The Temple and Our Purpose

What is our purpose?  That’s a big question that's going on in the world right now.  It’s a big question that looms around in my head as well.  When we start living like automatrons doing the same things over and over, rinse and repeat those questions tend to weigh down on our hearts like a safe on our chest.  It can drive our minds to depression, anxiety, fear, and nervousness.  Maybe even worse it can drive us to apathy and disinterest in the people and the world around us.  

As human beings we have divine callings.  God has given us a vocation. He has ordained and instructed us to do things in this life.  But what is it? Genesis gives us, I believe, clear instructions.  God says be fruitful and multiply; then he follows that up with subdue and rule the earth.  What is so awesome about that is our purpose is for us to dwell with God and rule over his creation. To put it another way, God wants to dwell with us and wants us to reign with him.  Can you believe that?!  

You guessed it though, we messed it up.  Adam sinned and we all sin and so it makes it difficult for us to live out our purpose.  But that didn’t stop God.  To show his devotion to his creation he has made ways to dwell with us by returning us to a state of righteousness and then causing us to reign over his creation. He started with the children of Israel.  

The Hebrews (children of Israel) were slaves in Egypt. God rescued them in a miraculous way out of slavery and made them into a nation.  They gained land, instituted a King, the whole nine.  But before he did that he gave them a law and instructions on how to build the tabernacle.  What’s so significant about these two things you might wonder? Let us start with the tabernacle.  Its importance is in the fact that this is the place where God is to dwell.  This is the place where God will cause himself to live among his people.  A place where the sacred and the profane come together, you might say a place where heaven and earth meet. For the Hebrews God created a space where he can be with the ones he loves. However, we have the other problem we talked about earlier which is sin. That is where the law comes into play. God gave this law to the Hebrews to that they would know how to walk righteously.  At the end of Exodus the tabernacle is finished but the scriptures state that no one could enter into it (Exodus 40:35). Sin was not taken care of.  The following book chronicles the laws and sacrifices necessary to cover passed sin and to not walk in future sin.  When these laws were practiced the people were able to meet with God.

Next the temple.  A greater dwelling place came and was built by Solomon during his reign as king over the land of Israel.  This temple was built of the same principle and understanding that God was to dwell there.  And in this temple not only did God fill it, but it was also heaven stationed on earth.  Kind of like how an embassy is considered the land of the nation that it is representing.  The temple was the sovereign ground of Heaven, God’s dwelling place.

What does all this have to do with our purpose? That’s why you are reading this.  Everything! This is because if you are a follower of Christ, a citizen of the kingdom of God, one who trust in the saving power of Jesus, you have become a tabernacle.  You have become a temple.  You have become a dwelling place of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). The tabernacle and the temple were built with a special purpose in mind.  But before I get into that I cannot gloss over the law part.  Jesus came and fulfilled the law and through his sacrifice has dealt with sin. Previously through the law and sacrifices given to the Hebrew people sin was covered and righteousness was demonstrated through the law.  Now, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sin is erased and righteousness brought by the Spirit of God.  Now back to the purpose of the temple.  The temple was created and instituted to be a meeting place with God.  It was there to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.  It was there so we could be with God in how things are supposed to be.  And if we are in Christ this is what we are purposed to do.  We are first a place to commune with God.  Our purpose is to fellowship with God. That means we should be reading his words to us, the scriptures.  We should be praying daily and continually calling on his name.  Second we are a representation of Heaven on Earth (or better to say the kingdom of God).  That means that our actions and lives should mirror what it looks like to live in new creation. We should be loving, seeking justice, displaying grace and mercy, and testifying to how marvelous his kingdom is.   

So if you're looking for purpose, look to who dwells in you.  If you're looking for you’re calling, look to the God who possesses you.  In him we find our fulfillment.