School of Jesus Disciples REV 2:7
2011.01.13 13:33
School of Jesus Disciples REV 2:7
743 S. Grandview St. L.A. CA. 90057 Tel. (213)928-2932 Pastor P.K.
Every Sunday 3:30 pm JD-class Email: peterkim123@sbcglobal.net Seeking to make disciples who make disciples.
“그러나 너는 모든 일에 근신하여 고난을 받으며 전도인의 일을 하며 네 직무를 다하라” But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. II Tim 4:5
Devotional to JDs,
Biblical - Spiritual – Medical Truth PART- I
Human Body- the Temple of God
사람의몸 - 하나님의 성전 (제1부)
God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
Genesis 1.26
You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5.48
And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.'" Leviticus 19.1-2
As God is called merciful and gracious, so you be merciful and gracious, offering gifts gratis to all; as the Lord is called righteous and loving, so you be righteous and loving. Midrash, Sifre Deuteronomy
Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of God. But it was by a special love that it was made known to him that he was created in the image of God. Judaism Mishnah, Abot 3.18
Let a man always consider himself as the Holy One dwells within him. Judaism. Talmud, Ta'anit 11b
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2.20
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?... For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.
1 Corinthians 3.16-17
Just as God fills the whole world, so the soul fills the body. Just as God sees, but is not seen, so the soul sees, but is not itself seen. Just as God feeds the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole body. Just as God is pure, so the soul is pure. Just as God dwells in the innermost precincts of the Temple, so also the soul dwells in the innermost part of the body. Judaism. Talmud, Berakot 10a
The temple of God – human body
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20
Pastor Norman
According to the Bible, in Acts 17:24, GOD DOES NOT LIVE IN BUILDINGS MADE BY HUMAN HANDS! The Bible instead teaches that the Human Body is in fact the Temple of God. The Holy Spirit lives IN Christians – in those who have repented of their sins and have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord. Many people do not know or understand this, but this is what the Bible teaches.
In John chapter 2:19 Jesus told the religious leaders, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” John 2:21 tells us that Jesus was referring to HIS BODY. And truly, they killed Jesus by nailing Him on the Cross, but He resurrected on the Third Day!
The Apostle Paul understood this, that’s why he wrote to the Christians in Corinth the following words: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone defiles God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16,17) And “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
If we are God’s temple, therefore, WE ARE SACRED! WE ARE HOLY! We are holy because God LIVES IN US. God who is Holy lives in us and He lives in us day by day. What does it mean to us if we are the Temple of God?
1. If we are the temple of God, then we should be holy NOT ONLY IN CHURCH, BUT EVERYWHERE WE ARE!!!
We must be holy in our homes.
We must be holy at the Mall.
We must be holy in school.
We must be holy at work.
We must be holy in church.
Christianity does not happen ONLY in church as many people think. Christianity is wherever you are because wherever you are, you are the Temple of God.
2. If we are the temple of God, then we should be holy NOT ONLY ON THE “LORD’S DAY”, BUT EVERYDAY!!!
A. We are Christians NOT ONLY ON THE LORD’S DAY –- we are Christians EVERYDAY!
B. Some people try to be Holy only during the Holy Week and on special holy days and live away from God throughout the rest of the year. This is not the Christianity that the Bible talks about!
C. True holiness is a LIFESTYLE. In other words, that’s how you live EVERY DAY.
3. If we are the temple of God, then we should LIVE ONLY ONE LIFE!!!
A. Many Christians live a double life. They live one kind of life when they go to church and they live a different kind of life outside the church.
B. The Bible calls this double life HYPOCRISY. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be good (especially when there are people looking), but is actually a bad person deep inside. Jesus condemns hypocrisy in the Bible (see: Matthew 6:5; 6:16, etc.).
C. The Bible tells us that HYPOCRITES WILL BE THROWN INTO A PLACE WHERE THERE IS WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH! (Matthew 23:15; Matthew 24:51)**These people do NOT match what they are saying with doing.
4. If we are the temple of God, then we should BE CAREFUL HOW WE TREAT OUR BODIES!
A. Since we have been bought by God (through the death of Christ) we no longer belong to ourselves but to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). That means that God must be the One who is in control of what we do with our bodies.
B. Vices, such as getting drunk, smoking, using illegal drugs, etc. destroy the human body. It is an established medical and scientific fact that drinking alcohol destroys the liver and the kidneys. Cigarette smoking causes lung and other cancers. Drug abuse causes brain damage.
C. If your body is the Temple of God, then you must treat your body with care and respect. You stay healthy and you don’t do anything that will jeopardize that.
[고전 10:31-고전 10:31]
(31)그런즉 너희가 먹든지 마시든지 무엇을 하든지 다 하나님의 영광을 위하여 하라
(31)Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Cor 10:31
(31)Si pues com/is, # beb/is, # hac/is otra cosa, haced lo todo ~ gloria de Dios.
ei[te ou\n ejsqivete ei[te pivnete ei[te ti poiei'te pavnta eij" dovxan qeou' poiei'te
5. If we are the temple of God, then WE MUST USE OUR BODIES FOR THE GLORY GOD!
A. One of the best ways to use our bodies is to dedicate or devote it for the SERVICE OF GOD. You can be a pastor, a teacher, a bible study leader, a missionary, an administrator, a Christian office worker, a Christian nurse, a Christian doctor, etc.
B. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:1 that we should REMEMBER God – to serve Him – while we are still young, while we are still able, while we are still healthy.
C. We must also use our bodies in the Service of mankind in the Name of Christ. (Matthew 25:34-36)
D. The Bible also tells us to OFFER OUR BODIES TO GOD AS LIVING SACRIFICES (Romans 12:1,2). That means that we MUST LIVE HOLY LIVES and this will GLORIFY our God in Heaven!
Conclusion
You are the Temple of God –- Glorify God through your body!
[마 5:48-마 5:48]
(48)그러므로 하늘에 계신 너희 아버지의 온전하심과 같이 너희도 온전하라
(48)Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Mt 5:48
(48)Sed, pues, vosotros perfectos, como vuestro Padre que est~ en los cielos es perfecto.
#Esesqe ou\n uJmei'" tevleioi wJsper oJ path;r uJmw'n oJ ejn toi'" oujranoi'" tevleiov" ejstin
[갈 2:20-갈 2:20]
(20)내가 그리스도와 함께 십자가에 못박혔나니 그런즉 이제는 내가 산 것이 아니요 오직 내 안에 그리스도께서 사신 것이라 이제 내가 육체 가운데 사는 것은 나를 사랑하사 나를 위하여 자기 몸을 버리신 하나님의 아들을 믿는 믿음 안에서 사는 것이라
(20)I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20
(20)Con Cristo estoy juntamente crucificado, y vivo, no ya yo, mas vive Cristo en m@: y lo que ahora vivo en la carne, lo vivo en la fe del Hijo de Dios, el cual me am#, y se entreg# ~ s@ mismo por m@.
Cristw'/ sunestauvrwmai zw' de; oujkevti ejgwv zh'/ de; ejn ejmoi; Cristov": o~ de; nu'n zw' ejn sarkiv ejn pivstei zw' th'/ tou' uiJou' tou' qeou' tou' ajgaphvsantov" me kai; paradovnto" eJauto;n uJpe;r ejmou'
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?... For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.
1 Corinthians 3.16-17
Comparing Our Temples With The Jerusalem Temple
육체의 성전과 예루살렘 성전 비교
Now we compare the Temple that was built in Jerusalem with the temple of the human body. In the above Scripture we are told to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits which belong to God, and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us.
When the completed Jerusalem Temple was dedicated to God (see 2 Chron. 5), the glory of the Lord filled the house! We find previously when Moses completed the tabernacle in the wilderness (which had the same purpose as the Temple, but was a tent–see Exod. 26), the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle! –with the pillar of fire and cloud!
As you read through the Old Testament books of Chronicles and Kings, however, you find that the glory of the Lord was often far from the Temple because man had defiled it. In 2 Chron. 29 we find King Hezekiah bringing restoration to the Temple. He opened doors and repaired them. He had the priests carry out the filthiness out of the holy place and cleanse the inner part, bringing out all the uncleanness that they found.
