Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that prefers its Super Bowl to be full of Oreo ice cream shaped like Roman numerals.
Before today’s feature, a quick announcement. My book Hang On, Let Go: What To Do When Your Dreams Are Shattered and Your Life is Falling Apart is deeply discounted on Kindle. God has used the book to save countless lives who were experiencing a relational, health, or financial crisis—not knowing how it would turn out. Here’s the Kindle version in the USA. I have no idea if the discount applies to other countries. It may also apply to the Nook and other digital versions. It’s a valuable tool for yourself and your family and friends when (not if) a crisis comes.
Now for today’s feature.
Look, if you’re not subscribed to the CHRIST IS ALL podcast, you’re missing out. Just sayin’ … Anyway, last October, I delivered a message at a conference in Michigan hosted by a Christian college. And apparently, people lost their minds over it—in a good way … I think.
The response was intense enough that those who heard it wanted the transcription of the whole thing. Nothing left out. I’m giving it to you today because, candidly, it seems like something you might actually want to read. You can also listen to the message on the CHRIST IS ALL podcast which is on all podcast platforms (it’s episode #248).
You may want to print it out and read it off line. It might be easier to consume that way. (That’s what I do for things like this.)
The next article will be far shorter, like usual.
Enjoy!
A Collision of Temples: God’s Restoration Work Continues
Thank you, brother. Well, the book that John made reference to is called The Untold Story of the New Testament Church Revised and Expanded. It’s this somewhat heavy book with the white cover and the brushstrokes on the side.
The book is a cinematic experience that takes you through the New Testament story from Pentecost to Patmos in chronological order, and then all of the epistles are in the book in their sequential order, and you get to read the background of every New Testament epistle. And what it does is it remarkably opens up the New Testament. It unlocks it, and I would encourage anybody that’s interested in understanding what really happened in the first century to pick it up and take a look at it.
For many years, I read the New Testament and really did not understand what I was reading completely until I learned “The Story.” Capital T, capital S. So, I appreciate the warm welcome. I also want to express appreciation for Brother John.
I don’t know if my stock went up or down when I said that. He has been a guest on The Insurgence Podcast for 14 episodes. They are probably among the very best that we’ve done. Right now, at this point, as I’m recording this there are 160 episodes, and John’s episodes were stellar.
I’d also like to express appreciation for the Stone-Campbell Movement, specifically its heart for unity, its desire to be faithful to New Testament ecclesiology—a return to the ancient paths, and also its understanding that water baptism is far more than an empty ritual. That deserved at least one amen in the audience.
As John shared, I don’t belong to any denomination. I don’t belong to any movement. I don’t belong to any tribe in the Christian world.
My Christian background is very eclectic. But for reasons that I will never understand, I am invited to speak mostly by one of three groups: the Charismatics, the Methodists, and the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches. And those three have about as much in common as a fish, a bicycle, and a rubber duck. You’d have to be two-fold a Solomon to figure out why this is, and it reminds me of a story.
A Catholic Priest, Church of Christ Minister, and Charismatic Preacher
One day, three ministers died. And they died at the same time. And they all appeared before Peter at the pearly gates. Peter congratulated them and welcomed them in, and he said, “Gentlemen, hold steady. We’re a little backed up. I need to make a phone call.” So he called Lucifer and said, “Listen, we’ve got three that just checked in. We’re backed up. We have to do some organizing. Can you bring them down, put them in a comfortable place for about three weeks?” Lucifer said, “Sure, send them down.”
One week goes by, and Lucifer calls Peter, and he is frantic. And he says, “We got a problem. You got to get these three clowns out of here now.” And Peter says, “What’s the issue?” Lucifer says, “Well, the Catholic priest is absolving everybody of their sins. And the Church of Christ minister is baptizing everyone. But the worst problem of all is the Charismatic preacher. He’s raised enough money to air-condition the entire place.” I thought you’d like that.
I’m going to attempt to distill six messages into one. I know we’re on the clock, and I will do my best. So I covet your prayers. Lord, give me the gift of being concise.
