The Temple in the Manger

I have been reading Nehemiah in my through-the-Bible schedule the last few days. I noticed that it was the condition of the walls of Jerusalem that first incited Nehemiah’s sadness (Nehemiah 1:3-4). I had not previously considered why the walls might have been of such concern to Nehemiah. Certainly, he would be concerned for the safety of the Temple treasury and all the riches that Ezra had returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel years earlier. But I suspect that there was much more.

Psalm 137:1 says, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” Jerusalem, or Zion, was so much more than a city to the Jews; it was the only place where they could connect with God. While they were captive in Babylon, their beloved Zion lay in ruins, and the Temple had been destroyed. Some of them, particularly Nehemiah (1:5-11), realized that their predicament was their own fault. God had allowed the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of its people because of their waywardness. Nehemiah’s sadness was related to his desire to see the Temple and the city fully restored again.

Flash forward some 400 years. We find Jesus weeping over Jerusalem shortly before He was going to die for her sins. “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’” (Luke 19:41-44)

From the desert wanderings after Egypt to the see-saw unfaithfulness of the Judges to the failure of one king after another, Israel was the poster child for disobedience. If only they had known, “the things that make for peace.” Nehemiah thought better walls and a restored Jerusalem were needed. By Jesus’ time, it was clear that the new heart of Jeremiah’s prophecy (24:7) was the only way to make for lasting peace. It still is.

God promised to dwell in the temple at Jerusalem as long as the nation of Israel was faithful. Jesus said that He would dwell in believers if they were faithful. Paul makes it very clear that the body of Christ, the church, is the temple. Each believer individually and corporately constitutes the New Temple. When I think of the New Jerusalem (the church) and her people (the Temple), I am saddened like Nehemiah. Our walls are torn down, and the temple (us) is in pretty sad shape. How’s this for a New Year’s resolution: “We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God” (Nehemiah 10:39).