Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of meditation today is, "One Temple Remains." I read from 2 Chronicles 7: 1-3 (NLT). All Scriptures quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.
1 When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple. 2 The priests could not enter the Temple of the LORD because the glorious presence of the LORD filled it. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the LORD filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying,
“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”
This day was a momentous day in the history of the Israelites. As God had promised King David, his son, Solomon, had built a glorious temple for God in Jerusalem. At the conclusion of Solomon's prayer of dedication, God sent fire from heaven to consume the burnt offerings and sacrifices and filled the temple with His glorious presence. This temple would stand for over four hundred years until God sent King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy it in 586 BC and take His people into captivity to Babylon due to their unfaithfulness. The second temple was completed in 515 BC by the exiles returning from Babylon. King Herod would rebuild the second temple over a period of 46 years, completing it in 26 AD. This temple was also destined for destruction and for the same reason, unfaithfulness. The Romans would destroy this temple in 70 AD, and this physical structure has not been rebuilt. Only one temple remains! Let me explain.
On the occasion of the Passover, Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased the sellers and money changers from this temple. This created quite an uproar among the Jewish leaders as recorded by the Apostle John in John 2: 18-22. He writes,
18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
Jesus is the temple who remains for He was resurrected from the dead just as He said. In Him, we enjoy the presence of God among us, His church. When we pause to partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember the price He paid for our redemption. Like our Israelite forbears in the days of Solomon, we, too, can worship God and say, "He is good! His faithful love endures forever!" Let us pray.
Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. We worship You now, Lord, "You are good! Your faithful love endures forever!" Thank-you for sending Jesus to redeem us from sin and death. Thank-you for sending the Holy Spirit to reside within us. We long for the day when we shall see Your Son, Jesus, face-to-face. In His name I pray. Amen.
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.
And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"
Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."
Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!