The Subplot: A Clash of Temples
As John said, you can entitle this message, A Collision of Temples. God’s restoration work continues. The New Testament contains a subplot. It’s a richly layered narrative that can be described as a clash of temples, and here’s a quick overview.
In the Gospels, the subplot is the old temple meets the new temple, and in the book of Acts, it’s broken up into two parts:
- Acts 1-12 can be described as the old temple versus the new temple
- Acts 13-28 can be described as the false temple versus the true temple
And the rest of the New Testament is really a description of the tension between the false temple and the old temple with the new temple. When the new temple meets the old temple, you have popcorn. And when the false temple meets the true temple, you have fireworks. I want to show this to you in the New Testament, and then make some application.
The Scriptural Meaning of the Temple
Let’s first discuss the scriptural meaning of the temple. What does the temple mean in the Bible? Primarily, it means two things:
- The temple is God’s living quarters. It’s His abode. It’s where He dwells.
- It represents worship. The Jerusalem temple was the place where people worshiped God, the living God, and it was also the place where heaven and earth intersected.
They overlapped in the Jerusalem temple. Two realms came together, and this is the reason why, if you examine the Jerusalem temple, there are images of the Garden of Eden all throughout it, all inside it. It was echoing back to the time when God and humans interacted and there was an overlap of heaven and earth.
The Old Temple
Now, with that in mind, during the Old Testament era, the old Jerusalem temple was God’s idea. He designed it, He dwelt in it, He blessed it, but it was a signpost. It was a symbol. It was a shadow of a new temple that was to come, and that new temple arrived when Jesus Christ broke into the scene and came to this planet.
At that moment, under the New Covenant, when Christ made His appearance on this earth, the Jerusalem temple became the old temple, and the old temple represents the following:
- Human-Invented Religion (Religious Tradition)
In Mark 7:13, Jesus made an arresting statement. He said to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, “You nullify the Word of God, you cancel the Word of God, you make void the Word of God by your tradition.”
What does the Scripture say about the Word of God? God’s Word will not return void. God watches over His Word to perform it. The Word of God is active and living and powerful. God has exalted His Word even above His name, and yet, one thing can stop the Word of God dead in its tracks. Human tradition, religious tradition, and that’s one of the things, brothers and sisters, that the old temple represents.
- Empty Rituals
The old temple, the Jerusalem temple, focused on maintaining religious ceremonies rather than encountering the living God. God left the temple during the New Testament era, even before that, but you still had the priests slinging blood on the bronze altar. You still had the priests lighting the candlestick, the lampstand. You still had the high priest go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. He poured blood on the ground because there was no Ark of the Covenant. It was gone. God left, but they still were going through the motions.
So it represents dead religion without life. And brothers and sisters, listen to me carefully. You can make a biblical thing, you can make a scriptural thing, a dead, empty ritual, if you’re doing it out of religious obligation and not the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- W. Tozer made the statement, and I think it’s riveting. He said if the Holy Spirit was removed from most churches today, they would still go on as business as usual. So that’s the second thing that the old temple represents.
Second Timothy chapter 3, Paul talks about those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power therein. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul is speaking about the difference between the Law and the Spirit. And he says, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” So it represents empty, dead religion and rituals.
- Exclusivity
The final thing that the old temple represents is exclusivity. The temple authorities in the first century were the self-anointed gatekeepers who decided who was in and who was out. And they drew a sharp, clear line between the insiders, who were the Judeans and the Jewish people, and the outsiders, who were the Gentiles and the Samaritans. Exclusivity is another feature of the old temple.
The False Temple
Now that brings us to the false temple. What does the false temple represent? It represents all of what the pagan temples in the first century stood for. The statues and images of the pagan gods were put into the pagan temples and they were worshiped there. And three of them are significant:
- Kratos, the god of power
- Plutus, the god of wealth
- Aphrodite, the god of lust
When the apostles preached that Jesus of Nazareth was Lord, Jesus of Nazareth was Lord, they were saying Caesar is not the real Lord. But they were also saying that Kratos, the god of power, is not Lord. They were also saying that Plutus, the god of wealth, is not Lord. And they were saying that Aphrodite, the god of lust, is not Lord. That’s why there were riots breaking out everywhere Paul and the other apostles preached.
