In the midst of the gross spiritual darkness in Scotland in the first part of the sixteenth century, some bright lights began to shine. Yet the darkness was still intense; in 1549 a council of the unreformed Church acknowledged two causes of what they deemed heresy in Scotland: “The corruption of morals and profane obscenity of life in churchmen of almost all ranks, together with crass ignorance of literature and all the liberal arts”.1 This being so, no one could have much hope of being shown the way of salvation in public worship, which largely consisted in the idolatrous formalities of the mass.
Among the bright lights was George Wishart, whose faithful preaching resulted in the conversion of many. One morning not long before his martyrdom, after spending part of the night in earnest prayer, he expressed his hope that Scotland “shall be illuminated with the light of Christ’s gospel as clearly as ever was any realm since the days of the Apostles”.2 But he was sure that he did not have long to preach. Soon afterwards he was arrested and sentenced to a barbarous death outside the castle of St Andrews.
After reaching the place of burning, he addressed those who were standing around: “I exhort you that you love the Word of God and suffer patiently and with a comfortable heart, for the Word’s sake, which is your undoubted salvation and everlasting comfort. . . . For the Word’s sake and true evangel [gospel], which was given to me by the grace of God, I suffer this day by men, not sorrowfully, but with a glad heart and mind. . . . I know surely, and my faith is such, that my soul shall sup with my Saviour Jesus Christ this night . . . for whom I suffer this” (p 218). For Wishart, the Word of God had been the basis both of his beliefs and his comfort as, in Dundee, Ayrshire and elsewhere, he proclaimed the good news of salvation from sin, by faith in Jesus Christ alone. And the Word of God – not Roman tradition or papal pronouncements or the decisions of councils – still formed the basis for what he believed and was the source of his comfort as he faced the eternal world.
1Quoted in J H S Burleigh, A Church History of Scotland, OUP, 1960, p 136.
2David Calderwood, The History of the Kirk of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1842, vol 1, p 191. All other page references in this article are to this volume. Spelling has been modernised.
This was true of all his fellow Reformers, including John Knox, who sailed into Leith from his exile on the Continent on 2 May 1559. The following day he wrote to a friend in England: “I see the battle shall be great, for Satan rages even to the uttermost, and I am come, I praise my God, in the brunt of the battle. For my fellow preachers have a day appointed to answer before the Queen Regent” (p 440). Knox was keen to support them by his presence, and he was even more anxious to proclaim the truths of God’s Word. Soon he was preaching in Perth, with momentous consequences for the Reformation. For Knox, preaching the Word of God was the means of fighting against Satan and his forces.
Four months after his arrival in Scotland, Knox was reporting from St Andrews, to his English friend, the recent arrival of French forces to support the Queen Regent in her defence of the Roman Catholic status quo. Although, in human terms, these forces were stronger than any the Protestant movement could field against them, Knox remained hopeful: “We do nothing but go about Jericho, blowing with trumpets, as God gives strength, hoping [for] victory by His power alone” (p 516). It was an apt comparison; Israel’s forces may have looked ridiculous as they made their daily circuit of the walls of Jericho, and just as ridiculous as they made their seventh circuit of the city on the final day. While they could not demolish the walls by blowing trumpets, they acted at God’s command. And God followed their obedience with an act of mighty power; He brought down the walls of Jericho and made the conquest of the city straightforward.
Similarly, in the Reformation movement in Scotland, the preaching of the Word was the key human instrument – rather than battles or political manoeuvring – that brought about the establishment of scriptural religion in 1560. And behind the human instrument we should see divine activity bringing conviction of the truth, as Wishart and Knox and others went about Jericho and blew their trumpets – in other words, as they made known the mind of God about the kind of religion which should be followed.
Of necessity Knox preached against idolatry, particularly the mass, but he sought to proclaim the whole counsel of God. In November 1559 he was in Stirling expounding the words of Psalm 80:4: “O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?” He commented on the awfulness of fighting against “the temptation that God turns away His face from our prayers”. He made this application: “The difference between the elect and reprobate [was] that the elect, sustained by the secret power of God’s Spirit, did still call upon God, albeit He appeared to contemn their prayers, which is a sacrifice most acceptable to God and is, in a manner, even to fight with God and to overcome Him, as Jacob did in wrestling with the
Angel. But the reprobate, being denied of their requests at God’s hand, do either cease to pray, and altogether contemn God, who strictly commands us to call upon Him in the day of our adversity, or else they seek counsel at the devil for that which they see they cannot obtain from God” (pp 555-6).
