Man: The House of God

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…?” —1 Corinthians 6:19

Having established that the sanctuary was God’s house of prayer, we must now ask another question: Was the sanctuary God’s final purpose? The answer is no. The sanctuary itself pointed to a greater reality. This brings us back again to the law of first mention. When God created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

The first description of man is that he bears the image of God. If we are to understand man correctly, we must understand what the image of God is. The New Testament answers this in Colossians 1:14-15, “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.” Christ is the image of God. Therefore, the image in which man was created finds its full revelation in Jesus Christ. The more we understand Christ, the more we understand God’s intention for man.

The Scripture gives further light in Colossians 2:9. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The fullness of God dwelt bodily in Christ. God, who is invisible, revealed Himself through a human body. Christ therefore demonstrates what God intended from the beginning—that man should become the vessel through which God reveals His presence upon the earth. This also explains why the sanctuary was temporary. The tabernacle was never the destination. It was the pattern. God first dwelt above the mercy seat in the ark, but His eternal purpose was to dwell within man himself.

For this reason, Paul asks, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). The dwelling place has changed, but the purpose has not changed. Under the Old Covenant, God’s presence was found in the sanctuary. Under the New Covenant, God’s presence is found in the believer through the Holy Spirit.

This explains why Jesus began His teaching in Luke 18 by saying that men ought always to pray. Prayer is the function of God’s dwelling place. Under the Law, God’s house was called a house of prayer. Under grace, the believer has become God’s house. Therefore, the believer is also a house of prayer.

Prayer is not sustained merely by discipline or habit by the indwelling Holy Spirit, if given the place in the heart of man. He convicts, teaches, guides, intercedes, and reveals Christ. The life of prayer is therefore the life of fellowship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. The progression then becomes complete. In Eden, God walked with man. In the wilderness, God dwelt among Israel in the sanctuary. In the Gospels, God dwelt bodily in Christ. After Pentecost, God came to dwell within His people by the Holy Spirit.

Every stage reveals the same purpose. God desires communion with man. Prayer then, is the continual fellowship of God’s dwelling place with the God who dwells within it. It is the life of the temple. A sanctuary without communion has abandoned its purpose. Likewise, a believer who neglects communion with God is neglecting the very reason the Holy Spirit dwells within him.

The believer is therefore not simply one who prays. He is the house of God. Since God’s house has always been a house of prayer, the believer is called to live in continual communion with God. This is the fulfillment of God’s purpose from the beginning. The God who walked with Adam now dwells within His people, and His desire remains the same—to speak with them, to instruct them, and to have fellowship with them.

Further Reading: Genesis 1:26–27, Exodus 25:21–22, John 14:1–17, Colossians 1:1-20, 2:1-9, 1 Cor 3:16–17