Justification & Redemption - So it is with the our temples. The first step in glorifying God in your body and in your spirit is to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. If you have never taken this step or are not sure of your salvation, REPENT and Accept Jesus Christ in your heart as Savior and the Lord and King.
Sanctification & Purification -If you are born again, but find in reading these articles that there are things in your life which are not glorifying to God in your body and spirit– things which are causing your temple to be defiled and unclean, you need to take steps to cleanse your temple and then keep it clean from all that would defile it.
Mortification of self-ego & flesh - Therefore put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Col. 3:5). To put to death your members means not to feed or promote sin. Sometimes gangrene occurs in a part of our physical body. Gangrene means that an area is deadened because the supply of nutrients is cut off.
N.B.>** gangrene: decay and death of body tissue due to insufficient or absent blood supply, caused by disease or injury
Similarly, if you struggle with the temptation to drink, why do you visit the bar? Are you addicted to pornography? The sin of fornication is fed by what you see with your eyes and dwell on in your thoughts. For example: King David saw Bathseba bathing and rather than turning away, he continued looking. Finally, he sent for her that he might “lay with her.”
Joseph on the other hand ran from temptation. He could have lingered with Potiphar’s wife and considered her proposition. After all, they were alone. Who would know? But Joseph lived to glorify the Lord. He said, “Why should I do this and sin against God?” And he ran away. He put to death his members, refusing to give himself an occasion to sin (- Gen.39).
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ... And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.... Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:14).
The downfall of many believers is their fellowship with the ungodly. The Lord warned Israel that to marry the ungodly would cause them to go after other gods. King Solomon loved many foreign women and they turned his heart after other gods (see 1 Kings 11).
Much more could be written on the subject of glorifying God in your body and in your spirit–your temple. To conclude this study, I suggest that you read Isa. 6:1-8. Note vs. 1: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Is the Lord sitting upon the throne in your temple? Does He fill your temple or is He crowded to one side by other things?
The first step in glorifying God in your body and in your spirit
is to recieve Jesus christ as your Personal Savior and Lord.
There are three cases of having the Lord in your temple:
He is sitting on the throne, and you are a humble servant at His feet gazing at Him in love and adoration, ready to respond to His call.
You are on the throne with Him! In this way you are an equal–and thus, He is merely a business partner, not Lord.
You are on the throne and the Lord is at your feet silently waiting to respond to your commands and wishes. In this way, you are in charge of your life.
Which of these descriptions describes your position with the Lord? We trust that you have invited Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart, and gazing at the one who shed His blood to redeem you, are listening for His voice.
I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore (Psa. 86:12).
[사 6:3-사 6:7]
(3)서로 창화하여 가로되 거룩하다 거룩하다 거룩하다 만군의 여호와여 그 영광이 온 땅에 충만하도다 (4)이 같이 창화하는 자의 소리로 인하여 문지방의 터가 요동하며 집에 연기가 충만한지라 Holy Majesty in Glory
(3)And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (4)And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
(5)그 때에 내가 말하되 화로다 나여 망하게 되었도다 나는 입술이 부정한 사람이요 입술이 부정한 백성 중에 거하면서 만군의 여호와이신 왕을 뵈었음이로다
(5)Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. –Contrite &Repentance
(6)때에 그 스랍의 하나가 화저로 단에서 취한바 핀 숯을 손에 가지고 내게로 날아와서 (7)그것을 내 입에 대며 가로되 보라 이것이 네 입에 닿았으니 네 악이 제하여졌고 네 죄가 사하여졌느니라 하더라
(6)Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: (7)And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Isa 6:3-7
Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath he that believeth with an
infidel? And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the
temple of the living God; as God hath said,
I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and
I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, And will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
[빌 4:8-빌 4:9]
(8)종말로 형제들아 무엇에든지 참되며 무엇에든지 경건하며 무엇에든지 옳으며 무엇에든지 정결하며 무엇에든지 사랑할만하며 무엇에든지 칭찬할만하며 무슨 덕이 있든지 무슨 기림이 있든지 이것들을 생각하라
(8)Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
THINK ON –1.TRUE, 2.HONEST-HONOR, 3.JUST, 4.PURE,
5.LOVELY, 6.GOOD REPORT, 7.VIRTUE, 8.PRAISE!
(9)너희는 내게 배우고 받고 듣고 본 바를 행하라 그리하면 평강의 하나님이 너희와 함께 계시리라
(9)Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Phil 4:8-9
DO-ACT - which ye have both 1.learned, and 2.received, and 3.heard, and 4.seen in St.PAUL after THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.
[고전 11:1-고전 11:1]
(1)내가 그리스도를 본받는 자 된 것같이 너희는 나를 본받는 자 되라
(1)Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. I COR 11:1
(1)SED imitadores de m@, as@ como yo de Cristo.
mimhtaiv mou givnesqe kaqw;" kajgw; Cristou'
Sumary of the TEMPLE of GOD -
The ABC of Temple radiates DOING-ACTION to FRUITS.
(**ABC = Attitude, BEING, & CHARACTER of Temple**)
as the Sun radiates the Light , Energy, and Heat.
[살전 2:10-살전 2:10]
(10)우리가 너희 믿는 자들을 향하여 어떻게 거룩하고 옳고 흠없이 행한 것에 대하여 너희가 증인이요 하나님도 그러하시도다
(10)You are witnesses, and so is God, how 1.holily and 2.justly and 3.blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. I Thess 2:10
[엡 5:8-엡 5:10]
(8)너희가 전에는 어두움이더니 이제는 주 안에서 빛이라 빛의 자녀들처럼 행하라 (8)For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
(9)빛의 열매는 모든 착함과 의로움과 진실함에 있느니라 (10)주께 기쁘시게 할 것이 무엇인가 시험하여 보라
(9) For the fruit of the Spirit is in all 1. goodness and 2. righteousness and 3.truth; (10)Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:8-10
[요 1:14-요 1:14]
(14)말씀이 육신이 되어 우리 가운데 거하시매 우리가 그 영광을 보니 아버지의 독생자의 영광이요 은혜와 진리가 충만하더라
(14)And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
The Body –the Temple of God Overview.
1. God is the owner of the whole man. Soul, body, and spirit are his. God gave his only begotten Son for the body as well as the soul, and our entire life belongs to God, to be consecrated to his service, that through the exercise of every faculty he has given, we may glorify him. – A.B.
2. From the first dawn of reason the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure of the body. Here Jehovah has given a specimen of himself; for man was made in the image of God.
3. The living organism is God's property. It belongs to him by creation and by redemption; and by a misuse of any of our powers we rob God of the honor due him.
4. We are God's workmanship, and his word declares that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." He has prepared this living habitation for the mind; it is "curiously wrought," a temple which the Lord himself has fitted up for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
5. The very flesh in which the soul tabernacles, and through which it works, is the Lord's.
6. Man was the crowning act of the creation of God, made in the image of God, and designed to be a counterpart of God. . . . Man is very dear to God, because he was formed in his own image. This fact should impress us with the importance of teaching by precept and example the sin of defiling, by the indulgence of appetite or by any other sinful practice, the body which is designed to represent God to the world.
7. The wonderful mechanism of the human body does not receive half the care that is often given to a mere lifeless machine.
8. Have I not the right to do as I please with my own body? -- No, you have no moral right, because you are violating the laws of life and health which God has given you. You are the Lord's property, -- his by creation and his by redemption. Every human being is under obligation to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made.
9. The physical organism should have special care, that the powers of the body may not be dwarfed, but developed to their full extent.
10. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.
11. Jesus did not ignore the claims of the body, He had respect for the physical condition of man, and went about healing the sick, and restoring their faculties to those suffering from their loss. How incumbent, then, is it upon us to preserve the natural health with which God has endowed us, and to avoid dwarfing or weakening our powers.
12. As they more fully understand the human body, the wonderful work of God's hand, formed in the image of the divine, they will seek to bring their bodies into subjection to the noble powers of the mind. The body will be regarded by them as a wonderful structure, formed by the Infinite Designer, and given into their charge to be kept in harmonious action.
13. The obligation we owe to God in presenting to him clean, pure, healthy bodies is not comprehended.
14. Christ is to live in his human agents, and work through their faculties, and act through their capabilities.
15. When human agents choose the will of God, and are conformed to the character of Christ, Jesus acts through their organs and faculties.
