When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden, they had perfect fellowship with their Creator. We can’t imagine what that was like. The glory of God unmediated, unhindered, only the limits of the atmosphere and the canopy of stars, kept man in this theater of God’s presence in true awe and wonder. The question is why in such a state would Adam and Eve ever be distracted to sin, or find time for temptation? It is a timeless question, unanswerable for us.
But, when we think about the worship of God, it makes sense to see how God was always seeking to draw man back into the wonder and grandeur of worship. First, through the tabernacle, this highlighted the mystery of God’s holiness by heavy curtains and walled spaces, and expressed the need to repent, to turn things around. In other words, the tabernacle was a picture of our separation from God and the great need to deal with its cause. It kept the spiritual appetite whet for something else, something it truly longed for.
The temple, had both the dual role hiding the mystery of God’s holiness in the mercy seat of Ark of the Covenant, but also the openness of fellowship in the courts, where God’s people could join in corporate praise. The courts were open, with open air, pillars and majestic walls. Here the news of atonement was made by hands made red and people responded in thanksgiving with hands open and cleansed. God commanded that room was made even for the nations to come and hear this wonder of redemption. It had a foretaste of a greater glory, but the longing of the soul was not fully satisfied in Solomon’s temple.
This temple was to be destroyed not once, but twice. Israel would clutter the temple with their idols, and at times keep it to themselves as a national monument to their greatness. When the holiness of God was compromised, the temple lost its glory. Ichabod would be written on its portals. Worship became a show, a sham and an empty ritual. As it happens in every generation, we substitute pageantry for artistry. Outwardly, the best of worship that Israel ever produced was when God had left the premises. It was a show to behold, a feast in sensory delight. Inwardly, it was deadly to the soul. (Why don’t contemporary evangelical churches read the Minor Prophets?)
The glory of the true temple was God himself. He came once more, as in the Garden, walking along the same ground he had created; fellowshipping with men and women. This was God in the flesh, the man born of a woman, yet Son of God. At the temple built by man, Jesus showed what true worship was all about by yielding the heart in submission to truth and glorifying God once again amidst the wonder of His glory and Grace. Paradise was regained by the rule of this Second Adam.
That true and lasting temple was rejected by men. On the Cross, true holiness and horrible human sin came together in an unthinkable embrace. Justice and Mercy collided and the Son darkened the sky over all creation. But, on the third morning the world broke forth in the light of Christ’s resurrected glory. Called out sinners, now redeemed by the Savior, join every week on that day, to reflect on that grace and to be lost (or really found) in the timeless wonder about the grandeur of Christ’ glory. It is called the Church, not a temple, because the temple is Jesus. The church is people redeemed by the grace of Jesus. But, when the church really worships, the glory cannot be contained. It breaks forth, when not filled with show, sham and empty ritual. It breaks forth with submitted hearts and wills lost in the wonder of grace. In the glory of the Gospel of grace, unhindered by pageantry, show or sham of hubris, the Word is heard, and the beauty of its truth fills the soul and fills the place where saints gather and sing songs of Zion. The longing is satisfied, and joy is found as the true delight of fellowshipping with our Creator and Redeemer.
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