In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul asks, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”
The temple, in the times of Solomon, was central to the Israelites and their worship. It had great value and was filled with extravagance with the purpose of exalting the Lord. The temple was decorated with pomegranates, representing fruitfulness. Patterns of lilies were also everywhere representing holiness and purity.
In the great court where offerings of worship would be placed on the altar, there was also a Sea-Basin with gourd-ornaments bursting beneath its lip and all around. It stood on twelve oxen, representing the twelve tribes of Israel and had three in each direction. This huge reservoir of water was used by the Priests to draw water from for their basins in their ritual cleansing — making room for regular practices of cleansing from sin.
Center stage, at the entrance of the Great-Hall, there were established two columns. The right one was named Yakhin – He establishes. And the left one was named Boaz – In Him strength. One needed to pass through these pillars to enter into the temple of God that contained the altar of incense, the lampstand and the showbread.
In the same way, our intercession, burning zeal for and communion of the Lord all come from places of dependence upon the Lord and not out of work in our own strength. We repent of works of the flesh and our sin and enter in, knowing that it is only by Him and in His strength that we are established. We learn that flesh produces flesh and Spirit produces Spirit. These are the only two pillars that are established and both of them are the work of the Lord. There are no others.
All is upheld through the strength and might of the Lord, not our own effort or zeal. Trying to enter in by performance and self-effort only ends up being strange fire offered on the altar. There is one entry only – letting Him establish us by His strength and not our own.
We have no capacity in our own strength to enter in. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Galatians 3:22). As sin separated us from God, Isaiah 59:15-16 says, “The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.”
We can only receive and enter into what the Lord provides. As we step into this position, this fills us with overwhelming gratitude for the Lord’s provision. Our gratitude overflows into our offerings to the Lord. It says that the vessels made for the Temple were “out of their exceeding, exceeding abundance” so much so that the weight of the items could not be ascertained. (1 Kings 7:47). Psalm 71:11 proclaims, “Let all people bring their extravagant gifts to him alone.”
At the center, heart of it all, in Solomon’s temple, was the holy of holies. This is the place where the Ark of Covenant resided. Within the Ark was that which was most sacred and holy. 1 Kings 8:9 says, “There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.”
No extras! Often, we (speaking of myself here) make our faith in Christ about so many things. We fill our time, our schedules and lives with all the things that we think will please Him. We become busy and overloaded while wishing we could do more and never feeling that it is enough. We clutter up our lives with more to do.
A faithful friend recently said to me that we need to unclutter our time and open up our schedule so that we make room for more of what God wants in our lives. As I looked around at all the “good” things that I have to do in serving the Lord, I realized that it was squeezing the Lord out of my time with a busy schedule of trying to please Him by my performance. Here, we see that the only thing that resides in this most sacred place is the covenant of God.
These are promises that God makes and gives to us. Promises that we cannot fulfill. They can only be fulfilled by the blood of the Lord Jesus sacrificed as a Lamb slain for us. It is a covenant between our Father God and Jesus that we are a recipient of by His sacrifice. The Lord signed the agreement with His own blood.
And above the Ark of Covenant was the Cherubim, with wings stretched so wide they could not be hidden from outside. It was a sheltering place of mercy with a seat under the wings for those who would enter. As the recipient of these covenant promises, our position is not to sign the agreement but to come into it through the mercy of the Lord. We sit in them and receive them.
Psalm 2:8b-9 says about His mercy stretched wide, “Your domain will stretch to the ends of the earth. And you will shepherd them with unlimited authority, crushing their rebellion [sin and strongholds] as an iron rod smashes jars of clay!”
When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we enter into this covenant by the blood of His sacrifice in the position of receiving His mercy. He places His Holy Spirit inside of us and within it, are all these promises and amazing spiritual equipment that we receive to utilize. We are equipped with everything we need for bearing fruit (pomegranates) and walking in holiness (lilies).
And 2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” And Philippians 4:13 says, “For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infusing me to conquer every difficulty.”
We know this is true, but like the Israelites living with their enemies, we live with sin and strongholds in our lives that we feel are too hard to overcome. Sometimes, we have apathetically overlooked our sin and tried to pretend it does not exist while still looking to press into the promises of God by grace and faith.
Steve Harrison asks, “Do we honestly believe we are so smart and wise that we can reach spiritual maturity and fruitfulness through avoidance, self-indulgence, and passivity?”
Or, realizing the impact of sin and strongholds on our lives in living in the fullness of God’s promises, we have tried and tried to uproot our enemies by our own strength and determination. We grit our teeth and try harder, only to find that we are overpowered and outnumbered on every front.
Neither ignoring our sin and strongholds, covering them up and pretending they do not exist, or trying to uproot them in our own strength and effort will get us into the Promised Land that the Lord has for us.
Wilkerson speaks of a Joshua holy remnant rising up in this last hour that receives the full promises of God through the position of His mercy. They know that the battle belongs to the Lord and He is the only one who can give us the victory. As they are willing to cross their Jordan by faith and enter into the battle through God’s covenant promises. Wilkerson writes, “God reveals Himself as the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Tsebaioth] only to those who set their hearts and minds to walk before Him in purity.” [1]
Wilkerson goes on to write, “Determination is not enough. New resolve is not enough. Getting fed up with your wilderness of sin is not enough. Your will—your enthusiasm and human strength—has to be broken. You have to embrace fully the fact that you are powerless to bring down your personal Jericho. You need an army—an unseen, supernatural, heavenly force—to fight the evil powers that have dug into your stronghold.”[2]
Joshua and the troops crossed the Jordan by faith with a willing heart to take the land. Joshua did not try to take the land by himself. He came together with others of a like heart and mind, in unity, and they crossed over as a troop.
