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Weekly sermons, biblical teaching, and conversations featuring Rev. Wilson Van Hooser, Senior Pastor of Eastern Shore Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fairhope, Alabama.
Zechariah two. I'm a read the whole chapter. And I lifted my eyes and saw and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. And then I said, where are you going? And he said to me to measure Jerusalem to see what is its width and what is its length.
Wilson Van Hooser:And behold the angel who talked with me came forward and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, run, say to that young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst. Up, up, flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. Up, escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
Wilson Van Hooser:Behold, I will shake my hand over them and they shall become plunder for those who serve them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, oh daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
Wilson Van Hooser:And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent all flesh before the Lord for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. All flesh is like grass and all their glory is the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God shall stand forever. And may this word be faithfully preached to you, his beloved people.
Wilson Van Hooser:You may be seated. Preaching God's word is not merely a lesson in history. It's not merely just giving facts about a bygone era that has nothing to do with us today. But God's word ever since it's been delivered to us is a binding word. It's a word that describes ultimate reality and not only describes it but determines it.
Wilson Van Hooser:It's an authoritative word from God Almighty that is historical facts, real things that have happened in world history. It is a good reminder that there is no such thing as world history without biblical history. Biblical history is world history. But it is more than merely historical facts. It is not just some previous bygone dead era, but rather the word of God that is giving us real events from the past is telling us about ultimate realities today.
Wilson Van Hooser:The word of God given to us here in Zechariah and all throughout Genesis to Revelation It's God's word for us not only then but today and all the way through the future. And as we think about that truth, we need to think about the temple and what's the big deal about the temple. Because you might be tempted think, well, it was a big deal for Judaism and it was a it was a big deal for Christians before Christ, but now it just really has nothing to do with us. And if we think that way, we would sorely miss the whole point of the Bible. The temple of God has everything to do with us today.
Wilson Van Hooser:Matter of fact, you will not understand Christianity until you understand the story of God's temple. This is about as foundational and fundamental to Christianity as it gets. What I wanna do is trace a little bit of the narrative throughout scripture. Forgive me, this is not gonna be according to your outline in your bulletin, but you feel free to take notes. But I wanna trace the storyline of what the temple is and what it has to do with us today, and then we will look at Christ and his relationship to the temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:First off, we need to remember this first truth is that really the temple, it began at creation. The old Jewish thought is that when God created all things he created the highest heaven which we would say is heaven, and then he created the lower heavens which is often in scripture described as the stars, the galaxy. And then he created the earth, that three tiered level. And even when God created on earth, he created Eden. It's fascinating even Eden has three levels.
Wilson Van Hooser:There is the Garden of Eden, the broader area of Eden, and then when you go out of Eden to the earth is the outer area, that three levels and those three tiers. It reminds you of the temple where there is the most holy place, the holy place and then the outer courts. And matter of fact, as we read throughout scripture, we see that Eden is modeled and really the temple is modeled after Eden and Eden modeled after the heavenly temple. It's fascinating. Ezekiel points us out in Ezekiel twenty eight thirteen through 14 when it says, you were in Eden, the garden of God, and then it names these stones that are used for the temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:Every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds amazing. And what's fascinating is that when you look at, and you'll see it soon, when you look at how the temple is described in heaven it uses those stones. The story of the bible goes from one Eden to another Eden. And the temple was the place where we would experience the presence of God.
Wilson Van Hooser:The temple in the presence of God, whether in Eden, the tabernacle, the temple, or the new heavens, and we'll look at the church in a second. It was a reminder that in the presence of God, there is where we have covenant relationship with him. There is where all things are good. There is where there is peace, where there is happiness, where there is identity, and where all of our sins are atoned for. Life is meant to be lived in the presence of God.
Wilson Van Hooser:All of your longings in life, whether a secure retirement or whether a secure knowledge that your grandchildren are being raised in the faith, Whether it is your own personal identity or trying to figure out your purpose in life, whether it's to figure out what is the truth and how do I live in this world or how do I have my sins covered? All of it is met in the temple. That's where it all leads to. But we know that in the very beginning that Adam and Eve, they sinned and they were cast out of the temple. But isn't it fascinating that even when they were cast out of Eden, were cast out of the fullness of the presence of God, that God was not done with them.
