All through the Bible are shadows and fulfillments. Examples:
- Adam type of Christ (1 Cor 15:45)
- Noah type of Baptism (1 Pet 3:20-21)
- Jonah type of Christ (Mat 12:40)
- Joseph type of Christ
- Moses type of Christ
- Snake Moses lifted up type of Christ (John 3:14)
- Abraham’s offering Isaac type of Christ
- Solomon type of Christ
- David type of Christ
- Melchizedek type of Christ (Ps 110:4, Heb 7:11,17,21)
- Egyptian bondage type of bondage to sin
- Passover lamb type of Christ (1 Cor 5:7)
- Pharaoh’s pursuit of Israelites type of evil forces pursuing believers
- Israelites passing through the sea type of baptism (1 Cor 10:1-3)
- Israelites wilderness type of Christian deliverance from old nature
- The struck rock type of Christ’s provision (Nu 20:7-11, 1Cor 10:4)
- Jewish temple type of our body as temple of God (1 Cor 3:16)
- Rebuilding of the wall type of growing in Christ
Ex 25:9
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
Ex 40:34-35
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Veil is Torn
When the temple was relocated to human hearts, all these barriers and distinctions were removed.
Matt 27:50-51
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
The reason God said to make the temple exactly according to the pattern is because we are the real temple. The temple was the most important shadow of the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit in us is the fulfillment of that shadow.
God gave us this beautiful truth in prophecy long before it came to be:
Ezek 37:26-28
I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'"
Jer 31:33
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
We Are the Temple of God
1 Cor 3:16-17
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
Temple Tour
Now, I want to take you on a tour of the temple in your heart. First, you have an outward physical body. This is the outer courtyard of your temple. Just as the Jewish temple had an outer courtyard and that is all others could see of the temple, your body is the courtyard of your temple. Our bodies belong to God and are to be used in worship of Him.
Rom 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
Now let's walk into the Holy Place of your temple. This is your soul. This room is divided into your mind and emotions. Like the outer courtyard, this is a sacred place. We are to worship God with every thought.
2 Cor 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Phil 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
Finally, let's go into the Most Holy Place. This is our where our spirit lives. The only way to enter the Most Holy Place is through the mind and emotions of the soul. Then we come into the Most Holy Place—our spirit. The Bible says:
John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
This place is so sacred that no one accept you and Jesus should ever come in here. Not even a wife, husband, or child can replace Jesus on the throne of our worship.
Because God went to this great effort to make us his temple, we must now learn to do everything by His Spirit, not by the flesh. Often we define the flesh as our sinful attitude, but Paul uses the term to mean ANY human effort.
Gal 3:3 NIV
Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
The entire book of Galatians was written to people who were not walking by the Spirit but by their own effort.
Gal 5:22 –Gal 5:26 NIV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Lead Our Churches by the Spirit
So often we try to lead based on what we know from the Bible, instead of listening to the Spirit.
We often forget the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s tool and we begin to worship the Bible instead of him. We put the Bible ahead of the Holy Spirit. We say we must do that because hearing the Spirit is subjective and easy to make errors. We say the Bible is objective and always truthful.
Jn 5:39 –Jn 5:40 NIV
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The problem is that we are all so weak in our minds and language abilities that we confuse and dilute the truth of the Bible by our misunderstandings. In our pride we feel we have the correct understanding of what it says. In reality, our Biblical understanding is very limited. We need to admit our lack of understanding and learn to depend in the Lord more.
God did not remove the old temple and make us his new temple just so we could push his Spirit out again and replace him with facts we have memorized from the Bible.
The Bible is not the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. ( John 1).
The Bible is only part of what Jesus says to us. However, the Bible will always agree with the Word given by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and Jesus is the Word of God and the Bible is part of the words of God; therefore, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Bible will always agree.
| Leading by the Flesh | Leading by the Spirit |
| Tell people what we learned from Bible | Speak only as prompted by Spirit |
| Pray for all healing | Wait on the Lord for how to pray |
| Push church members to mature | Pray and leave God to cause growth |
| Worried about non-essential doctrines | Trust grace for our lack of understanding |
| Worry about many things | Rest in God’s peace |
| Seek to be accepted | Seek God’s love |
| Work to earn God’s favor | Serve God out of love |
| See physical as most important | See spiritual as important |
| Is judgmental of others | Is patient with others |
| Tries to do many things for the Lord | Allows the Lord to do all things |
Jn 6:63 NIV
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
How to Walk in the Spirit
There is much confusion about what walking in the Spirit is. Is it speaking in tongues, or receiving prophesies, or doing miracles? Or is walking in the Spirit obedience, and righteousness? The answer is it is all of those things and maybe it is none of them, because the Spirit of God has many sides and we are each made very differently.
When we have the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:8-10; )we have a little of the Holy Spirit in us. When we have the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23, 23), we have much of the Holy Spirit in us.
The fruits are greater than the gifts. That is why Paul talks about the gifts in 1 Cor 12 then says:
1Co 12:31 NIV
But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
Then he goes on to describe love at great length. Love is the first of the Fruits of the Spirit found in Gal 5:22, 23.
Don’t measure your level of walking in the Spirit by the experiences of others. The correct way to measure is found in the simple but profound words of John the Baptist:
Jn 3:30 NIV
He must become greater; I must become less.
More filling, power, and guidance from the Holy Spirit comes in equal proportions to how much of me is reduced. He only becomes more in my life as I become less.
Power from the Lord flows into our ministry as we learn to depend on the Lord instead of ourselves. As Jesus said:
2Co 12:9 NIV
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Conclusion
We are the temple of God. He took great effort to make us his temple. Now we must become temples cleaned of ourselves and filled with only him so we can lead our churches.
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