Sermon St Andrew’s Shilton Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2.1-21 & John 8:12-18
Question – what is the nature, purpose and function of a
temple and what is one of the key things you would find in a temple?
Now that may appear a strange question on the day when we
are celebrating the Feast of Pentecost.
What we know as Pentecost the
Jews know as Shavuot occurring fifty days after Passover. It is a harvest
festival, when offerings would be brought to the temple in Jerusalem.
So why is the temple important when we celebrate Pentecost.
Well, let me take you on a
Biblical journey and show you why and how all of this fits together.
We do not have time to stop
off at every point, but I will highlight the key moments in the Scriptures that
highlights the importance of the temple.
We begin in Genesis, and it is here we see the nature,
purpose and function of a temple, and what is one of the key things you would
find in a temple?
Temples are places where God
or gods interact with humans, it is a type of liminal space, a type of heaven
and earth reality. And the one common
thing you would find in a temple is an image of the god being worshipped.
This is exactly what we find
in the opening account in Genesis. God creates a garden and places it in Eden.
We are told that God walked about this garden, in the cool of the evening. We
are also told that the image of God in this temple space was humans, Adam and
Eve. They are called to be co-regents
with God and expand and extend this temple space to cover the whole earth.
However, we read that they fail and chose instead to follow a path of
self-determination.
This sets of a chain reaction
where God’s space, heaven, and our space, earth, become increasingly separated.
Lots more to say but let move
swiftly on to Moses and his trip up Mount Sinia. The Divine was nearly always
thought of as residing up mountains amongst the clouds. And Moses does indeed
enter into a cloud and into the throne room of God.
He is then tasked with making an exact replica of all that he has seen which became known as the Tabernacle. This was the heaven and earth space where God could interact with humans and humans could interact with God. Moses becoming the initial intermediary and then Aaron and the tribe of Levi take up that important role.
The tabernacle is developed
into Solomon’s temple. And here it is very important to note that at the
dedication the Shekinah glory of God fell upon the temple.
From 2 Chronicles 5.14 The priests could not continue
their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD
filled the Temple of God.
(Which may remind you of Isaiah 6)
This temple was not to last however, and the prophets
railed against the People of God, abandoning God’s ways and follow their own
path of self-determination. A common
human trait and failing.
It was destroyed 586 BC by the Babylonians leading to a
long period in exile.
A new temple was built by the returning exiles in 516 BC
However, while some rejoiced some of the older men were
sad because it didn’t reflect the glory of the first temple.
That said, it was obviously a key moment in the
restoration of the sacrificial system and the reinstating of Israel.
What is key for us to grasp is that there is no mention of
God’s shekinah glory falling up this second temple as it had upon both the
tabernacle and the first temple. This then left the question of whether God was
truly present in the second temple.
Herod the Great began a monumental building project on
this temple in 20BC that would continue for 46 years.
And it was a true marvel with the temple precinct being
the size of six football pitches that could accommodate a million people.
The walls were 5m thick and made up of enormous stones weighing between 2 and 100 tons (there is even one that weighs 400 tons) with an average stone being about 10 tons. There is no mortar between the stones, and they sit so closely together that not even a piece of paper can fit between them.
Mark 13.2
As Jesus was leaving the
temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones!
What magnificent buildings!”
“Do
you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone
here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
That happened in AD70 during
the final Jewish war against the Romans.
Before that, Pentecost, the
Feast of Shavuot, 50 days after the crucifixion, and many Jewish pilgrims have
come to bring their gift to the temple in Jerusalem.
And the small community of
Jesus’ followers are gathered in one place.
And the Holy Spirit came down
and filled them all with what appeared like tongues of fire coming to rest upon
them.
Tongues of fire of speak of God’s presence. Think of Moses at the burning bush and in the pillar of fire that guided the Israelites slaves out of the bondage of slavery into becoming the People of God.
Recall our journey, and in
particular remember the Shekinah glory of God falling upon the tabernacle and
the First Temple but no mention of the Shekinah glory falling on the Second
Temple, leaving the question of whether God was present.
Put all that together and
verses like this from the New Testament begin to make sense…
1 Peter 2:5 ‘you
also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy
priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.’
1 Peter 2.9 But you are a
chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light.
Acts 17:24 ‘The God who
made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does
not live in temples made by human hands.’, However, the Most High doesn’t live
in houses built by human hands.
Jesus considered the temple
in Jerusalem as corrupt and railed against it in what we know of as ‘the
cleansing of the temple.’
He was challenged by the
authorities…
On account of this, the Jews
demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these
things?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up again.” “This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied,
“and You are going to raise it up in three days?
Jesus was the temple that was
made without human hands.
Jesus is the heaven and earth
space bringing together God and humans.
And now, beginning at
Pentecost, Jesus’ disciple are also temples
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do
you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in
you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were
bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.
Wherever you go, whatever you
do, as a disciple of Jesus, filled with the Spirit, we are called to be
dispersed mini mobile temples. That heaven and earth reality, the Kingdom of
God come upon earth.
That is our high calling and
one we can only fulfil by being filled with God’s Spirit. Choosing to seek
after God’s will and way.
We are to be those who through our lives of love and service and obedience to God bear witness to God’s original intent that began with the temple space in the Garden in Eden. This will come to completion as spoken of in Revelation 21. When heaven descends to earth and once more and forever heaven and earth are conjoined. This is portrayed the beautiful imagery of a wedding banquet to which all are invited.
And on that I am reminded of
a story Jesus told about king holding a wedding banquet for his son and
inviting everyone from the highways and byways and then this dire warning by
way of conclusion.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
There are plenty of stories
and warnings like this throughout Scripture.
Therefore, on this day when
we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost let us ensure we are clothed with the robe
of righteousness that Jesus offers us. Let us invite the Holy Spirit to come and
to fill us afresh so that we might radiate God’s wonderful glory out into the
world.
When Moses came down the
mountain after his encounter with God his face shone so brightly he had to
cover it with a veil.
From 2 Corinthians 3.18 we
read…
And we all, who with unveiled
faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with
ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You
for Your written Word and the glories it contains. Help us not to become too
familiar with its truth that we become complacent. Help us to read and
study your Word with expectation and a deep-seated sense of awe. May we
increasingly see the beauty of Jesus radiating from its pages, and we pray that
as we gaze on His unveiled loveliness, we too will start to be transformed
from glory to glory. We pray in Jesus' name, AMEN.
Come Lord Jesus and send the Fire....
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