.† 1 Corinthians 6:19. I hope that from { Part I } you heard that the physical 3rd temple to be quickly erected in Jerusalem (and soon enough) has its place in prophecy but will not be used by God in any way like the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple were.

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The glorious Shekinah Presence of God came upon the Wilderness tabernacle and later Solomon’s temple but it did not manifest in the rebuilt temple in Ezra and Nehemiah’s time or even later after Herod’s massive improvements.

𝕋he Spirit of God was initially given to the 10 disciples   The Spirit of God was initially given to the ten disciples when Jesus breathed on them saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (Jn. 20:22 and 50 days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the Day of Pentecost the fullness of the Holy Spirit (the baptism in the Holy Ghost) was poured out upon His gathered disciples as they waited obediently in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4 and this baptism given in other recorded times and places). You and I and others as members of the church of the living Christ are living, breathing, walking temples housing the Spirit of God, and we are also the building blocks of a growing “habitation of God”. I remind you of these passages:

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† 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed (stamped [as by His signet or private mark]) us, and given the earnest (pledge, security deposit) of the Spirit in our hearts. (Also said again at 2 Cor. 5:5)

† 1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body [bodily sexual sins are specifically called out as an abominable thing not unlike as shown in Ezek. 8].

† Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

𝕐ou might remember a term from your math classes   You might remember a term from your math classes in school: The order of operations. That phrase means that often in math problems there were things that you had to calculate in a certain order or your answer would be wrong. Your and my order of operations as human beings born-again from Heaven is this: First in importance is the resurrected (or regenerated) human spirit now restored to fellowship with God ruling our lives as it was in the very beginning: spirit and its soul (our mind, emotions, and free-will), and our “servant” physical body. As I said about the wrong order in performing math equations, if we do not learn to function in the correct order of operating in our lives, the decisions we make and act-on can be wrong—and sometimes very wrong! It was not happenstance that Paul put these three components of our existence in the order of spirit, soul and then body:

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† 1 Thessalonians 5: [If we will live a certain way, the Lord’s way:] 23 …the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This “blameless preserving” of our 3-part being including our bodies is a work for you and I to be both mindful of and active about and is helped by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our physical bodies are referenced many times in the Word of God and in ways that we might not readily recognize. First, I again remind you of this critical statement of fact about our ongoing redemption:

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† 1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple (also shrine [a place of devotion to a diety]) of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile (Gr. phtheiro: spoil, ruin, corrupt) the temple of God, him shall God destroy (phtheiro); for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. . . 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Now where else are examples of our physical bodies being referenced for our spiritual instruction?

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† Matthew 5:29 [Jesus said this:] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members (limb, part of the body) should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Also referenced at Ps. 139:16, Job 17:7)

† 1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body (Gr. soma: servant, slave) is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ [the corporate body of Christ with Him as the Head].

† Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? . . . 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin [our ‘slavery’ to sin] might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. . . 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. . . 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

† James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member (limb, part of the body), and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

† 1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. . . 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it [my body] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. . .

In part one, I briefly mentioned the three parts of the Wilderness Tabernacle and the later Solomon’s Temple which (in my understanding) consisted of the open-air inner court but enclosed by the Tabernacle walls, the fully enclosed Holy Place, and the inner-most enclosure, the Holy of Holies. We can understand that to represent how we exist also.

