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The Divine Presence
I was reading the prophet Haggai last week and came across two interesting commands: “Rebuild the House: I shall take pleasure in it!” And “The new glory of this Temple is going to surpass the old”.
Haggai was the first of the post-exile prophets. The Persians had conquered the Babylonians and encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem. The prophets and priests were very keen that the Temple should be rebuilt.
I am always deeply interested in the meaning of things. So I started asking myself why I should take this seriously.
Sharon’s series on “The Shadow” parts of our lives has stayed with me and so I began to find meaning in the prophets’ encouragement to build a new temple. Added to which, we read a lot about the Temple in the New Testament.
Jesus visits the Temple as a twelve year old. He teaches in the temple. He cleanses the temple courts of corruption, and prophesies the destruction of the Temple.
John sees many actions as “Signs”, and so we read in John 2/13-22:
My search for meaning started here! I could see that when we come to the end of our tether, and allow Jesus to be the centre of our living, the first thing He begins and continues to do is:
To challenge the illusions by which we live, making us aware of the hidden and suppressed parts of our Souls which we call our Shadow and which Sharon has recently been helping us to recognise. So Jesus begins to make us aware of our “unconscious” and the power of the trading that goes on in our unconscious. We become aware we have justified our trading in the same way the Temple authorities have authorized the trading there. “My House is a House of Prayer” means the center of our being, which is mostly unconscious, is a Spiritual Temple, the House of God.
Now Jesus doesn’t clear away our Shadow or other parts of the Unconscious, but he begins to clear space at the centre for the Divine Presence, from which we live and see and hear and experience “Christ in me the hope of Glory”. That is why Haggai said the glory of this temple will surpass the old!
So our lives at the deepest meaning is living with our illusions, our shadow, our false selves, like a noisy market place, with the still centre and holy power of God present. We have the choice about our source of life.
In a sense the curtain of the Jerusalem temple divided the centre from the busy and noisy market place of religious activity and efforts to make ourselves better! At the death of Jesus the curtain was torn in two and we live, as that demonstrates, with no easy divide, but a intermingling of false self and true self, and the opportunity to allow the false to die with Jesus on the cross. We cannot kill the false self ourselves, but identifying with Jesus means allowing the power of the hidden stuff and the suppressed stuff to be crucified, so that we have a resurrection of the Centre of our being, where the Divine Presence lives and offers love and power and victory over the forces of our self created selves, over our descriptive selves
So we are challenged by the prophets to build the Temple of God in our inner beings, not made with stones and not visible, but there in the reality of Spirit and Truth. This inner temple is to be a worthy building, full of the glory of the Lord God.
Fortunately the building of the temple is God’s work and not our efforts. What is required from us is an openness and willingness for the cleansing of the temple courts and for the Holy Spirit to do the clearing and building.
We are being raised up with Jesus:
These things do not disappear and go away, but as we allow the Temple of the presence of God to be built in us, so these things have less and less power in our lives. We do not focus on getting rid of stuff, but our focus is on the building of the Temple of God’s presence in the centre of our being.
How?
The first simple action is non-action, to be quiet for some time every day, and it is best to set more than one period. This is not to be heavy and religious, but very quiet, recognizing the internal noise of the market place, and then letting go and returning to watching the temple being built. We don’t even give the architect advice on what we want or how we think it would work. Simply sit and be aware of the inner presence of God.
That simple action is a surrender again and again, and allowing the ego power to be preplaced by awareness of the Divine Presence.
The second action we can take is to be attentive to the traders in the temple courts, not to fight and engage them, but to see them: Oh there you are again, trading away in your illusionary state!
We listen to our dreams, day dreams and fantasies, aha moments, emotions and reactions to events and people. Listen to body symptoms. Listen to birds sing, to the breeze whispering. Be aware!
Thirdly, we can be aware of the Divine Presence, and rejoice and be glad that we are becoming the Temple of the Living God. The Holy Spirit creates the most surprising synchronicity. Watch for those moments of surprise and hear what is happening in the inner temple.
So without doing anything, we notice the presence of God as we are aware of the internal noise. Just as we say, oh there you go again, we can learn to say: Wow, there is the Holy Spirit doing a surprising thing and I give thanks and praise.
The process of building the Second Temple in Jerusalem was interrupted by opponents from within the Jewish community as well as from without. We find the same thing. Our main opposition is our internal voices, our shadow and the false self we have created. We face many illusions, powerful as they are, they are still only illusions!
We don’t fight them. We simply recognize them, and protect our valuable spaces and know that the inner temple will be completed!
We can say again and again:
This throws new light on Jesus invitation and encouragement in John 15/5:
I was reading the prophet Haggai last week and came across two interesting commands: “Rebuild the House: I shall take pleasure in it!” And “The new glory of this Temple is going to surpass the old”.
Haggai was the first of the post-exile prophets. The Persians had conquered the Babylonians and encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem. The prophets and priests were very keen that the Temple should be rebuilt.