16. The Spirit of Christ is to take possession of the organs of speech, of the mental powers, of the physical and moral powers.
17. Our very bodies are not our own, to treat as we please, to cripple by habits that lead to decay, making it impossible to render to God perfect service. Our lives and all our faculties belong to him. He is caring for us every moment; he keeps the living machinery in action; if we were left to run it for one moment, we should die. We are absolutely dependent upon God.
18. It was a wonderful thing for God to create man, to make mind. He created him that every faculty might be the faculty of the divine mind. The glory of God is to be revealed in the creating of man in God's image and in his redemption. One soul is of more value than a world. The Lord Jesus is the author of our being, and he is also the author of our redemption; and every one who will enter the kingdom of God must develop a character that is the counterpart of the character of God. None can dwell with God in a holy heaven but those who bear his likeness. Those who are redeemed will be overcomers; they will be elevated, pure, one with Christ.
Bible References on human body –Temple of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone defiles God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
Matthew 6:1-34 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Genesis 9:5-6 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
Ephesians 2:21 In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Romans 13:1-14 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's minister for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...
Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.
Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. – Head & Lord is Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
John 2:21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Matthew 26:26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Ephesians 2:15 By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,
Colossians 1:22 He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Philippians 1:20 As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Romans 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Galatians 3:23-25 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Temple of God –Corporate body
In our society which is so highly individualistic and focused on personal happiness, there is a frequently a serious deficit in our sense of community. The word, "I" finds its way into our speech much more frequently than "we." God points us to a different way over and over and over again in His Holy Word.
"The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. ... we have all been baptized into Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, NLT)
"For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13, NLT) – J.O.Y. principle
"Work at getting along with each other." (Hebrews 12:14, The Message)
"Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future." (Ephesians 4:2-4, NLT)
The joy that is found in shared actions, in close relationships of a unified church. Personally we find greater peace and productivity when we are helping each other succeed, offering support. The work of God in us individually, and as a church, is magnified in the positive results that become possible when we turn our eyes from 'me' to 'we.'
Let's get to our text: 1st Corinthians 3: 10-23
Now would you follow with me as we come to the text for the message today: 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 Paul paints a word picture to help these Believers understand the importance of being connected to each other in unity. He says, Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
He points them to an image of a temple.
Peter also used this metaphor as he taught about the Church. He wrote, "...now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple." (1 Peter 2:5, NLT)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
The 'you' is a plural one. Yes, in other references Paul refers to us individually as temples of the Holy Spirit, but in the context of our text, his emphasis is strong and clear.
"Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" NLT
The Church, you and I as the holy temple, rests squarely on the Rock, Jesus Christ. Paul had preached a clear message to them: you are saved from sin and given spiritual life through Christ alone. His life, death, and resurrection is the foundation. There is none other.
**Philosophies of wise teachers will come and go. What's 'in' today at the university will be 'out' tomorrow.
**Miraculous signs and great demonstrations of supernatural power will break out in the church from time to time, but these are not what the Church is built on.
**Grand programs that mobilize armies of Believers will have their moment, but no program can replace Christ as the foundation of faith.
As you evaluate a church, take time to discover the real foundation.
Is that church being driven by a personality?
Is that church being shaped around 'signs and wonders?'
Is a church that is always being driven by the latest fads and programs to keep people excited? OR is it a church that is solidly resting on the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What in the foundation isn't always obvious. Why? Foundations are hidden.
ill- This building rests on concrete that goes 12' into the ground! You can't see it. Imagine if the builder decided that since nobody could see the foundation, he would just rake off a little level spot and pour a couple of inches of concrete on which to set the main pillars? This building would long ago have sagged and probably collapsed.
When you first view a church you may not see the foundation, but look deeper. Is it a steady church? Are people pointed regularly to Jesus Christ? Is prayer prominent in the church, real prayers that engage with the real needs of the people, the church, and the world at large?
Paul is quite clear: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11, KJV)
Then, Paul turns to the superstructure. He talks about the quality of the temple being directly related to the quality of the materials used to build it: "Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames." (1 Corinthians 3:12-15, NLT)
That should be one of the most sobering passages in the whole Bible for Believers! God will test the quality of our life! The way in which you have used your spiritual gifts to build up the temple, the quality of service you have offered in the building of His church, the attitude and motives that you have brought to your worship and service will be tested - BY FIRE!
Let's be perfectly clear. Please pay attention. What's being examined here IS NOT whether you or I get to go to Heaven, whether we are saved or not. To use this passage to teach a salvation of works or a conditional salvation is a terrible misuse or misunderstanding of the truth here.– It’s for rewards or shame!
What Paul is asking us to consider is how we are serving. Some of us because we have been selfish, critical, judgmental, proud, self-willed, focused on being recognized, or acting out of our own wisdom and ways rather than in submission to the Spirit of God - will find that our entire Christian life vanishes under the fiery gaze of Jesus at the Judgment Seat! Some churches will find that their grand histories burn up. All that will be left is the foundation that is eternal, but all the rest was done for ignoble motives and therefore will not survive.
Jesus used the same idea when he advised us to "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20, NIV)
Now let's focus on the most sobering part of this passage. V. 17
"If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, NIV)
"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 3:17, KJV)
"God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, NLT)
"No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred--and you, remember, are the temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, The Message)
People who specialize in ruining churches, who tear down the work of God, who divide congregations, who demand that their needs be served with a higher priority than God's will - are inviting God's heavy hand of destruction to rest on their lives! Those who live in opposition to their Christian brothers and sisters, those who building their own kingdom instead of that of Christ, are headed down the road to apostasy!
The temple of Christ, which we are, is built by people fitting together, each one doing what God has called him or her to do, without comparison.
[엡 4:11-엡 4:13]
(11)그가 혹은 사도로, 혹은 선지자로, 혹은 복음 전하는 자로, 혹은 목사와 교사로 주셨으니 (12)이는 성도를 온전케 하며 봉사의 일을 하게 하며 그리스도의 몸을 세우려 하심이라
(11)And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12)For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
(13)우리가 다 하나님의 아들을 믿는 것과 아는 일에 하나가 되어 온전한 사람을 이루어 그리스도의 장성한 분량이 충만한 데까지 이르리니
(13)Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Eph 4:11-13
Where the Spirit of grace reigns, there is love. This love begins to cement us into close, unified relationships and it is true:
We're building up the temple,
building up the temple, building up the temple of the Lord,
Brother, won't you help us? Sister, won't you help us?
Building up the temple of the Lord!
Jerry D. Scott
1 Cor 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's
husbandry, ye are God's building. 1 Cor 3:10 I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
We are the Temple of God and let every man take heed how he buildeth hereupon because whosoever defiles that temple, *him* God will destroy.
Temples
Temple is used for the Old Testament Hebrew word pronounced hay-kawl, and the New Testament Greek words hee-er-on and nah-os. In The Bible, the Old Testament and New Testament meanings and applications of the word Temple sharply differ. - by Wayne Blank
Old Testament
The original Temple of God in Jerusalem, patterned after The Tabernacle In The Wilderness, was completed by King Solomon about 950 B.C. (1 Kings 6:1-38). It survived over 360 years before it was destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25:1-9)
After the Persians (see Ancient Empires - Persia) permitted their return from the Babylonian exile about 538 B.C., the Jews began to rebuild the Temple, which was completed about 15 years later. While almost certainly not as grand as the original Temple of Solomon, it survived over 450 years. It was this Temple that the Syrian king Antiochus IV desecrated in 168 B.C., triggering the revolt by The Maccabees. This Temple was largely destroyed by the conquering Romans under Pompey in 63 B.C. (see Ancient Empires - Rome)
The Herodian Temple, a rebuilding of the earlier Temple by Herod The Great, was the magnificent structure that existed at the time of Jesus Christ. It was there that The Lord drove out the money changers and had numerous confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees. This Temple was completely destroyed by the Roman Legions in 70 A.D., exactly as Jesus Christ prophesied, nearly 40 years earlier, that it would be. (Matthew 24:1-2) Since then, there has been no Temple in Jerusalem.