𝔸s Christians, our spirit is the Holy of Holies   As Christians, our spirit is the Holy of Holies where God by His Spirit dwells and speaks from, our soul (our mind, emotions and will) is the middle Holy Place where we consider and practice the daily disciplines of our faith and relationship with God and our Savior, and our physical body is the integrated inner court that is everyday-busy with the affairs of our lives in this natural realm, including resisting sin but also dealing with it if it happens. What we must understand is that once the tabernacle was set up (we are born again) the three places in the tabernacle were always unified in their purpose and that was to honor and love God. What happened in the inner court (think of it as representing our life exposed to the world) were strict practices to keep the relationship with Jehovah unbroken. What happened each day in the Holy Place where the lampstand stood, and the incense and showbread tables were kept active daily (representing our thoughts, what we would speak, our emotions and expressions, including toward God, and what we will and then act on) was to maintain constant fellowship with God; for us that is by the daily faithful following of Jesus. Our resurrected spirit has become the Holy of Holies where God now dwells and from where He guides and speaks to us individually. The Lord Jesus is now the High Priest I Heaven for the holy nation that is His Church but you are your own high priest carrying out the duties and responsibilities each day in keeping that which is your life on-track as a saint—a “holy one”, if you will do it. You take the necessary and sincere actions of repentance if sin has erupted in your life. You spend time each day in the holy candlelight that is His Word, while remaining ever vigilant to love and in a walk of unity with God and the brotherhood. And you by the new and living way through the blood of Jesus go and stand before the very throne of God offering the incense of prayer for His will to be done, for the issues in the lives of others, and for yourself also.

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† Exodus 19:5 [God said to and intended for the whole nation of Israel:] Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

† 1 Peter 2:9 [But Israel having failed at this as nation now the true church is called that kingdom of priests having been grafted into spiritual Israel] But ye [born-again ones] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. . .

† Hebrews 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. . . 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
[Note: This is exactly what the O.T. High Priest had to do before walking in the Holy of Holies!].

𝕐et for all these privileges now established   Yet for all these privileges now established for ones born-again from Heaven because of Jesus, so few have been taught about them and even fewer start-and-end each day in the inner court of reconciliation. For the priest to enter the Holy Place he had to go through the inner court—the areas that housed the washing lavers and fires burning on the sacrificial altars for sin; and to leave at the end of his day, he again had to walk through the inner court where the blood of the sacrifices had been shed for sin. As Christians, our lives in this present realm are hindered by the passions, pleasures and plans of the uncrucified sinful nature that have resulted from the body getting what it has wanted for so long. Therefore, it is quite necessary that the true believer and follower of Jesus Christ recognize and acknowledge for ourselves that our bodies, too, belong to the Lord as a purchased possession, and are part of the whole package that He indwells—we are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. If we fail to submit our whole being to be His residence we will likely fail at the whole of our being, spirit, soul and body in being sanctified and found blameless at our appearance before Him († 1 Cor. 5:23).

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† 1 Corinthians 6:19 … your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

† 1 Thessalonians 5: [If we will live a certain way, the Lord’s way:] 23 …the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

𝕀 am reminded of a first century sect/cult that rose up   I am reminded of a first century sect/cult that rose up, which the apostles and early church fathers spoke against—they were called the Gnostics. They came to believe many heresies that were anathema (cursed) but one belief in particular seems to be well-favored yet today. The Gnostics believed they had been given “secret knowledge” and therefore privilege and were enlightened well-above the common Christian on this account: The human regenerated spirit was to be saved and that whatever the body did even after becoming a Christian [what was done in the body] did not matter in the least. As a Gnostic, one could indulge the body in anything it desired and it did not affect one’s salvation. It seems, dear ones, that this same damnable false teaching is unabashedly embraced today among many that say they are followers of Jesus. How, you ask? Many “Christians” today think that having same-sex relationships, that sleeping around, living with another outside of marriage, pregnancies and their abortions, drunkenness and getting high on drugs, pornography and habitual masturbation, and etcetera (the list can be long) are not a problem with God as long as one maintains his or her belief that one’s salvation is only about saving the spirit and soul at death.   𝕋his is a lie from the fallen angels and all demons!

For today, I close with these undeniable warnings against such behaviors:

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† Matthew 5:29 [Jesus said regarding “seeing” and lustful thoughts:] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (also v. 30 “hand—cut it off”).

† 1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. . .

† 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

† Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God. . .

† Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

† Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members [the parts of the human body used in sinning] which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience…

In our next part we will zero-in on what it means for the physical body to be a temple of a holy God.

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~ Brother Scott ... With ... The Right Word^© ... For Today~

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