New Temple More Glorious
New Temple More Glorious
Sunday – 08th January 2023
Overview
1. Introduction
2. The Promise from the Lord.
3. God who promises is Faithful and He fulfills the promise.
4. The New Covenant promise of Glory
5. Privileged but Responsible
6. 2023, A year of Unlimited measure of the Holy Spirit
7. Importance of Church in 2023
8. Conclusion
Introduction – New Temple More Glorious
This message was preached by Pr. Anish Mano Stephen
This is the second part of a series of messages on “New Temple More Glorious”
There are three temples mentioned in the Bible. The first temple was built by King Solomon and was able to retain the Glory of God. The Glory of the God and the fire that burned the sacrifices came from above. The Second Temple was built under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and of Ezra and Nehemiah. They all worked hard and built the temple. But the second temple was not as magnificent as the first temple. And here, God is promising through Prophet Haggai that the Glory will fill this temple and this temple’s Glory will be greater than the former glory. But the prophecy did not get fulfilled at the time of Prophet Haggai.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we have various divine qualities in us, which makes us more glorious. As we read in Haggai 2:9, this new temple will have peace, and more glory and it will be strong and fearless and will work on divine timings.
Our Promise
Let us look into our promise verse deeper,
“…and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place, I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
- Haggai 2:7-9
This was the promise verse given to us this year by God, especially when we read in the CEV version of the Bible, it says ‘more glorious. It is a positive prophecy where God says, I will fill you with glory and the Glory of this latter temple will be greater than the former temple.
In the Old Covenant, the Glory of God filled in physical structures, First, the tabernacle, second the tent of David, and third the temple of Solomon
As we saw, there are two temples altogether built for the Israelites.
The first temple was built by King Solomon, according to 1 Kings 6:7, 1 Chronicles 28:3, and 2 Chronicles 3:1, David wanted to build the temple because David was the one who got the revelation that there was beauty in the manifested presence of the Almighty God. When David experienced the beautiful glory that was manifested in the presence of God, he decided to sustain it by building the most magnificent temple for the Almighty God. But as the Bible says, David was not allowed to build, and King Solomon, his son built it with the money and treasures that King David had acquired throughout his life as a king. And this temple was indeed physically magnificent and the first wonder of the world. And the Bible says the Glory of the Lord filled the temple and the priests could not stand there. But in 586 BC, this first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. The First Temple built for the Almighty God lasted for only 400 years.
Then the plan for the second temple comes up. For rebuilding the temple God uses three main people King Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Joshua, the High Priest. Their financial status was not like that of King Solomon as they were coming out of exile with no gold or precious stones. And it took a very long time to complete it because the construction of the temple was getting delayed by the Samaritans and Persians for 17 years (passages to refer to Ezra 4:1-5, Ezra 4:21). And for 17 years they are constantly praying and for that time, God comes to Zerubbabel through prophet Haggai and this prophecy comes forth that “and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, the silver is mine, the gold is mine and the glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the former temple.”
So, Zerubbabel was able to complete the temple but the temple was not magnificent as the former temple and the Glory of God never filled the temple, and the prophesy spoken by Haggai is still left unfulfilled. The second temple was destroyed by the Romans. Except for the wailing wall, everything else was captured by the Muslims.
God who promises is Faithful
A few years down the lane, this second temple was taken over by King Herod at the time of Jesus. In the second temple, there was no Glory and no Ark of Covenant which was the place where the Glory came down in the first temple. But the one who has promised is always faithful, he finishes what he said.
Years later, when Jesus was ministering, in Luke 19:41-42, we see Jesus’ weeping over the state of the temple.
“…Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
- Luke 19:41,42
On the day of triumphant entry, for the first time, the King of Glory, Jesus Christ himself, was entering the second temple to fulfill the prophecy given to Haggai that the Glory of the latter temple will be greater than the Glory of the former temple. The earlier temple just saw the clouds filling it and the Glory of God was not manifested as a person but here the real King of Glory was walking into the temple and people did not understand it.
“…Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
- Luke 19:38
Here for the first time, Jesus is called a King. Jewish people strongly believed that the son of David will become the King. He will come as a King of Glory and on that day the Israelites will be redeemed once and for all and whatever they have lost will come back and the Roman rule and their slavery will end and they will be redeemed forever. So, they will call no one a king. But for the first time, Holy Spirit opened the eyes of some people, and when the triumphant entry was taking place and when the march reached the temple, Jesus was unwelcomed. There Jesus wept. The prophecy for which the Jews were waiting for close to 500 years, was not fulfilled, not because God was not ready to fulfill it but because they were not able to recognize the timing of the Almighty God.
In Haggai 2:7, “The Lord says, and I will shake all nations, and in this place, I will give peace…” ’shake’ in Greek means speaking of the day of the Lord, the timings of the Lord.
And Jesus is weeping over the state of the temple and Jerusalem and saying the same thing in Luke 19:41,42, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!
