Ariel, the Altar of Blood

Posted on by Adrian Clark

What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means— an altar covered with blood. I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it.”
Isaiah 29:1-3 NLT

An unusual name appears in our reading today. “Ariel”. It is a name more associated with a washing powder in the UK today, but in Isaiah’s day it meant “an altar covered with blood”, a definition usefully supplied in verse 2. But in other translations it means “lion of God” or “altar hearth”, probably referring to the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Chapters 28-33 in Isaiah all start with “What sorrow awaits”, or “Woe to”, five “woes” in all. “Woe” is an exclamation of grief for the terrible judgment that is yet to come. In this chapter, the Lord describes judgment coming on Jerusalem. But as we journey through Isaiah, we find that much of his writing is connected with warnings, prophecies or oracles of doom yet to come on a people, nation, or even empire. And he was very accurate in what he wrote, as history has confirmed. So chapter 29 contains “woes” directed against Jerusalem. If I were living in those days and had heard what he said, I would like to think I would take notice and change my ways, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and at the time the people paid very little attention to him.

The people of Judah had a very strong foundation in God, with religious leaders and a wealth of God-breathed literature underpinning what God desired of them. They knew that if they followed His ways, they would be blessed and protected; if they didn’t, they would be cursed and unprotected. They could read all about this in Deuteronomy, just as we can, although people in Isaiah’s day were largely uneducated and relied on priests and other religious leaders to disseminate God’s Word. But it is a human condition that sin is a preferred way of life, and because God was, and is, slow to anger, they wrongly felt that He didn’t much care about how they behaved. Perhaps their logic ran along the line that it was all very well for their early ancestors, but they were much more sophisticated. And that is perhaps our first thought this morning. I have heard arguments today from people who have rejected God and His Word because they think that it applies to a people, unsophisticated and uneducated, who used to live many years ago. After all, they say, we now have all this knowledge and scientific data, and have no further need for God and His ways. To such a people, we can point to the experiences of God’s people in the 8th Century BC and suggest they take note and seriously consider what happened to them. Hebrews 13:8-9: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them”. 

Here is another thought, based on the judgment coming for the behaviour of God’s people. Perhaps we need to remember that being close to God does not make us immune from correction. Jerusalem had the temple. It had the priesthood. It had the sacrifices and religious festivals. It had a long history of God’s dealings with His people. Yet none of these things could protect the people if their hearts had turned away from God. This offers a significant lesson for Christians. We can be surrounded by Christian things—church attendance, worship, Bible reading, Christian fellowship—and still have hearts spiritually distant from God. We also need to remember that religious activity is not the same as spiritual obedience. Jesus later warned of people who would honour God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him, quoting a later verse in Isaiah 29. We remember the story of Samuel selecting a king to replace Saul, and watching as Jesse’s sons were paraded before him. He took one look at the son called Eliab and thought “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed”, but the next verse reads, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”” (1 Samuel 16:7). The question we must ask ourselves today is “What is the state of our hearts?” Are we devoted to God and His ways, following Jesus wholeheartedly, or are we just paying lip service to our liturgies, while our minds dwell on other things, such as what was on television last night, or our favourite football team’s prowess in yesterday’s match? Through Isaiah, God was very critical of the way the Israelites were behaving. He wrote, “When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings” (Isaiah 1:12-13). James too wrote on this theme, and we read, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:22-25).

The people in Judea probably thought that if they continued to go through the motions in their religion, then they would be alright. Isaiah wrote, “Year after year you celebrate your feasts” but God added another word “Yet”. We pilgrims have to beware of this word, because it confirms that any assumptions we might like to make about our faith could be followed by a “yet”. Those two verses at the end of Psalm 139 must be on the lips of every pilgrim frequently: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. We must remember that God loves us, and because of that, He won’t leave us in a life of complacency or sin without discipline. 

