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TempleAid to Bible Understanding
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Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus “in union with Christ Jesus,” those who are “sealed with the promised holy spirit,” saying: “You have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone. In union with him the whole building, being harmoniously joined together, is growing into a holy temple for Jehovah. In union with him You, too, are being built up together into a place for God to inhabit by spirit.” (Eph. 1:1, 13; 2:20-22) These “sealed” ones, laid upon Christ as Foundation, are shown in John’s vision recorded in Revelation to number 144,000.—Rev. 7:4; 14:1.
The apostle Peter speaks of these as “living stones” being “built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood.” (1 Pet. 2:5) From this we see that the temple of old, and the services of the priesthood in it, provided a shadow of the reality, the service to God carried on by his “royal priesthood.”—1 Pet. 2:9.
Holiness maintained
God will not let this spiritual temple suffer defilement and consequent disapproval and abandonment, as happened with the earthly temples. Paul emphasizes the holiness of this spiritual temple, and the danger to one who attempts to defile it when he writes: “Do you not know that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you people are.” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17) He gives the example that one of the members of the Christ who commits fornication is taking a member of Christ away and making himself the member of (one flesh with) a harlot. He then points out that, as a body, these Christians constitute a temple of the holy spirit belonging to God, and do not belong to themselves, being bought with a price for the purpose of glorifying God, as was the purpose of the literal temples. (1 Cor. 6:15-20) Thus Jehovah makes certain that the spiritual temple will always be holy by excluding would-be defilers and allowing only those maintaining righteousness to be a part thereof.
Permanent heavenly places
Jesus Christ promises these spirit-begotten Christians that the conqueror, who endures faithfully to the end, will be made “a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will by no means go out from it any more.” This would mean their permanent place in that spiritual structure in the heavens, for the Chief Cornerstone is in heaven, and he adds, “I will write upon him the name of . . . the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God.”—Rev. 3:12.
God places his throne there
In the Revelation vision, John also saw Jehovah God enthroned in a setting like the interior of the temple of Solomon. In Solomon’s temple Jehovah was not enthroned, but a miraculous light hovered above the ark of the covenant. That temple had ten lamp-stands. In his vision John beheld seven. And just as Solomon’s temple had in the courtyard the great copper “molten sea,” John saw before the throne, as it were, a “glassy sea like crystal.”—Rev. 4:2-6; 2 Chron. 4:2, 7.
The temple sanctuary in heaven is mentioned several times in Revelation. God is shown as being present for judgment, along with holy angels. (Rev. 14:17; 15:5-8; 16:1, 17) In one instance the ark of the covenant is seen, revealing that Jehovah God was dealing with that heavenly temple, and had not abandoned it, as he abandoned Herod’s temple. God gave indication of this when the curtain to the Most Holy was torn in two at the time of Jesus’ death, exposing the absence of the Ark in that earthly temple.—Rev. 11:19; Matt. 27:51.
Jehovah God and the Lamb ‘are its temple’
When John sees New Jerusalem come down from heaven, he remarks: “And I did not see a temple in it, for Jehovah God the Almighty is its temple, also the Lamb is.” (Rev. 21:2, 22) Since the New Jerusalem itself is a temple, built upon Christ and the secondary foundations of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Eph. 2:20; Rev. 3:12; 21:14), those in it do not have to go to some building to worship Jehovah God, but do so directly; Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s High Priest, also dwells right there as the symbolic city’s husband. Therefore, Jehovah God and the Lamb, Jesus Christ, are said to be the temple of this heavenly city.
AN IMPOSTOR
The apostle Paul, in warning of the apostasy to come, spoke of the “man of lawlessness” as setting himself up “so that he sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god.” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4) As this “man of lawlessness” is an apostate, a false teacher, he only makes it appear that he is part of the spiritual temple. (See MAN OF LAWLESSNESS.) Thus “he sits down in the temple of The God.” This shows that, although ‘lawless,’ he makes the claim of being Christian.
AN ILLUSTRATIVE USE
On one occasion, when the Jews demanded a sign from Jesus, he replied: “Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews thought he was speaking of the temple building, but the apostle John explains: “He was talking about the temple of his body.” When he was resurrected by his Father Jehovah on the third day of his death, the disciples recalled and understood this saying and believed it. (John 2:18-22; Matt. 27:40) He was resurrected, but not in his fleshly body, which was given as a ransom sacrifice; yet that fleshly body did not go into corruption, but was disposed of by God, just as a sacrifice was consumed on the altar. Jesus, when resurrected, was the same person, the same personality, in a new body made for his new dwelling place, the spiritual heavens.—Luke 24:1-7; 1 Pet. 3:18; Matt. 20:28; Acts 2:31; Heb. 13:8.
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TenAid to Bible Understanding
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TEN
See NUMBER, NUMERAL.
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Ten CommandmentsAid to Bible Understanding
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TEN COMMANDMENTS
See TEN WORDS.
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TentAid to Bible Understanding
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TENT
[Heb. ʼoʹhel; Gr. ske·neʹ].
A collapsible shelter made of cloth or skin and supported by poles. Tents were one of the earliest types of man-made dwellings (Gen. 4:20; 9:21) and were commonly used by nomadic peoples in the Middle East.—Gen. 9:27; Ps. 83:6.
Some details of the design and use of tents are available from the Bible. This is supplemented by knowledge of tents used by Arabs in more recent years, since it seems that these do not differ substantially from those of the Biblical period. Many scholars believe that the earliest tents were of animal skins. (Gen. 3:21; Ex. 26:14) Among modern bedouins tents made of blackish goat-hair cloth are customary. (Compare Exodus 36:14; Song of Solomon 1:5.) Strips of this material are sewn together, the overall size of the rectangular tent depending on the wealth of the owner and the number of occupants. The tent is supported by a number of poles about five to seven feet (1.5 to 2.1 meters) long, the highest being near the middle; it is held fast against wind by cords fastened to tent pins. (Judg. 4:21) For privacy and protection from the wind, cloths are hung along the sides of the tent, but these can be raised or removed for ventilation.
It appears that in Bible times larger tents were usually divided into at least two compartments by means of hanging tent cloths. The “tent of Sarah” mentioned at Genesis 24:67 may refer to her compartment or to a tent that she alone occupied, for some wealthy men had a number of tents, and women sometimes
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