Here was preaching which, with God’s blessing, could sustain the hearts of His children in a time when the success of the Protestant movement in Scotland was still uncertain. But in 1560, exactly 450 years ago, there was clear evidence that God had indeed heard the prayers of His children and that the preaching of the Word had led to the collapse of the walls of Jericho. The Reformation had been successful; the mass had been abolished; Scotland was now firmly Protestant. The change in the national religion was prominently illustrated by one simple change in church furniture: the pulpit was now in a central position instead of the altar. The idolatrous mass had been removed and the preaching of the pure Word of God was now central to public worship. Preachers were few, but anyone listening to a sermon in a Scottish church could be sure that they were being shown the truth about the way to heaven; Scotland had received “the light of Christ’s gospel”.
God’s Church in Scotland has had many ups and downs since 1560. And it is again in a perilously weak condition. This weakness is exemplified by the proposed visit of the Pope in September, when he is expected to be entertained by the Queen in the Palace of Holyroodhouse. A visit from the Man of sin cannot, to put it mildly, be helpful to true religion at any time, but it is particularly inappropriate at this time, when the organisation of which he is the head is so much associated in the public mind with reports of sexual abuse, particularly of children – and especially when the Pope’s own handling of such allegations is being called into serious question.
Circumstances may be very different in Scotland today from what they were in the early sixteenth century; now there is no lack of education, for instance – though immorality is rife in all sections of society. But what does Scotland need today, when the walls of the Jericho of false religion and unbelief are so strong? Again the trumpets need to be blown outside the walls and the children of God to persevere in prayer, however much they may feel that God is turning away His face from their petitions. They need to bear in mind that an answer will result, not from the number or the earnestness of their prayers, though their prayers should be both many and earnest. They will be heard only for the sake of the great Intercessor who sits upon the throne in heaven. He is the Head of the Church and is to reign until all His enemies are made His footstool (Ps 110:1). Although to blow the gospel trumpet seems so foolish to most people today, the power of the Holy Spirit will yet make it effective in destroying the strongholds of Satan. Let us remember 1560.
God’s Spiritual Temple (1)1
A Sermon by Robert Burns
Zechariah 6:13. He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory.
It is clear that the temple which was built by Solomon and the temple which was afterwards renewed and placed under the guardianship of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the High Priest, were both designed to be typical of the Church of God under “Messiah the Prince”. In the Old Testament Scriptures, Mount Zion was the place on which the magnificent structure was reared, whither the people of God went up from all parts of Palestine to present themselves in the presence of their common Lord and to engage in the appointed services of religion. It is spoken of in terms so magnificent, and so closely connected with spiritual things, as naturally to suggest a nobler dispensation than that of Moses and a “temple” in which the grace of God would be revealed in still more striking manifestations.
“The Lord, hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation”. “Here”, He says, “will I dwell, for I have desired it.” “When the Lord shall build up Zion, He will appear in His glory.” This temple of the spiritual Church is placed under the superintendence and guardian care of Him who was to “come to His temple” and was to constitute “the glory” of it, who was “to give peace”, from its precincts, to all generations.
That illustrious person described as “the Prince”, the glorious Messiah who was to spring from the stem of Jesse, is represented as building and consecrating the spiritual temple. He lays the foundations of it strong and deep amid the ruins of our fallen humanity, and He raises the superstructure to His own glory and the glory of His Father. True believers in every age have been permitted to contemplate the stately edifice, adorned with all the beauties of holiness and shining with the lustre of grace; while the angels behold it reflecting the glorious attributes of its great Architect, “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be [made] known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”
While the Church at large, considered as a spiritual edifice, may be thus described as God’s temple, we may say that every individual member of the Church is the temple of God. Spiritual members of Christ are represented by the Apostle Peter as living stones; and it is the striking characteristic of these living stones that they not only form constituent parts of one great edifice but
1This sermon was preached in the New Parish Church, Greenock, in March, 1832. It is reprinted with editing from The Scottish Pulpit, vol 1. Burns (1789-1869) was then minister of St George’s church, Paisley; in 1845 he moved to Toronto.
that they individually exhibit in miniature the complete representation of the prominent features of the great building itself. In each, as in all of them combined, we discover the same grand features of grace and holiness. Therefore it may with strict propriety be said that Christ Jesus is the author and finisher of the spiritual building, inasmuch as each member of His spiritual body is by Him created anew, led in the paths of righteousness and fitted for the kingdom above. This is the view that I intend to take of our text. By selecting the case of an individual believer, we may be able to form a more precise and connected view of the subject than by allowing our thoughts to spread themselves over the wide surface of the Church at large.
The text brings two points before us: (1.) Every true believer is a temple of God. (2.) The glory of building, beautifying and completing the temple belongs exclusively to the gracious Redeemer.
1. Every true believer is a temple of God. (1.) A temple is the residence of Jehovah; and in this view every true believer is a temple. “Ye are the temples of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them.” We do not say that there is any real sacredness, any spiritual or moral sanctity, possessed by one building or by one place in this world of ours more than another; but we do say that certain times and certain places and certain vestments are represented in the Word of God as consecrated to the Lord – as taken out of the ordinary range of human objects and invested with a relative sanctity, inasmuch as they are employed for sacred ends, inasmuch as they are detached from the ordinary use that may be made of them at other times and are dedicated to the Lord. It is in this way that the temple of old and the vestments of the priests and the vessels of the sanctuary and the times and seasons of worship are all termed holy, and “holiness to the Lord”.
Although the state of things under the Christian economy is greatly changed, still we may affirm of every place sacred to Christian worship that it is the habitation of God’s house, and the place where His honour dwells. It is indeed true that, in one sense, God dwells everywhere, and “in Him we live, and move, and have our being”; and we may rejoice in this delightful truth of the omnipresence of Jehovah. Yet there is a special sense in which it is affirmed of every true believer, and of him alone, that “God dwelleth in him, and he in God”; “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Of all true believers under the New Testament economy, it is affirmed that Christ dwells in them, that their bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, that they are sacred to the residence of Jehovah, that they walk with God and in God, that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith – and the highest, noblest petition which apostolic fervour has addressed to the throne of grace on their behalf is “that they may be filled with all the fullness of God”.
In this view, every true believer is consecrated to God as a temple – the residence of Jehovah. It is indeed the grand design of the gospel of the grace of God to elevate Him to the throne of the heart, to set aside all usurpers, to bring back man to his sense of allegiance, to expel from the heart the ensigns of enmity to God, and to enthroned Jehovah in the affections, dispositions and habits of men. It is in this view that Jehovah is represented as taking up His abode in every renewed man, selecting his soul, and even his body, as His temple. Satan is compelled to retire from the supremacy; and although he may still remain in some distant corner of the field and may still carry on a kind of predatory warfare, yet he shall never be allowed to regain his hated ascendancy, for “the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day”. The temple is His own residence, chosen by Him as the place of His abode: “Ye are the temple of God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them.”
(2) A temple is consecrated to the service, worship and glory of God. In this sense, every true believer is a spiritual temple of the Lord. No one with ordinary sensitivity can walk over the ruins of a building, which in other times was sacred to the worship of God, without feeling sad. Within these goodly walls our fathers once worshipped. These aisles, now gloomy and desolate, once resounded to the voice of praise; and prayer arose in silent majesty towards heaven. “Our fathers, where are they; and the prophets, do they live for ever?”
With emotions somewhat akin to these, but far more tender, does the Christian observer contemplate the ruins of that stately fabric once consecrated to God, once the residence of the Deity, where the candle of the Lord once beamed with brightest radiance. The soul of man, so vast in its powers, so comprehensive in its range of actions, so lofty even in its moral aspirations, is a temple majestic in ruins. And the grand design of Christianity is to set up that temple anew; while the most interesting view that we can take of the work of Christ in the gospel is to contemplate Him as rebuilding, renewing and reconsecrating that ruined temple, once the residence of God, once consecrated to His glory and employed in His service.
Christian believers are represented in Scripture as renewed in the spirit of their minds, as built up spiritual houses, as consecrated in their every part to the service and glory of God. All the members of their bodies, and all the powers of their minds are spoken of as instruments of righteousness, to the glory of God. The understanding of the believer, irradiated by heavenly light, contemplates God as the God of truth; while the love of God and of truth directs it in its aim. His memory, stored with sacred principles and Scripture sentiments and language, becomes indeed the depository of sacred treasures, to be brought forth for the service of Jehovah. Conscience, enlightened by
a beam from God’s throne, acquires a keener sensibility, while it trembles lest the verdict it pronounces may differ from the verdict of God’s Word. His affections, disengaged from the service of sin and Satan, are consecrated to God. The desires of his soul are towards Him and towards the remembrance of Him. “His delight is in the law of the Lord”, after the inner man.