John Bevere writes in his book Killing Kryptonite that at the core of being a trained warrior is “not to think of ourselves as individuals, but as a unit.” He notes that everything warriors do is for the sake of their brother next to them rather than thinking of themselves. [3]
Ephesians 2:19-21 speaks of us being one family in God. Ephesians 2:21-22 says, “This entire building [the family members of the household of God] is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed.”
Living in America, we can have a tendency to see things from an individualistic perspective rather than a community perspective. However, we have all been adopted and are members of God’s household, “rising up like perfectly fitted stones in the temple,” our lives being built up together on the foundation of Jesus Christ. It is together that we are the holy temple of the Lord Himself.
Who are you walking with? Are they going in the same direction God has for you? Sometimes part of the problem is that the people we choose to walk with are leading us further down the road of our sins and strongholds rather than holding us accountable. Steve Harrison writes about a time he was pressing into revival that one of things the Lord had spoke to him to do was to become part of an accountability group where personal honesty and integrity are the major focus. [4]
As we come together as one, holding ourselves and each other accountable, our strength increases to overcome the opposition. John Bevere writes that our lives powerfully influence each other. If we sin, we are not the only ones that are impacted by disobeying God’s word. The people around us who care about us including our spouse, parents and children are all impacted by our choice to be disobedient or obedient. [5]
Just like at the time of Joshua, their choice to enter into the land impacted not only them, but their tribe and their future descendants. Had they chosen not to cross over into the land and squander their lives instead, it would have impacted every one of them. [a] With our connectedness in mind, we need to have a mindset that loves each other deeply, sacrifices for, and prefers each other so that we walk together into the Promised Land.
We live in intimacy with the Lord by walking in the footsteps of Jesus in our self-sacrificing love toward one another. While Jesus fulfills the covenant, we live into this covenant in fellowship with others. It is when we are joined in union with Him and others that our lives flourish. 1 John 4:17 says, “By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgement.”
As they took the steps in faith and determination to cross over together, Joshua ran right into Jehovah Tsebaitoth. Wilkerson writes about this encounter that the Lord is speaking, “This war is not between you and Jericho. It is a war between Jehovah and Satan, and I am Jehovah Tsebaioth, captain of the Lord’s heavenly army. You need to know this is not your battle, but Mine. ” [3]
Psalm 45:3-4 writes to the tune of lilies (holiness) about the Lord of Hosts in His wedding song, “Now strap your lightning sword of judgement upon your side, O mighty warrior; so majestic! You are full of beauty and splendor as you go out to war! In your glory and grandeur go forth in victory! Through your faithfulness and meekness the cause of truth and justice will stand. Awe-inspiring miracles are accomplished by your power, leaving everyone dazed and astonished!”
We don’t have to do it on in our own strength. The Lord our God fights for us. Psalm 44:5-8 proclaims, “Through your glorious name and your awesome power, we can push through to any victory and defeat every enemy. For I will not trust in the weapons of the world. I know they will never save me. Only you will be our Savior from all our enemies, all those who hate us you have brought to shame. So now I constantly boast in you. I can never thank you enough!”
Just like the temple of Solomon was exceedingly great and excessive in extravagant gifts of worship to the Lord, and the cloud of glory filled the temple in a thick cloud, Haggai proclaims that the latter house will be greater than the former (Haggai 2:7). Haggai was prophesying about a time of shaking, as commentary notes, about the end time coming of Christ when He begins to establish a kingdom of peace on earth and reigns among His people. [6]
This greater, latter temple is His living church; His holy living stones, coming together, fitted in unity and it is glorious to behold, like never seen before! The cloud of His glory will stretch as far and wide as His mercy in this last great awakening and outpouring. The greatness of the revival in the time of Solomon will seem small in comparison. John Bevere writes that he heard the Lord speak to him directly about this time [today], “Son, the book of Acts will seem like child’s play in comparison to what I’m about to do in and through the church prior to My Son’s return.”[7]
And this glory that fills the temple is the Lord Himself! Isaiah 9:7 says about Jesus, “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore.” And Zechariah 2:5, “For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.”
“O YHWH, God of Israel, there is none like you as a god in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant, loyalty with your servants, those who walk in your presence with all their heart”… fulfilling all the promises that You made (1 Kings 8:23, FOX SBVII). Unify us and walk with us into the full victory and fulfillment of the promises you have for us in this hour. Let Your glory fill our lives, our state, our nation and our world. Come, Lord Jesus!
a. There are so many examples in the Bible of a lack of one’s faithfulness impacting others. Eli’s sons died as a result of Eli’s apathy and failure to correct them. Jonathan was killed in battle alongside Saul as the result of Saul’s unfaithfulness to God and continual sin. Solomon’s choice to love wives that worshiped other god’s and inclined his heart away from the Lord, resulted in eleven tribes being torn away from his son Rehoboam. (1 Kings 11:3-11)
- Wilkerson, David. Hallowed be Thy Names: Knowing God as You’ve Never Known Him Before. Jehovah Tsebaioth (Chapter 4). David Wilkerson Publications, Inc. 2001.
- Wilkerson, David. Hallowed be Thy Names: Knowing God as You’ve Never Known Him Before. Jehovah Tsebaioth (Chapter 4). David Wilkerson Publications, Inc. 2001.
- Bevere, John. Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength. Messenger International, Inc. 2017.
- Harrison, Steve. Consuming Love: Commitment, Friendship and Passion. Destiny Image Publishers, Inc. 2007.
- Bevere, John. Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength. Messenger International, Inc. 2017.
- Fire Bible: (MEV) Modern English Version. Life Publishers International. 2015.
- Bevere, John. Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength. Messenger International, Inc. 2017.