But in all the negatives of our verses today, there is hope. Our faith in God is alive and well, I’m sure, and He is quick to respond to a repentant heart. He loves us as a father loves His children and will go to extraordinary lengths to nurture us and educate us in His ways. 

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your love and care. We know it is easy to go through spiritual motions and delude ourselves about their reality. We pray David’s prayer, that You would search our hearts and keep us close to You, this day and for all time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Great Trumpet Will Sound

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The people are like the dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots. Israel is a foolish and stupid nation, for its people have turned away from God. Therefore, the one who made them will show them no pity or mercy. Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.”
Isaiah 27:11-13 NLT

Isaiah chapters 24-27 form a prophecy some have called the “Isaiah Apocalypse”, and he wrote it around 700 BC. Isaiah is now bringing it to an end by prophesying the return of the exiles from captivity. This happened in three waves: the first with Zerubbabel in 538 BC, the second around 458 BC led by Ezra the Scribe, and the third and final return with Nehemiah in 445 BC. In a time of increasing national instability through the incursions of the Assyrian armies, it is extraordinary that Isaiah could see such an event in the future, but, of course, we know he was led in his writings by the Holy Spirit, as God revealed the future to him. 

In the first chapter of the Book of Ezra, we read how God used a heathen king to do His will. Ezra 1:1-2, “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah“. He granted permission for any exiles who desired it to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, and Ezra 2 lists all those who made the journey, and they numbered over 42,000. This was the first wave led initially by Sheshbazzar, and, once the exiles had returned, Zerubbabel continued with organising the rebuilding of the Temple.

God then used a second heathen king, Artaxerxes, to commission another return, this time led by Ezra. The king blessed the returning exiles with all sorts of donations, and in his letter of instructions, the king wrote, “Be careful to provide whatever the God of heaven demands for his Temple, for why should we risk bringing God’s anger against the realm of the king and his sons?” (Ezra 7:23). Around 5,000 men and their families returned at this time.

Artaxerxes was still on the throne when Nehemiah journeyed to Jerusalem a few years after Ezra, and it is believed others returned with him at the same time, although no records exist of who these were. But in the three waves, God’s prophecy through Isaiah, “Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west” (Isaiah 27:12), was fulfilled. That is how much God loved His people, a love that went to extraordinary lengths to purge their sins. 

What key messages does Isaiah 27 offer us pilgrims? We started the chapter with a reference to Leviathan, a terrifying, uncontrollable sea monster representing chaos. We read more about this monster in the Book of Revelation, identifying the sea monster as a serpent or dragon, representing Satan. For us pilgrims today, this serves as a reminder that no matter how overwhelming or chaotic the world feels, evil operates on borrowed time. God’s final victory is already guaranteed. I am reminded this morning about the Apostle Paul, under house arrest, chained to Roman guards as he awaited his final fate. His world up until then had been anything but peaceful, and we can read the list of what he had to endure in 2 Corinthians 11. And yet, in Philippians 1, we read how he rejoiced over the preaching of the Gospel, and he wrote, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Philippians 1:21). The world around him was oppressed by evil. It was chaotic and unstable, but Paul lived in a haven of peace and joy. No sea monster would ever affect Paul. Nothing would disturb his joy and peace.

Back in Isaiah 27, we read about the vineyard, as an analogy for God’s people, and how the Lord watches over it, weeding out the briars and thorns. That took us to John 15, and the importance for us pilgrims to live our lives connected to the Vine, who is Jesus. And, more, we read how God’s people would “blossom and fill the whole earth with fruit”. Pilgrims who are connected to the Vine will inevitably produce the Galatians 5 fruit of the Holy Spirit. I can remember a preacher in the late 1970’s, at a Bible conference, pointing out to the people gathered that they were producing plenty of “leaves” but no “fruit”. In other words, all the froth and bubble, the excesses of the Charismatic Renewal, was pointless unless the Holy Spirit fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”, could be found growing within them as well. 