New Testament
In the Christian era, Temple took on a much wider meaning -
"Then the Jews demanded of Him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove Your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?" But the Temple He had spoken of was His body." (John 2:18-21 NIV)
"For through Him we both have access to The Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy Temple in The Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:18-22 NIV)
"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for Him. "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: "'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord." (Acts 7:44-49 NIV)
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's Temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's Temple, God will destroy him; for God's Temple is sacred, and you are that Temple." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV)
"For we are the Temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people." (2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV)
"Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)
Spiritual Temple In Prophecy
Prophetic interpretations of the meaning of Temple also sharply differ. There are physical and spiritual applications and interpretations. Examples of spiritual -
"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the Temple of My God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him The Name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God; and I will also write on him My new Name." (Revelation 3:11-12 NIV)
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of The Lamb [**What Is A Saint?]. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His Temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:14-17 NIV)
"The nations were angry; and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your saints and those who reverence Your Name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth." Then God's Temple in heaven was opened, and within His Temple was seen The Ark of His covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm." (Revelation 11:18-19 NIV)
"After this I looked and in heaven the Temple, that is, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of the Temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, Who lives for ever and ever. And the Temple was filled with smoke from The Glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed." (Revelation 15:5-8 NIV)
An End-Time Physical Temple?
There are a number of Jewish groups working toward the construction of an end-time Jewish Temple - a physical, Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Their preparations are genuine, professional, and well financed. They would begin building today if the political situation permitted it. But will it happen? Many Christians reject the thought of any such possibility, because their Christian perspective of "Temple" is now purely spiritual, and so they disregard the minds and actions of the Jewish people. But Jews aren't Christians. Jews have a religious perspective of their own, and since 1948, the Jewish state of Israel has been a reality.
Other Christians believe that the Jewish people will indeed construct another Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that is going to play an immense role in end-time prophecy - events that will affect everyone, everywhere. What makes them believe that? Well, they believe that these Scriptures of Bible Prophecy, among others, can only mean a physical Jewish Temple, in Jerusalem, just prior to The Return Of Jesus Christ -
"I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to My Two Witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." (Revelation 11:1-3 NIV)
"And one who causes desolation will place abominations on a wing of the Temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:27 NIV) (**The Abomination of Desolation)
"His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the Temple and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him." (Daniel 11:31-32 NIV) (**The Antichrist)
"He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God's Temple, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thessalonians 2:4 NIV) (**The Lawless One)
And, in The Words of Jesus Christ Himself -
"And this Gospel of The Kingdom [**The Kingdom of God] will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again ."
"If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets [** The Great False Prophet] will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time."
"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of The Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather."
"Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' [** Signs In The Heavens] "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:14-30 NIV)
Fact Finder: Will there be a Temple in the New Jerusalem?
[계 21:22-계 21:23]
(22)성안에 성전을 내가 보지 못하였으니 이는 주 하나님 곧 전능하신 이와 및 어린 양이 그 성전이심이라 (23)그 성은 해나 달의 비췸이 쓸데 없으니 이는 하나님의 영광이 비취고 어린 양이 그 등이 되심이라
(22)And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (23)And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Rev21:22-23
N.B.>** What Is A Saint?
There are a great many opinions in answer to the question, "What is a saint?" Different church organizations and denominations, as well as individual Christian-professing people , have a wide variety of interpretations. Are saints just certain holy people from the distant past of Bible History, or are there also saints alive today? How do people become saints? Does any human religious leader have the right to decide who God's saints are, or does God alone decide and make it possible?
The original Bible words that have been translated to the English word saint are found through the entire Old and New Testaments. Saints did not originate at the time of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew Words in The Old Testament
koe-desh meant sacred, holy, or dedicated
kaw-dosh meant sacred or holy
kaw-seed meant good or holy
The Greek Word In The New Testament
hag-ee-oes meant sacred, pure or blameless
All of the original words above (listed in their transliterated form - written according to how they sound in English) all carry the same definition of a saint - someone who is sacred, holy, pure, blameless, dedicated. They became saints by means of the Holy Spirit, which can only come from God. God therefore chooses His saints, and gives them of His Holy Spirit to make it possible (**The Elect).
The people described as saints in The Bible were however still very much human. They were called, they were holy, and they were extremely dedicated (both in terms of attitude, and in the sense of being set apart), but they were still real people, far from perfect. Saints never stopped being normal people - fishermen, farmers, tent makers, doctors, teachers, carpenters. The "little people" of the congregations were as much saints as the most famous and prominent ones such as Peter and Paul (e.g. Romans 15:26).
Saints were not infallible (e.g. Galatians 2:11), and sometimes they disagreed with one another (e.g. Acts 15:39). They were most certainly called, converted, good people, but they did not become somehow perfect. As far as The Bible is concerned, God's Word was and is perfect, but God's people, while yet physical, were and are not perfect in knowledge, or behavior (see Paul's Mirror).
Were there more saints after those recorded in the Bible? Yes. Have there been true saints during the past 2,000 years? Yes, secular history records their persecution, along with the persecution of millions of others who were "saints" of various man-made church organizations. Are there true saints alive on the earth today? Yes, they and/or their descendants are described in end-time prophecy.
** TRIBULATION TIME SAINTS
Bible Prophecy has much to say about God's true saints living on the earth during the end-times. Circumstances will be extremely difficult, but they will eventually triumph. A few examples from your Bible:
"Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain." (Revelation 13:7-8 RSV) (**The Great False Prophet and The Antichrist)
"If any one is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if any one slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints." (Revelation 13:10 RSV)
"Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12 RSV)
"The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of water say, "Just art thou in these thy judgments, thou who art and wast, O Holy One. For men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. It is their due!" (Revelation 16:4-6 RSV) (** The Seven Seals)
"and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations." And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly." (Revelation 17:5-6 RSV)
"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, "Hallelujah! For The Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are true words of God." (Revelation 19:6-9 RSV)
APPENDIX
Man’s Physical Body – Most Complex Of All God’s Creations
The physical body we each possess is the most complex of all God’s creations. Our brain exceeds the capabilities of the most complex supercomputers on earth. If you doubt this statement, just remember who designed the complex supercomputers. Our sensory system is comprised of nerve cells that provide impulses from the periphery of the body to the central nervous system, a fete beyond the capabilities of the most advanced machines in the best funded laboratories on earth.
Our reproductive system is capable of producing a brand new life. Our bone structure is an unbelievable engineering accomplishment. Our lungs take in copious amounts of oxygen, and place that oxygen into the blood. This oxygen the body takes into the lungs is referred to as the “breath of life” in Genesis 1:7.
Our heart then pumps this oxygen rich blood to every cell within the body, and when that oxygen rich blood stops flowing, the body dies. The imperative of keeping this oxygen-rich life-giving blood, flowing throughout the body, is made abundantly clear in Leviticus 17:11 where we read “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” And what did our Creator use for building materials to create this incredibly complex physical body we each possess?
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
And where did this dust of the ground originate? The Bible provides the clear answer to that question in Genesis 1:1 where we read
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
also in John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”
When the lungs stop taking in oxygen, and when the heart stops beating and stops pulsing oxygen rich blood throughout the body, the body dies. “Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). We see the truth of that statement when a person is cremated. What’s left? A handful of rock dust!
But man is more than just a body as we learn in Hebrews 9:27.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
How anyone could believe that life itself and the magnificent complex physical body we each possess, along with a soul and spirit could all originate from some dead rocks colliding with a Big Bang millions of years ago is beyond my comprehension. No my friend, we did not arrive here on planet earth through some evolutionary process, but rather we are the “wonderfully made” creation of our Creator God (Psalm 139:14)
And when this physical body God has provided each of us dies, there is life beyond the grave. Hebrews 9:27 makes this abundantly clear: “And as it is appointed unto every man once to die, but after this, the judgment.” Read also II Corinthians 5:1:
“For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
God has not only given us physical life, but also spiritual life, and this spiritual life extends beyond the grave. Thus it is imperative that we not only take proper care of this physical body if we want to live a long life in health, but that we also make preparation before we die for that spiritual life which will continue after physical life ceases.
