As I read about the construction of Solomon's temple in chapters 5 through 8, I was struck by the detail of materials used and especially by the number of laborers that were conscripted, a 103,300. It took them seven years to build the temple and another thirteen years to build his palace. When the Ark was placed in the temple and the priests "withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple" (1 Kings 8:10-11). The temple was considered sacred and holy. It was the house of God.
Today, God chooses to dwell in people. Our bodies are living temples in which His Spirit resides. Paul wrote:
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness'; and again, 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.' So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 NIV
Paul wrote again in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
"Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 honor God with your body."
We have a responsibility to honor God in the way we live.
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