Ezekiel 16: 11-14
I adorned you with jewelry: I put
bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on
your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you
were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly
fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest
flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread
among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given
you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.
When the Israelites left Egypt, God
instructed them through Moses to ask the Egyptians for things made from gold
and silver (Exodus 11:2, 12:36). Many of the things were jewelry such as
“gold brooches, earrings, rings from their fingers, and necklaces” (Exodus
35:22). The Israelites donated some of their jewelry to build and decorate the
“Tent of God’s Presence” (Exodus 35:21 Good News Translation-GNT).
The Bible says in 1Corinthians 6:19
that my body is the temple of God. I do not belong to myself; I belong to
God. God adorns His temple in opulence, which the book of Revelation
describes.
Revelation 21:10 GNT
The Spirit took control of me, and the
angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem,
the Holy City, coming down out of heaven from God and shining with the glory of
God. The city shone like a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal.
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels in
charge of the gates.
Moreover, the Apostle John, the writer
of the book of Revelation goes on to describe the temple of the Lord.
Revelation 21:22 NIT
I saw no temple in the city, for the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple. And the city has no need of
sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its
light.
The psalmist also describes the holy
dwelling place of God.
Psalm 46:4-5
There is a river whose streams make
glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within
her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Then the Apostle Paul gives an exact description
of God’s dwelling place, God’s temple, God’s house.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV 1984)
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow
citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone. In him the whole building
is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to
become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The temple of God is holy and
beautifully decorated with jewelry on the outside that reflects the jewelry on
the inside. I am the temple of the Lord a holy dwelling place of God in
which the jewels of God are displayed. The
outside jewelry represents an inward awareness of who I am in Christ. I wear bold, bright, colorful earrings,
necklaces, and bracelets. The jewelry on
the inside of me consists of a mind full of spiritual understanding and
discernment that leads to a life worthy of the Lord’s presence: a holy,
respectable, and Spirit directed life.
As I integrate the teachings of Christ
Jesus into my daily life, my life evolves into a Spirit directed life. Then
the jewels of the Lord are reflected throughout my character. The jewelry
that I wear mirrors the image that I have in my mind. Christ Jesus
produces within me a self-image that He sanctions and honors--the beauty and
splendor of the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment