedom, power and blessing possessed by our spirit, before we can experience this freedom. Thus, because of the way we are made, the next step after God saves our spirit must be the salvation (renewal) of our soul (mind) by the Word of God (PT), for the soul is the channel through which the spirit must flow into our lives. When our thoughts and actions line up with the spirit, then God’s life will flow forth.Therefore our mind must be changed first, for we must believe and act on the basis of our thinking.
The condition of our soul determines the outflow of our spirit: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springthe issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The key to keeping our soul in the right condition is to fill it with the Word so that the life of the spirit can flow freely: “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23).
The Temple had a thick veil in the Holy-Place, so that even when the glory was there, it was mostly unseen by Israel, being hidden behind the veil. This veil represents unbelief (2Corinthians 4:3,4) “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe (the minds of unbelievers are covered with a veil of unbelief, preventing the glory of Christ entering them), lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
But when they believe in Christ, the veil is parted and God’s glorious light shines into their spirit and they are reborn.
2Corinthians 4:5-7: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness (in Genesis 1), who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure (we posesss this glory in our spirit, but we still live) in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2Corinthians 3:7-17 talks about this New Covenant glory in Christ, by contrasting it with the glory of the Old-Covenant as shown in Moses.
The old glory was: (1) external (2) veiled,
and (3) fading, being temporary in nature.
The new glory is: (1) internal (2) unveiled
and (3) increasing in manifestation.
In v14-17, Paul describes the transformation from glory to glory in a one who believes in Christ: “their minds were blinded(unbelief). For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil (of unbelief) is (only) taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart (they cannot see the glory of Christ) ” (v14,15).
Firstly, when a man receives Christ, enough of the veil is removed, so that the Spirit can come in and recreate his spirit (the man just needs a basic faith in Christ to be born-again, so there is still much of the veil remaining). “Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil (of unbelief) is taken away” (v16). So, as a result:
“Now (in a New-Covenant believer) the Lord is the Spirit; and where the SPIRIT of the Lord is there is LIBERTY” (v17, John 8:36). WHERE is the Spirit now? He is IN US by the New-Birth-in our reborn spirit! The glory of God is now in us - giving our spirit complete liberty from sin!
Next he describes the ongoing process of transformation in a believer, for the soul of a believer can still covered in unbelief and ignorance (an unrenewed mind), so that the glory of Christ is trapped within the spirit (holy of holies). The Spirit wants to flow out as rivers of life and glory, but He is prevented by this veil of unbelief. As our mind is renewed, this veil is removed from our soul, and God’s glory can shine through. His river of life can flow freely. Our soul is like a colourful stain-glass window , covered over by a dark curtain. As we come into the knowledge of PT, the veil over our heart is removed, so the spiritual-life can flow out and our true personality can be seen.
v16 literally says: “when one turns to the Lord, the veil (of unbelief) is (being) taken away.” It is a process. As we come to know PT, the veil recedes and more glory can shine through:
“But we all (believers) with unveiled face (in faith) beholding as in a MIRROR (of the Word) the GLORY of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED into the same IMAGE from (one level of) glory to (another level of) glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (v18).
The key to transformation is looking in the Mirror. What do we see in a mirror? We see ourselves in the spirit - we see: ‘the glory of the Lord’! According to the image of glory that we see in the mirror (and act upon in faith), that degree of glory can be manifested in our lives. This is an ongoing process for, as we keep beholding the Word, the face of our heart is unveiled more and more, and the self-image we see is of more and more glory, which can then released through us. Thus we are transformed from the inside out, from glory to glory. This process (sanctification) is directed and empowered by His Spirit.
You are a Temple of the Living God. Your spirit (holy of holies) has been cleansed by the blood and the glory of God indwells your spirit. As you continue in the word the veil of ignorance is removed and you see who you are in Christ and that glory can start to fill the Temple as it filled Solomon’s Temple, and you will be changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of God. But that cant happen until you know the truth of who you are in Christ, for as Jesus said: “You will know the truth and then the truth shall make you free.”
*Pray for them for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for a revelation of the riches of inheritance and mighty power (glory) in them.
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