The Temple Of God.

Hello. I recently began to think about the inner temple of God and so i searched a few scriptures which i would like to share and explore in more detail. The Apostle Peter teaches us that we are priests, and the book of Hebrews teaches us that Christ is the high priest. In Leviticus we see that Arron (who was the Old Covenant High priest) was required to enter with a blood sacrifice as a sin atonement for both himself and the people, and we know that Christ is that eternal sacrifice, we also know that the law in Leviticus was a mere shadow of Christ, and that Christ is our now sacrifice. We can also see that Arron was required to "take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain." I remembered Paul's teaching about love, he teaches us that love is a sweet smelling aroma to God. I theorize that love replaces the incense that Arron used in the temple. We are in fact priests and we must walk in love, this is symbolized by the incense from Leviticus.

Another interesting comparison which i found is in Acts 7:49 and Matthew 8:20, these scriptures (according to my understanding) refer to the temple which is built by God Himself, the temple which is found inside every believer. Please share any thoughts that you may have, along with scripture, which may add to my understanding of the temple and the priesthood. If i have made any errors then please point them out, i am not an expert on these things. Thank you.


The incense of love

Ephesians 5:2New King James Version (NKJV)
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Old Testament temple incense and sin atonement

Leviticus 16:3
"This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

Leviticus 16:11
"Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

Leviticus 16:12
He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.

The House of the Lord

Matthew 8:20New King James Version (NKJV)
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

The temple of God

Acts 7:48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest? (see Mathew 8:20 below)
50 Has My hand not made all these things?’[n]


1 Corinthians 3:16-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Living stones and Priests

1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”[b

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Christ the High Priest

Hebrews 8 New King James Version (NKJV)

8 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a] 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

Hebrews 4:14New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

WirSindBettler said:

You left out another biggie.

Christ the Temple

"Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put Him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” Matthew 26:59-61

“We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Mark 14:58

"And those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” Mark 15:29-30

"So the Jews said to Him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken." John 2:18-22

- - - - - - - - - -

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

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Yes thank you. I did leave it out but i remembered it as i was writing this thread, and i thought about it for a moment. Do you have any thoughts on "Christ the Temple"? My thoughts are that perhaps, just as Christ was that temple when He was on earth, we are also that temple while we are on earth. The Lord leads by example in many ways, and perhaps in every way. Its interesting to ponder all of this symbolism. WE are the temple as individuals yet we are also living stones which perhaps are parts of a greater structure. We are also the body of Christ yet we are also individual parts as well. So we have the temple and the body which are two different symbols which represent the same thing.

BobRyan said:

The priesthood of Christ also deals with atonement as we see in Lev 16 on the "Day of Atonement" where both the role of Christ as the "Lamb of God" and the role of Christ as High Priest is combined to - complete the Bible definition of Atonement.

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Yes Christ is our atonement. What do think about my comparison of these two scriptures below? Do you see any connection between the incense used in Leviticus 16:12 and the love which is mentioned in Ephesians 5:2?



Ephesians 5:2New King James Version (NKJV)
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.


Leviticus 16:12
He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.