Also in Isaiah 27, Isaiah pointed out that God’s disciplining His people is vastly different from His destruction of evil. When we pilgrims experience seasons of suffering or spiritual “pruning” (John 15), is it not a sign of God’s displeasure? Instead, like a wise gardener, God uses these moments to deconstruct any modern-day idols that we have allowed into our lives (” … all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing”), and prompt deep and genuine repentance. 

Finally, Isaiah 27 ends with a trumpet blast. What started as a localised promise to Israel ultimately points to the global body of believers filling the earth with the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel. Additionally, the chapter concludes with a “great trumpet” sounding to gather the outcasts and the perishing (Isaiah 27:13). This foreshadows the final, inclusive gathering of believers from every tribe and nation to worship God together.

Isaiah 27 offers much to guide us pilgrims, but the call is to remain connected to the Vine, Jesus Himself. There is no other way for His people, because Jesus is the Way. The only Way. Is that a trumpet I can hear? Probably not, but an angel will be holding one in his hands, ready and waiting.

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Way, the Truth and Life, and this is the foundation of our lives as pilgrims in this evil world. Not for us the strange ideologies that have permeated our societies, leaving a people who have lost their God-given compass in life. Keep us near You, we pray. This day and forever. Amen.

Isaiah’s Vision: The Power of Forgiveness and Transformation

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.””
Isaiah 6:5-7 NLT

The vision of God in the Temple was a life-changing experience for Isaiah, and the first thing he encountered was his sin. His vision of the Lord included seraphim, six-winged beings who were constantly calling out to each other, “… Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3), and the sound and presence of their voices “shook the Temple to its foundations”. A scary experience, but instead of a terror response in fear and trembling, Isaiah becomes very aware of his sin. In the presence of our holy God, everyone, sooner or later, will be confronted by their sin. But Isaiah also became aware of his “filthy lips”, a condition that also impacted all the people he lived with. As we considered yesterday, it is through a person’s lips that come the thoughts and desires of their hearts, and in his innermost being, Isaiah became aware that he was corrupted by sin, and the fruit of that came from his sinful lips. Rightly, without a remedy, he concluded that he was “doomed”. 

But burning coals as a remedy? The temple would have had a fire burning on the altar, as we know from Leviticus 6:13, from the instructions given to Aaron, “Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out”. Was the coal a real ember from the fire or was it a spiritual experience? In this context, I think the coal was taken from the Heavenly altar, which represents the place of sacrifice, atonement, and the presence of God. The book of Revelation contains several references to an altar in Heaven, such as Revelation 8:3, 5, “Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. … Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake”. The altar in the Temple, complete with its fire, was no more than an earthly copy, a “type” of what was in Heaven. 

The act of touching Isaiah’s lips with the burning coal was life-changing because it cleansed him from his guilt and sin. His guilt was removed, and his sins were forgiven. But were Isaiah’s lips permanently damaged by the contact with the coal? We don’t know, but we do know that this was the point when he was ordained to a prophetic ministry to his people.

We pilgrims of the New Covenant are in a different season than that of Isaiah’s, nearly three thousand years ago. No Temple, no animal sacrifices, and a society that was very different to ours. But there are similarities: people then and today are burdened by their guilt and sin. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). He also said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus’ mission was clear, and He constantly reached out in compassion to those who were sinners. We think of Zacchaeus, or the woman caught in adultery and others. He told the parable of the lost sheep, and we read in Luke 15:4, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?” In the parable of the Lost Son, we read that the Father constantly looked out for the return of the prodigal, and when he saw that he was coming, He ran to meet and greet him, something even more significant when we realise that running was considered undignified in those days. God will go to extraordinary lengths to ease the transition from guilt and sin to forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. 

The people around us are burdened by their guilt and sin, and we pilgrims know the remedy. Our encounters with the risen Jesus changed us from the inside, and we are now able to stand in God’s presence, with our guilt removed and our sins forgiven.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Jesus, without whom we would still be lost in our sins. Thank You for Your love and grace. Amen.

