Jesus is the New Temple
I am reading Engaging God by David Peterson (Principal at Oak Hill Theological College in London) for my January class, The Worshipping Church. I am trying to read through it quickly, but it is a heavy book on the biblical theology of worship where every page is packed full of insightful analysis and exegesis of Scripture through a redemptive historical view of worship! I’ve read just over a third of the book so far, and I’m highlighting & taking notes on almost every paragraph — I really need to speed up my reading here :@ If you’re a worship leader or know of one, look nowhere else than Engaging God for a concise book on the theology of Christian worship!
In Chapter 3 (Jesus and the New Temple), Peterson explains that the gospel according to Matthew and John are expressly focused on emphasizing that God’s presence and glory are fully and finally experienced in Jesus Christ. For Jesus came to bring Judaism to its destined end in the worship of the new age, rather than coming to destroy it. Furthermore, Jesus Himself transferred the significance of the temple from Jerusalem to another entity — not in the messianic community, but primarily in his own persona and work. Christ replaces the temple as the well-spring of life and renewal for all the world, as Jesus Himself is the eschatalogical destination to which all nations journey to for worship.
Hence, the presence of God that is most fully manifested in the ultimate temple, Jesus Christ — the Son of God who resides with those whom He has gathered to Himself in His name.
In application, what does this mean for today’s church then? What would this new temple perspective on engaging God mean for our gatherings of worship and fellowship?
The most important practical consequence of all this is the need for Christian teaching and preaching to centre on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Unbelievers will become ‘true worshippers’ only when they recognize them as he really is, turn to him as Saviour and Lord, and receive from him the life that he offers. God brings people to himself as they come to know his Son through the proclamation of the gospel and yield themselves to him through the work of his Spirit in their lives. Such exclusive claims inevitably provoke hostility and hostility brings with it the temptation to modify the message. But evangelism that falls short of sharing these truths and urging people to respond to them will be less than biblical an its content and aim. In a world characterized by relativism and religious pluralism, Christians need every encouragement to keep pointing to Jesus as the one in whom alone the nations can be united in worship.
Moreover, genuine discipleship can be fostered only by a continuing focus on the character of Jesus, his promises and commands, and his achievements for us. Jesus and his words must remain at the heart of the Christian life, for individuals, families and congregations. The reading, teaching and application of that Spirit-inspired testimony to Jesus we call the New Testament must surely have pride of place in any ministry amongst Christians. Neither sacramentalism, nor the development of the inner life, nor a preoccupation with issues of social justice, can rightly usurp it. Matthew and John also indicate that Christians need to know and understand the Old Testament. We need to be shown how Jesus fulfills the hopes of the Old Testament writes and replaces all the provisions for engaging with God that were laid upon Israel. Such teaching would be a healthy corrective to some of the strange views about the church and its functions that bedevil many traditions today.
David Peterson, Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), 102 (emphasis mine).
