The Glory of the Third Temple

I could not sleep on Saturday night, so at 2 in the morning I got up and continued my study on Haggai. The Holy Spirit soon imparted to me something that made my spirit soar.


There is no doubt that the glory of the first temple was an awesome thing, indeed it was a wonder of the ancient world. Solomon's temple was a marvel and without equal. It housed the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God's presence here on earth. Often the shekinah glory of the Lord would rain down like fire and emanate in this glorious temple. Men from all over the known world would be drawn to this wonder and to the wisdom of its God ordained builder.

The Queen of Sheba crossed many different lands to come and see what was going on in Jerusalem. This Temple would last for almost 400 years before being allowed to be destroyed by the Lord who allowed judgment to fall on Israel.

After 70 years, the Lord would bring His people back and they would lay the foundations to rebuild the temple. This temple was very much smaller than the original and of course there were still people alive who would have remembered the glory of the original temple. The people were discouraged by this and many other factors and had to be encouraged by God to rebuild, after the building had lain dormant for 16 years, that's a lot of years of discouragement. There would be no ark of the Covenant, no shekinah glory for this temple, yet little did the builders know that into this structure would walk, in the flesh, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

This temple would hold the maker of heaven and earth and He would announce His mission to the world from this very spot, a great glory indeed. In this very temple, sin, desperately seeking for a hiding place , would be exposed by the light of the world. The bearers of this sin, the religious men of the day, were the last vestiges of a sin that had begun to be exposed by the Law and Moses. Now a greater than Moses would enter right into the temple, the last place any one would look for sin, and expose it in the very heart of the hypocrisy of the "moral ,' men of the day.


Seventy Years after Jesus was born, once again the temple was destroyed. This time the former marvel of the ancient world would never rise again. Yet, each time the Lord would destroy a magnificent building, and replace it with something less, the glory revealed in the reduced surroundings would increase. Now, in the final irony of this world, the temple would be rebuilt, but not with stones, not with bricks and mortar, not with inlaid gold, but with a people. And once again the Lord would increase the glory revealed.

We, as true Christians, are the living stones, we are the temple of the living God. The shekinah glory does not rain down now and then, Jesus does not walk into the temple every Sabbath, Jesus has come into this temple, not built by men, and has taken up residence. The heart of shekinah glory dwells in the center of each and every royal priest. His light, His love, His truth, His peace, His joy, His glory, His healing, His comfort, His power, His justice, His grace, His majesty, His deliverance and all that He is, burns at the very center of our being. This fire, the fire of the Holy Spirit, is housed in the temple of His choosing.

Maybe you have been discouraged, maybe even for years. Maybe you look in the mirror and you’re not that impressed with what is looking back. When you compare yourself to other Christians, great and small, you feel deeply lacking. Then the Lord would say to you my brothers and sisters....do not despise the temple of my choosing. I have chosen a royal priesthood that carries me aloft within their chest. The born again man or woman is the wonder of the modern world, far more so that the temple of the ancient one. The glory that Moses had, hidden by a covering over His face, has been revealed to a world in the form of new creatures. If you would let His light shine, if you would let His love flow, if you would stand upon His truth, if you would seek peace amongst men, if you would share the joy of the Lord, if you would reveal His glory, if you would share His healing and comfort those in need, if you would reveal His power, and exercise His justice with the grace that you yourself have been justified with, then the majesty of your deliverance would burn brightly for all men to see. If there is body and soul, then the world is the body and you are the soul of the world.


Be Christ like and display that which is within you, and you will shake the world, you will expose the enemy, just as our Lord did, and the enemy will have nowhere to hide, and will be defeated.