The Vision of Isaiah: God’s Eternal Authority

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Glowing angels flying around a golden throne inside an ornate cathedral

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.”
Isaiah 6:1-4 NLT

Isaiah went to the Temple. Probably nothing unusual about that because I’m sure that he had been there many times before. But there were two things that were significant. King Uzziah had died, and Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord.

Who was King Uzziah? 2 Chronicles 26:3-5, “Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success”. Uzziah was one of the good kings of Judah, and his reign from 790 to 739 BC was long and successful. But on his death, Isaiah would not have been alone in feeling a bit wobbly after such a long time of political stability and prosperity. So what did he do? Isaiah went to the temple. 

In his Temple vision, the first thing that Isaiah saw was the Lord sitting on a throne. A “lofty throne”. A throne signifies a seat of power and authority, and the first message from his vision was that God was still in control. He was still the Creator of the Universe. He was still the God who had the world and its people in the palm of His hand. It was only through Him that world events could happen. In his vision, Isaiah saw that the Lord was wearing a robe, the “train” of which filled the entire space. God is complete and can fill every corner of our lives, should we let Him. The message to Isaiah was that although human beings, including kings, live and then die, God lives forever. He is eternal. He is the all-powerful Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent God. Three words that describe how complete God is. 

The vision continued with seraphim (literally “fiery ones”), each attending the Lord. They had six wings, two covering their faces (showing God the proper respect and awe), two covering their feet (signifying humility) and two with which to fly, enabling their work of service to the Lord. And they called out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Why did they say “Holy” three times? To emphasise the absolute, supreme perfection of God’s character. Something perhaps to remember when we sing Heber’s hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”. Finally, and for good measure, the Temple shook and filled with smoke, signifying the awe-inspiring, unapproachable weight and power of God’s glory. What a vision! What an experience! Nothing man-made then or now could ever have replaced what Isaiah experienced that day. 

As we fast forward to the 21st Century, we consider our nation here in the UK and thank God that we have had a period of relative stability since the end of the Second World War, eighty years or so of living in a war-free society. But we live in a different age now. Technology has changed dramatically, impacting every aspect of our lives. Medical advances are now able to do amazing things in curing all sorts of conditions and diseases. But on the downside, modern weapons of war have the capability to destroy the whole world several times over, should they be used. Are we in an age of stability? Or should we be finding our equivalent of the Jerusalem Temple? 

As we will discover, the vision totally changed and supercharged Isaiah’s life and ministry. In the Bible, there are recorded occasional miraculous revelations that brought about a new move of God. Paul was another example, as the light of Jesus flooded around Him and a voice spoke out that day on the Damascus Road. Paul’s life was totally turned around, and he went from persecuting the early Christians to being their biggest proponent, establishing churches throughout the Middle East. 

Have we pilgrims had such a revelation as Isaiah’s? Do we have the faith to expect one? In years past, God has graciously revealed Himself to me, once through a vision and, on another occasion, through a voice, but nowhere near what Isaiah saw. But in these days of global insecurity, we should be praying for our nation, that God’s peace will prevail. That politicians will emerge with the vision to lead the nations God’s way and not the devil’s. That we will find opportunities to reach out to the people around us with God’s message of hope. And we must keep praying because God hears our prayers, and our fervour in their delivery. Age and health are no barrier to our service in prayer – after all, the Hebridean revival started with the prayers of two old ladies in their eighties, one blind and the other crippled with arthritis. And we never know – God may answer our prayers with a vision of Him so powerful that we will be, like Isaiah, changed forever. 

Dear Father God. In awe and worship, we bow before You today, putting aside our fears because we know that You are still on Your throne. Thank You. Amen. 

