Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Revelation 21:22, John describes something that is not in the heavenly city: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” A temple is a place of worship, a building set aside to meet with others in the presence of God. Since the Bible makes it clear that we will be with God and He will be with us in “the holy city” (Revelation 21:1-7), there is no need for a special location. In one sense, the entire city functions as a temple: its perfect cube shape points us to the Most Holy Place (as we studied last week). However, it is not a literal temple, for we no longer need an intermediary to bring us into the immediate presence of our Savior God. Students of Scripture will note that this absence of a temple is distinct from the Millennial Kingdom, which will have a temple on earth (Ezekiel 40-48). Those who reject the Biblical teaching of a literal, earthly Millennial Kingdom have no answer to this clear and obvious difference. Let us rejoice now that all believers will have direct, personal access to our Savior God then.