What the False Temple Represents
Consequently, the false temple represents:
- Idolatrous Systems
These systems compete with our complete allegiance to Jesus Christ, this world’s true Lord. And power and money and lust are the main idols we contend with today. Sisters and brothers, Kratos is still alive. Plutus is still at work. Aphrodite, she’s still operating.
- Material Prosperity, Security, and Pleasure as the Ultimate Aim of Life
Pagan temples in the first century were intertwined with commerce, security, and sensuality. And those were cultural idols then and they are cultural idols today.
- Validation Outside of Jesus Christ.
If you were a pagan in the first century, you were validated by attending the pagan festivals and frequenting the pagan temples. And sisters and brothers, today humans seek validation in their country, their race, their nationality, their social media status, all outside of Jesus Christ. The false temple embodies all of those things. And the false temple, what it represents, is still at work today.
And by the way, last year I independently coined a term that describes the combination of the old temple in Jerusalem (the religious temple) with the false temple of paganism. I call it the Industrial Religious Complex. And that’s another conversation.
The Collision in the Gospels: The Old Temple Meets the New Temple
Let’s look at how this plays out in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. We don’t have time to trace it throughout the New Testament. I’m talking about this collision of temples.
In the Gospels, Jesus Christ is clearly the new temple. He has replaced, outshined, upstaged, overshadowed the old temple. And that’s why there was constant conflict between the old temple and the leaders of it with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you some snapshots.
Examples from the Gospels
John 1: The text says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory.” Well, the Greek word for dwelt is literally tabernacled. And John is telegraphing to us that Jesus Christ was the embodiment of the tabernacle of Moses, where the glory of God came and filled it. Here was the reality of the tabernacle, Jesus of Nazareth. God’s glory was in Him and on Him. God dwelt in Him.
John 2: Jesus declares, “Destroy this temple, and I’ll raise it up in three days.” He was speaking of Himself. He was saying that He was the replacement of the Jerusalem temple, the old temple.
Mark 2: Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins. Forgiving sins was a temple function, and He was accused of blasphemy when He did that. In that same chapter, Jesus heals a paralyzed man. Healing was also a temple function, and Jesus is taking it over.
John 7: During the Feast of Tabernacles, they had a water-pouring ceremony, and Jesus declares, “I am the living water. This is a picture. It points to Me” (my paraphrase).
John 8: He says, “I am the light of the world.” That was also during the Feast of Tabernacles when they had the large lamps lit in the temple, and the people could see them, and Jesus says, “I’m the real light. These lamps are a shadow. I’m the real temple.”
Matthew 12: He made the statement, “Something greater than the temple is here.” Again, He’s the real temple.
Matthew 21: He cleansed the temple. He was physically confronting the temple’s corrupt practices and religious hierarchy.
Luke 21: He predicted that the temple would be destroyed, and that’s what happened in A.D. 70. That act showed that God brought judgment on the old temple because the new temple had arrived.
Matthew 27 and Hebrews 10: When Jesus died, the temple veil was rent from top to bottom. And we learn from Hebrews that this was a significant picture and reality saying that the way has been opened. God’s presence is now accessible to everyone beyond the Jewish priests. Christ is the real temple.
John 20: After His resurrection, do you remember when Mary Magdalene peered into the tomb, and she saw two angels on both sides of the empty slab? That’s a throwback to the Ark of the Covenant—the Ark of the Covenant where God dwelt. There were two celestial beings on each end, and God spoke from the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The message is clear. What Mary saw was that Jesus Christ is the reality of the Ark, and God speaks through Him. Hebrews chapter 1.
All of this throughout the entire Gospel record, Jesus is the new temple, and He’s in constant conflict with the old temple and its leadership. And finally, they put Him to death.
