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.
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