St James Bible in a Year Adventure » worship

Temples Old and New

James — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:00:32 +0000

There’s another great link between our Old and New Testament chapters this week. While Solomon is busy building his temple for the Lord in 1 Kings, over in Acts, Stephen is being accused of speaking against ‘this holy place’ (Acts 6:13), a reference to the temple and (so it seems) Jesus’ words ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ (John 2:19)

It’s another of those cases of something that was right for one era of salvation history (a specific building in a specific city where you could go to worship God) being replaced in the new era of Jesus. When Jesus comes to earth, he is the place where God dwells (see John 1:14) and his sacrificial death fulfils and makes redundant all the animal sacrifices taking place at the temple. After Pentecost and the sending of the Spirit, two new things become clear: (1) the people of God (i.e. the church) are now the temple where God dwells by his Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17), and (2) God can be worshipped anywhere (see Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman in John 4:21-24 – worship in spirit and truth replaces worship restricted to Jerusalem).

Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. Keep reading on in the OT and you’ll get to that bit! Herod’s temple was destroyed by the Romans. Those could have been disasters for the true worship of God. But they weren’t, because, as Stephen says in Acts 7:48: ‘The Most High does not live in houses made by men.’ Worship in the temple was for Solomon’s time. Worship in spirit and truth is for now. And the Spirit of God dwells in his people.

Temple Objects – up close and in colour!

Christoph Lindner — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:44:26 +0000

As we come across a number of objects used in temple worship again and again in our readings, it would be great to know what they actually looked like. Well, we can – to a degree! Although the second temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD, many Jews believe that a third temple will be built in its place in the future.
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem is dedicated to that vision and in preparation for it, has produced a number of vessels and garments, strictly following biblical instructions and pre-approved for use in temple sacrifice once the third temple is established.
Here is a gallery of some of the items – this link lands you in the middle, press “next” to see some of the more interesting objects…

Encounters with God

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:48:45 +0000

Israel’s encounter with God at Mt. Sinai is one of the most significant events of the Old Testament. God has already shown his presence with them in the pillars of cloud and fire, and he has provided food and water for them. But now God comes to make a covenant with them, a binding agreement with them for him to be their God and they to be his people. This is the special relationship that God had earlier promised to Abraham.

The Law that follows, with the Ten Commandments at its heart, defines for Israel how they are to live in this special relationship with God. Some of it will sound strange to us, because it is shaped to suit the conditions of its time. But if we look at the big picture, we see a holy God, full of love and justice, showing his people how to be a holy people who reflect his character in the world. This is how they can be a people ‘in his image’.

Chapters 25-31 will contain instuctions for the people’s worship, and the various materials required. It would be easy to get bogged down in the detail. But perhaps we can focus on two things: (1) it is a remarkable privilege for this people to have God dwelling in their midst, and (2) he deserves the very best that they can bring him in worship. Of course, the same things are true of us.

Matthew 24 has caused much scratching of heads over the years, as you can imagine. The language is highly poetic and uses a lot of imagery taken from the Old Testament. At least some of what Jesus is predicting was fulfilled in AD 70 when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans after a Jewish revolt. But how much, if any, is about Jesus’ Second Coming and the final judgement? In verse 3, Jesus seems to imply that he is going to talk about two things: (1) the destruction of the temple, and (2) ‘the end of the age’. Dick France, author of the IVP Tyndale commentary on Matthew, thinks that Jesus is talking about (1) up to verse 35 and (2) from verse 36 onwards. If he’s right, then the disciples can expect warning signs leading up to the destruction of the temple, but about ‘that day’ (the Day of Judgment and of Christ’s return), no-one knows, not even Jesus himself. That’s why his followers should be ready for it to come at any time.