The passage in 1Corinthians 6:19-20(ESV) is a profound passage that helps us to understand our spiritual identity in Christ. It says, “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” Everything else that we learn about our spiritual makeup as God’s children springs from the truth of His Will for our physical bodies and their contents. He created our bodies to be His temple, and this tells us all we need to know about the intimacy He desires in our relationship with Him.
In the Old Testament, the temple was the place where the Spirit of God dwelt with His people. He wanted to be near them but would not be in them because of Adam’s sin against Him. Everyone after Adam and Eve choose to sin as well. Romans 5:12 tells us, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” So, we were in very poor condition, because we abandoned God’s purpose, and made it impossible to have the kind of relationship with Him that He desired. Our Heavenly Father didn’t walk away from us but gave those living in Old Testament times a way to still have a relationship with Him. In order for their sins to be covered, they had to offer the blood sacrifices of animals. These sacrifices did not cleanse sin, but simply covered it.
Romans 6:23(NLT) gives us the legal precedent in this case and tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Every action, word, thought, and feeling that we execute has a cost. Sin has a cost, and it is death. This is God’s law. He made it clear to Adam in Genesis 2:17(ESV), “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Death was the penalty for Adam’s actions. He died spiritually when he sinned, and death entered his body and eventually, ours too.
The only antidote for death is life, and life is in the blood. God allowed His people living in Old Testament times to make sin offerings through the blood of sacrificial animals, but this was just a band-aid for the sin issue. God had a redemption plan from the very beginning and knew He would send His Son to save the world. John 3:16(ESV) declares, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
The magnitude of what Jesus Christ restored, reversed, redeemed, and set in motion for us is uncalculatable. Jesus Christ lived a life on this earth that was perfect in every way, totally without flaw. He said in John 8:29(KJV), “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” Everything, all without exception, that Jesus Christ did pleased God. This perfection describes the life he lived as well as the life that was in his blood; it was holy and pure, with no imperfection. When he shed his blood on the cross, it was shed for all of us, believer and unbeliever.
Hebrews 9:11-15(The Message) tells us, “But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.”
Because of what Christ accomplished through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection, we have a new covenant with God. Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, and now we are free from the bondage of death and darkness! Through him, God has given us His righteousness, and when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and believe that God raised him from the dead, we receive the gift of salvation. God’s Holy Spirit then indwells us and empowers us to live a successful Christian life.
No longer do we sit on the sidelines, watching all the beauty of God’s magnificence, He’s in us! 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) says, “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” God has given us the Gift of Holy Spirit, and he, the Spirit, lives inside our body temple. As we spend time in prayer and in God’s Word, wonderful revelation and understanding is released to us. We begin to walk in the newness of the life Christ has given us, and our relationship with God grows in intimacy, love, and power.
God wants us to unlock the revelation of who we truly are. He wants us to know who He’s made us through Jesus Christ. We should hunger and be passionate for more, and He wants us to understand that more spiritual blessings of revelation, knowledge, and understanding are always available to us. The more we expand our knowledge of Christ, the more our lives are filled with his love, power, and authority. Many of us have been waiting to be empowered by God so we can move forth in our destinies. He’s already empowered us! 1Thessalonians 5:24(ESV) declares, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Through the Spirit, we can enter the things of God. Our faith is the key that unlocks all the right doors, so have faith in what God has done for you through Jesus Christ. He will back your steps as you move boldly in His power to fulfill His purpose and live according to His Will.■
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