Lesson 2: Jesus is the New Temple

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” (2 Samuel 7:12-14)

Who is Jesus? That is the question we are trying to answer in the Jesus Study. Last week, we discovered that the early Christians believed Jesus to be the fulfillment of promises given to Abraham and David. Therefore, the early Christians believed they weren’t starting a new religion but rather continuing forward in the Jewish religion, believing that Jesus was their new King whose kingdom and throne would be “established for ever”. This is an interesting belief, especially since their King was no longer present, at least in the visible sense, and the other part of God’s promise to David does not appear to have been fulfilled in how God said this descendant of David or future messiah would “build a house for my name”.

According to the New Testament gospel account writers, during Jesus’s lifetime, he did many notable miracles, made a lot of people angry, and gathered a small following, but we never read of Jesus building a house for God’s name. So how did these early Christians understand this to be fulfilled through Jesus? And if it wasn’t fulfilled, can we really claim him to be the figure mentioned in 2 Samuel 7:12?

“House” in the promise to David referred to a Temple built for the Name of the LORD (2 Samuel 7:13). This would be a place where the presence of God would dwell, God would be represented by the temple, and also people would come to this temple to confess their sins and have them atoned for through animal sacrifices. Without a functioning temple and priesthood, Israel could not administer the sacrificial system prescribed in the covenant. Originally, this was a tent (called the “tabernacle”), but David desired to build something more worthy for a God like his to dwell in.

The first temple was constructed by David’s son Solomon. However, because of Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness, that temple was later destroyed by Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:8–10; 2 Chronicles 36:17–19). After being exiled for 70 years, Cyrus, king of Persia, issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the LORD, and this effort was led by a man named Zerubbabel, who is also a descendant of David (Ezra 1:1–3). This marked the beginning of what is commonly called the Second Temple period (Ezra 6:14–15).

Though Zerubbabel was a descendant of David, he couldn’t have been this promised seed of David, not only because the temple he built did not stand forever but additionally, prophecy spoken during the time of Zerubbabel would suggest a future King and Priest coming that would build the temple of the Lord when Zerubbabel was neither King nor Priest. 

Zechariah 6:12-13 “Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

“The BRANCH”

Is used to point to prophecy given beforehand in Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 33:15 “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;” “In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.”

In fact, the idea of anyone being both King and Priest for God was a strange one since the only person who ever occupied this role was a mysterious figure named Melchizedek that appeared during the days of Abraham (Genesis 14:18–20), but afterward, the priesthood had to be descendants of Aaron (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 3:10) and the role of Kingship, of Israel was never to leave Judah (Genesis 49:10; cf. 2 Samuel 7:12–13). So this was proclaiming that this Messiah would be both King and Priest, which under the law would have been impossible. We will discuss this more in the next lesson.

What were some problems associated with having a physical temple?
What were some benefits associated with having a physical temple?

Let’s examine how the New Testament writers interpreted this part of the promise given to David and determine whether or not we believe it to be reasonable or a stretch of scripture.

In the Gospel account of John, he records a moment where Jesus claimed himself to be a temple in John 2:19–21:

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”

So John recounts that the disciples understood Jesus’s body to be the temple of God and eventually a resurrected and eternal temple after it was raised again from the dead. Early Christians understood that the temple of God was no longer a building but Jesus himself.

But it doesn’t appear to stop there because in 1 Corinthians 3:16, Paul refers to the church he is writing to in Corinth as the “Temple of God”:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

He even says in 1 Corinthians 3:9 “… ye are God's building.”

It's quite an incredible idea to think of the Spirit of God dwelling in humans instead of in a temple made of precious metals.

And again to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 2:19) “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Paul says that the church he is speaking to are “fitly framed together” and grow “unto a holy temple in the Lord” and he even calls them a “habitation of God through the Spirit”.