The powers and faculties of the soul being thus consecrated, through grace, to the service of God, the whole man becomes a temple in which sacrifices are perpetually offered to God. These are not heathen sacrifices, stained by impurity, but sacrifices of holy desires, holy affections and holy deeds – the “sacrifices of righteousness”, accepted through Jesus the beloved. These are not the sacrifices of the Old Testament dispensation, types of a nobler sacrifice, but the offerings of prayer and praise and obedience through the merits and mediation of Christ; These are not the meritorious sacrifice of Christ for pardon and acceptance; that sacrifice was once offered up by the great Emmanuel; and now the sacrifice which a Christian believer presents ascribes all to Him, “the Lamb who was slain”, who bought him with His blood. Every true believer is a temple consecrated to God, within whose hallowed walls the sacrifices of praise and prayer and obedience are presented to God. Thus every true believer is a spiritual temple, sacred to God.
(3) A temple is where God manifests Himself; in this sense also every true believer is a spiritual temple of the Lord. Shall I speak of the Holy of Holies? Shall I speak of the divine Shechinah covering the mercy seat, overshadowing it as the token of God’s presence? Shall I speak of the Urim and Thummim or the tables of the testimony? Shall I speak of those things which were the types and symbols of a spiritual economy, but on which “Ichabod” has been long since inscribed – a glory passed away? No. The Christian temple no longer enjoys these visible manifestations of God’s presence, but it enjoys all that these visible manifestations were designed to typify – the tokens, as they were, of God’s favour and of His residence among men – the symbols of His gracious designs for His church in after days, and the standard lifted up in favour of true religion amidst the world of the ungodly.
When the inspired writers of the Old Testament speak of manifestations of God, and of the desire of their souls to be favoured with these manifestations, it is not the external objects as presented by the Old Testament economy on which they delight to dwell. They do not occupy themselves with the description of the gold and silver of the tabernacle or the temple, and the outward tokens of God’s residence with His people. They pass from these to something infinitely more valuable: those spiritual themes to which these led the way.
They desire to see God, not as manifested externally to the eyes of the
body, but as revealed to the eyes of their minds; and their language expresses spiritual principles and feelings: “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory”; “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us”; “As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God”; “I will go to the altar of God, even to God my exceeding joy”; “When Thou sayest, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek”; “O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, to see Thy power and Thy glory, as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary”; “One thing have I desired of the Lord; that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple”.
It is not necessary to multiply examples; but I quote these to show that even then, dark and imperfect as the dispensation was, the views of pious men were carried far beyond external symbols. By a vigorous faith they grasped the things which these symbols were designed to indicate; and thus they set before us a representation of that spiritual temple under Messiah the Prince which is the scene of divine manifestation.
But we speak now more particularly of individual Christians as temples and as the scenes of divine manifestation. Every true believer exhibits in his own person, in his principles, in his habits, in his privileges and in his bright hopes a manifestation of God, a practical exemplification of the Saviour’s work, a public and accredited testimony of the truth of the doctrines of Scripture. They are imprinted on his mind and brought to bear with powerful efficacy on his heart, as the grand principles of the spiritual life in the soul of man.
In this view it may be said, in the language of the wise man, that “a good man shall be satisfied from himself”. He finds in himself what, like the temple of old, is the manifestation of God’s presence. In the affections of mind he has been led to cherish, in the longings of his soul after God, in the experience of comfort, he finds joy and peace in believing. And in the various graces and doings of the Christian life, he finds the manifestation of a power like that which created the world at first, the manifestation of a wisdom like that which planned the heavens and stretched them out as a curtain. It is the manifestation of a love that passes knowledge and of a grace that is infinite.
When any Christian approaches God in the exercise of private or united prayer, or engages in public worship, or sits down at the table which the Redeemer has spread for him and takes into his hand the memorials of the Redeemer’s love, and his soul ascends in silent but holy desire after the Redeemer’s love, then God is manifested to his soul and these divine manifestations are the glory of the temple. Sometimes, it may be, he draws near
to God under the influence of doubt and fear, and God reveals Himself as the God of consolation and hope. At other times he comes into the divine presence with ardent longings after God, with holy confidence in Him. If he comes in humility, not depending on himself but on God, the Lord does not send him away empty; He reveals Himself to his soul. And thus the candle of the Lord shines with brighter and brighter radiance.
Thus every true believer, considered as manifesting the kindness of the Saviour, in holy communion with Him, becomes a candle of the Lord. And in him, rising progressively from one spiritual attainment to another, we have a spiritual representation of that glorious temple, of which, in its perfect state, it is recorded: “Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended”; “I heard a voice from heaven say, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God”.
In this way, a temple considered as the residence of Jehovah, as sacred to the service and worship and glory of Jehovah, and as the scene of divine manifestation, becomes a very fair and scriptural representation of the true believer, sacred to the residence of Jehovah, consecrated to His service, and enjoying divine manifestation.