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REFLECTION

The theme for our reflection is “the temple burnt down”. After King Solomon, a succession of kings provided leadership to the people of Israel. One such King was King Zedekiah, we are told “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years…He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. Because of the LORD’s anger, all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end, he thrust them from his presence.” (2 Kings 24:18-20). In other words, bad and ungodly leadership led to the fall of Israel and the temple was not spared by the Babylonians. “He (King Zedekiah) was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. (2 Kings 25:6-12)

Dear friend, the burning of the temple symbolically meant the dwelling place of God had been destroyed. This was a traumatizing and troubling situation for the Israelites, especially the few who kept the commandments of the Lord and were faithful to Him. The key question is, does the burning or destruction of the temple terminate the existence of God or take away the presence of God among His people? The answer is an emphatic no, God chose to reveal His glory to His people in the temple because they specifically build the temple in His name and made burnt sacrifices to Him in it, however, God is omnipresent and bigger than what the Babylonians might have taught, perhaps they taught destroying the temple will end the existence of God in the affairs of His people. The fact is that, before the building of the temple God had always existed and God will forever exist even without a temple, It is for this reason, Stephen reminded the Israelites that “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favour and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?’ (Acts 7:44-50)

It is important to note that after the first advent of Christ, God chose to make the bodies of those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour His temple through the Holy Spirit, Paul made this fact clear when he wrote that “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. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This means that although we build temples and Chapels for God as His dwelling place, He has also made our bodies His dwelling place unlike in the Old Testament where they believe that to experience the glory of God you must go to the temple and offer sacrifices. Indeed, it was only the High Priest who could enter the Holy of Holies to offer special sacrifices to God. The good news is that Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice has made all believer’s bodies the dwelling place of the Lord, therefore, God is with us wherever we find ourselves and when whenever two or more believers congregate to worship God is ever present in their midst. The temple or chapel is now a building where believers meet God in corporate worship to listen and study God’s Word, praise His name and partake in the Sacrament. We must understand that the Church is not the temple or chapel building, the church is the fellowship of believers. The Church, therefore is a living organism, Christ refers to the Church as His bride, therefore the Church is mobile, she grows, she develops and of course, the church can die physically and will surely come to an end on earth when Jesus comes the second time but will continue to live when He grants her a place in the Kingdom of God. The point to remember here is that a Chapel or temple building is not important in defining a Church, it is the fellowship or association of believers that make up a church. A church can exist without a temple or chapel building but a temple or chapel building cannot exist without a church. Unfortunately and ironically, many churches spend more time and money on the chapel buildings than on helping the members of the church. In other words, cement, iron rods, tiles, beautification and chapel expansion have become more important than helping the poor and less privileged, supporting the sick and elderly or doing the very things Jesus came to do. Jesus has already given us the core mission of the church which are spreading the Gospel and winning souls as captured in Matthew 28:18-20 and responding to existential needs of the world through social ministry as captured in Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew 25:34-36) Are churches truly carrying out the mission of God in the 21st Century? Dear friend, when natural disasters strike or accidents happen and our chapel building is even destroyed, God is still with us because He is not confined to the Chapel building, He lives in us and He is with us, therefore, wherever we meet as a fellowship He is with us and that makes us a Church.

The consolation and power of the Church are found in Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans when he wrote that “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39) Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, help us to understand that each believer is a part of the church. May we cherish the fellowship of Christ more than our chapel buildings. Amen.