Understanding Our Identity as God’s Temple

Posted on by Adrian Clark

And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. 
And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty”.
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 NLT

Paul’s knowledge of the Bible was extraordinary. Here, at the end of 2 Corinthians 6, he quoted three Old Testament verses in succession, all focused on the relationship that believers have with their Heavenly Father. The first was from Leviticus 26:12, “I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people”. The second was taken from Isaiah 52:11, “Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord”. And the last was taken from 2 Samuel 7:14, “I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do”. It is interesting that Paul’s quotations were not word perfect by a long way, but allowance has to be made for the translations from one language to another, and the context in which they were quoted. How many of us have a memory like Paul’s?

We remember that, in the context in which Paul was writing, these verses referred to believers as God’s Temple, and this will have a significant impact on their relationship with God. Think about it for a moment. God lives within us. He walks with us as we go about our daily lives. He is there in our thoughts, and He feels our pain when we hurt. Being God’s Temple is all about our relationship with our Heavenly Father. 

But in all of that, there is one thing that must prevail, and that is that being in a relationship with God means that other relationships must be discarded. These verses that Paul quoted paint a picture of separation from the things of the world, things incompatible with God and His Kingdom. We live in the world, but we do not belong to its values, its idols, or its compromises. When Paul speaks of not touching “their filthy things,” he is calling believers away from the spiritual contamination of idolatry, moral compromise, and divided loyalty. Jesus said, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do” (John 17:15-16). In some ways, it is preferable to be taken out of this world because it is hard to live here as a Christian sometimes. But God has given us a job to do on His behalf, and in the process, He provides the opportunity for us to grow in the faith and become more like Jesus. This life is a training ground for the life to come.

Paul wrote, “I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty”. Look at the tender welcome in God’s statement. His love and grace are palpably present and are a promise for all those who come to Him. Separation from the world, from sin and evil, is no loss when we realise it opens the door to a deep relationship with the Creator of the Universe. In Romans 8:15, Paul wrote, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father””. The relationship we have with God is so intimate that we can call Him “Daddy” (Abba is the Aramaic word for Daddy). 

“Now we call him, “Abba, Father“”

If we truly grasp that we are God’s temple, we guard what we allow into our hearts. Our “eye gates” can be a problem so we need to be careful about what we watch on TV or in the cinema. Similarly, we carefully examine what influences shape us. These days, news reports and social media posts can be an evil and disruptive factor in our thoughts and decisions. Because we love God, we pursue living a life of separation from worldliness, conscious of how debilitating that can be to our spiritual lives. And through all that we do, we are conscious that God Himself walks with us. Let’s pause for a moment and focus our thoughts. The Lord Almighty—the sovereign, all-powerful God—chooses to dwell in and with His people and call them His sons and daughters. What greater privilege could there be? We pilgrims are truly a blessed people.

Dear loving Heavenly Father, thank You that You dwell within us by Your Spirit. Help us to live as Your holy temple. Give us courage to separate from anything that dishonours You, and draw us deeper into the joy of being Your sons and daughters. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Understanding Our Role as God’s Temple

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
2 Corinthians 6:15-16 NLT

The Temple in Jerusalem was sacred to the Jews. The first one, built by Solomon, David’s son, and using materials David had accumulated in the last years of his reign and life, was magnificent. It was built around 959 BC and lasted for 400 years until it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and his forces in 586 BC. The second Temple was built under the guidance of Zerubbabel about 70 years later and lasted until 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed it. And that is the situation that still stands today. There will be a future Temple in the New Jerusalem, but this one will be very different. Revelation 21:22, “I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple”. Jews today have mixed views about the Temple, with some of the orthodox persuasions expecting such a building to appear through Divine providence, perhaps with the coming of the Messiah.

Early in His ministry, Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem and cleared the merchants from the courtyard. John 2:16, “Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”” The Jewish leaders weren’t too happy about this and in the following verses in John we read, “But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body”. And that introduces us to Paul’s New Covenant pronouncement that “we are the temple of the living God”. Paul said to the Corinthians in his first letter, “Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself” (1 Corinthians 6:19). 