In I Corinthians 3:10:
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
I Corinthians 6:19-20 expands on the thought:
“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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
In Romans 12:1: “I beseech YOU therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, whi
743 S. Grandview St. L.A. CA. 90057 Tel. (213)928-2932 Pastor P.K.
Every Sunday 3:30 pm JD-class Email: peterkim123@sbcglobal.net Seeking to make disciples who make disciples.
“그러나 너는 모든 일에 근신하여 고난을 받으며 전도인의 일을 하며 네 직무를 다하라” But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. II Tim 4:5
Devotional to JDs,
Biblical - Spiritual – Medical Truth PART- I
Human Body- the Temple of God
사람의몸 - 하나님의 성전 (제1부)
God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
Genesis 1.26
You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5.48
And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.'" Leviticus 19.1-2
As God is called merciful and gracious, so you be merciful and gracious, offering gifts gratis to all; as the Lord is called righteous and loving, so you be righteous and loving. Midrash, Sifre Deuteronomy
Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of God. But it was by a special love that it was made known to him that he was created in the image of God. Judaism Mishnah, Abot 3.18
Let a man always consider himself as the Holy One dwells within him. Judaism. Talmud, Ta'anit 11b
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2.20
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?... For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.
1 Corinthians 3.16-17
Just as God fills the whole world, so the soul fills the body. Just as God sees, but is not seen, so the soul sees, but is not itself seen. Just as God feeds the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole body. Just as God is pure, so the soul is pure. Just as God dwells in the innermost precincts of the Temple, so also the soul dwells in the innermost part of the body. Judaism. Talmud, Berakot 10a
The temple of God – human body
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20
Pastor Norman
According to the Bible, in Acts 17:24, GOD DOES NOT LIVE IN BUILDINGS MADE BY HUMAN HANDS! The Bible instead teaches that the Human Body is in fact the Temple of God. The Holy Spirit lives IN Christians – in those who have repented of their sins and have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord. Many people do not know or understand this, but this is what the Bible teaches.
In John chapter 2:19 Jesus told the religious leaders, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” John 2:21 tells us that Jesus was referring to HIS BODY. And truly, they killed Jesus by nailing Him on the Cross, but He resurrected on the Third Day!
The Apostle Paul understood this, that’s why he wrote to the Christians in Corinth the following words: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone defiles God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16,17) And “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
If we are God’s temple, therefore, WE ARE SACRED! WE ARE HOLY! We are holy because God LIVES IN US. God who is Holy lives in us and He lives in us day by day. What does it mean to us if we are the Temple of God?
1. If we are the temple of God, then we should be holy NOT ONLY IN CHURCH, BUT EVERYWHERE WE ARE!!!
We must be holy in our homes.
We must be holy at the Mall.
We must be holy in school.
We must be holy at work.
We must be holy in church.
Christianity does not happen ONLY in church as many people think. Christianity is wherever you are because wherever you are, you are the Temple of God.
2. If we are the temple of God, then we should be holy NOT ONLY ON THE “LORD’S DAY”, BUT EVERYDAY!!!
A. We are Christians NOT ONLY ON THE LORD’S DAY –- we are Christians EVERYDAY!
B. Some people try to be Holy only during the Holy Week and on special holy days and live away from God throughout the rest of the year. This is not the Christianity that the Bible talks about!
C. True holiness is a LIFESTYLE. In other words, that’s how you live EVERY DAY.
3. If we are the temple of God, then we should LIVE ONLY ONE LIFE!!!
A. Many Christians live a double life. They live one kind of life when they go to church and they live a different kind of life outside the church.
B. The Bible calls this double life HYPOCRISY. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be good (especially when there are people looking), but is actually a bad person deep inside. Jesus condemns hypocrisy in the Bible (see: Matthew 6:5; 6:16, etc.).
C. The Bible tells us that HYPOCRITES WILL BE THROWN INTO A PLACE WHERE THERE IS WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH! (Matthew 23:15; Matthew 24:51)**These people do NOT match what they are saying with doing.
4. If we are the temple of God, then we should BE CAREFUL HOW WE TREAT OUR BODIES!
A. Since we have been bought by God (through the death of Christ) we no longer belong to ourselves but to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). That means that God must be the One who is in control of what we do with our bodies.
B. Vices, such as getting drunk, smoking, using illegal drugs, etc. destroy the human body. It is an established medical and scientific fact that drinking alcohol destroys the liver and the kidneys. Cigarette smoking causes lung and other cancers. Drug abuse causes brain damage.
C. If your body is the Temple of God, then you must treat your body with care and respect. You stay healthy and you don’t do anything that will jeopardize that.
[고전 10:31-고전 10:31]
(31)그런즉 너희가 먹든지 마시든지 무엇을 하든지 다 하나님의 영광을 위하여 하라
(31)Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Cor 10:31
(31)Si pues com/is, # beb/is, # hac/is otra cosa, haced lo todo ~ gloria de Dios.
ei[te ou\n ejsqivete ei[te pivnete ei[te ti poiei'te pavnta eij" dovxan qeou' poiei'te
5. If we are the temple of God, then WE MUST USE OUR BODIES FOR THE GLORY GOD!
A. One of the best ways to use our bodies is to dedicate or devote it for the SERVICE OF GOD. You can be a pastor, a teacher, a bible study leader, a missionary, an administrator, a Christian office worker, a Christian nurse, a Christian doctor, etc.
B. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:1 that we should REMEMBER God – to serve Him – while we are still young, while we are still able, while we are still healthy.
C. We must also use our bodies in the Service of mankind in the Name of Christ. (Matthew 25:34-36)
D. The Bible also tells us to OFFER OUR BODIES TO GOD AS LIVING SACRIFICES (Romans 12:1,2). That means that we MUST LIVE HOLY LIVES and this will GLORIFY our God in Heaven!
Conclusion
You are the Temple of God –- Glorify God through your body!
[마 5:48-마 5:48]
(48)그러므로 하늘에 계신 너희 아버지의 온전하심과 같이 너희도 온전하라
(48)Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Mt 5:48
(48)Sed, pues, vosotros perfectos, como vuestro Padre que est~ en los cielos es perfecto.
#Esesqe ou\n uJmei'" tevleioi wJsper oJ path;r uJmw'n oJ ejn toi'" oujranoi'" tevleiov" ejstin
[갈 2:20-갈 2:20]
(20)내가 그리스도와 함께 십자가에 못박혔나니 그런즉 이제는 내가 산 것이 아니요 오직 내 안에 그리스도께서 사신 것이라 이제 내가 육체 가운데 사는 것은 나를 사랑하사 나를 위하여 자기 몸을 버리신 하나님의 아들을 믿는 믿음 안에서 사는 것이라
(20)I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20
(20)Con Cristo estoy juntamente crucificado, y vivo, no ya yo, mas vive Cristo en m@: y lo que ahora vivo en la carne, lo vivo en la fe del Hijo de Dios, el cual me am#, y se entreg# ~ s@ mismo por m@.
Cristw'/ sunestauvrwmai zw' de; oujkevti ejgwv zh'/ de; ejn ejmoi; Cristov": o~ de; nu'n zw' ejn sarkiv ejn pivstei zw' th'/ tou' uiJou' tou' qeou' tou' ajgaphvsantov" me kai; paradovnto" eJauto;n uJpe;r ejmou'
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?... For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.
1 Corinthians 3.16-17
Comparing Our Temples With The Jerusalem Temple
육체의 성전과 예루살렘 성전 비교
Now we compare the Temple that was built in Jerusalem with the temple of the human body. In the above Scripture we are told to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits which belong to God, and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us.
When the completed Jerusalem Temple was dedicated to God (see 2 Chron. 5), the glory of the Lord filled the house! We find previously when Moses completed the tabernacle in the wilderness (which had the same purpose as the Temple, but was a tent–see Exod. 26), the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle! –with the pillar of fire and cloud!
As you read through the Old Testament books of Chronicles and Kings, however, you find that the glory of the Lord was often far from the Temple because man had defiled it. In 2 Chron. 29 we find King Hezekiah bringing restoration to the Temple. He opened doors and repaired them. He had the priests carry out the filthiness out of the holy place and cleanse the inner part, bringing out all the uncleanness that they found.
