The Treasures of the Temple

One

The wicked who steal from God’s temple

The temple was the glory of Israel. It was the supreme physical symbol of their identity. It was the place where God dwelt. And as such, it was to be the site of the greatest treasures the people had to offer.

Gold and silver vessels and ornaments filled the temple chambers because the only proper setting for extravagance is in the worship of the all-glorious God. But throughout the history of the Chosen People, the temple was repeatedly at risk of being robbed by Pagans.

Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, King of Babylon, despoiled the temple of its treasures, and his son Belshazzar paid the price when he used those sacred vessels to indulge himself and his friends.

Or when the Greek King sent his messenger, Heliodorus, to rob the Jewish temple of its treasure. Two angels appeared, with whips, and beat Heliodorus within an inch of his life.

But even more tragic was when the Jewish Kings themselves, whose job it was to defend the temple and its treasure, would seek to rob the temple. And sometimes, it seemed, with the best of intentions.  

Two

The Jewish kings who steal from God’s temple

They should have known better, of course – but when the Jewish Kings became worldly, they would try to rob the temple themselves. 

Ahaz and Hezekiah, and even Asa who had previously been faithful, they all took gold and silver from the temple. And, actually, all of them did it for the same reasons. They all gave the gold to other kings, in order to forge political alliances or to placate their enemies

In other words, they all stole gold from God’s house, not because they were greedy or self-indulgent, but because they thought they needed to in order to survive. And in each case, it didn’t work out for them.

Because when you take what belongs to God, and give it to creatures, whatever your motives are, you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Three

Temple as a place of prayer

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the Temple, He quotes the prophet Isaiah, who says, “My house is to be a house of prayer.”

In other words, the primary purpose of the Temple isn’t money. It isn’t the gold or the silver or the donations and payments for the animals for sacrifice.

God desires prayer. True, faithful prayer. And prayer demands we offer up the greatest treasure of all – our time.

We say that time is money, but really, gold and silver are much less valuable than time. We can acquire wealth indefinitely, and when we spend money we can always earn more. But we only have so many hours left on this earth – and each hour we spend is an hour we’ll never get back.

This was the primary treasure the people were to offer in the temple. And this is the primary treasure – time spent in prayer – of which we must not rob our God.

Four

Worshipping God in spirit and in truth

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, she wanted to know if it was true that the temple was the proper place to worship.

She said, “You people say that the proper place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

And Jesus answered her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem… the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth; and indeed, the Father seeks such people to worship Him.”

The Temple was the house of prayer but the time of the Temple is over. It lies in ruins.

Yet the Father still seeks worshippers, true worshippers, and we can worship Him anywhere. We can still offer the treasure - if we make the time to do it.

Five

Don’t rob the temple

The pagan kings tried to rob the temple of its treasures out of greed and self-indulgence. But even the kings of Judah took the treasure that belonged to God just because they didn’t think they could afford not to.

Time in prayer is the true treasure of the temple, and whenever we make the decision not to do our daily prayer so that we can spend that time on other things, we are robbing God’s temple of its treasure.

We might have good intentions. We might be trying just to make it. We might think we need to not pray today in order to survive, or meet the basic demands of life. But we’re wrong. Give time first to God. Spend time, every day, worshipping the Father in spirit and truth. 

It can be anywhere. A Church is best, but other places will definitely work. As Jesus says, it can be as simple as going to your room and shutting the door. 

He has made us His temple. And we are to be, above all else, a house of prayer. Once we have made that offering of time to God, He will give us the time we need to take care of everything else.