"...absolutely no temple roofs, none whatsoever!"  Frank A.

 

 

Is that so? 

 

Frank A.'s statement indicates both a tremendous lack of knowledge of the old covenant prophecies about a coming new place to stay, holy place, "tent" of the God (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 11:16-20, 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:14-41, 7:48-50, 17:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10), and a tremendous lack of knowledge of how Jesus Christ's blood sacrifice literally gave birth to that new prophetic "tent"of God, His new Holy Place (Gk. naos).

 

Recently in a bible study class someone tried desperately to discredit the point I was making about the new "tent", the new "house" in which it was prophesied that the God would dwell, that "house" being the one body of Christ, i.e., God Himself homing down in each and every believer who has believed upon the name of Jesus and has received the new birth above, the baptism in God's gift of holy Spirit from Christ Jesus.  God Himself dwelling in believers is the new "tent" made without hands.  In the one body of Christ there are many members in particular, individual believers, which collectively make up the assembly (Gk. ekklēsia).  In each and every one of those individual believers the Spirit of God dwells, His gift to them of His holy Spirit, which each one received when they believed upon the name of Jesus. 

 

In many references in the NT the whole assembly is referred to as the "house" of God which is "made without hands" (Mk. 14:58; Acts 7:47-50, 17:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:1; Heb. 9:11).  And likewise, in God's Word, each individual member of the assembly is referred to as a "house" of God as well.  Jesus taught that each one of us is to build our own "house" (oikodomēō) upon the "Rock" (Mat. 7:24-27).

 

In my attempt to describe each individual believer as an individual "house" of God's Spirit, especially in reference to the verb oikodomēō, and the noun oikodomē, I said I chose to translate those words for myself; oikodomēō as building a domed-roof house, and oikodomē  as being a domed-roof house.  I came to realize and believe this because in about one half of the total of 51 usages of both of those words, and many others like them dealing with the same subject matter, they specifically refer to what an individual does in his or her own head/heart/mind to accommodate it for the receipt of God's Word and Himself, His Spirit.  This is the subject matter of the great mystery that apostle Paul spoke of, and about each believer discipline him/herself to Christ Jesus to receive it, and then to grow in it, to spiritually grow up into the measure of the fullness of maturity of the Christ (Eph. 4:13), through renewing our minds to the truth of God's Word (Rom. 12:2)!

 

Various usages of these two words (oikodomēō, oikodomē), and many other specific words,  refer to various facets of God's Spirit homing-down (katoikēo, a verb, and katoikētērion, the noun) in an individual disciple, in a believer's mind, as well as their entire body, in a believer's own domed-roof house (oikodomē).  In the many contexts of the various usages of these two words, and many other specific words, God's Word teaches us how an individual disciple of Jesus Christ is to renew his mind to make better accommodations for God's Spirit in their minds, in their own personal domed-roof houses, in which collectively, the assembly (ekklēsia), they are the called out ones into the God has prophectically placed His Spirit, now into which God has made them to be his new Holy Place (naos)!  

 

In God's Word Jesus' reference to us "building" our own "house" implies we are in charge of the building of it, i.e., the building of the knowledge of God's Word into our own mind, which knowledge builds belief (Rom. 10:17), and belief appropriates God's great and precious promises (Heb. 11:1-).  James implies that each one of us is a householder of our own "house", the householder our our own mind, in reference to keeping our "houses" clean of worldly clutter, but filled with God's Word, through purifying ourselves of our own double-mindedness (James 4:8).  John the Baptist said the children of Israel were to "make straight the paths of God", i.e., to repent and turn back to God in each and every individual heart of each person.  The hearts of individuals are the paths of the God, where He goes looking in them for belief in He and His Word (Jer. 17:10; Psalm 44:20-21; Ezra 34:11).  They were to "make straight", their own "paths", their own ways of thinking and doing to be God's ways; i.e., to clean up their own "houses", their own minds so that when Jesus Christ the promised redeemer came they would be ready to believe and receive Him into their "house".  New "wine" can't dwell safely, nor for very long in old "bottles" (Mat. 9:17). 

 

While I was trying to explain this in a Bible study class a person very dramatically jumped to his feet, and then very emphatically stated that "absolutely none of the ancient temples in Jerusalem, or the tabernacle in the wilderness of the exodus, ever had roofs on them, absolutely no roofs, none whatsoever!"  I believe he believed that if he could point out that they never had any roofs upon them, that the believability of his assertion would be enough to cause doubt over the plausibility of my own assertion and belief about "building" and keeping clean our own personal "domed-roof house". 

 

Apparently what he didn't like was that I believe the spiritual meanings of those two words is about our own "domed-roof houses", i.e., our own dome-shaped heads on our shoulders, the "house" of each and every individual believer, each one being a "house" of God's Spirit in us.  Collectively, all of our individual "houses" make up the one body of Christ, the collective new "house" of God, a new "a domed-roof house" of God, His new "tent" which is not made with mortal's hands.  In fact, each one of our own personal "domed-roof houses" are the work of His "hands", not ours, since He formed, made and created us, as Stephen said (Acts 7:47-50), for which very same subject matter the devil's children stoned him to death!

