Isaiah - Verse By Verse | Walking through Ephesians

Walking through Ephesians - Day 44

versebyverse | December 05, 2007 21:35

Thought: To me, we often take for granted the great "joining" we have to God through Christ.

Question: Am I a "holy temple"?

Scripture: Ephesians 2:21 (NIV): "In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord."

The cornerstone unites the whole building into one holy body--a temple to God. Are not our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit? And so all small "temples," joined by Christ's Spirit, make up the One Grand Temple, the Body of Christ, the church universal ("catholic"). We are joined to Christ. Christ makes us one; no other force does.

The church "rises." To me this means it grows up from its foundation, like walls erected as the next phase of a building. Over the years, the church has done just that; grown up in diversity and size, various parts being added even now. But the cornerstone makes the building become strong, straight and true, that is, "holy": "in him the whole building is joined...", and as the branches in a vineyard cannot live unless they abide in the vine (receiving its life "juice", the sap), so we must remain in Christ truly to be part of the "whole building." We also "rise" in Christ in the sense of His resurrection power. Christ is the first to be resurrected from the dead; we will all follow later only because His power was established as the beginning groundwork.

Prayer: Holy God, it amazes me always, the amount of blessing and goodness You give us in Christ. Often I am overwhelmed with it all!! Amen.