Do not let your adornment be merely outward—...— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. (I Peter 3:3)
Although within context, the above scripture is referenced to wives, the spiritual application can be applied to the temple of God. In a prior lesson, Jesus made a final plea directed towards the unbelievers and religious leaders in Jerusalem. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: ... “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; (Matthew 23:1, 37-38; see THE GOSPEL: Jesus Last Plea to Unbelievers)
Now He and His disciples are leaving the temple. This would be Jesus last time teaching at the temple before His crucifixion, and the disciples make various observations about the buildings of the temple as they leave. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. (Matthew 24:1) Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” (Mark 13:1) Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” (Luke 21:5-6; Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2)
Throughout the Old Testament, God prophesied through the prophets to the children of Israel that because of their hardened hearts and false teaching of their religious leaders, Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest. (Micah 3:12; also Daniel 9:20-27; Lamentations 2; Jeremiah 26:12-24; etc.) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
God does not lie, and just as God prophesied and Jesus confirmed, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army, lead by Titus in 70 A.D., along with the murder of thousands of Jews. (read "The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70 A.D.") To this day, the temple has not been rebuilt in Jerusalem. But the "temple" isn't just a building. 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. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
The temple building was destroyed, and the same will happen to our bodies one day. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7) Although we should care for and take care of our bodies and all that God allows us to possess, do not let our adornment be merely outward. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) AMEN!
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