When He Is Come - Media Sabda Org

WHEN HE IS COME
by
Joshua Stauffer
Chapter 9
THE TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye
have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19, 20).
This Scripture is addressed to the saints of God, to the Spirit-filled. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit,
and He desires a temple, a body, in which He may dwell, and through which He may work. The body
of a Christian is a temple, a dwelling place for the Spirit. A temple is a place to worship, a place to
meet God, and where God meets His people.
I. The Temple Designed
When God made man, His great concern was how He should make him. The Trinity co-operated
in unity in the creation of humanity. The Triune God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness." Then the Lord God took dust, even the very substance of the earth, and made a body for
man. He made his body with great and wonderful capacities, and also with great possibilities. The
capacity of this body formed of the dust was so great that it had room for a soul and a spirit, and in
his spirit the capacity for God. The Triune God designed the body of man. Adam was formed with
a human and visible likeness of the divine and invisible God. David wrote, "I am fearfully and
wonderfully made."
II. The Temple Defined
A temple is a house of God, even a holy place. It is a meeting place of God and man, and a place
for worship. Our bodies are God-given and should be given back to God. We live, labor, suffer, and
die in this body. We will be resurrected and go to heaven, or to hell, in the body in which we live,
that is, our own body. Our body of flesh, blood, and bones, even our hands, feet, face, tongue, and
heart, or our entire being is to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. If we defile the body and allow sin
to dwell in us, God will destroy us. The possibilities of our bodies and our spirits are great, and
beyond the comprehension of most people.
III. The Temple Confined
The tabernacle of the Old Testament had a court about it which kept it restricted from strangers
and loafers. No one could enter in only through the gate and that with an offering, or a sacrifice. The
temple of Herod in the days of Christ had its sacred enclosure. On this wall written in Hebrew, in
Greek, and in Latin, were warnings informing the Gentiles that they were restricted from entering,
and the penalty of death for trespassing. Inside the sacred enclosure was the outer court. This was
for all Israelites as worshippers. The tabernacle and temple each had a holy place in which only the