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Satan has promoted the assumption that there will be no temple in the earth made new. Thus, the deepest yearning of the Creator’s heart has been unknown and unappreciated.
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The most heart-melting truth of Scripture is the longing of the Creator to dwell with His children. Before sin, the Garden of Eden was, in a sense, a temple of Yah because it was there that the Creator would come to spend time with His human children “in the cool of the day.” (See Genesis 3:8.) It was this intimate, soul-communion the Father missed the most when, after the fall of Adam, He could no longer commune face-to-face with the human race.
This communion was partially restored at the time of Moses. Yahuwah told Moses: “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8, KJV)
Yahuwah made the tabernacle His home. His visible presence could be seen in the Shekinah glory that hovered above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant.
Both the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the later temples, were to be homes for Yahuwah where He could commune with mankind. Unlike heathen temples with their grand staircases and elevated platforms, Yahuwah’s temple was to contain no stairs. He did not require His children to work their way up to Him. He would descend to their level and meet them there.
When John saw the New Jerusalem descend from Heaven, he noticed an apparent, and distinct, omission. After describing the appearance of the holy city, he said, “But I saw no temple in it.” (Revelation 21:22, NKJV) This one phrase has led to a widespread assumption that hides a very precious truth: there is no temple edifice in the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem itself is the temple of Yah! John confirms this, stating: “But I saw no temple in it, for Yahuwah, God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
Temples have always been the homes of deities. Thus, wherever the presence of Yah is, there is His temple. Paul asked the Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of Yah and that the Spirit of Yah dwells in you?” (See 1 Corinthians 3:16.)
This is what the Father has been longing for and working toward since He had to step back at the fall of Adam. He longs for a close, intimate, and loving relationship with every one of His children. And when the New Jerusalem is transported to the earth made new, He will at long last have His heart’s desire.
The plan of salvation will ultimately restore that close, intimate communion between Creator and creature that was lost at the fall of Adam. This is the reward promised the overcomer and why there was no specific temple structure observed within the New Jerusalem because, like the Garden of Eden before it, the New Jerusalem itself is the temple. All who accept the gift of salvation by faith will be honored to become part of that temple, a living temple, that houses the very presence of the Almighty.
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Yah and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Yah through Yahushua the Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
(See 1 Peter 2:4-6.)
This is the reward offered to the overcomer!
Paul observed: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yahuwah hath prepared for them that love him.” (See 1 Corinthians 2:9.) The reward that is too immense for the human mind to grasp is living in the very presence of Yahuwah.
Yahushua promised: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” (Revelation 3:12, KJV)
Yahushua was born to reunite Yahuwah with fallen humanity. Just before his betrayal in Gethsemane, he prayed for believers throughout all time:
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that You sent me. And the glory which You gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one: I in them, and You in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them as You have loved me. (See John 17:20-23.)
Through Christ, believers are reconciled with Yahuwah. Isaiah prophesied: “Yahuwah Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (See Isaiah 7:14.) Immanuel means “El with us.” This promise, partially fulfilled at Yahushua’s birth, reaches its ultimate fulfillment when the New Jerusalem is brought to earth to be the eternal abode of the Father with His saints.
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Yahuwah, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of Yahuwah is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. Yahuwah Himself will be with them and be their God. And Yahuwah will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (See Revelation 21:1-4.)
Choose to accept salvation today and you, too, can spend eternity rejoicing in the limitless joy of one-ness with the Father.
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For more information on the temple of Yahuwah and the New Jerusalem, look for “His Temple with Men: the secret longing of the Father’s heart” on WLC Radio!
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See also the Eternal Love Series: