Let us examine the scriptures every day 2025
Thursday January 16, 2025
Worship him who made heaven, earth (Rev. 14:7).
If an angel spoke to you personally, would you pay attention? Well, it turns out that today there is an angel speaking “to every nation, tribe, tongue and people.” What does it say? “Fear God and give glory to Him, [...] worship Him who made heaven, earth, sea, and springs” (Rev. 14:6, 7). We must all worship Jehovah; he is the true God. We are very grateful to be able to worship him in his great spiritual temple. What a great honor! What exactly is the spiritual temple, and where in the Bible is it talked about? The spiritual temple is not a real building. It is the system that Jehovah has established to worship him as he wants, and it is based on the ransom, the sacrifice of Jesus. In the first century, the apostle Paul explained various details of this system of worship. We find them in the letter he wrote to the Hebrew Christians living in Judea. w23.10 24 paras. 1, 2.
What is Jehovah's spiritual temple? (See also the box “What it is not”).
What exactly is the spiritual temple, and where in the Bible is it talked about? The spiritual temple is not a real building. It is the system that Jehovah has established to worship him as he wants, and it is based on the ransom, the sacrifice of Jesus. In the first century, the apostle Paul explained various details of this system of worship. We find them in the letter he wrote to the Hebrew Christians living in Judea.
Why was Paul concerned about the Hebrew Christians, and how did he help them?
Why did Paul write to the Hebrew Christians living in Judea? Probably for two important reasons. First, to encourage them. Most had been raised in Judaism, and the leaders of that religion may have mocked them for becoming Christians. Because? Because, unlike the Jews, Christians did not have a majestic temple where they could worship God, nor an altar on which to offer sacrifices, nor priests. That could have discouraged Christ's disciples and weakened their faith (Heb. 2:1; 3:12, 14). It is possible that some of them even thought about returning to practicing the Jewish religion.
Second, Paul made the Hebrew Christians see that they were not striving to understand new or deeper spiritual teachings, the “solid food” found in the Word of God (Heb. 5:11-14). Apparently some of them were still following the Law of Moses. But Paul explained to them that the sacrifices established by the Law could not completely forgive sins. For that reason, the Law had been annulled. The apostle then taught them some of those deeper truths. He reminded them that because of Jesus' sacrifice they had “a better hope” that could truly help them draw closer to God (Heb. 7:18, 19).
What do we need to understand, and why?
Paul explained to his Hebrew brothers why the way they now worshiped Jehovah as Christians was much better than the way they had worshiped him in the past. He said that the Jewish religion's way of worshiping God was only “a shadow of what was to come.” And he added: “But the reality belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:17). The shadow of an object is just a vague image of that thing, but it is not the real object. In the same way, the way the Jews worshiped God in the past was only a shadow of the reality that was to come. We need to understand the system of worship that Jehovah has established, the spiritual temple. Because? Because it makes possible the forgiveness of our sins and allows us to worship God as he wants. Next, we are going to compare the “shadow” (the Jewish way of worshiping God) with “the reality” (the Christian way of worshiping God). To do this, we will analyze what the Letter to the Hebrews says. This way we will better understand what the spiritual temple is and what relationship it has with us.
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