The Collision in Acts 1-12: Old Temple vs. New Temple
Now we come to the book of Acts. The new temple versus the old temple. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes and fills the 120, and what happens? Fire falls on their heads. That’s an echo of the fire falling on Solomon’s temple when it was freshly built in 2 Chronicles 7. The message is this group of people, these Jesus followers, they together are the new temple. The new temple, which was Christ, has now been expanded. And each disciple, having the Spirit of God in them, became a living stone in the Lord’s new house. 1 Peter chapter 2.
Examples from Acts 1-12
Let me give you some snapshots of the conflict, the collision between the old temple and the new temple in the book of Acts:
Acts 4: Peter is declaring to the temple authorities that Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, and He has now become the cornerstone, the foundation stone, the most important part of the building. He’s the real temple, and then the Sanhedrin forbids them from speaking in the name of Jesus, and what happens? They meet together, and the Spirit falls again on them. Again, the message is clear. This group of people, these Jesus followers, are the new temple, and the Sanhedrin and the religious leaders are in constant collision with them, trying to shut them up and put them to death.
Acts 5 onward: The opposition to the new temple intensifies from the old temple. The temple authorities see these apostles and the early followers of Jesus as a major threat, and it climaxes with Stephen. And Stephen responds to the charges laid against him by the Sanhedrin, and what does he say? He critiques the exclusivity of the old temple, and he proclaims that God does not dwell in houses made with human hands. His speech is an accusation against the old temple and its authorities. He’s stoned, and as he’s dying, what happens? The heavens open, and he sees Jesus. The scene shows us the interconnection between heaven and earth. Stephen is a living stone in the new temple.
Acts 8-12: These chapters tell the story of how the new temple is expanding internationally beyond ethnic boundaries. Remember, Peter had that vision. He saw the sheet coming down from heaven with the unclean animals. The message was, this new temple that I’m building is going to include the so-called heretical Samaritans and idolatrous Gentiles. My temple is larger than the Judean people. I’m bringing all the nations, and this was prophesied all throughout the Old Testament. All the nations would come to Jerusalem and worship the living God in the new temple.
So that’s what you have in the first part of the book of Acts. You have the old temple and its authorities persecuting the new temple.
The Collision in Acts 13-28: False Temple vs. True Temple
Then you have Acts 13 through 28, which is a clash between the false temple and the true temple. Here are some snapshots.
Examples from Acts 13-28
Acts 14: Paul and Barnabas confront idolatry in the pagan world, and a first-class conflict ensues, and Paul is stoned because of it.
Acts 17: Paul is in Athens. He’s talking to the Greek philosophers, and he gives this stunning message, and he echoes what Stephen said to the Judean authorities, only he’s talking to the pagans. And he says the living God, the real and true God, does not live in houses made with human hands. And there’s an eruption there because of that.
Acts 19: Paul is preaching in Ephesus. Paul is. And his message threatens the livelihood of the silversmiths who are making statues in honor of the temple of Artemis, and it leads to a riot.
The Industrial Religious Complex Attacks
The Industrial Religious Complex will always attack the real temple, the true temple, the new temple. And one of the ways it does it is through false rumors. That’s how it did with Jesus. There were so many rumors about Him, and it stirred up the people to be willing to crucify Him. There were false rumors being circulated, and they were believed about Stephen, and that’s what put him to death. “This man is speaking against the temple,” the leaders alleged.
Acts 21: The same thing happens with Paul of Tarsus. He has a head-on collision with the old authorities, and they just about kill him because of false rumors. That’s a point to consider.
Four Practical Takeaways
Now, I want to put some meat on these bones. Here’s the big point. God’s restoration work did not stop in the early 1830s. It continues today. It has continued for centuries, and it has two chief enemies, the old temple and the false temple. And what the old Jerusalem temple represented is still with us today, and what the false temple represented in the first century is still with us today.
And here are four practical takeaways. I think this is where the rubber meets the road, because we can survey the New Testament and see clearly saying, “Yeah, there is a collision of temples. The old against the new, the false against the true. Isn’t that wonderful?” But there’s a practical application here, and so I’m going to give you four.
Takeaway #1: The Old Work of God Will Always Persecute the New Work of God
The old work of God will always persecute the new work of God, and the leaders of the old work either attack or ignore the leaders of the new work. This and the other three takeaways I’m going to give you are truths that will help keep us aligned with God’s restoration work today, and this is one of them.
Judaism was once God’s work. It’s all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet when Christ came into the world, it became His enemy, the very enemy of God. What began as a work of God became God’s adversary. The old temple persecuted the new temple, and this is a truism that runs throughout church history.
The Reformers—and this is Reformation Day, hat-tip to Martin Luther—the Reformers attacked the Anabaptists, and I know we have some people in this audience who recognize that God used the Anabaptists. Can I get a little bitty amen on that from somebody? The Anglicans attacked John Wesley and his movement. Follow me here. The old work of God attacks the new work of God.
The Reformers were being slaughtered by the Roman Catholic Church. Then they turned around and attacked the Anabaptists. The Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians rejected the Stone-Campbell Movement. I should get an amen on that one.
This principle continues today, brothers and sisters. The old work of God will always attack the new work of God. It’s written in the bloodstream of the universe, and if you’re going to continue in God’s restoration work, sisters and brothers, be warned. Be aware.
Takeaway #2: Beware the Danger of Being Captured by the Same Spirit You Oppose
This is a tough one. Beware the danger of being captured by the same spirit you oppose. I’m going to illustrate this one historically.
There were two movements that began in the early 1830s. Same time, almost the same day. One began in the United States. You are all familiar with that movement. Another began at the same time in Plymouth, England.
Both movements recognized that the church of their day was in ruins. Both movements recognized that God wanted to restore the pristine simplicity of the church. Both movements said that creeds are divisive. Both movements said that God wants unity. “The church is one,” they said. So they stood for the oneness of the body of Christ. Both movements sought to return to the simplicity of New Testament principles and practices. If you compare the movements, they are uncanny in their similarity, and they both started on different continents.
But here’s what happened. In time, both movements began to fracture. Both movements began to splinter. And some, underscore and put in bold the word some, some of those splinterings became exclusive, divisive, legalistic, the very things they stood against in the beginning. And that is historical fact. This happened to both movements. What happened? They became captured by the same spirit they opposed.
I remember when I was a young Christian, I started to get into church history, and I was reading one of the Reformers. I’m not going to mention who it was. And at the time, he and his movement were being mercilessly slaughtered by the Roman Catholics. Now he, of course, was still alive, but his movement, people in it, were being tortured and killed by the Roman Catholic Church. And he was writing about the evils of inflicting violence against your fellow Christian. And it was brilliant, eloquent, articulate.
Not long after that, he and his movement began to brutalize, in gruesome and horrendous ways, the Anabaptists. The same guy who wrote these things against attacking other Christians and being violent toward them was doing the same thing. What happened? He was captured by the same spirit he opposed.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is a danger for any Christian who is standing in the lineage of restoration. What’s the antidote? I’m going to give you one of them, and that’s takeaway number three.
Takeaway #3: Jesus Christ Often Comes to Us in Ways That Make It Easy for Us to Reject Him
I wish I learned this when I was a young believer, but Jesus Christ often comes to us in ways that make it easy for us to reject Him. I’ll repeat it. Jesus Christ often comes to us in ways that make it easy for us to reject Him.
As glorious as He is, as attractive, irresistible as the Lord Jesus Christ is, He comes to us in ways that we often find strange and that will tempt us to reject Him or dismiss Him or ignore Him.
How did He come into the planet? He didn’t come as a warrior. He came as a frail baby, the Messiah, the King of Kings. He wasn’t born into a politician’s home or a palace. He was born in a feeding room for animals amidst the stain and stench of animal manure.