In our verses today, Paul asked the question, “How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?” The picture emerges of the Temple, pure and holy, the place where God lives, and then someone brings in an idol and starts worshipping it. Those who knew the law of Moses would immediately declare such a person as being worthy of death under the laws of the nation of Israel. Worshipping idols in the Temple would have been unthinkable to a Jew, but Paul associated this picture with the partnership between a believer and an unbeliever. Those of us who are believers, pilgrims like us who are in Christ, are now God’s temple on earth. His Spirit occupies every believer in Jesus. With that understanding, Paul’s meaning is clear. Any believer who participates in the worship of an idol is guilty of betraying God in the same way as someone worshiping an idol in the Jewish temple.

There are two implications of being God’s Temple, where the Holy Spirit lives. Personally, each believer has a responsibility to maintain a Temple free of idolatry, immorality, and all manner of sin. We call that being sanctified. The Temple within us is a place where God is glorified. Each believer is also part of a Temple that consists of all believers. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. ” Peter also wrote about this in 1 Peter 2:5, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God”. 

Paul continued to quote Leviticus 26:12, “I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people”. It is an awesome and holy situation to be the place where God dwells. No more of a physical building, an entity outside of us. Instead, through our own holiness, we become “living stones”, a corporate building full of God and His Spirit. However, if that was the case, what is stopping the church from being a force far beyond anything ever seen on this planet? God walking around this world inside a huge human Temple? But of course, this is a spiritual Temple, unrecognisable by the secular society in which we live. We “living stones” do God’s work in the lives and communities of people around us. We are the “salt and light”, ensuring that God’s Temple continues to live and hold back the forces of evil that would otherwise overwhelm and destroy this world in which we live. 

So, fellow pilgrims and “living stones”, what strategy do we have in place to ensure that the Holy Spirit will continue to dwell within us? It is sin that destroys that union, but we know that, and we do our utmost to live lives worthy of the One who died for us.

Dear Heavenly Father. We thank You for all that You have done for us. Help us, we pray, to live in a way that is worthy of You and Your Spirit. Amen.

The House of God

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.“
Psalm 5:7-8 NLT

David was perhaps on a bit of an emotional roller coaster as he wrote this Psalm. He woke up crying for help and groaning in misery. He then reminded God of the wicked people around and how God could not entertain any contact with them, and he then relaxed into familiar territory, with thoughts of the Temple, the House of God. There, David knew he could find a place where there was spiritual solace and security with His Lord and God. David recognised that the reason he could go to the Temple was because of God’s “unfailing love”. And it was there that he could worship the Lord “with deepest awe”. Touching base again with God, David found that his perspective changed and he saw the need to trust the Lord in the difficult military and political situations before him.

There is of course much here that is of help to us pilgrims. Because God loves us, we can enter His presence at any time. But are we sure of that? Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies”. There are of course prerequisites to entering into God’s presence. But once there, and assured of His love, our spirits turn to worship. Worship of our wonderful Heavenly Father and no-one else. In His presence the reality of who He is floods over us, and with the “deepest awe” we bow at His feet. We of course do not need to be in Jerusalem, in the Temple as David was. Neither do we need to enter one of the many churches and cathedrals that abound in our nation. In the quiet of our closets we find God and the opportunity for worship. My “closet” is often the natural world around me, where the Creator can be found in His creation. 

We also find that out of our worship experience God speaks to us through His Spirit. He gently nudges us towards the right paths. He reviews with us our current perspectives and offers alternatives. He points out anything within us that shouldn’t be there. A spiritual cleansing results and “makes [His] way plain for [us] to follow”. 

Love and worship. The very essence of our relationship with God. The powerhouse of pilgrim life. There is no better way.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please forgive us for the times when we try and exclude You from our lives and stumble into error, and places where we shouldn’t be. Amen.

The Holy City (4)

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.”
‭Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT

There will be three things missing from the New Jerusalem. No temple, no sun and no moon. As we think about the implications of this, our minds start to struggle a bit. To Western Christians, the lack of the Temple, or even any churches, would not seem to be too much of a big deal. But to the Jews, the Temple was the focal point of their experience of God. So for there not to be one, in theory it could be a great disappointment for them. 