Justification & Redemption - So it is with the our temples. The first step in glorifying God in your body and in your spirit is to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. If you have never taken this step or are not sure of your salvation, REPENT and Accept Jesus Christ in your heart as Savior and the Lord and King.
Sanctification & Purification -If you are born again, but find in reading these articles that there are things in your life which are not glorifying to God in your body and spirit– things which are causing your temple to be defiled and unclean, you need to take steps to cleanse your temple and then keep it clean from all that would defile it.
Mortification of self-ego & flesh - Therefore put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Col. 3:5). To put to death your members means not to feed or promote sin. Sometimes gangrene occurs in a part of our physical body. Gangrene means that an area is deadened because the supply of nutrients is cut off.
N.B.>** gangrene: decay and death of body tissue due to insufficient or absent blood supply, caused by disease or injury
Similarly, if you struggle with the temptation to drink, why do you visit the bar? Are you addicted to pornography? The sin of fornication is fed by what you see with your eyes and dwell on in your thoughts. For example: King David saw Bathseba bathing and rather than turning away, he continued looking. Finally, he sent for her that he might “lay with her.”
Joseph on the other hand ran from temptation. He could have lingered with Potiphar’s wife and considered her proposition. After all, they were alone. Who would know? But Joseph lived to glorify the Lord. He said, “Why should I do this and sin against God?” And he ran away. He put to death his members, refusing to give himself an occasion to sin (- Gen.39).
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ... And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.... Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:14).
The downfall of many believers is their fellowship with the ungodly. The Lord warned Israel that to marry the ungodly would cause them to go after other gods. King Solomon loved many foreign women and they turned his heart after other gods (see 1 Kings 11).
Much more could be written on the subject of glorifying God in your body and in your spirit–your temple. To conclude this study, I suggest that you read Isa. 6:1-8. Note vs. 1: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Is the Lord sitting upon the throne in your temple? Does He fill your temple or is He crowded to one side by other things?
The first step in glorifying God in your body and in your spirit
is to recieve Jesus christ as your Personal Savior and Lord.
There are three cases of having the Lord in your temple:
He is sitting on the throne, and you are a humble servant at His feet gazing at Him in love and adoration, ready to respond to His call.
You are on the throne with Him! In this way you are an equal–and thus, He is merely a business partner, not Lord.
You are on the throne and the Lord is at your feet silently waiting to respond to your commands and wishes. In this way, you are in charge of your life.
Which of these descriptions describes your position with the Lord? We trust that you have invited Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart, and gazing at the one who shed His blood to redeem you, are listening for His voice.
I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore (Psa. 86:12).
[사 6:3-사 6:7]
(3)서로 창화하여 가로되 거룩하다 거룩하다 거룩하다 만군의 여호와여 그 영광이 온 땅에 충만하도다 (4)이 같이 창화하는 자의 소리로 인하여 문지방의 터가 요동하며 집에 연기가 충만한지라 Holy Majesty in Glory
(3)And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (4)And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
(5)그 때에 내가 말하되 화로다 나여 망하게 되었도다 나는 입술이 부정한 사람이요 입술이 부정한 백성 중에 거하면서 만군의 여호와이신 왕을 뵈었음이로다
(5)Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. –Contrite &Repentance
(6)때에 그 스랍의 하나가 화저로 단에서 취한바 핀 숯을 손에 가지고 내게로 날아와서 (7)그것을 내 입에 대며 가로되 보라 이것이 네 입에 닿았으니 네 악이 제하여졌고 네 죄가 사하여졌느니라 하더라
(6)Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: (7)And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Isa 6:3-7
Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath he that believeth with an
infidel? And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the
temple of the living God; as God hath said,
I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and
I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, And will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
[빌 4:8-빌 4:9]
(8)종말로 형제들아 무엇에든지 참되며 무엇에든지 경건하며 무엇에든지 옳으며 무엇에든지 정결하며 무엇에든지 사랑할만하며 무엇에든지 칭찬할만하며 무슨 덕이 있든지 무슨 기림이 있든지 이것들을 생각하라
(8)Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
THINK ON –1.TRUE, 2.HONEST-HONOR, 3.JUST, 4.PURE,
5.LOVELY, 6.GOOD REPORT, 7.VIRTUE, 8.PRAISE!
(9)너희는 내게 배우고 받고 듣고 본 바를 행하라 그리하면 평강의 하나님이 너희와 함께 계시리라
(9)Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Phil 4:8-9
DO-ACT - which ye have both 1.learned, and 2.received, and 3.heard, and 4.seen in St.PAUL after THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.
[고전 11:1-고전 11:1]
(1)내가 그리스도를 본받는 자 된 것같이 너희는 나를 본받는 자 되라
(1)Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. I COR 11:1
(1)SED imitadores de m@, as@ como yo de Cristo.
mimhtaiv mou givnesqe kaqw;" kajgw; Cristou'
Sumary of the TEMPLE of GOD -
The ABC of Temple radiates DOING-ACTION to FRUITS.
(**ABC = Attitude, BEING, & CHARACTER of Temple**)
as the Sun radiates the Light , Energy, and Heat.
[살전 2:10-살전 2:10]
(10)우리가 너희 믿는 자들을 향하여 어떻게 거룩하고 옳고 흠없이 행한 것에 대하여 너희가 증인이요 하나님도 그러하시도다
(10)You are witnesses, and so is God, how 1.holily and 2.justly and 3.blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. I Thess 2:10
[엡 5:8-엡 5:10]
(8)너희가 전에는 어두움이더니 이제는 주 안에서 빛이라 빛의 자녀들처럼 행하라 (8)For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
(9)빛의 열매는 모든 착함과 의로움과 진실함에 있느니라 (10)주께 기쁘시게 할 것이 무엇인가 시험하여 보라
(9) For the fruit of the Spirit is in all 1. goodness and 2. righteousness and 3.truth; (10)Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:8-10
[요 1:14-요 1:14]
(14)말씀이 육신이 되어 우리 가운데 거하시매 우리가 그 영광을 보니 아버지의 독생자의 영광이요 은혜와 진리가 충만하더라
(14)And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
The Body –the Temple of God Overview.
1. God is the owner of the whole man. Soul, body, and spirit are his. God gave his only begotten Son for the body as well as the soul, and our entire life belongs to God, to be consecrated to his service, that through the exercise of every faculty he has given, we may glorify him. – A.B.
2. From the first dawn of reason the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure of the body. Here Jehovah has given a specimen of himself; for man was made in the image of God.
3. The living organism is God's property. It belongs to him by creation and by redemption; and by a misuse of any of our powers we rob God of the honor due him.
4. We are God's workmanship, and his word declares that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." He has prepared this living habitation for the mind; it is "curiously wrought," a temple which the Lord himself has fitted up for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
5. The very flesh in which the soul tabernacles, and through which it works, is the Lord's.
6. Man was the crowning act of the creation of God, made in the image of God, and designed to be a counterpart of God. . . . Man is very dear to God, because he was formed in his own image. This fact should impress us with the importance of teaching by precept and example the sin of defiling, by the indulgence of appetite or by any other sinful practice, the body which is designed to represent God to the world.
7. The wonderful mechanism of the human body does not receive half the care that is often given to a mere lifeless machine.
8. Have I not the right to do as I please with my own body? -- No, you have no moral right, because you are violating the laws of life and health which God has given you. You are the Lord's property, -- his by creation and his by redemption. Every human being is under obligation to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made.
9. The physical organism should have special care, that the powers of the body may not be dwarfed, but developed to their full extent.
10. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.
11. Jesus did not ignore the claims of the body, He had respect for the physical condition of man, and went about healing the sick, and restoring their faculties to those suffering from their loss. How incumbent, then, is it upon us to preserve the natural health with which God has endowed us, and to avoid dwarfing or weakening our powers.
12. As they more fully understand the human body, the wonderful work of God's hand, formed in the image of the divine, they will seek to bring their bodies into subjection to the noble powers of the mind. The body will be regarded by them as a wonderful structure, formed by the Infinite Designer, and given into their charge to be kept in harmonious action.
13. The obligation we owe to God in presenting to him clean, pure, healthy bodies is not comprehended.
14. Christ is to live in his human agents, and work through their faculties, and act through their capabilities.
15. When human agents choose the will of God, and are conformed to the character of Christ, Jesus acts through their organs and faculties.
