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January 14 - April 13, 2019
Meyers concludes that ‘the existence of the concentric circles, as it were, of increasing holiness signified that the Holiest One of all could be found at the sacred center’.65
The construction of the temple by Solomon transforms the status of Jerusalem as a city. It now becomes in a unique way the city of God.
Jerusalem/Zion becomes a model of God’s creation blueprint and reflects in microcosm what God intends for the whole earth. However, it is not the final product.
If gold, as used in the tabernacle and the temple, is associated with God’s presence, then the presence of gold throughout Jerusalem signifies that the whole city has become his dwelling place.69
the accumulated failure of the kings and citizens of Jerusalem leads to the destruction of the temple and the overthrow of the city.
Genesis 11 portrays Babel as being the antithesis of God’s creation blueprint.
if Jerusalem was to reflect God’s creation blueprint, then its citizens needed to be exceptionally holy. Yet, as the biblical meta-story reveals, the inhabitants of Jerusalem proved to be no more righteous than those of other cities.
the presence of God within this future city will bring so much light that sun and moon will be redundant.
With good reason, Gowan argues that Zion is central to Old Testament eschatology. This is demonstrated by the number of passages in the prophetic books that anticipate a future transformed Jerusalem. In all, Gowan identifies forty-three references in Isaiah, thirteen in Jeremiah, ten in Ezekiel and eight in Zechariah.
the post-exilic reconstruction of the temple and the rebuilding of the city walls are evidence that God is still determined to complete his creation project,
the sinfulness of the Jerusalemites prevents God’s presence from expanding outward from the city. Since its population continues to be wayward, Jerusalem cannot easily evolve into the final reality.87 In the light of this, the next stage in the biblical meta-story introduces an important transformation that involves the replacement of the Jerusalem temple by a new and very different edifice.
Paul views the church corporately as being God’s temple. ‘Paul pictured each local church as providing God with a spiritual habitation in that locality (Eph 2:22) and as growing together with all the other churches into one holy, universal sanctuary for the Lord’s indwelling.’
Paul commands them as a group to be the dwelling place of God by his Spirit. They will achieve this by addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5:19–21)92
others are involved in this building process. In Paul’s thinking, every Christian is gifted by God to contribute to the process of constructing the church as God’s temple.
we have here ‘the conception of God’s saints being the true temple of God’s presence … and extending that presence throughout the earth by means of their witness’.
In both testaments regeneration is not dependent upon the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within an individual. Rather indwelling is tied to the concept of temple: Indwelling does exist in the old covenant, but it is not each individual that is indwelt. In the old covenant God indwelt the temple. In the new covenant the people of God are the temple, and God dwells in them.
From the outset of creation, God intended that the earth would become a holy garden-city in which he would dwell alongside human beings. However, the disobedience of Adam and Eve jeopardized this divine project. Expelled from God’s presence, the first human couple were stripped of their priestly status. In addition, through their unholy behaviour they and subsequent generations defiled the earth. Those who were meant to facilitate God’s creation plan now prevented it from being fulfilled.
In the process of recovering the earth as his dwelling place, God progressively established the tabernacle, the Jerusalem temple and the church. In differing ways each of these functioned as a model resembling God’s ultimate ambition for the world. Additionally, all three herald new stages in the process by which God himself gradually begins to inhabit the earth. Ultimately, God’s presence will fill the New Jerusalem, bringing to completion his creation project.
the creation of the New Jerusalem consolidates God’s absolute authority over everything that exists upon the earth.
Is God not already sovereign over everything? Surely, by his very nature God is King of kings and Lord of lords. However, the biblical meta-story indicates that God’s sovereignty does not extend unchallenged over the present earth.
In the ancient Near East, in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, the phrase ‘image of God’ was commonly linked to kings.
To be made in the ‘image of God’ is to be given regal status.
God’s authority will be extended throughout the earth as people increase in number and spread outwards.
In the ancient Near East a ruler’s image was set up in distant parts of his kingdom in order to indicate that his authority reached there.4 As images of God, human beings are to perform a similar function.
The ones through whom God’s sovereignty was to be extended throughout the earth side with his enemy.
By heeding the serpent they not only give it control over the earth, but they themselves become its subjects.
Violence towards other creatures, both human and animal, is the hallmark of fallen humanity.
This unique theocracy is initiated when God brings the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to Mount Sinai and enters into a covenant relationship with them.
The covenant at Sinai, as we shall see shortly, bestows on the Israelites a royal and priestly status.
the fulfilment of God’s creation project requires the existence of priest-kings who will extend God’s tem...
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the designation of the Israelites as priest-kings indicates that the creation of Israel as a theocracy will contribute to the completion of God’s creation project.
Two distinctive forms of kingship are represented by the kings of Salem and Sodom.
Melchizedek displays the kind of kingship acceptable to God. As a priest-king he acknowledges God’s right to exercise sovereignty over the earth.
The king of Sodom, in marked contrast, typifies earthly or godless kingship that places sovereignty in the power of the individual. Such kingship extols the virtue of becoming wealthy by grasping a...
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By affirming the truthfulness of what Melchizedek has to say and rejecting the offer of the king of Sodom, Abraham indicates his own com...
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Abraham will not inherit the earth through the use of aggressive military power, although clearly his defeat of the eastern kings indicates he has the capacity to do so. Rather, he ...
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Because these two forms of kingship are mutually incompatible, they naturally come into conflict.
The events of Genesis 14 indicate that Abraham is no ordinary semi-nomadic pastoralist. His military exploits very definitely place him on a par with kings.
Abimelech, the king of Gerar, establishes a friendship treaty with Abraham (Gen. 21:22–34), the ratification of which suggests that the local king views Abraham as his equal.
His special relationship with God suggests he enjoys a status equivalent to that of a priest, although he is never designated as one.
At the heart of God’s plans for the people of Israel is the idea that they will become priest-kings.
The remarkable increase of the Israelites loudly echoes the divine command of Genesis 1 to be fruitful and fill the earth. Implicit in this is the possibility that they will establish God’s temple-city on the earth.
However, the new king of Egypt feels threatened by them and sets them to work building cities for his own benefit.
The story of the exodus is about moving from one kingdom to another; it is about escaping corrupt human kingship and experiencing loving, divine kingship; it is about becoming priest-kings and entering into God’s sanctuary where he reigns for ever.13
the exodus was presented to later generations in a way that made them participants in the original event.14 The exodus was not merely a past event but an ongoing activity. Even those who had never been in Egypt were meant to see themselves as having been liberated from there.15
With the tabernacle at its heart, the layout of the Israelite camp resembled those of ancient Near Eastern kings when they embarked on military campaigns.16 The divine king’s tent was located in the centre with his army spread around him.17 Given its location and lavish furnishings the Israelites would undoubtedly have perceived the tabernacle as a royal tent, its occupant being the king. In line with this, the gold-plated ark of the covenant adorned with cherubim was viewed as the footstool of his throne.18
With the establishment of Israel as a theocracy and the construction of the tabernacle, the throne of God was set up on the earth. However, although the Israelites acclaimed God as the Lord of all the earth, in reality citizens of other nations recognized his sovereignty only rarely.
When we move to the New Testament, the theocracy of Israel is replaced by the kingdom of God, which is inaugurated through the coming of Jesus.
To comprehend the importance of the New Testament emphasis upon the coming of the kingdom of God, we need to appreciate that this involves the re-establishment of human beings as God’s viceroys.
the reinstatement of human vicegerency centres on Jesus Christ, for as a human he receives the kingdom:
