A Transformed Temple

by Mark Waters

ven the practice of true and vital religion can experience woeful degeneration. It can become a form, a tradition, a lifeless habit, a method, something we do without thinking. When this occurs, worship can become unreal and meaningless. This has always been the problem of religious man. He is ever looking for some type of ritual that will discharge his responsibility for worship.

"The kind of worship that would satisfy His heart would be based on sacrifice."

In the Old Testament, the temple was designated by God to be the center of worship for all Israel. It was meant to be the place of true and vital religion. Out of it was to flow a worship that would minister to and touch the heart of God.

The kind of worship that would satisfy His heart would be based on sacrifice.

The worshippers would bring a Lamb, or one of the other animals He stipulated, as an offering to the Lord. They would look over their flocks, seeking for the animal they would give as an offering to God. They would then inspect it to make sure it was the best they could offer Him. After it passed inspection, the worshipper would bring his sacrifice to the priest at the temple, who in turn, would perform the necessary steps for the offering.

The only thing they could offer to God was the life of a perfect animal. They could not offer their own works. Their offering could only be the spotless life of another who would die for them and atone for their sins. Some sacrifices had nothing to do with sin. They were to be voluntary offerings. Out of a heart of worship and gratitude to God, they could bring a sacrifice to Him. They could do this, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

In its beginnings, such worship was kept sacred and meaningful. It was performed on holy ground and served to maintain the people’s relationship with their God. But centuries later something happened. True worship was lost. The externals and form of original worship had remained, but the heart of it was gone. Something else had been substituted for true sacrificial worship from the heart.

It was into this condition that Jesus came. Something had happened in God’s house. They no longer prepared themselves before they got to the temple. It became to them, just “another Sunday and another ride to church.” They began to think: “It doesn’t matter. Someone else will have done all the work for us so we can worship God. Don’t worry, when we get to the temple, they will have plenty of sacrifices there, and we’ll get our offering for God then.” They became dependent on somebody else to have made the preparation for them. They comfortably thought to themselves: “No more going out and looking for the best to offer God anymore. Someone else will do all that for us.”

Merchandisers had set up business in the house of God. When the worshippers arrived at the temple, they could hear the merchants shouting; “Sacrifices cheap! Get your sacrifices here!” The merchants had done all the work for them. It was great they thought! The merchants would stand by and barter off cheap sacrifices they could then buy and offer to God.

It has been said, that the merchants would put the animals they sought to sell in some kind of restraint or confinement. Let us note that the dove is specifically mentioned in this story. They would take the dove and tie one of its legs to a stake in the ground and hold it that way till it was sold. It would flutter in circles in an effort to get free. Isn’t this a picture of the state of things today, the dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, held captive in the house of God?

"Jesus fills the house and He gives it its meaning and significance."

It was this state of things that Jesus walked into that day he came to the temple. This was not the kind of worship His Father sought. Jesus came that day to bring the temple back to His Father’s original thought. It is said that when he came in and began to overturn the money tables, He also set the animals free that the merchants were trying to sell. That means He came to set the dove free in the house of God again, and when the dove gets free in the house of God, things begin to happen. It becomes a transformed place. Its worship is transformed. Its people are transformed. The house of God begins to fulfill its purpose again.

When the dove gets free in a church, it becomes a different church. The power of God to transform is released in that place. When the dove gets free and begins to move in the house of God again, men’s hearts begin to be melted. When the dove gets free in the house of God again, we will see things happen for the glory of God. Lord, set the dove free in your house again!

When the dove is set free, two things happen. First, the blind and the lame are cured. When the dove gets set free, the house becomes the habitation of God. Jesus fills the house. He gives it its meaning and significance. He is there, and He is moving in that house and He’s causing the blind to see and the lame to walk. Salvation is going forth as a blazing torch out of the house again and Jesus is being seen and glorified. When the dove gets free in the house of God, we will see an increase of the testimony of Jesus filling the house, and by His very presence in the house, lives are drawn, touched, delivered, healed, and transformed to the glory of God!

The second thing that happens when the dove gets free is with the children. The children start singing “Hosanna” and the house is filled with true worship again. The children begin moving in ‘perfected praise.’ When the dove gets free he will move on the hearts of our youth and they will begin moving in true worship and praise. They will see something in Jesus they have never seen before and their hearts will ignite with love’s flame toward God. They will get on fire for Him and will move into a love relationship with Jesus that can’t be stopped by religion. The enemy hates this. We long to see God move on our children again. When will this happen? How will this happen? Only when the house of God is cleansed of form, ceremony, entertainment and merchandising. Only when the dove is set free in the house again.

We need Jesus to visit the church of our day and set the dove free in the house again. There is no other way for the church to become what it was meant to be. When Jesus sets the dove free, He fills his house with His presence and glory and there arises again out of the house an acceptable worship by a transformed people.