Rebuilding The Temple Of God, Without Letting The Devil Tear It Down
How is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ built, and how was it being built during New Testament times? The Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and now the church was continuing to be added to and "built upon" with Christ as its foundation. He was the "Living Stone" and they too were living stones because the Holy Spirit now dwelt within them rather than in a temple made of stone. The Holy Spirit was now building the true temple of God which the Jewish temple had only reflected. So Peter addressed them as follows:
Therefore... 4 coming to Him as to a Living Stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious, 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 and precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 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. (1 Peter 2:4-10)
Peter here referenced Isaiah where it says, "Therefore, thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I lay for the foundations of Zion a costly stone, a choice corner-stone, a precious stone for its foundations. And he that believes shall by no means be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:16 LXX). When the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity, there was nothing left but the foundation stone, but that was enough to begin rebuilding. It was initially rejected by the builders in Solomon's day, but they soon learned better:
When Solomon was building the first temple to God, there was to be no noise. The stones were to be hewn in the quarry and brought to the place of construction. One of the stones was the largest stone ever taken out of a quarry. It weighed about 500 tons! It’s a miracle of engineering that without the use of earth moving machinery, the Israelites were able to haul this “rock” to the temple site and set it in place. Once there, the builders weren’t sure what to do with it. It didn’t seem to fit anywhere in the blueprints for the temple. So, the builders pushed it over the temple mount into the Kidron Valley and there it lay. Later, they realized their mistake and hauled it back up again. They placed it in the foundation of the temple and it remains on the western wall of the temple mount to this day. It lies close to the location of the Holy of Holies. In Jesus’ time, everyone in Israel knew about this stone. It was a well-known story to anyone familiar with the history of Israel. Later, in Ezra’s day when the temple was rebuilt and subsequently when Herod improved the structure, the stone remained in place. (The Rejected Cornerstone, VisionForChristWorld.com)
Peter recognized that the natural temple merely foreshadowed the true temple, the body of Christ, prophetically. And just as praises rang out with the building of the second temple ( ), the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was continuing to cause praises to be lifted up unto True and Living God through tongues, as Peter said, that they might "proclaim the praises of Him" who had called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but... I will also pray with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. (1 Corinthians 14:14, 16-17)
7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia... 11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:7-11)
Likewise, just as the Jews again began received revelation from the Torah being read again ( ), New Testament believers were receiving revelation through the prophetic gifts:
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1-2)
27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. (1 Corinthians 14:27-29)
But just as in the days of Nehemiah, the enemy was lurking in the shadows, and always seeking to tear down what God was building.
How Satan Tears It Down
Whenever a work of God is being accomplished, Satan will seek to undermine it, and so it was with the rebuilding of the temple in Nehemiah's time:
7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion... and said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease... 15 but when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16 So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. (Nehemiah 4:7-8, 15-16)
So how was Satan seeking to undermine the building of God's spiritual temple during Peter's time? By reducing the church to "all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking" instead. As he said in the previous passage:
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth... love one another fervently with a pure heart... and laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 1:22, 2:1-2)
Strife and bitterness cause the gifts of the Spirit and the work of God to cease, because it extinguishes the fire of the Holy Spirit which is only set ablaze in an atmosphere of love, both for God and for one another.
14 Pursue peace with all the brethren, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled (Hebrews 12:14-15)
2 With all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace... let not the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil... 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:2-3, 26-32)
Today demonic spirits still attempt to tear down the work of God by injecting strife into Spirit-filled congregations. Sometimes Satanists attempt to do this by infiltrating Christian churches. Based on the testimony of a former Satanist high priestess and bride of Satan, Rebecca Brown mentioned eight steps they follow to do. First they make a profession of faith, and then they build credibility. Once they have, they set to work first and foremost on destroying the prayer base:
The single most important goal of the Satanists is knock prayer out of the church. There are so many scriptures about prayer that we could not begin to list them all. A strong church is a praying church. But prayer requires self-discipline, and unfortunately the majority of Christians spend very little time in prayer. (Brown, He Came To Set The Captives Free, P.238)
Step #6 was to break up family units, which again creates tremendous strife in a church, and step #8 was to direct attacks by witchcraft against key members. But none of these things work when the prophetic gifts are in full operation. Just as those armed with swords and spears protected the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, so too does God give those with prophetic gifts insight into the strategies of the enemy. Prophecy, revelation, discernment, word of knowledge, interpretation of dreams and visions and other gifts expose the darkness to light, and the sword of the Spirit reveals the enemy's plans to God's people in order to defeat them.
How is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ built, and how was it being built during New Testament times? The Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and now the church was continuing to be added to and "built upon" with Christ as its foundation. He was the "Living Stone" and they too were living stones because the Holy Spirit now dwelt within them rather than in a temple made of stone. The Holy Spirit was now building the true temple of God which the Jewish temple had only reflected. So Peter addressed them as follows:
Therefore... 4 coming to Him as to a Living Stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious, 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 and precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 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. (1 Peter 2:4-10)
Peter here referenced Isaiah where it says, "Therefore, thus says the Lord, 'Behold, I lay for the foundations of Zion a costly stone, a choice corner-stone, a precious stone for its foundations. And he that believes shall by no means be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:16 LXX). When the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity, there was nothing left but the foundation stone, but that was enough to begin rebuilding. It was initially rejected by the builders in Solomon's day, but they soon learned better:
When Solomon was building the first temple to God, there was to be no noise. The stones were to be hewn in the quarry and brought to the place of construction. One of the stones was the largest stone ever taken out of a quarry. It weighed about 500 tons! It’s a miracle of engineering that without the use of earth moving machinery, the Israelites were able to haul this “rock” to the temple site and set it in place. Once there, the builders weren’t sure what to do with it. It didn’t seem to fit anywhere in the blueprints for the temple. So, the builders pushed it over the temple mount into the Kidron Valley and there it lay. Later, they realized their mistake and hauled it back up again. They placed it in the foundation of the temple and it remains on the western wall of the temple mount to this day. It lies close to the location of the Holy of Holies. In Jesus’ time, everyone in Israel knew about this stone. It was a well-known story to anyone familiar with the history of Israel. Later, in Ezra’s day when the temple was rebuilt and subsequently when Herod improved the structure, the stone remained in place. (The Rejected Cornerstone, VisionForChristWorld.com)
Peter recognized that the natural temple merely foreshadowed the true temple, the body of Christ, prophetically. And just as praises rang out with the building of the second temple ( ), the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was continuing to cause praises to be lifted up unto True and Living God through tongues, as Peter said, that they might "proclaim the praises of Him" who had called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but... I will also pray with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. (1 Corinthians 14:14, 16-17)
7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia... 11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:7-11)
Likewise, just as the Jews again began received revelation from the Torah being read again ( ), New Testament believers were receiving revelation through the prophetic gifts:
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1-2)
27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. (1 Corinthians 14:27-29)
But just as in the days of Nehemiah, the enemy was lurking in the shadows, and always seeking to tear down what God was building.
How Satan Tears It Down
Whenever a work of God is being accomplished, Satan will seek to undermine it, and so it was with the rebuilding of the temple in Nehemiah's time:
7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion... and said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease... 15 but when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16 So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. (Nehemiah 4:7-8, 15-16)
So how was Satan seeking to undermine the building of God's spiritual temple during Peter's time? By reducing the church to "all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking" instead. As he said in the previous passage:
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth... love one another fervently with a pure heart... and laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 1:22, 2:1-2)
Strife and bitterness cause the gifts of the Spirit and the work of God to cease, because it extinguishes the fire of the Holy Spirit which is only set ablaze in an atmosphere of love, both for God and for one another.
14 Pursue peace with all the brethren, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled (Hebrews 12:14-15)
2 With all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace... let not the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil... 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:2-3, 26-32)
Today demonic spirits still attempt to tear down the work of God by injecting strife into Spirit-filled congregations. Sometimes Satanists attempt to do this by infiltrating Christian churches. Based on the testimony of a former Satanist high priestess and bride of Satan, Rebecca Brown mentioned eight steps they follow to do. First they make a profession of faith, and then they build credibility. Once they have, they set to work first and foremost on destroying the prayer base:
The single most important goal of the Satanists is knock prayer out of the church. There are so many scriptures about prayer that we could not begin to list them all. A strong church is a praying church. But prayer requires self-discipline, and unfortunately the majority of Christians spend very little time in prayer. (Brown, He Came To Set The Captives Free, P.238)
Step #6 was to break up family units, which again creates tremendous strife in a church, and step #8 was to direct attacks by witchcraft against key members. But none of these things work when the prophetic gifts are in full operation. Just as those armed with swords and spears protected the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, so too does God give those with prophetic gifts insight into the strategies of the enemy. Prophecy, revelation, discernment, word of knowledge, interpretation of dreams and visions and other gifts expose the darkness to light, and the sword of the Spirit reveals the enemy's plans to God's people in order to defeat them.
I'm gonna say Jesus' conversion of Paul right after he was persecuting the church.
I hadn't thought of this, but wow is that true. They had much bigger problems with discrimination due to social status back then, especially based on a person's wealth. Tore that business up in a hurry, because they were selling property that they might have all things common.