… 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 2:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 13, 2015): 1 Peter 2

There is a belief in some corners that the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem should never have been built. The argument is that it was never God’s idea that he would be contained inside a house made of brick and mortar. That idea belonged only to David and it seemed to have been borne out of guilt. After all, David had built a great palace for himself, but the God he served still lived in a tent, much like the tents lived in by David’s wandering ancestors. But the times had changed, the people were putting down roots and the borders of the nation were in the process of being secured. The days of Israel’s wandering was done. So David wanted to build a permanent temple for God.

But God didn’t want a house built of stone. To be honest, a tent probably fit the character of the God who inhabited all of the earth better than house made of cedar. And so God replies to David - When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13). David heard the words of his God and assumed that God was speaking of Solomon. But that seems unlikely. It seems much more likely that God was speaking about the reign of the Messiah, Jesus – David’s Son – and God’s. It was his kingdom that would be established forever.      

Peter seems to be building on that image as he writes to the Christian Church outside of Israel in the first century. Jesus kingdom was being established and the spiritual house – literally a temple – was being built out of those who would follow him. And the priesthood for the new temple would also be the followers of the Christ. This idea has become known as the priesthood of all believers. We, all of us, are called to be the priests of the New Kingdom. We are the ones who are called to offer sacrifices, our lives, to God through Jesus Christ.

And just as Jesus is the living cornerstone, we are the living stones. We reflect his essential nature. Early in the 6^th Century B.C.E., Solomon’s Temple (made of dead stones) would be torn down. The temple would be rebuilt, but the Second Temple would be a disappointment to all of those who had seen Solomon’s temple. The Second Temple would be a mere shadow of the first. Eventually, Herod would expand that Temple, but it would be torn down again. Today, all we have left of either Temple is a wall by which we can pray. And today, Jews are waiting for the rebuilding of the Temple into something that was even more glorious than that of Solomon’s. But Peter would probably wonder why. The true temple has never disappeared from the moment that it was built. It is forever alive within those who call Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. And it is only this Temple of Jesus could ever be considered to be permanent. In us, Jesus is building a house for God’s name – the real temple that God spoke about to his servant, David.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 3