 

Whether the old temples and tabernacle had roofs on them is mute and irrelevant, since God apparently didn't plan to place His Spirit in those who believe upon the name of Jesus based upon the fact that the old tabernacle and temples had roofs upon them, but upon the Truth of the new covenant requirement of BELIEF in in individual's own heart upon the name of Jesus, and what that name means.  God's new "tent" in the domed-roof house of an each and every individual born from above believer is based upon whether their is BELIEF in the "heart", in that domed-roof house of that individual.  If belief is found, then God can place His Spirit in that individual, thusly making that individual a totally new creation, and making all believers collectively the new Holy Place of the God, the "tent" of God that He "pegged", not the hands of mortals (Acts 7:48, 17:24)!

 

But here, in the records of Josephus, according to him all of the temples did have roofs of some kind.  So then, that person's statement about them not having roofs was not only un uneducated guess, but it was a deliberate lie!  He had no idea whatsoever if he was right or wrong, but threw his lie out there to make me appear to be wrong in my own belief.  I consider that not simply a mistake on his part, but devilish, since Jesus taught that bad "fruit", i.e., lies, come from a bad "tree" (Mat. 7:15-20; John 8:44).  Since such a giant lie about God's Word came out of his mouth, and on such an occasion, and so expertly, I consider his dramatic, emphatic and deliberate lie to be a reliable indicator of that which is in his heart, more lies (Mat. 12:34).  He deliberately lied about the Truth of God's Word to get others to believe that my belief in the truth of God's Word was unfounded in God's Word!  That is exactly how the devil has worked throughout all of time, as recorded throughout all of the holy scriptures; the devil lying about the truth of God's Word to try and manipulate what people perceive and believe.

 

Josephus, a first century Christian historian, has recorded much about the construction of the tabernacle and Solomon's temple.  Josephus, a.k.a., Joseph ben Matthias, was born in A.D. 37 and died sometime after 100.  He beautifully records that the tabernacle in the wilderness, and Solomon's temple and palace buildings ALL had roofs of various kinds upon them.  Here are quotes of him describing their various appearances! 

 

About the tabernacle in the wilderness, in Antiquities, book 3, chapter 6, section 4:

 

"...but that on other days, especially when the weather was inclined to snow, it might be expanded, and afford a covering to the veil of diverse colors; whence that custom of ours is derived, of having a fine linen veil, after the temple has been built, to be drawn over the entrances; but the ten other curtains were four cubits in breadth, and twenty-eight in length; and had golden clasps, in order to join the one curtain to the other, which was done so exactly that they seemed to be one entire curtain.  These were spread over the temple, and covered all the top and parts of the walls, on the sides and behind, so far as within one cubit of the ground. 

 

There were other curtains of the same breadth with these, but one more in number, and longer, for they were thirty cubits long; but these were woven with hair, with the like subtlety as those of wool were made, and were extended loosely down to the ground, appearing like a triangular front and elevation at the gates, the eleventh curtain being used for this very purpose.  There were also other curtains made of skins above these, which afforded covering and protection to those that were woven, both in hot weather, and when it rained; and great was the surprise of those who viewed these curtains at a distance, for they seemed not at all to differ from the colour of the sky; but those that were made of hair and of skins reached down in the same manner as did the veil at the gates, and kept off the heat of the sun, and what injury the rains might do; and after this manner was the tabernacle reared."

 

About Solomon's temple and palaces, in Antiquities, book 8, chapter 3, section 2:

 

"They erected the entire body [i.e., Solomon's whole temple] quite up to the roof, of white stone...:  The roof that was over the house was of cedar; and truly every one of these rooms had a roof of their own, that was connected with the other rooms; but for the other parts, there was a covered roof common to them all, and built with very long beams, that passed through the rest, and through the whole building, that so the middle walls, being strengthened by the same beams of timber, might be thereby made firmer; 

 

but as for that part of the roof that was under the beams, it was made of the same materials, and was all made smooth, and had ornaments proper for roofs, and had plates of gold nailed upon them; so that the whole temple shined, and dazzled the eyes of such as entered, by the splendor of the gold that was on every side of them." 

 

About Solomon's royal palace, in Antiquities, book 8, chapter 5, section 2:

 

"This house... it was a hundred cubits long, and fifty broad, and thirty high, supported by quadrangular pillars, which were all of cedar; but its roof was according to the Corinthian order, with folding doors, and their adjoining pillars of equal magnitude, each fluted with three cavities:  which building was at once firm and very ornamental."

 

"...but the other part, up to the roof, was plastered over, and, as it were, embroidered with colors and pictures."

 

"And to say all in brief, Solomon made the whole building entirely of white stone, and cedar wood, and gold and silver.  He also adorned the roofs and walls with stones set in gold, and beautified them thereby in the same manner as he had beautified the temple of God with the like stones."