The lack of a sun and moon would be a problem for everyone. We look at the sun as a celestial body that has always been there, a fundamental object providing us with light and warmth, and the presence of the moon a reassuring constancy during the dark and sun-less hours. But we have to remember that earlier in this chapter John “ … saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.” (Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬). We don’t know if all the celestial objects that fill the universe disappeared as well. But we do know that there will be a new Heaven and a new earth. There will be a New Jerusalem there and “the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light”. 

So what does the glory of God look like? If we are thinking of a sun or moon replacement, then we have fallen far short of what the glory of God is. It’s not a natural light and heat source that will be illuminating the Holy City. Our perception of the sun is bounded by our human senses – our eyes for the light and our nerves within our skin to detect heat. If we look in the Bible we can get a glimpse of what the glory of God is. It’s His beauty, and His character, for starters. It says in Isaiah 43:7, that we are His glory – “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them”.  Hebrews 1:3a tells us about the glory of God’s Son, Jesus. We read, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, … ”. And in a sense, His glory is within us. We read in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” There was an intriguing dialogue between Jesus and His Father, that John recorded in his Gospel. Jesus said, “Father, bring glory to Your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to My name, and I will do so again.”” (John 12:28). But all of this hardly scratches the surface of what God’s glory is. We may be able to have a go at listing all the attributes and adjectives that describe God’s glory, but what will be lacking from our words is that complete experience of what it means to see at first hand the glory of God.

When we pilgrims consider the glory of God I’m sure we agree that it is something far beyond anything we can get our minds around. The Apostle Paul perceptively summed up our limited God-experience, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely“. 

But we pray that we will get to know God better. One day we will find out what His glory is really like and I suspect we will be saying “Wow!” for all eternity.

Father God. What can we say or do other than fall on our knees in worship to You. words cannot describe Your wonder, Your glory. Amen.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then I looked and saw that the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was thrown wide open. The seven angels who were holding the seven plagues came out of the Temple. They were clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chests.”
Revelation‬ ‭15:5-6 NLT

God’s house in Heaven is open. Wide open. But why should there be a Temple in Heaven? One reason could be that it has been ordained by God. He gave Moses detailed instructions about what would be a suitable place for Him to live in when on earth. It’s a fascinating set of ancient blueprints delivered, not as a set of architectural drawings, complete with material specifications and fabric requirements, but as a written set of instructions, embellished with guidance from the Holy Spirit when needed. In Exodus 25:8-9, God said to Moses, “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you”. Perhaps God gave Moses a picture of how the Tabernacle would look and he wrote down the “pattern” for subsequent generations to follow, if necessary. But notice it wasn’t either God or Moses who built the original Tabernacle – it was the people. Ordinary, everyday, people who used to be slaves in Egypt. The instructions that God gave Moses for building the Tabernacle were incredibly detailed, even down to the quantities of materials. Don’t forget that Moses was not a qualified architect, designer or quantity surveyor – he had been a sheep farmer for most of his life. But God is our Heavenly Architect who knows everything. So Moses, and the obedient people, built a home for God.

Are we pilgrims Tabernacle builders or do we lack interest in doing such a thing? Do we need a Tabernacle today, to act as a home for God, or do we find such a concept unnecessary? Of course, in these times of the New Covenant, there is no need for a physical building to focus our worship, though this has not always been the case. Just look at the amazing cathedrals and churches that have been built over the centuries, to act as places of worship. That fact that so many of them are still standing today is a testimony to the skills of the architects and construction workers of bygone years. 

