Ecclesia - The Temple of God

  • Ecclesia - The Temple of God (3)
  • Introduction
  • Eden — The First Temple
  • Abraham — The Promise of Global Blessing
  • Sinai — A Kingdom of Priests
  • Tabernacle and Temple — God Dwelling in Their Midst
  • Jesus — The True and Open Temple
  • The Church — The Living Temple
  • The Mission — The Temple Expanding
  • The Fulfillment — The Earth Filled with His Glory
  • Conclusion
  • Reflection & Application

Ecclesia - The Temple of God (3)

Introduction

From the beginning, God’s purpose has been to dwell with His people. From Eden to the tabernacle to the temple to the church, Scripture tells one continuous story: God desires to dwell among His people so that His glory might fill the earth.

Eden — The First Temple

When Scripture opens, the earth itself is a sanctuary. Genesis 2 describes God placing man in a garden and walking there in the cool of the day. The Garden of Eden was not just paradise—it was a temple, the place where heaven and earth met, where God’s presence dwelled among humanity.

Adam’s task to “cultivate and keep” (Genesis 2:15) uses the same Hebrew verbs later used for priests serving in the tabernacle. Humanity was created to be a royal priesthood—to reflect God’s glory and extend His dominion.

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” is temple language: it is a call to extend Eden, to carry the presence of God across creation.

However, sin broke that commission, and the result was exile.

The temple doors were shut, and cherubim stood guard over the way back to God’s presence. Yet even in judgment, God’s mission did not end—He would dwell again with humanity.

Abraham — The Promise of Global Blessing

God begins again with a single man.

In Genesis 12:1–3, the Lord calls Abram and promises,

And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go forth from your land, And from your kin And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1–3

That word “blessed” echoes Eden. God is restarting His plan for creation through Abraham’s family—a new humanity that will bear His presence and extend His glory.

The covenant with Abraham is the seed of mission: God will dwell with one nation so that all nations may know Him. Abraham’s descendants were never meant to hoard God’s favor; they were meant to mediate it.

Sinai — A Kingdom of Priests

Centuries later, God delivers Abraham’s descendants from Egypt and brings them to Mount Sinai. There, before they ever build a temple or enter the land, God reveals their vocation:

“You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation Exodus 19:6

A priest stands between God and others. So a kingdom of priests means a nation through whom the world would come to know the living God.

Moses echoes this vision in Deuteronomy 4:6–8

“Keep and do [these statutes], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” Deuteronomy 4:6–8

Israel’s obedience was meant to be a witness. The law itself was a light—their life together a testimony of what it means to live under God’s rule.

Even the land of Canaan was chosen strategically. It sat at the crossroads of empires—Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean. God planted His people where the world would pass through and see His glory on display.

Israel’s calling, from the beginning, was missiological: they were to be a holy people among the nations for the sake of the nations.

Tabernacle and Temple — God Dwelling in Their Midst

After giving the law, God commands the building of a tabernacle so that He might dwell in the camp:

“Let them make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them” Exodus 25:8

When the tabernacle is completed,

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34

God is once again walking among His people—Eden restored in miniature. Later, in the days of Solomon, the same glory fills the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:10–11).

Solomon prays that this house will be a house of prayer for all peoples:

“Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, if he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand, and of Your outstretched arm); so if he comes and prays toward this house, listen in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and to know that Your name is called upon this house which I have built. 1 Kings 8: 41-43

Even here, the temple’s purpose is global. Israel’s worship was meant to be a magnet drawing the nations to God’s light.

However, instead of being distinct, they became like the nations around them.

The temple courts that should have welcomed Gentiles became markets and the priests who should have mediated holiness profaned it.

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” Isaiah 56: 6-7

In the messages of the prophets, we see that despite Israel’s failure, God had not abandoned His project.

Too long, please open your Bible Micah 4: 1-2

Jesus — The True and Open Temple

Then, in the fullness of time, God Himself comes to dwell again with His people.

“The Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we saw His glory” John 1:14
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19

Jesus is the new tabernacle—the living temple in whom the fullness of God’s presence dwells bodily. He is everything Israel was meant to be: the true Son, the faithful priest, the light to the nations

Too long, please open your Bible Luke 2: 25-32

The Church — The Living Temple

During His earthly ministry, Jesus called disciples not just for themselves, but so that they could go out and be witnesses

And He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) to be with Him and to send them out to preach Mark 3:14

After His resurrection, the risen Lord gathers His disciples and declares:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” Matthew 28:18–19

This is temple language—the glory of the new temple flowing outward to fill the earth. Where Eden failed, where Israel faltered, Christ now succeeds.

We again see our missiological purpose in Jesus’ promise of the Spirit. The church isn’t just a temple for its own sake — it is empowered to be the temple for mission

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.” Acts 1:8

At Pentecost, the Spirit descends and fills the gathered believers, just as glory once filled the tabernacle. Tongues of fire rest upon them—a new temple is born.

Paul describes this reality:

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19–21

Peter adds,

“You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 2:5

The Spirit now dwells not in stone but in people. The church is the temple—the overlap of heaven and earth. We gather to experience God’s indwelling presence, and we scatter to extend it to the world.

The Mission — The Temple Expanding

If the church is the temple, then mission is what happens when the temple grows. The book of Acts tells the story of the temple’s expansion—from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Too long, please open your Bible Acts 13: 44-49

Ezekiel’s vision of a river flowing from the sanctuary and bringing life wherever it goes (Ezek 47) is fulfilled in the church’s witness.

Wherever the gospel goes, life follows. Every believer becomes a conduit of that living water.

But Jesus also warned:

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” Matthew 5:13

The church can lose her witness the same way Israel did—by losing her distinctiveness. A holy temple that mirrors the world ceases to be light. We must remain aligned to the Cornerstone, fueled by the Spirit, and faithful to the Word, or the lampstand will be removed.

The Fulfillment — The Earth Filled with His Glory

The story ends where it began—but on a grander scale.

In Revelation 21, John sees the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

He writes:

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” Revelation 21: 1-2, 22

The world has become what Eden was always meant to be—a temple filled with God’s presence. What began in a garden ends in a city. What started with one man now embraces all nations. The dwelling of God is with humanity, and His glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Conclusion

The story of Scripture is the story of God making His home among us. From Eden to Abraham, from Sinai to Zion, from Bethlehem to Pentecost, from our gatherings to the New Jerusalem, the message is one:

God dwells to send, and He sends to dwell. We are that dwelling now—the living temple through whom the presence of God flows into the world.

Every act of worship is a foretaste of heaven; every act of witness is a ripple of that coming river. The church is not a monument to what God once did—it is the movement of what God is doing now.

Reflection & Application

1. Where am I dwelling?

Am I rooted in the community of believers where God’s presence dwells, or am I living detached from the structure He is building?

2. Where am I shining?

Is my life distinct enough that others can see the wisdom of God in me, as Moses envisioned for Israel?

3. Where am I flowing?

Is the presence of God in me bringing life to others, or have I become stagnant? Remember: the temple was never meant to hold water—it was meant to release it.

4. Where am I aligned?

Am I still measured by Christ the Cornerstone, or have I begun to lean toward the patterns of the world?

5. What do I expect from the future?

Do I live as though the story ends in escape from earth, or in its renewal—the whole world becoming the temple of God?