The Soul as Temple: Divine Regard and Consecration

From the analogy between the Christian's soul and the ancient Jewish temple, we discern three truths about believers.

First, Christians are objects of special Divine regard. When Yahweh commissioned the old temple, He declared: "Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually." He promised to gild its glories with His smile and scathe its defilers with His frown. So too with the redeemed: "Lo, I am with you always." God regards the believer as a proprietor treasures his most valued possession, a king his province, a father his family home.

Second, Christians are the scene of special Divine manifestation. The Shekinah—God's visible presence—revealed Yahweh in the temple, not the building's magnificence nor the incense's fragrance. Similarly, it is not gold or intellect that declares God dwells with men, but Christ's Spirit indwelling the heart.

Third, Christians are subjects of entire Divine consecration. Solomon's prayer demonstrated the temple's perfect devotedness to Elohim. Christ's expulsion of the money-changers at His ministry's beginning and close proved He recognized that consecration utterly. His incarnation's grand purpose was purifying the living temple of men's souls.

Therefore, in our hearts: permit no worldly merchandise lest we become "a den of thieves" instead of "a house of prayer"; harbor no idol—it belongs to the living God alone; and maintain an altar for self-sacrifice, that we might echo forth His praises and think upon His mercies.