16. The Spirit of Christ is to take possession of the organs of speech, of the mental powers, of the physical and moral powers.
17. Our very bodies are not our own, to treat as we please, to cripple by habits that lead to decay, making it impossible to render to God perfect service. Our lives and all our faculties belong to him. He is caring for us every moment; he keeps the living machinery in action; if we were left to run it for one moment, we should die. We are absolutely dependent upon God.
18. It was a wonderful thing for God to create man, to make mind. He created him that every faculty might be the faculty of the divine mind. The glory of God is to be revealed in the creating of man in God's image and in his redemption. One soul is of more value than a world. The Lord Jesus is the author of our being, and he is also the author of our redemption; and every one who will enter the kingdom of God must develop a character that is the counterpart of the character of God. None can dwell with God in a holy heaven but those who bear his likeness. Those who are redeemed will be overcomers; they will be elevated, pure, one with Christ.
Bible References on human body –Temple of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone defiles God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
Matthew 6:1-34 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Genesis 9:5-6 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
Ephesians 2:21 In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Romans 13:1-14 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's minister for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...
Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.
Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. – Head & Lord is Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
John 2:21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Matthew 26:26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Ephesians 2:15 By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,
Colossians 1:22 He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Philippians 1:20 As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Romans 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Galatians 3:23-25 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Temple of God –Corporate body
In our society which is so highly individualistic and focused on personal happiness, there is a frequently a serious deficit in our sense of community. The word, "I" finds its way into our speech much more frequently than "we." God points us to a different way over and over and over again in His Holy Word.
"The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. ... we have all been baptized into Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, NLT)
"For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13, NLT) – J.O.Y. principle
"Work at getting along with each other." (Hebrews 12:14, The Message)
"Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future." (Ephesians 4:2-4, NLT)
The joy that is found in shared actions, in close relationships of a unified church. Personally we find greater peace and productivity when we are helping each other succeed, offering support. The work of God in us individually, and as a church, is magnified in the positive results that become possible when we turn our eyes from 'me' to 'we.'
Let's get to our text: 1st Corinthians 3: 10-23
Now would you follow with me as we come to the text for the message today: 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 Paul paints a word picture to help these Believers understand the importance of being connected to each other in unity. He says, Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
He points them to an image of a temple.
Peter also used this metaphor as he taught about the Church. He wrote, "...now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple." (1 Peter 2:5, NLT)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
The 'you' is a plural one. Yes, in other references Paul refers to us individually as temples of the Holy Spirit, but in the context of our text, his emphasis is strong and clear.
"Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" NLT
The Church, you and I as the holy temple, rests squarely on the Rock, Jesus Christ. Paul had preached a clear message to them: you are saved from sin and given spiritual life through Christ alone. His life, death, and resurrection is the foundation. There is none other.
**Philosophies of wise teachers will come and go. What's 'in' today at the university will be 'out' tomorrow.
**Miraculous signs and great demonstrations of supernatural power will break out in the church from time to time, but these are not what the Church is built on.
**Grand programs that mobilize armies of Believers will have their moment, but no program can replace Christ as the foundation of faith.
As you evaluate a church, take time to discover the real foundation.
Is that church being driven by a personality?
Is that church being shaped around 'signs and wonders?'
Is a church that is always being driven by the latest fads and programs to keep people excited? OR is it a church that is solidly resting on the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What in the foundation isn't always obvious. Why? Foundations are hidden.
ill- This building rests on concrete that goes 12' into the ground! You can't see it. Imagine if the builder decided that since nobody could see the foundation, he would just rake off a little level spot and pour a couple of inches of concrete on which to set the main pillars? This building would long ago have sagged and probably collapsed.
When you first view a church you may not see the foundation, but look deeper. Is it a steady church? Are people pointed regularly to Jesus Christ? Is prayer prominent in the church, real prayers that engage with the real needs of the people, the church, and the world at large?
Paul is quite clear: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11, KJV)
Then, Paul turns to the superstructure. He talks about the quality of the temple being directly related to the quality of the materials used to build it: "Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames." (1 Corinthians 3:12-15, NLT)
That should be one of the most sobering passages in the whole Bible for Believers! God will test the quality of our life! The way in which you have used your spiritual gifts to build up the temple, the quality of service you have offered in the building of His church, the attitude and motives that you have brought to your worship and service will be tested - BY FIRE!
Let's be perfectly clear. Please pay attention. What's being examined here IS NOT whether you or I get to go to Heaven, whether we are saved or not. To use this passage to teach a salvation of works or a conditional salvation is a terrible misuse or misunderstanding of the truth here.– It’s for rewards or shame!
What Paul is asking us to consider is how we are serving. Some of us because we have been selfish, critical, judgmental, proud, self-willed, focused on being recognized, or acting out of our own wisdom and ways rather than in submission to the Spirit of God - will find that our entire Christian life vanishes under the fiery gaze of Jesus at the Judgment Seat! Some churches will find that their grand histories burn up. All that will be left is the foundation that is eternal, but all the rest was done for ignoble motives and therefore will not survive.
Jesus used the same idea when he advised us to "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20, NIV)
Now let's focus on the most sobering part of this passage. V. 17
"If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, NIV)
"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 3:17, KJV)
"God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, NLT)
"No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred--and you, remember, are the temple." (1 Corinthians 3:17, The Message)
People who specialize in ruining churches, who tear down the work of God, who divide congregations, who demand that their needs be served with a higher priority than God's will - are inviting God's heavy hand of destruction to rest on their lives! Those who live in opposition to their Christian brothers and sisters, those who building their own kingdom instead of that of Christ, are headed down the road to apostasy!
The temple of Christ, which we are, is built by people fitting together, each one doing what God has called him or her to do, without comparison.
[엡 4:11-엡 4:13]
(11)그가 혹은 사도로, 혹은 선지자로, 혹은 복음 전하는 자로, 혹은 목사와 교사로 주셨으니 (12)이는 성도를 온전케 하며 봉사의 일을 하게 하며 그리스도의 몸을 세우려 하심이라
(11)And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12)For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
(13)우리가 다 하나님의 아들을 믿는 것과 아는 일에 하나가 되어 온전한 사람을 이루어 그리스도의 장성한 분량이 충만한 데까지 이르리니
(13)Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Eph 4:11-13
Where the Spirit of grace reigns, there is love. This love begins to cement us into close, unified relationships and it is true:
We're building up the temple,
building up the temple, building up the temple of the Lord,
Brother, won't you help us? Sister, won't you help us?
Building up the temple of the Lord!
Jerry D. Scott
1 Cor 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's
husbandry, ye are God's building. 1 Cor 3:10 I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
We are the Temple of God and let every man take heed how he buildeth hereupon because whosoever defiles that temple, *him* God will destroy.
Temples
Temple is used for the Old Testament Hebrew word pronounced hay-kawl, and the New Testament Greek words hee-er-on and nah-os. In The Bible, the Old Testament and New Testament meanings and applications of the word Temple sharply differ. - by Wayne Blank
Old Testament
The original Temple of God in Jerusalem, patterned after The Tabernacle In The Wilderness, was completed by King Solomon about 950 B.C. (1 Kings 6:1-38). It survived over 360 years before it was destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25:1-9)
After the Persians (see Ancient Empires - Persia) permitted their return from the Babylonian exile about 538 B.C., the Jews began to rebuild the Temple, which was completed about 15 years later. While almost certainly not as grand as the original Temple of Solomon, it survived over 450 years. It was this Temple that the Syrian king Antiochus IV desecrated in 168 B.C., triggering the revolt by The Maccabees. This Temple was largely destroyed by the conquering Romans under Pompey in 63 B.C. (see Ancient Empires - Rome)
The Herodian Temple, a rebuilding of the earlier Temple by Herod The Great, was the magnificent structure that existed at the time of Jesus Christ. It was there that The Lord drove out the money changers and had numerous confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees. This Temple was completely destroyed by the Roman Legions in 70 A.D., exactly as Jesus Christ prophesied, nearly 40 years earlier, that it would be. (Matthew 24:1-2) Since then, there has been no Temple in Jerusalem.
