Your Temple and Your Soul

Good morning all :jesus:

As I prayed and meditated on my previous soul threads, God reminded me that my past understanding of the soul came from the OT tabernacle/temple "ensample," as Paul said. I hope I may show it to you so that it edifies your spiritual lives.

"Know ye not that your body is the temple of God?"

The OT temple is the image of our bodies. The "outer court" is the flesh or body. The holy place, our spirit. The Holy of holies is our soul.

Under the old covenant, God's Holy Spirit led from outside to in. That is, the OT saints looked for "signs" like the "cloud by day, fire by night." Their knowledge of God was given by the law and the practices thereof. In fact, the high priest only "visited" the Holy of holies once a year and that with the proper sacrifice.

Interestingly, he wore bells on his robe and had a rope tied around his ankle so that if he died offering the wrong sacrifice, his body could be removed from God, the Spirit's, presence. We'll see this in our temples as well. But it is important to note that if a sacrifice did not conform to the sign of the law, it was not to be taken in.

The holy place was the "spirit" of the operation -- the mind/lampstand, emotions/shewbread, and will/censer (as I recall). Other than the incident of David feeding his men, I can't recall much except that the bread was as the meditations of our heart in the dim light of God's revelation.

But the Gentiles, according to Paul, this is what they seek after -- reason.

"But it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1Cor 1:21 What do you think the gospel (either covenant, BTW) preached to? The soul. The soul is the conscience. In psychiatry, it is called the "superego" and besides conscience, it is defined by them a you "internalized standards." That's a little Luke 16:8 moment, isn't it?

In our temple, the word of God "preaches" to our "standards" and our "throne" and for the "lost," the convicting truth couldn't be any more compelling! Our need to get off our own thrones and submit to God's standards/truth is what justifies and reconciles us to God -- the One Whom we were separated from by sin when first we brought an unlawful "sacrifice" into His presence!!

We call that act conversion or being born again. It is actually when each of us die "in Christ." Remember what happened when Christ died? The veil was torn from top to bottom which allowed the Spirit of God to speak directly to us in our minds and, beyond, to change our behavior in our bodies. That is called "regeneration" and "indwelling of the Holy Spirit." It comes AFTER the sacrifice has been presented and accepted in our Holy of holies or soul.

But one thing to be warned -- even under the old covenant (cause we know the Pharisees must have done this), it was possible to "sew the veil back up" -- to continue in the practice of not being "Berean," not consulting the Spirit, with the things we learn from outside the temple. Paul treats of this in Heb 6:4-6. The earthly "herb" that "beareth thorns and briers is rejected..."

I hope to make other applications on other threads but on this one, I hope everyone fully understands that the Spirit convicts our "dead" soul through our living, operating spirit by the literal hearing of the gospel and that it is the soul that must be converted.

skypair

 

OK...

...about 20 "viewings," as my son the artist might say. Anyone having difficulty understanding what "internaized standards" are? Those would be the things we consider to be "wisdom" and "truth." The truths that have a "forever effect" on our thinking and our:null: lives, no?

Who defines wisdom and truth? Well, first, if they are "internaized," what are our "standards" in infancy? 1) Raw instinct is probably the first "guiding principle" of life, right? It is in the creature's soul even though it can't be understood. We seem innately, without any instruction, to understand survival, right and wrong, fairness, etc. There "laws" were called "the Law of Nature" or "the Law of Human Nature" (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

I would like to call those "laws" our "sin nature." The source of the sin and death of the soul (Ezek 18:20) is that all of us, "Gentile-like" (Rom 2:14-15, 26), have the "law written in our hearts, our conscience bearing witness [conscience writing on the heart, IMO], and our thoughts the meanwhile accusing and excusing..." It's the "accusing" part -- conviction of the Spirit -- that recognizes sin and separates the soul from God by displacing His truth and wisdom with our own.

2) The second source of "internalized standards" would likely be recognition of "authority-sponsored" truth and wisdom. Paul said (Rom 7:9), "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." He died IAW Ezek 18:20, no? The corrupt, unlawful sacrifice was taken by the priest (you) into the Holy of holies and the priest "died," the "bells" quit ringing, and the priest (you) had to be pulled out by the ankle! There is now only one way back through the veil -- by YOU bringing the required Sacrifice in! And how do you know what the required sacrifice is? By the preaching and application of the gospel.

Are you beginning to see the parallels between body and temple here? Is it becoming clear that the priest has to bring the required Sacrifice to atone for his own sin before he can begin to sanctify (set apart) himself and the people?

skypair

 

Thank you for your consideration of the "approach," RB. :thumbs: I believe the strongest supporter I've seen was a Messianic Jew (diagrams and all). But there are some more applications so I hope you will keep an open mind. And then this famous pastor (whom someone on this board doesn't want me to mention him anymore) also used it (I took the notes during his sermons -- What a blessing now that he is deceased!).

Do you believe in the triune nature of man? Would that paradigm change your opinion of Calvinism one way or another to believe it?

skypair

 

Trichotomy enters the debate from 1Cor 1:22. There are 3 options for salvation in view there:

1) "signs" -- through the imagery of the feasts, the tabernacle, the law, etc., the Jews were to perceive the way to salvation through the outward evidences through the body (physical realm).

2) "reason" -- the Greeks desire to understand salvation through reason, through their spirit. We know that the Greeks reasoned much on spiritual things like "existence," fate vs. free will, God or gods, etc.

3) "the power of God" -- the preaching of the gospel is the power to change the soul of man: his convictions, his values, his standards. It says that man's innate "rule of life"/human nature is totally corrupted and salvation is only given to those who accept God's biblical truth and standards concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. And barring such, a man cannot get to God through reason or signs -- through his own spirit and/or flesh!

So there IS a requirement from God that we surrender the "throne"/soul of our life to God through Christ one time which lasts, like the soul, forever! But this is what I believe Calvinism misses by not recognizing the soul and by viewing salvation, therefore, as monergistic (presuming the conversion of the soul).

skypair