Why Did Jesus Call Himself a Temple?

This is core Christianity, where answering your questions about the Christian life Monday through Friday. Your hosts are author and seminary professor Dr. Michael Horton and pastor atrial Sanchez call right now with your question. At 1833. The core that's 1-833-843-2673 and now here's atrial Sanchez. What a pleasure it is to be answering your questions about the faith your core Christianity.

I'm pastor atrial Sanchez together with Prof. Michael Horton and were delighted to be here to talk about the word of God and to apply it to everyday life.

Mother in Michigan is suing a Roman Catholic priest who performed a funeral for her son 18 years old had committed suicide, crushed by her son's death. The mother was further traumatized when the priest publicly stated during the funeral, the nature of the boys death indicated that he might not go to heaven. Mike heavy heavy just a heartbreaking story but I know you know you've written on this subject. You think the priest was wrong. Yes, on the basis of Scripture. Christ died for all of the sins of all of his people. You every single sin including the worst that you could possibly imagine taking her own life is certainly at the top of that list basically playing God got. I don't like the life you've given me.

I believe that my life is mine to keep her lose. I'm going to end my life because I think that it's mine and that's terrible thinking. But God forgives all of our sins and people who commit suicide are forgiven that sin to we have to also remember that you know most of the people who commit suicide are suffering from mental illness.

I'm not saying that downplaying their personal responsibility at all. How we respond to our mental illnesses. We have responsibility for, but it can be such a horrible thing for people to experience depression or anxiety that that they feel like there's no way out. Yeah, in fact, a drill, there is a great resource that we have that a lot of people said it really help them nine things everyone needs to know about depression just head over to core Christianity.com/offers and download nine things everyone needs to know in about depression. It's a really helpful resource When I appreciate you Mike is going straight to the Scriptures because I think it's easy for people to say oh that person did something so bad there's no way they can be forgiven and yet you think about Jesus's words were. He promised that all manner of sin would be for many people who blaspheme Jesus right they can be forgiven. Someone who takes their life into their own hands is a Christian who united to Christ by faith because they've done that mean that still, heinous sin, like you mentioned the piece there, with mental illness and some of the difficulty there as well. But the fact of the matter is, is the blood of Jesus Christ his sufficient for that to for that too and so that's the hope that we had all of us have all of us are sinners desperately in need of God's grace, but our hope is in and in the fact we sin less than others or that arson is and as bad as others is that our sin is bad as it is, is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ that's been that's our hope to go to the questions for today here's an Instagram message we received from Amy.

Is it true that Jesus, when saying that the temple would be raised in three days was referring to his resurrection. If so, what does it mean that Jesus is a temple. Yeah, great topic Amy running from Genesis to Revelation is this theme of the temple starts in paradise.

You know the gardening is a temple and Adam is a high priest of the temple of the sanctuary of God and yet he hands the keys to the temple over to Satan great tragedy of the fall. Jesus comes back is the true high priest, but he's also the temple itself some passages in Scripture represent Jesus human body, his flesh and bones as the temple.

Other passages in Scripture talk about the church being his temple wall which is it actually it's both. So we read in John two verses 18 to 22 after Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple. The Pharisees said to him what signs you show us for doing these things Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said it's taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days, but he was speaking about the temple of his body, when therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believe the Scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken to marvelous, marvelous passage. Some people in church history who don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus have said well he rose again as the church. The church as his body is the only temple Jesus has well, not according to John 218, 22, and in many other passages he was referring John tells us to the temple of his body.

After he was raised on the third day the disciples understood what Jesus meant when he said destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days so the temple is Jesus body that's clear from the prologue to John's Gospel righty, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He pitched his tent among us literally in the Greek, which means he tabernacle among us.

He was the tabernacle. He was the meeting place between God and sinful humans. Jesus is the temple in the flesh.

And yet at the same time. Also, we are miraculously made living stones into the temple of God.

First Peter 25 is not amazing that we can be living stones of Jesus Christ himself. Now that doesn't mean that we are to confuse ourselves with Jesus literal body, but we are his spiritual body.

His mystical body. We are part of his mystical body were each of us living stones being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, individually and collectively, and so is the first temple, namely Jesus's body that John has in mind, and the last temple the mystical body of Christ that Paul has in mind in first Corinthians 619 so Christ is the temple. The church is his temple, and our own bodies are also his temple. The bond of unity between Christ and us is just so amazing and I love all that temple imagery in one of the things Amy that I often tell people when they ask the same question.

The church is well in the Old Testament the temple was where you met with God and where forgiveness took place and so if you wanted to have communion with God, you, you better go to the templates where worship happened when Jesus identifies himself as the temple.

He said look you want to meet with God you have to come to me and because Jesus is ascended and at the right hand of the father we can have that kind of intimate communion with God, with the true temple anytime we want because we draw near to him by faith we draw near to the father through the son, and so am just thinking of it like that. There are so many people today who think I have communion with God in my own way I do it this way I do it that way or through this religion, or through the spiritual practice.

