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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Temple of the Holy Spirit, #3
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11—NIV)
Because of the unscriptural emphasis on the "rapture" we have lost sight of the fact that our body is to be redeemed. It is to be raised from the dead and then clothed with our body from Heaven, the body that is being formed today as a product of our behavior on the earth.
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (II Corinthians 5:4—NIV)
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (I Corinthians 15:53—NIV)
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:26—NIV)
In fact, the famous John 3:16 is speaking of the not perishing of the human body. It is the restoration of immortality to the body—that which was lost in the Garden of Eden.
The Apostle Paul does not view us as being finally alive in Christ until our body is made alive.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (I Corinthians 15:22,23—NIV)
The Apostle Paul longed for the redemption of his body, that is, the raising of it into eternal life in Christ.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23—NIV)
The human body has a greater role in the Divine salvation than we may have believed.
The one new Man, Jesus Christ and His Body, is being fashioned as an eternal house for God.
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21,22—NIV)
Let's consider once again the following passage:
Don't you know you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (I Corinthians 3:16,17—NIV)
I don't think the idea of our being the house of God is new to many Christians. We sing, "I was born to be Your dwelling place."
What may be new to us is that it is our body that is the dwelling place of God, and for this reason it is very important what we do in and with our body.
"You yourselves are God's temple," the verse states. "God's Spirit lives in you."
But in what part of our personality does God live?
Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (I Corinthians 6:19,20—NIV)
To be continued.