Inside the Old Testament temple of God, there were several pieces of furniture.In Chapter 25 of Exodus God is very specific as to how the furnishings are to be made and the materials that they are to be made of. For instance the ark of the covenant. Verses 10- 22 explain how the ark is to be made and also the mercy seat. The ark was made of wood, then covered inside and out with pure gold. The mercy seat was placed over the ark.
Inside the ark were to be reminders of the testimony of God for his people, and a copy of the ten commandments.
"And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
Now I want you to look with me in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
A Christian's body is the temple (tabernacle), that the Holy Ghost lives in. There are items within you that were given to you at the time you willingly offered yourself to Jesus to come live within you. These items will remain forever. Just as the furnishings of the tabernacle of the Old Testament, these are meant to be permanent.
Your spirit, or what the Bible calls your heart/mind, the new man, is one of these. It is the piece that can be compared to the ark of the Old Testament. God takes the old heart/mind, made of wood (something that will decay) changes it with the washing of his Word, that is incorruptible and can never decay, and covers it with his blood for protection.
The psalmist David could only plead with God:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
Compare that to the New Testament :
"for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."Eph. 2:10
Jesus has created in you a clean heart, cleansed by his pure, perfect sinless sacrifice.
1 Corinthians 6:19 spells it out:
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
You see, after you ask God to come into your heart and bring the forgiveness that he has died to give you he places within that clean ark of your heart, the evidence of his grace and mercy, his good faith offering of his intentions to keep his part of the agreement. What is that good faith offering? Read what the scripture says:
"...ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest (down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, (see Cor. 6:19) unto the praise of his glory." Eph. 1:13,14
Then he wrote his agreement on your heart.
"This is the covenant that I will make them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; Hebrews 10:16
Until next time-- think about it.