But if Jesus is the true temple of God, where forgiveness took place in his body on the trim to him. Yeah then you have to come to him because that's the only place we have real coming with God.

And so it's really one of the important implications of the fact that Jesus is the temple was go to a phone call. Now that we received from Keith on the book of acts all all clean and all's key. Thank you for that question. There no longer unclean, and I'm especially glad for that because the one time I went to Louisiana I got to participate in a crawfish boil and I had never done that and I got to eat a lot of foods that at one point under the old covenant were unclean, but were no are no longer unclean today and I'm really happy for them is the delicious meal I will wear think about acts chapter 10 beginning in verse 900 read to verse 16 because just to give Slover the context says the next day as if they were on their journey approaching the city.

Peter went up on the house top about the sixth hour to pray and he became hungry and wanted something to eat while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it, were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, there came a voice to him rise, Peter kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means the Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

The voice came to him again a second time what God is made clean. Do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now the main focus here in acts chapter 10 is that God is welcoming the Gentiles into his covenant family Gentiles non-Jews physically or because right after this Peter is led to an Italian man named Cornelius. Peter shares Jesus with him and baptizes him the story ends in acts chapter 10 verse 44 while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised would come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. So the vision was a bunch of unclean foods, buzzards and lizards and God says I'm cleansing them. And yes, I think at that moment, those dietary restrictions that bound the old covenant people were lifted to that you and I can have a crawfish boil. Eat bacon and shellfish and also to other delicious things that we give thanks to the Lord for things were forbidden under the old covenant. That's 11 implication really that the main focus is on what we sometimes call the Gentile inclusion had been prophesied in the Old Testament was the expectation that one day the glory of God was in a cover the whole earth, and even the Gentiles were can be flocking to the kingdom that is happening right now through work of Jesus. Because God is cleansing the world cleansing people, people's hearts by faith in his son. And that's one of the things it's being anticipated here in acts chapter 10. So thank you for that question Keith. I love the fact that you point out the it. It's not just okay week we can eat crawfish and it's really all along. This was pointing to the fact that Israel was to be separate from the nations but now no longer the church is no longer a particular ethnic group or particular nation. The church now is drawn from people from every tribe, and kindred, and tongue and people and nation. Amen.

Listening to the core and we are answering your questions about the faith. If you question about the Bible something you've read want to hear from you is a call at 1-833-843-2673. That's 1833 the court where you can also email us at questions."

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Another question now my question is about Matthew 511 through 12 Blessed are you when others revile you and perfect you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven percent. They persecuted the prophets who were before you. You mean that literally should we expect blessings to, clarification yell thanks Grace.

Jesus really captures the paradox of the Christian life. In Matthew 24. Jesus prepares his followers for two realities that seemed diametrically opposed. On the one hand the.

All the way until his second coming will be marked by wars, natural disasters, immorality, and other general ills as well as by persecution of his church elder will be dark times and yet it's also going to be a time of incredible prosperity for his kingdom as the gospel goes out to the nations like childbirth the same time incredible joy in excruciating pain.

So I'm told I was there when it happened. So yes there will be persecution but you're on the right side of history. You are blessed even when the world hates you, precisely because it hated me before it hated you. Jesus told his disciples in John 1518.

So if you're morning now you will be comforted. If you're beaten down now.

You will be exalted. You may lack temporal riches, but according to first Peter one, four and five. You already have an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are protected by God's power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time in Greece I think another helpful passage to bring into play here is what Peter says in first Peter chapter 4 verse 14. If you are insulted for the name of Christ. You are blessed and then he gives the reason why were blessed. Not that were persecuted and so were getting more earthly riches.

He says because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you the blessing and persecution is identifying with Jesus Christ.

It's a sign that the spirit of God lives in us has filled out yet you the way Paul so identifies himself with Christ. Christ is his whole identity. He says I carry around with me.

The marks of Christ's crucifixion in my own body right there. The Galatians yeah you know just another helpful resource to if you want to do some more digging. Go to court, Christianity.com what you need to know about the devils tricks. Check out that article, let's go to Facebook message that we received from Donna. Why does the Old Testament law command slavery if it is wrong. This is really important. As you know Donna you and we hear it in the news we talk to friends who are Christians or even professing Christians who say you know how can you believe in a religion where God commended things like slavery and the holy wars and everything in the Old Testament. How can you believe in a God who is the God of the Old Testament as well as the new will. The Old Testament laws don't come in slavery.

They only make allowances for slavery in. In other words, they restricted. First, it's important to remember very important. Remember that slavery in Israel was very different from modern chattel slavery in modern slavery. Europeans and Americans kidnapped whole tribes in Africa. Those who survived the deadly floating prisons were sold in the markets, but according to Exodus 2116 whoever steals a man and sells him and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death so that completely knocks the stilts out from under modern slavery.

