Christians need the Temple.
Yes, I'm talking about that Temple, the one that Solomon built. We need it back. In fact, we need it back as much as the Jews need it, and we need it because the Jews need it.
Christianity is a "landed" religion. God called humanity to Himself and made two covenants with us- that we shall have authority over this earth and that we shall observe the Sabbath. Then He called the Jews to Himself and made a covenant with them, promising them their own special land out of all the earth.
It was in that land that the Temple was built, and it shall be rebuilt there.
And we need it.
Christians really like rituals and holy places. This is a good thing, since humans were designed to like rituals and holy places, and it is good for Christians to behave like humans. Behaving like anything else would just be silly.
Have you noticed that Christians spend a lot of time and money trying to build little temples? We miss the Temple, and we try to fill our longing with a substitute. Oh, sure, we'll do other things inside these special buildings to prove to ourselves that aren't actually temples, like martial arts clubs and children's games and knitting circles. But we are very careful do those things outside our special times, dividing up our little temples into rooms that are holy sometimes and secular the rest of the time.
It's that division that alerts us to our need for the Temple. It points out to us that we want a special place to meet with God where we lay down our mundane human activities and follow a ritual that lets us feel....different. Special. Maybe even holy.
I think we should cultivate that desire. We should set up shrines in our homes where we practice personal worship, and we should pray for the day when we will gather at the Temple to practice corporate worship.
I don't think our little temples cut it. They just don't work. And not only are they dissatisfactory as temples, they numb us to the desire that would drive to pray for our Lord's return. If we would let that desire awaken in us, we would feel pain, and we would rightly feel our need for Israel to prosper and conquer. We need the Temple back. We could use that need as motivation to forge relationships that glorify God. We could allow our need to drive us to Him, to our knees, and to our brothers. We could allow ourselves to feel our need, and then the peace that comes with the faith that God will one day meet that need.
Or we can create counterfeits that allow us to ignore the need. I've been the witness to many counterfeits, and, let me tell you, they aren't worth it. Counterfeits never are.
So I'm going wait and hope and pray for the rebuilding of the Temple. I need it to be rebuilt. I need God to answer this longing in my heart. And until He does, I'll wait and pray and lean on Him. I am part of the Dispersion. My land has been overrun with godless men and I can't go home. Not yet.
But one day, one day I will get to go home. That will be a good day.