New Testament
In the Christian era, Temple took on a much wider meaning -
"Then the Jews demanded of Him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove Your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?" But the Temple He had spoken of was His body." (John 2:18-21 NIV)
"For through Him we both have access to The Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy Temple in The Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:18-22 NIV)
"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for Him. "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: "'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord." (Acts 7:44-49 NIV)
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's Temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's Temple, God will destroy him; for God's Temple is sacred, and you are that Temple." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV)
"For we are the Temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people." (2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV)
"Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)
Spiritual Temple In Prophecy
Prophetic interpretations of the meaning of Temple also sharply differ. There are physical and spiritual applications and interpretations. Examples of spiritual -
"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the Temple of My God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him The Name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God; and I will also write on him My new Name." (Revelation 3:11-12 NIV)
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of The Lamb [**What Is A Saint?]. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His Temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:14-17 NIV)
"The nations were angry; and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your saints and those who reverence Your Name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth." Then God's Temple in heaven was opened, and within His Temple was seen The Ark of His covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm." (Revelation 11:18-19 NIV)
"After this I looked and in heaven the Temple, that is, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of the Temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, Who lives for ever and ever. And the Temple was filled with smoke from The Glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed." (Revelation 15:5-8 NIV)
An End-Time Physical Temple?
There are a number of Jewish groups working toward the construction of an end-time Jewish Temple - a physical, Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Their preparations are genuine, professional, and well financed. They would begin building today if the political situation permitted it. But will it happen? Many Christians reject the thought of any such possibility, because their Christian perspective of "Temple" is now purely spiritual, and so they disregard the minds and actions of the Jewish people. But Jews aren't Christians. Jews have a religious perspective of their own, and since 1948, the Jewish state of Israel has been a reality.
Other Christians believe that the Jewish people will indeed construct another Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that is going to play an immense role in end-time prophecy - events that will affect everyone, everywhere. What makes them believe that? Well, they believe that these Scriptures of Bible Prophecy, among others, can only mean a physical Jewish Temple, in Jerusalem, just prior to The Return Of Jesus Christ -
"I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to My Two Witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." (Revelation 11:1-3 NIV)
"And one who causes desolation will place abominations on a wing of the Temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:27 NIV) (**The Abomination of Desolation)
"His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the Temple and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him." (Daniel 11:31-32 NIV) (**The Antichrist)
"He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God's Temple, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thessalonians 2:4 NIV) (**The Lawless One)
And, in The Words of Jesus Christ Himself -
"And this Gospel of The Kingdom [**The Kingdom of God] will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again ."
"If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets [** The Great False Prophet] will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time."
"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of The Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather."
"Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' [** Signs In The Heavens] "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:14-30 NIV)
Fact Finder: Will there be a Temple in the New Jerusalem?
[계 21:22-계 21:23]
(22)성안에 성전을 내가 보지 못하였으니 이는 주 하나님 곧 전능하신 이와 및 어린 양이 그 성전이심이라 (23)그 성은 해나 달의 비췸이 쓸데 없으니 이는 하나님의 영광이 비취고 어린 양이 그 등이 되심이라
(22)And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (23)And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Rev21:22-23
N.B.>** What Is A Saint?
There are a great many opinions in answer to the question, "What is a saint?" Different church organizations and denominations, as well as individual Christian-professing people , have a wide variety of interpretations. Are saints just certain holy people from the distant past of Bible History, or are there also saints alive today? How do people become saints? Does any human religious leader have the right to decide who God's saints are, or does God alone decide and make it possible?
The original Bible words that have been translated to the English word saint are found through the entire Old and New Testaments. Saints did not originate at the time of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew Words in The Old Testament
koe-desh meant sacred, holy, or dedicated
kaw-dosh meant sacred or holy
kaw-seed meant good or holy
The Greek Word In The New Testament
hag-ee-oes meant sacred, pure or blameless
All of the original words above (listed in their transliterated form - written according to how they sound in English) all carry the same definition of a saint - someone who is sacred, holy, pure, blameless, dedicated. They became saints by means of the Holy Spirit, which can only come from God. God therefore chooses His saints, and gives them of His Holy Spirit to make it possible (**The Elect).
The people described as saints in The Bible were however still very much human. They were called, they were holy, and they were extremely dedicated (both in terms of attitude, and in the sense of being set apart), but they were still real people, far from perfect. Saints never stopped being normal people - fishermen, farmers, tent makers, doctors, teachers, carpenters. The "little people" of the congregations were as much saints as the most famous and prominent ones such as Peter and Paul (e.g. Romans 15:26).
Saints were not infallible (e.g. Galatians 2:11), and sometimes they disagreed with one another (e.g. Acts 15:39). They were most certainly called, converted, good people, but they did not become somehow perfect. As far as The Bible is concerned, God's Word was and is perfect, but God's people, while yet physical, were and are not perfect in knowledge, or behavior (see Paul's Mirror).
Were there more saints after those recorded in the Bible? Yes. Have there been true saints during the past 2,000 years? Yes, secular history records their persecution, along with the persecution of millions of others who were "saints" of various man-made church organizations. Are there true saints alive on the earth today? Yes, they and/or their descendants are described in end-time prophecy.
** TRIBULATION TIME SAINTS
Bible Prophecy has much to say about God's true saints living on the earth during the end-times. Circumstances will be extremely difficult, but they will eventually triumph. A few examples from your Bible:
"Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain." (Revelation 13:7-8 RSV) (**The Great False Prophet and The Antichrist)
"If any one is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if any one slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints." (Revelation 13:10 RSV)
"Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12 RSV)
"The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of water say, "Just art thou in these thy judgments, thou who art and wast, O Holy One. For men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. It is their due!" (Revelation 16:4-6 RSV) (** The Seven Seals)
"and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations." And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly." (Revelation 17:5-6 RSV)
"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, "Hallelujah! For The Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are true words of God." (Revelation 19:6-9 RSV)
APPENDIX
Man’s Physical Body – Most Complex Of All God’s Creations
The physical body we each possess is the most complex of all God’s creations. Our brain exceeds the capabilities of the most complex supercomputers on earth. If you doubt this statement, just remember who designed the complex supercomputers. Our sensory system is comprised of nerve cells that provide impulses from the periphery of the body to the central nervous system, a fete beyond the capabilities of the most advanced machines in the best funded laboratories on earth.
Our reproductive system is capable of producing a brand new life. Our bone structure is an unbelievable engineering accomplishment. Our lungs take in copious amounts of oxygen, and place that oxygen into the blood. This oxygen the body takes into the lungs is referred to as the “breath of life” in Genesis 1:7.
Our heart then pumps this oxygen rich blood to every cell within the body, and when that oxygen rich blood stops flowing, the body dies. The imperative of keeping this oxygen-rich life-giving blood, flowing throughout the body, is made abundantly clear in Leviticus 17:11 where we read “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” And what did our Creator use for building materials to create this incredibly complex physical body we each possess?
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
And where did this dust of the ground originate? The Bible provides the clear answer to that question in Genesis 1:1 where we read
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
also in John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”
When the lungs stop taking in oxygen, and when the heart stops beating and stops pulsing oxygen rich blood throughout the body, the body dies. “Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). We see the truth of that statement when a person is cremated. What’s left? A handful of rock dust!
But man is more than just a body as we learn in Hebrews 9:27.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
How anyone could believe that life itself and the magnificent complex physical body we each possess, along with a soul and spirit could all originate from some dead rocks colliding with a Big Bang millions of years ago is beyond my comprehension. No my friend, we did not arrive here on planet earth through some evolutionary process, but rather we are the “wonderfully made” creation of our Creator God (Psalm 139:14)
And when this physical body God has provided each of us dies, there is life beyond the grave. Hebrews 9:27 makes this abundantly clear: “And as it is appointed unto every man once to die, but after this, the judgment.” Read also II Corinthians 5:1:
“For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
God has not only given us physical life, but also spiritual life, and this spiritual life extends beyond the grave. Thus it is imperative that we not only take proper care of this physical body if we want to live a long life in health, but that we also make preparation before we die for that spiritual life which will continue after physical life ceases.
In I Corinthians 3:10:
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
I Corinthians 6:19-20 expands on the thought:
“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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
In Romans 12:1: “I beseech YOU therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, whi