His parents were not wealthy. They were a poor Jewish couple. And when He broke into this planet, all the Bible scholars of the day who had memorized the Hebrew Scriptures and studied when the Messiah was going to come and where He was going to come from—when Jesus Christ came to this earth, none of them were present. You know who was present? Some shepherds and pagan astrologers were there.
He comes to us in ways that make it easy to reject Him. “He came to His own and His own received Him not,” John says. He grew up and ate and drank in their streets and they didn’t recognize Him. Why? Because He associated with all the wrong people.
I am struck by the fact that the old temple authorities, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the elders, the scribes, the teachers of the Law, they had studied the Hebrew Scriptures and they served the Living God. Yet when He was right there in their presence, they didn’t recognize Him. They dismissed Him. They rejected Him, and finally they put Him to death.
He comes to us in ways that make it easy for us to reject Him. And brothers and sisters, none of us is immune to this. I can go through so many Scriptures where Jesus is speaking about this very thing. You know, He told His disciples, “If they reject you, guess what? They reject Me.”
Or when John said to Him, “Hey, Jesus, we saw some dude casting out demons, but He wasn’t part of our movement. He’s not with us. Rebuke Him.” And Jesus had some strong words to say. He said, “Don’t stop Him. If he’s not against me, He’s for me.” That’ll throw your theology off a little bit.
The Standard for Receiving Others
Paul had a problem with the divisions in the Roman church, and in Romans 15:7 (this is a good verse to tattoo on your forehead), he gave the standard for receiving a person as a fellow believer. He said, “If Christ has received them, we ought to receive them. If Christ has received them, you receive them” (paraphrase).
“But they don’t believe like we do!” I’m not talking about denying the deity of Jesus, or His atoning death, or His bodily resurrection. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the 10 million plus other things that Christians divide over and excommunicate each other over.
Sisters and brothers, if Christ has received a person, we must receive them. If not, we’re not on biblical grounds. We grieve the Holy Spirit. We’re being divisive, elitist, exclusive, etc. And this is what Paul was dealing with in Romans 14 and 15. Read it. And he’s talking about meat eaters, and vegetarians, and Sabbath day keepers, and people who regard every day the same. Well, you can insert in there your favorite doctrinal distinctive.
Jesus Is Active in Many Camps
The tragedy today is that many cessationists reject Charismatics. (A cessationist believes that miracles and healing have stopped. The Holy Spirit doesn’t do what He did in the first century anymore. That’s all gone.)
And many Charismatics reject cessationists. And many Calvinists reject Armenians and say they’re heretics. And many Armenians reject Calvinists and say they’re heretics.
And yet, Jesus Christ is active in all those camps. I’m going to say it again, flat-footedly, unapologetically. Jesus Christ is active in all those camps. There are people who love Jesus Christ who are Armenians, Calvinists, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, Christian Missionary Alliance, etc. I’m talking to unity people here. I should hear a resounding amen.
“Frank, are you saying they’re all saved?” I’m not talking about everybody, but goodness me, if they’ve named His name, they’ve repented, they’ve given their believing allegiance to Him, they’ve been baptized in His name—sisters and brothers, who are we to say they are not part of Jesus Christ?
Diversity Is a Sign of Fullness
Diversity is not a threat. Diversity is a sign of fullness. Look at your physical body. All the different parts are diverse. That’s Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 12. We’re not all the same. We don’t all function the same.
And I am arrested at the fact that the Reformers drew their swords against one another over these seemingly small differences over the Lord’s Supper. Some said, “The bread and the wine are the actual body and blood of Jesus.” And others said, “Well no, Jesus is with the bread and the wine.” And over that, they drew blood.
Takeaway #4: Understand Who You Are in Christ and What Your True Identity Is
All right, here’s takeaway number four. Understand who you are in Christ and what your true identity is. If you have repented and you have entrusted yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, you’ve believed on Him, you’ve given Him your allegiance, you’ve been baptized in His name, then put your hand on your stomach. I hope you never forget what I’m going to tell you.
Do you know what’s beneath your hand? The living God. The God of the universe dwells inside of you. You are the temple of the living God right now.