So we can, rather smugly perhaps, look back at the paraphernalia of the Old Testament accounts of the Tabernacle and the Temple and think such things are of no relevance for modern day pilgrims. That is, until we read in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,”. The Temple of the Old Testament becomes our bodies in the New Covenant. And all of a sudden, as the penny drops, as the implications of what this means hits us, we see the importance of the Temple, God’s Tabernacle. There was nothing impure and unholy in the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple. And the Temple within us has the same requirement. We are called to be pure and holy, a fit place in which God can dwell. In 1 Peter 1:14-16 we read, “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy””. Of course, no-one can ever achieve this holy state, totally conforming to God’s definition of holiness, through their own efforts. It is only through faith in the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood that we can stand righteous and holy before our Heavenly Father, becoming a temple fit for Him to live in.

Dear Lord, how can we ever thank You enough? You gave up Heaven to join mankind on earth so that You could show us the way home. Thank You. Amen.

The Temple in Heaven

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then I looked and saw that the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was thrown wide open. The seven angels who were holding the seven plagues came out of the Temple. They were clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chests.”
Revelation‬ ‭15:5-6 NLT

For anyone who is of a religiously non-conformist outlook, all these references to the Temple, “God’s Tabernacle”, may seem a bit strange. Particularly if their church-going involves a rented room in a hotel or conference centre, or even a bare utilitarian building of the Presbyterian faith. But to the Jews of old, the Temple had a significance far beyond its architecture.

John’s vision of Heaven was incredibly detailed and he seemed to be able to zoom in and out picking up details of this wonderful place. So far we have seen God’s throne there, with other thrones occupied by twenty four elders. We have seen a glassy sea intermingled with fire. Countless martyrs with harps. Four “living beings” of a form unknown in our earth-bound experiences. And the music and song emanating from Heavenly choirs was breathtakingly beautiful. But now John’s vision exposes the Temple. John rubbed the spiritual sleep from his eyes as he noticed that the Temple was wide open. A bit like one of these artist’s impressions of how a building looks inside but from without. Even like a film set, where the cameras have unfettered access from outside a room but giving the impression that the viewer is inside along with the actors. The Temple was wide open. God’s Tabernacle was internally visible to all those qualified to be in Heaven with Him – and of course John through his vision.

There was another time when God exposed His earthly home. When Jesus died on the cross, something significant happened in the Temple, the building in Jerusalem at that time. We pick up the narrative in Matthew 27:50-51, “Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom…”. The curtain was a very heavy and thick piece of fabric that hid the Most Holy Place from outside scrutiny. It was only entered once a year by the priest on duty. He entered with considerable fear and trepidation, to the extent that he had a cord tied to one of his ankles, so that he could be pulled out by those outside the curtain, in the event that God had zapped him because of some misdemeanour. There’s a fascinating story about one of the priests in Luke 1, called Zechariah. He was the father of John the Baptist. We read, “One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar….. Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realised from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.” (‭‭Luke‬ ‭1:8-9, 11, 21-22‬ ‭NLT). The Jews expected something significant to be associated with the Temple, God’s Tabernacle.

But here we have in John’s vision God’s Temple exposed for all those in Heaven to see. God and His presence totally transparent and visible. Any relevance here for 21st Century pilgrims? Yes there is, because when Jesus died, the veil, that heavy and dense curtain, was torn in two. Not just a little tear in a corner, but a total schism from top to bottom. I visualise it as the complete disintegration of the curtain, which ended up as a pile of dust on the Temple floor. We read about the significance of this in Hebrews 10:20-22, “By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” There is now no veil to stop blood-bought Christians from entering God’s presence. Through Jesus’ death at Calvary, He took on board our sins and instead made us righteous in God’s sight, to the extent that we can enter His space, and refer to Him as “Abba”. We read in Galatians 4:6, “And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”” What does this word “Abba” mean? It means “Daddy” or “Papa”. Folks, we have the opportunity to enter into the very presence of our Heavenly Dad. How amazing is that? Let’s not hold back. Let’s rush in and grasp all that He has for us. He’s the perfect Dad!

Dear Dad, thank You for allowing us to enter the presence of the One who loves us and cares for us. We may hold back in awe from You but nothing delights You more than to welcome us in to Your very home. We are so grateful. Amen.