Deeper Reflection
THE “GLORY” OF THE SECOND TEMPLE BUILT BY POST-EXILIC ISRAEL was “like nothing in comparison” to Solomon’s temple (Hag 2:3). The “glory of the Lord filled” the tabernacle (Exo 40:34) and Solomon’s temple (1 Kin 8:10-11). Nothing as such happened to the Second Temple. But God promised, “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former” (Hag 2:9). This promise was not fulfilled in the “wonderful stones” and “wonderful buildings” of Herod’s temple (Mk 13:1), which was the Second Temple expanded and renovated by King Herod. The promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.After cleansing the temple, Jesus said to the people, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). Jesus was speaking of “the temple of His body” (Jn 2:21). Jesus Himself is the Temple of God. Jesus Himself is the very Presence of God. He is “Immanuel” – “God with us” (Matt 1:23). Certainly, no glory can be greater than the “glory” of “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (v.14). Through Christ and His redemptive work, God’s holy presence in the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest can enter and only once a year (Lev 16:2; Heb 9:3, 7), is now indwelling us in Christ as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). When Christ returns, “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:17). And God who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16), “His face” we “will see” (Rev 22:4).This whole divine pursuit shows how much God desires to be with us!