The “temple” and the presence of God
When we look at the subject of the temple in the Bible, we think it starts with Solomon (or Moses, if you look at the tabernacle) and ends with the destruction by the Romans in 70 AD or even the deportation to Babel in 587 BC.
But the story begins in Genesis and goes all the way to Revelation and is much broader.
The garden Eden as place of fellowship with God
It begins in the Garden of Eden. God creates man and woman and has fellowship with them by creating a garden for them to tend, where He met with them regularly.
Because to the fall of man, both had to leave the garden. The ground for planting was cursed, but this was made worse when Cain killed Abel.
This was to much to Cain, and God had mercy and made a sign on him to protect him. But Cain sought his own security and built a city, and his successors built their security and provision by establishing culture and progress.
Cain’s line ends with Lamech, who mocks God’s protection of Cain.Towns as mens refugeAdam gets a new son and from that time on people begin to connect with God. But the city was still an important feature that ended up in disaster in the Tower to Babel.
These people wanted to make a name for themselves, but God chose to make a name out of Abraham, from whom Israel eventually came.
God comes to the town
But God still longed to be in relationship with people. When he brought Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 1–14), he chose to live with them on “their terms” and joined them in a tent and later in a house, the temple.
The Temple was covered with elements from the Garden of Eden, reflecting that “since man could not have fellowship with God in the Garden, God would have fellowship with man in the Temple. The intent of the Temple was that non-Israelites could participate.
The most holy part of the Temple was the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. This was the place where Moses communicated with God and where the presence of God is.
God leaves with a promise to combine city and gardenWhen Israel broke the covenant with God, His Presence left the Temple, but later in the book the return of God is promised (through the East Gate).
In the context of these chapters, a new aspect is mentioned that combines the image of the temple with that of the garden. It is the vision of a brook flowing from the altar in the temple and turning into a river that makes everything fertile and growing where it comes from. You will see this accomplished in the New Jerusalem. But there is still a long way to go.
The temple in the New Testament
In the New Testament, Jesus is the temple. When He died the veil of the temple (in front of the Holy of Holies) was torn, showing that access to God in the Holy of Holies was open to everyone.
When Jesus died, the Temple became the church, just as the church is the body of Christ.
And in the Book of Revelation, the Church is the Bride of Christ, which is also the New Jerusalem, where the fellowship between God and man is undisturbed.