Advent Day 24 :: A Heart For People

“and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:16-22)

Through our series we have learned that Christ is the new Temple (John 2:17-19). We learned the importance of the temple to the Jewish people as it is their place of worship as well as part of their identity. Christ was “tabernacling” among His people, abiding with His people, inviting them to come worship the Messiah and find their identity in Him.

We find the same picture in the book of Haggai and in our passage for today in Ephesians. Haggai takes us further into the journey of Israel rebuilding the Temple foreshadowing the passage we saw in John 2 and Jesus claiming to tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. By doing this, as mentioned above, He was claiming to be the new Temple. We see that Paul takes this imagery in Ephesians 2 and takes it a step further. Paul tells us that we as the body of Christ are growing together “into a holy temple in the Lord” (v. 21). We are to be “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (v.22)

What we can deduce from Haggai and Ephesians is that it is all about the ongoing work of building up the people of God, a work that is primarily God’s (Matthew 16:18), but a work in which He, by his Spirit, invites us to participate and be involved in together (1 Corinthians 3:10–17).

In Haggai we see that God gave a passion to Zerubbabel to build God’s house. To restore the Temple and bring the people of God back together. He was not just restoring the center of worship and icon of Israel’s identity, He was working alongside God to bring all peoples back to Him to glorify Him and have a right relationship with Him again. Subsequently, Zerubbabel was in the line of David and was chosen to restore that line and continue it. Zerubbabel, just like David, had a heart for God, and for His people.

It was in the coming of Christ that we see God rebuild the temple for the final time, encouraging all people, from all nations, to come worship Him and find their identity in the One who created them.

Despite the effects that the pandemic has on the world we live in we are still called to come and worship Him. No matter what we face we know that those things do not define us, but our identity is found in Christ. He is our source of joy, hope, love and peace.

Further Reading: Haggai 2

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash