The figure
of the Temple of God is not only well known; it is an integral part of the
history of the People of God. And throughout their history, that which made the
temple holy was the presence in it of the Living God. This idea was well establish in the first
century church. They were well versed in
scripture but for the most part only had the Old Testament. They knew that God has always wanted to dwell
with His people.
They knew that when the first tabernacle was dedicated what
made the place holy was the presence of God.
Ultimately all preachers want that same feeling and idea in their
respective churches. We want to see God
in the midst of His people. The writer
of the Hebrews had evidentially concluded that the current temple was not worth
even mentioning so from that we can only surmise that idea was readily accepted
within the community that he has writing to.
The problem that than arose is the same one that pops up
now. The people like to have a place
they can go to meet God. We like our
buildings. Even before Constantine made
Christianity legal the need to have a place to worship was strongly rooted in
the Jewish and early Christian mind. The
creation of the synagogue system is all the testimony that we need.
What the writer wanted to do was to divorce the idea of the
old sacrificial system from the new understanding of the Christian faith. The burgeoning church also had at their
disposal a large body of written work from the time of the Jewish captivity in
the form of apocalyptic literature, the Talmud, and other apocryphal
works.
“Apocalyptic literature envisioned a complete temple in
heaven.” In the minds of many of the
founders of the first century church this true temple in heaven actually stretched
itself into the idea that the entire universe in one way or another reflected
or copied this temple motif. Even the
human body could be viewed in this way.
By reaching back into the history of the Jews to their
heyday so to speak the author drew on all of that tradition, imagery and in
some ways national pride. His goal was
to show that; “The new possession of the church both corresponds to and
surpasses the possession of the earthly Israel. The order of Melchizedek, to
which Christ belongs, is "better" than the old (8:6). This discussion
sets the stage for the author's description of the "better
sacrifices" mentioned in 9:23.” He
needed to get the readers to understand where they really stood in light of
eternity and here on earth. “Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others had all prophesied an eschatological temple which
would not only re-gather and re-unite the divided nation of Israel but also
include the Gentile nations.”
The writer of the book of Hebrews also was aware that there
was a danger in taking away the idea that a physical earthly building was the
center and maybe the chief way that people can commune with God. This danger was seen in the lives and
ministries of the Pharisees. Their
strong desire to keep the whole law is what ultimately led them reject
Jesus.
So he was drawing on the idea that was already present in
the community chiefly being; “the idea that a community formed a spiritual
temple, which is more fully developed in the New Testament epistles, did exist
among Palestinian Jews before New Testament times.”
The writer of Hebrews, while not having the completed text
of the Gospel of John to draw on did have the Apostle John to talk to. As such the idea that when Jesus came, as
seen in John’s gospel in the first and fourteenth verse of the first chapter,
and tabernacled with us. With Jesus now
playing the role of a better High Priest in the perfect temple in heaven allows
the reader to step away from the material, physical world and allow the idea of
a better or true sacrifice for the atonement of sin to take place for them.
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