I am always deeply interested in the meaning of things. So I started asking myself why I should take this seriously.
Sharon’s series on “The Shadow” parts of our lives has stayed with me and so I began to find meaning in the prophets’ encouragement to build a new temple. Added to which, we read a lot about the Temple in the New Testament.
Jesus visits the Temple as a twelve year old. He teaches in the temple. He cleanses the temple courts of corruption, and prophesies the destruction of the Temple.
John sees many actions as “Signs”, and so we read in John 2/13-22:
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (NRSV)
My search for meaning started here! I could see that when we come to the end of our tether, and allow Jesus to be the centre of our living, the first thing He begins and continues to do is:
To challenge the illusions by which we live, making us aware of the hidden and suppressed parts of our Souls which we call our Shadow and which Sharon has recently been helping us to recognise. So Jesus begins to make us aware of our “unconscious” and the power of the trading that goes on in our unconscious. We become aware we have justified our trading in the same way the Temple authorities have authorized the trading there. “My House is a House of Prayer” means the center of our being, which is mostly unconscious, is a Spiritual Temple, the House of God.
Now Jesus doesn’t clear away our Shadow or other parts of the Unconscious, but he begins to clear space at the centre for the Divine Presence, from which we live and see and hear and experience “Christ in me the hope of Glory”. That is why Haggai said the glory of this temple will surpass the old!
So our lives at the deepest meaning is living with our illusions, our shadow, our false selves, like a noisy market place, with the still centre and holy power of God present. We have the choice about our source of life.
In a sense the curtain of the Jerusalem temple divided the centre from the busy and noisy market place of religious activity and efforts to make ourselves better! At the death of Jesus the curtain was torn in two and we live, as that demonstrates, with no easy divide, but a intermingling of false self and true self, and the opportunity to allow the false to die with Jesus on the cross. We cannot kill the false self ourselves, but identifying with Jesus means allowing the power of the hidden stuff and the suppressed stuff to be crucified, so that we have a resurrection of the Centre of our being, where the Divine Presence lives and offers love and power and victory over the forces of our self created selves, over our descriptive selves
So we are challenged by the prophets to build the Temple of God in our inner beings, not made with stones and not visible, but there in the reality of Spirit and Truth. This inner temple is to be a worthy building, full of the glory of the Lord God.
Fortunately the building of the temple is God’s work and not our efforts. What is required from us is an openness and willingness for the cleansing of the temple courts and for the Holy Spirit to do the clearing and building.
In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. (Ephesians 2/21-22 NRSV)
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3/16-19 NRSV)
We are being raised up with Jesus:
- from the death to our own need to fix things;
- from our self-created selves;
- from our ego centric living;
- from our systems of thinking and feeling;
- from the effects of failure and sin and self-justification;
- from the deaths brought by the events and experiences of our lives;
- from the death of success and failure;
- from our need for affection;
- from our own power and control;
- and from our need for security.
These things do not disappear and go away, but as we allow the Temple of the presence of God to be built in us, so these things have less and less power in our lives. We do not focus on getting rid of stuff, but our focus is on the building of the Temple of God’s presence in the centre of our being.
How?
The first simple action is non-action, to be quiet for some time every day, and it is best to set more than one period. This is not to be heavy and religious, but very quiet, recognizing the internal noise of the market place, and then letting go and returning to watching the temple being built. We don’t even give the architect advice on what we want or how we think it would work. Simply sit and be aware of the inner presence of God.
That simple action is a surrender again and again, and allowing the ego power to be preplaced by awareness of the Divine Presence.
The second action we can take is to be attentive to the traders in the temple courts, not to fight and engage them, but to see them: Oh there you are again, trading away in your illusionary state!
We listen to our dreams, day dreams and fantasies, aha moments, emotions and reactions to events and people. Listen to body symptoms. Listen to birds sing, to the breeze whispering. Be aware!
Thirdly, we can be aware of the Divine Presence, and rejoice and be glad that we are becoming the Temple of the Living God. The Holy Spirit creates the most surprising synchronicity. Watch for those moments of surprise and hear what is happening in the inner temple.
So without doing anything, we notice the presence of God as we are aware of the internal noise. Just as we say, oh there you go again, we can learn to say: Wow, there is the Holy Spirit doing a surprising thing and I give thanks and praise.
The process of building the Second Temple in Jerusalem was interrupted by opponents from within the Jewish community as well as from without. We find the same thing. Our main opposition is our internal voices, our shadow and the false self we have created. We face many illusions, powerful as they are, they are still only illusions!
We don’t fight them. We simply recognize them, and protect our valuable spaces and know that the inner temple will be completed!
We can say again and again:
“The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory!” (Colossians 1/27 - The Message))
“The glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1/27 - NRSV)
This throws new light on Jesus invitation and encouragement in John 15/5:
Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (NRSV)