Ephesians 2:22: In Christ, you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
You are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit! The Bible also says your body is the ‘temple’ of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) who is (stays) in you, whom you have from God. The word ‘temple’ here in Greek is ‘naos’, which means ‘dwelling place’. This word comes from the verb ‘naio’, which means ‘to dwell’. So, the word ‘temple’ is a general, neutral word which simply means ‘a dwelling place’, and it can be a dwelling place for either God’s Spirit (Holy Spirit), or for any other spirits (even demonic spirit, or spirit of idolatry). As a believer, know that it’s the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, and not any other!
So beloved, as an individual, or as a ‘church’ (‘ekklesia’ in Greek, which means ‘a congregation of God’s people’), you are being built together as a ‘temple’ of the Holy Spirit, a place where the Holy Spirit dwells in. Notice the word ‘ekklesia’ (church) here refers to a ‘people’, not a building made of bricks, wood, etc.
In the Old Covenant, the ‘temple’ was a physical place, consisting of three parts, the ‘outer court’, the ‘Holy Place’, and the ‘Holy of Holies’ (also known as the ‘Most Holy Place’), where the ‘ark of the covenant’ was placed. It’s in this ‘Holy of Holies’ that the high priest would ‘meet with God’ once a year on the Day of Atonement on behalf of the Israelites. This, of course, was a ‘shadow’ of the things to come in our time. Today in the New Covenant, Ephesians 2:22 says you are now the ‘dwelling place’ of God, and the Holy Spirit resides in you, instead of in a ‘physical building’. Just as the temple in Jerusalem had three parts, you are also a ‘tri-partite’, consisting of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The ‘Holy of Holies’ is therefore a picture of your ‘spirit’, the ‘Holy Place’ is a picture of your ‘soul’ (mind, will, emotions), while the ‘outer court’ is a picture of your ‘body’.
When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the ‘veil’ between the ‘Holy of Holies’ & the ‘Holy Place’ of the temple in Jerusalem was torn in two (Luke 23:45), and because of His perfect sacrifice on the cross (where His blood was shed, and His body was broken), done once for all (Hebrews 10:14), as believers, you can now ‘meet with God’ and have access to His very presence every day, and wherever you are, unlike in the Old Covenant time. The Bible also says as believers, your spirit is joined to Him, and is one spirit (in union) with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Notice the Old Covenant priests would ‘stand ministering’ daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which actually can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11). In fact, interestingly, there wasn’t any piece of furniture in the Holy Place on which the priests can sit on! But Jesus, after having offered Himself (the one sacrifice that takes away sins forever), He ‘sat down’ at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). This act of ‘sitting down’ by Jesus is a picture of ‘His work being accomplished or completed’. Imagine after a whole day’s work, feeling accomplished and at rest, one would just ‘sit down’ on his/her comfy sofa and have a cool glass of ice-cream soda! Jesus Himself said “It is finished!” (John 19:30) when He gave up His Spirit at the cross. The work has already been completed once for all to take away our sins, and to reconcile us back to God! Hebrews 10:14 says ‘by this one offering (on the cross), He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified’. Jesus is indeed our perfect Lamb of God! His one sacrifice on the cross has made all the difference for you & me! And the best part is this: not only did He sit down, He also made you sit together with Him! (Ephesians 2:6) Today, you can rule and reign with Him in the heavenly places!
Beloved, you are indeed a ‘temple’ (dwelling place) of the Holy Spirit! I see droves and droves of people come running to this ‘temple’ that is you, because 'the way, the truth & the life’, the ‘answer’ is in you! Believe & receive! The broken shall be restored through you. The lost shall find their ‘answer’ through you. The sick shall be healed through you. Praise the Lord! Dedicate yourself today as His holy ‘temple’, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, just as King Solomon did for the temple in Jerusalem, and that’s when the glory of the Lord filled the whole ‘dwelling place’! (2 Chronicles 5:14) Amen!