So it’s apparent that the early Christians understood themselves to be new temples built for the name of the Lord, so they are concluding that this eternal temple of God, which this promised seed of David would build for God’s name was the church. And this is another strange belief for any religious group to have because they wouldn’t worship God by making temples of gold and elaborate marble, but instead they would worship God through their lifestyles, and a temple made of metals would no longer represent God. Instead, the church would represent God.

Do you think this is a reasonable belief that the temple God promised the Messiah would build for his name would be built with people living instead of cedar, gold, and other precious metals?
Has this new temple of believers stood ever since the time of Jesus?
If this is the case, did Jesus fulfill the promise given to David?

Now, when we look at temples built in the Old Testament, there was a specific process for sanctifying them so that the presence of God could enter (See 1 Kings 8:10-11). Not just any old building could be declared to be the temple of God. And this sign of God’s spirit filling the temple was not one of imagination, but it is recorded in 1 Kings 8:10 that a visible cloud filled the house of the Lord:

“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.”

So it would seem unreasonable to believe this new promised temple would be established without something visible and supernatural happening. The question is, how did the early Christians believe people became temples of the Lord? And did they simply imagine God’s Spirit filling them, or was there a physical sign, as shown in previous temples? If they imagined it and there wasn’t a physical sign of God’s Spirit filling these people, can we reasonably conclude that Jesus fulfilled the promise given to David that he would build a house for the name of the Lord? And how did the first Christians know when people became temples of God? To answer this, we should go to a place where the New Testament writers claimed people were added to the church.

We find this first mentioned in Acts 2:41: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

This came after Peter preached a convicting message to the Jews who had gathered together to learn what was happening after they heard people speaking “in tongues”.

Let’s first dive into what these first Christians believed this speaking “in tongues” to be. This dialog in Acts 2 began with all the followers of Jesus waiting in Jerusalem until they received what Jesus called “power from on High” (Acts 1:4-5) and as they prayed, “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” We read that the people were literally speaking other languages that could be understood by others, which these men had never learned. And after the chaos ensues, Peter stands and declares what it means, saying that “these men are not drunk as you suppose, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel”  (Acts 2:17 & Joel 2:28):

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:”

So Peter connects this spirit being poured out on people, as spoken by the prophet Joel, with speaking in other tongues. So, similarly to how there was a physical sign, such as smoke entering the temple after being sanctified in the Old Testament, there was a physical sign of something supernatural happening when the Christians claimed they were being filled with the Spirit.

He continues to proclaim that Jesus, whom they crucified, has been made both Lord and Christ, or in other words, their Messiah (the promised seed of David). After that came upon the people’s ears, they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) and Peter’s response was:

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” 

And after he finished this declaration, it says, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41)

And we know that the early Christians recognized “Speaking in other tongues” as the visible sign of Spirit infilling because in Acts 10, Peter learned that God filled Gentiles (non-Jews) with his Spirit also when he saw them begin to speak with other tongues, showing that Gentiles could also become a part of this new temple of God, just like the Jews.

Therefore, the proclaimed method of being added to this new temple built for the name of the Lord was repentance and “baptism in the name of Jesus” and just like the Spirit of God filled the temple in the Old Testament with a visible sign when it was sanctified, the early Christians believed the initial sign of someone becoming apart of the temple of God and the Spirit of God filling them was “speaking in other tongues”.

Why do you think God would want a temple made of people to represent him instead of a temple made of stones and gold?
When looking at the Old Testament, do you think a Temple made of living people is what God always desired to dwell in?

So in conclusion, we have learned in this lesson that the early Christians believed Jesus was the Temple of God and not only Jesus, but also those who were baptized in his name fulfilling the promise which God originally made to David saying his seed would would build a house for God’s name, and that God would stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. To Christians today, it can be interpreted that God has remained faithful to this word, seeing that Christianity has not disappeared since its creation. But for the Jews today, the fulfillment of this promise given to David has yet to come to pass since they do not believe Jesus fulfilled this promise.

In the next lesson, we will dive deeper into this idea of the future Messiah or “The BRANCH” being both King and Priest, and how the early Christians interpreted this and applied it to Jesus. Join us next time!