New Covenant Glory
So, when time progressed to the New Covenant, the magnificence and the glory which was only centered on outer beauty began to be manifested as inner beauty. Christianity is not manifesting how beautiful you are outwardly but the inner beauty of glory carrying.
There are prophecies in the Old Testament that talk about this King of Glory.
Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.
- Psalms 24:7,8
Here, 1000 years back, David is prophetically telling about the gates of the second temple through which Jesus, the King of Glory himself, was going to enter even before it was even built.
Apostle Paul also understood this revelation and he says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, that though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day, ‘in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Col 3:10).’ Because Christ, the hope of God’s Glory is right inside a believer. In a New Covenant Church, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit
Now the New Temple started on the day of Pentecost when Jesus built the New Covenant believers, as holy ones, as bricks and walls and stones of the New Temple. And the glory of the Lord is not waiting to get manifested on any physical temple, but the Glory of God will be manifested in the New Covenant Church, of which we all are a part. We are the New Temple with More Glory.
We should allow the Holy Spirit to break us down so that we can be transformed into a New Temple which will carry more Glory. Paul allowed himself to be broken. Peter and the Apostles were ready to be co-crucified with Christ and to be broken to any extent so that they would be manifesters of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fire from above
In the First Temple, there was a sacrifice and the fire came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. In the second temple, there was a sacrifice but people lit up the fire.
In our life as well, we should avoid getting charged up by emotions, or any man of God and their messages, but we should be inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit so that our spiritual life will remain burning. The fire lit by people will be quenched soon, but the fire from above will give us a glorious future ahead.
Privileged But Responsible
The Christian life is a Privileged life but at the same time, the Christian life is a responsible life.
In the Old Covenant, the Glory of God was considered to be the highest degree of the manifested presence of God. So, when I say, 2023 will be more glorious, the degree of God’s presence that is going to be manifested through all of us will be very high. And for that to visibly happen in our life, let’s make a decision that in 2023, my body will become the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 3:16,
“Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”
“…Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20,
Here Paul says two things: our spirit belongs to God and our body also belongs to God.
2023, a year of Unlimited measure of the Holy Spirit
When we are spirit-filled persons, the Holy Spirit is in union with our spirit. So, Holy Spirit resides in us. And because the Holy Spirit lives in us, now our body also belongs to the almighty God. When we get the revelation that we are the glorious temple of the Holy Spirit, sin can never push us down from a high level of holiness to the standards of this world. The more we are closer to the glory realm, the sin can never even enter, it is void. And when we are full of the Holy Spirit, we are going to start manifesting the glory of God.
The most common sin inside the church is not telling lies, not financial problems, but it is sexual immorality.
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”
1 Corinthian 6:18
When there is sexual immorality like masturbation, pornography, or sexual addiction, the first thing that gets affected is our body, because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is increasing in the world because the devil wants to make us sin with our body, which is the temple of God thereby bringing down the glory of God. The Holy Spirit is raising up a generation that will value their bodies, and offer them as worship.
In the first temple, when the Glory came down there was worship
In the second temple, when Jesus was about to enter the temple, there was worship singing “hosanna in the highest”
In the third temple, which is us, as it is written in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Importance of Church in 2023
The church is presence filled, and also, the Church is a pruning place. The Devil uses many weapons against the Body of Christ of which the first weapon is sexual immorality and the second weapon is decreasing the importance of fellowship.
“…Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21. in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22. in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
- Ephesians 2:19-22
This glory comes when we are built as part of a presence-filled glorious church. When normal people get associated with the glory carriers and the other members of the household, they will be built up as a holy temple. And the Word of God says that the New Covenant believers are not individuals but they are perfectly fitted stones of the Body of Christ.
You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple, and your lives have been built up together upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself!
- Ephesians 2:20 (TPT)
New Temple is not a stand-alone temple, but an orderly construction, where Jesus is the Cornerstone and the Cornerstone is holding the prophetic ministry and the apostolic ministry of the church. And on the cornerstone is the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets. And the believers are like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple.
In the anointing realm, goodness and mercy shall follow us, and in the Glory realm, goodness and mercy will go ahead of us. God has a glorious plan for His temple.
Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.’
- Luke 19:45
not the church becoming a den of thieves but as it is written,
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
- Jude 1:20
That is the temple that God is desiring, a house that is constantly praying. Fire in the New Covenant (Holy Fire) is the power of the Holy Spirit that is constantly activated, praying, worshipping, and raising sweet aroma towards heaven. It is never a place of politics and positions like the World.
Prayer pattern – Praying in the Spirit
“…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,”
- Ephesians 6:18-19
Our prayers in this more glorious year should be more for the body of Christ and for the minister of God who is appointed by God to shepherd us. When we pray for others, love will start to flow from our lives. We have to pray for our pastors so that the revelations from the word of God will be given to them.
Concluding Prayer
Lord Jesus, we pray in 2023, that you would make our lives holy and make our eyes open to see your Glory. In 2023, as you promised in Haggai 2:9, we submit ourselves as a new temple to be more glorious. We yield to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to make us a More Glorious Temple.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.