Well, Brother Frank, that sounds like new age religion. I mean, we weren’t taught this. Is that right? Well then, listen to the New Testament:
What the New Testament Says
1 Corinthians 3:16 — Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.
1 Corinthians 3:17 — The temple of God is holy. Which temple you are?
1 Corinthians 6:19 — Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?
2 Corinthians 6:16 — For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, I will walk in them, I will be their God, they shall be my people. We’re talking about the New Covenant and Paul is quoting that statement.
Romans 8:9-11 — But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
2 Timothy 1:14 — Guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
The Reality of the Indwelling Spirit
Sisters and brothers, the Holy Spirit is a person. He’s real. He lives. He speaks. He guides. He leads. And if you are in Christ, He lives in you as a person. Praise the Lord.
I’m not sure how many of you know this, but Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone both believed in the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Both of them. It’s crystal clear in their writings. Later in time, Alexander Campbell began to emphasize that the indwelling Spirit was a reality. However, in conversion and sanctification, the Holy Spirit always works with the Word of God. And that’s true.
But he never said that the Holy Spirit was replaced by the Bible. He never said that the Bible was the equivalent of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit always works with the Scripture because He inspired it. And if the Holy Spirit guides and leads a person to do something or say something, it will always be in line with Scripture. When it comes to service, ministry, and fellowship, the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written Word of God.
The Distinction Between Scripture and Christ
Sisters and brothers, this [holding up the Bible] is not the Holy Spirit. And Jesus Christ is not this Bible, this book. This book points to Him. This book reveals Him. This book magnifies Him. Not just in the New Testament, but Genesis chapter 1 points to Christ. He’s the real light. He’s the reality of who Adam was. Paul says this in Romans chapter 5. Adam was a figure of Him who was to come. First Corinthians 15. Jesus Christ is the last Adam. He’s the second man. All of it points to Christ.
But the Word of God, the written Word of God now, and Jesus Christ, while they’re not separate, they are distinct. If you were to be able to see into the other realm, you would not see Jesus sitting at the right hand of God the Father as a book. The Bible is not sitting at the right hand of God. Jesus is a real person. And guess what? He is in the Spirit now. And when Christ ascended, He descended in the Spirit. And that’s what you had on the day of Pentecost, and that’s what you have all throughout the New Testament.
The Challenge and the Call
Here’s my closing point. I got one more bomb to drop, and I hope you’re encouraged by it.
The Lord Jesus Christ continues to build His new temple and His true temple, His ecclesia, which replaces the old temple and the false temple. And it’s in conflict with both even today, because the old temple still lives and so does the false temple.
The Lord is looking for a people who will transcend human-invented traditions, even those that have come from their own camp. No matter where you’re from, we all have them, as well as the idols and carnal influences of the world system, that is, the false temple.
And every generation who takes this stand for the new temple of the living God, standing in the lineage of the restorationists who preceded us, will be in conflict with the old temple and the false temple. They will be persecuted and attacked at worst, or dismissed and ignored at best by the Industrial Religious Complex.
Become What You Already Are
And here’s the challenge to all of you in this room who have taken that stand, and anybody listening to this recording—become what you already are, and don’t look to the left or to the right, and ignore the ignorers, and don’t allow the persecutors and the attackers to make you crumble, but become what you already are, and that is the temple of the living God, individually and corporately.
And sisters and brothers, that is what the Lord is looking for. That is what is pleasing to His heart.
Here’s the attitude and posture. “It doesn’t matter where the opposition comes from. Old temple or false temple, I’m going to stand, and I’m going to stand, and I’m not going to move. I am the temple of the living God. The body that I meet with, we collectively, are the temple of the living God. We will be led by Him. We will allow Him to guide us. We will allow Him to reveal Himself through us. We are here for His expression. And it doesn’t matter if we are small and insignificant, and nobody knows us. We’re on the map in heavenly realms.”
And that is what the Lord is looking for.
The above conference message was delivered by Frank Viola on October 31, 2025 at a Christian college in Lansing, Michigan.
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