But that didn't mean that there weren't slaves in Israel. There were, they could be acquired through victory in battle as the invaders then had to serve as slaves. You could even have a fellow Israelite is a slave if you defaulted on your financial debts and the only way of paying those debts back was to work yourself out of it at the hand of your collector, but even here there were many very specific laws limiting what could be done mistreating slaves totally forbidden and this is important.

Every 50 years. A total of seven annual sabbaths on the day of atonement.

God required a year of Jubilee. We read in Leviticus 25 you shall make the 50th. Your holy and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants, it shall be a Jubilee to you and each of you shall return to his own property and each of you shall return to his family that 50th year shall be a Jubilee to you and you shall not so neither read that which grows, of itself, nor gather from the undressed fines for it is a Jubilee. It shall be holy to you, you shall eat of its increase out of the field in this year of Jubilee. Each of you shall return to his property, so the land got its rest from labor slaves got there rest. Prisoners were released and it was all a sign every half-century of that ultimate Sabbath rest of the whole Earth will enjoy when God's perfect messianic kingdom dawns.

I might mention to in the New Testament. Also, slavery by kidnapping is completely prohibited in first Timothy 110 Paul says God's wrath is coming for the sexually immoral for homosexuals for slave traders and liars and perjurer's and for anyone else who is a verse to sound teaching. It's interesting when many Christians today would never hold up as heroes. Those who defend homosexuality.

Nevertheless treat as noble guardians of Christian culture, men who upheld the modern system of slavery by kidnapping and it's really interesting image in the New Testament there.

We look at the Scriptures in the New Testament related to this question in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave or free me this would've been a revolutionary idea in the Greco-Roman world was a large portion of the population were slaves or bond servants, and with the gospel, that is, it came and said actually, there is no distinction in Christ you're not better or worse than someone because you're a slaver because you're free what's really important is whether or not you united to Jesus Christ upon slaves of Christ.

That's right.

Now there's another Facebook message that we received from Emmanuel. Why does Paul say that there are certain people. We shouldn't even eat with how we supposed to fulfill the great commission if we should even eat with them.

Yes, I think Emmanuel referred first Corinthians 511 but now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immoral immorality or greed or is an idolater revival or drunkard or swindler not even eat with such a one about the context here is church discipline and the key phrase here is anyone who bears the name of brother the church in Corinth had become virtually indistinguishable in some of its practices from the wider pagan society. They were narcissistic.

They were divisive they were immoral. He writes to them as a true church but as a very immature church that's not practicing discipline. So Paul brings out the guns and he tells them that they must deal with open sin for the good of the wayward person and also to keep the whole church from becoming thoroughly compromised but for the larger context we have to back up a verse and then read a few more afterwards. I wrote to you in my letter, Paul says not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all. Meaning, the sexually immoral of the world or the greedy and swindlers were idolater since then you would have to go out of the world, but now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or as an idolater revival or drunkard or swindler, not even to eat was such a want for what have I to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge God judges those outside purged the evil person from among you. Basically saying hey I'm not telling you that you can't be around non-Christians who behave this way. Otherwise you have to leave this world. What I am saying is that you mustn't treat professing members as genuine brothers and sisters if they refused to listen to the church through the elders and the admonition and discipline of the church leadership and notice what he says at the end for what have I to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the church and you are to judge God judges those outside. I really think a lot of American churches are like Corinth today. Immaturity rains a lot of churches, there is an even church membership, which makes it possible to hold people accountable. Instead, we judge outsiders. The very thing Paul says we are not in a position to do so.

We blame immorality on the world and then we tolerate all kinds of sin in our own churches and in our own lives just the opposite. Paul says we need to focus on mutual love, accountability and purity within Christ's body and not expect the world to be anything other than the world, God will judge the world, but we have to make judgments in the church and that's what Christ appointed elders to exercise that kind of discipline and a little sister pastor.

The goal of Church discipline is not to drive people outright. No, not at all, and in fact, earlier right before this. The apostle Paul is talking about the person that he has in mind says you are deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

In other words, church discipline is is really about restoring someone back to Jesus and I encourage you if you're listening to check out what Jesus says in Matthew 18 verses 15 and following because it three outlines the steps of church discipline.

So this is really coming from the lips of Jesus, and you see the apostles following Jesus is own words. Yes, my kids were at first. Kind of astonished that couple times a year the elders would come to our home for house visit.

I would have read and setup something no circular coming like a doctor's visit. You know, doctors use to make house calls. Christ is sending his ambassadors to us to ask us how are doing the Christian life.

What a wonderful thing to be cared for, but man, we bristle against that. Who are you to stand between me and my Lord, this it must be recovered in our day because we are a living reproduction of points right now. Damon put it this way, you have a personal relationship with Jesus but you do not have a private relationship with Jesus.

He is the good Shepherd and he's appointed under shepherds to care for us.

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