Page 77 - Ephesians

United and corporately together. I believe that’s the eternal
destiny of the Church. The dwelling of God in the Spirit. Verse 21
– much is made of this word picture – “A holy temple in the
Lord.” Certainly the magnificent temple in Jerusalem must have
registered in their minds when they read this. They knew that
temple. Let me discuss this goal of our salvation by playing on
this idea of being compared to a holy temple in the Lord.

Let’s look at a couple of things about this temple made of human
beings, the dwelling place of God. In verse 21 the apostle likens
the spiritual Church to a physical temple under construction. All
day today I tried to study by my window. They were preparing the
ground across the street for construction. They are plowing and
digging and it’s extremely noisy. Verse 21 pictures the building
being fitted together. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a building
under construction. It looks like mass confusion even though they
are following a blueprint. It doesn’t look like anybody knows what
they are doing.

Maybe Paul had Solomon’s temple in mind when he says, “Fitly
framed together.” Maybe he had in mind 1Kings 6:7,

“The house, while it was being built, was built of stone which
was prepared at the quarry; there was neither hammer, nor
axe nor the sound of any iron tool heard in the whole house
while it was being built.”
Did you know that Solomon’s temple was built in silence? Doesn’t
that give insight into what Jesus told us in Matthew 6:6,

“When you pray, enter your closet, shut the door, and pray to
your Father in secret.”

Every stone was prepared beforehand. Perfectly cut in the quarry
and then brought to its preordained place. It was put together like
a giant jigsaw puzzle. Each stone was silently slipped into place.
So, he says that the Church is “Fitly joined together”. Growing
silently like a baby in the womb as told us in Psalm 139:13-17,