Wilson Van Hooser:As they went East of Eden, so did God. And we know that through later years that God would develop what was called as the tabernacle, which was this mobile temple. Later on in the year of the reign of Solomon, God established the permanent temple in Jerusalem. And it was the temple where God's presence was most manifest, that was the place to go if you wanted to have a relationship with God. When Solomon had dedicated the temple it says in second Chronicles seven verse one, as soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:So fun biblical fact. Do you remember when God led his people out of Egypt? He manifested his presence with two things, cloud and fire. The presence of God filled the temple in Solomon's day. But maybe we ask the question, we say, well why is that important?
Wilson Van Hooser:Isn't God omnipresent? Isn't he everywhere at all times? And he is. He is everywhere at all times. But in order to come into a relationship of grace with God, what God would do in the Old Testament is that he would use the tabernacle and the temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:Deuteronomy says in Deuteronomy twelve four through six that if you're gonna worship God, you must seek the place where God is to be worshipped, not make your own place. It's a good reminder that we do not worship God how we feel and according to our preferences because that is always false worship. The only way to worship God truly is his way. And so God calls the people in Deuteronomy 12, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way according to the surrounding nations and their idols, but you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There to that place, there you shall go and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
Wilson Van Hooser:And what was that place that it was talking about in Deuteronomy? Well then it was the tabernacle. It was where God was manifesting his presence. But then we ask the question, but the tabernacle didn't come about until the time of Moses and weren't there people like Adam and Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Didn't they enter in into a relationship of grace with God?
Wilson Van Hooser:Didn't they experience something of the presence of God? And they did. The question is, how did they experience it? Now before I keep going, you might be thinking, where is Wilson going? Sometimes it's like watching a complicated movie or reading a dense book.
Wilson Van Hooser:Hold on and all the cannons will line up and then we'll fire them off. So just bear with me. Okay? If you need my notes after, I can give them to you. So you think about how did people before the tabernacle, before the temple, how did they experience the presence of God?
Wilson Van Hooser:How did they enter into this gracious relationship with God? Well, we see all the way back at the very moment when Adam and Eve were cursed because of their sin that God in Genesis three twenty one made a sacrifice for them. It says in Genesis three twenty one, and the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. You can't get skin unless something dies. It was a reminder that if they were gonna have a relationship with God they couldn't just waltz back into his presence with their own sin.
Wilson Van Hooser:There must be a sacrifice. The wages of sin is death. And so in order to go back into the presence of God, to be forgiven, to to experience his peace, to be known as his people and he be our God, where all the blessings of salvation are, the only way for that to happen is by the death of someone else. We deserve death, but if we're gonna live in the presence of God, someone else might must die in our place. These sacrifices, God showed us in the very beginning.
Wilson Van Hooser:And he showed us this because he wanted to show us the way into his presence. Now you asked the question, what does all this have to do with Zechariah and this text in Zechariah two? Well, as we've been preaching through these last several weeks, we're reminded that the temple, Solomon's temple, was destroyed. It was destroyed in May, and that temple being destroyed would have, as it were, preached to the people of Israel and Judah that the covenant has been broken, that there is no way back into the presence of God, that there's no hope, no future, no blessing, no peace. But now for God to say he's going to rebuild the temple, that he's going to dwell in their midst.
Wilson Van Hooser:And even in chapter three as we look at Joshua the high priest, this is one of the most incredible encouragements even as they live life in the gloom. It's a light shining in the darkness. It's a reminder that God has not broken his covenant even though they had. It's a reminder that God was still pursuing his people out of his eternal love for them. He promised that he would rebuild the temple and with the temple would come the sacrifices and the priests and it would be a reminder that they can enter into a gracious relationship with God.
Wilson Van Hooser:That God would draw near to his people so that they would draw near to him. But you notice in Zechariah, notice it says in verse two that here's this man, this mysterious man with a measuring line. The measuring line is something you see in Ezekiel 40 to 48. He's measuring the temple. They're getting ready to rebuild the temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:So here's this vision of another man with a measuring line. He's gonna look at rebuilding the temple. And so Zechariah, again, he's a good friend of ours, he he asked the obvious questions. And so Zechariah says, where are you going? And the man says, to measure Jerusalem.
Wilson Van Hooser:And it's interesting because a measuring line is used to to measure the temple but he's gonna measure Jerusalem. Now the temple was where? It was in Jerusalem but it was smaller than Jerusalem. If you went to Jerusalem, it didn't necessarily mean you went to the temple, but now the temple is gonna be so big that it's gonna take up all the space of Jerusalem. It's gonna be this temple city.
Wilson Van Hooser:It's gonna be something that's actually gonna be so big where it says countless. And look at verse four, it's gonna say a multitude of people and livestock are gonna be in it. It's gonna be so big, it's gonna be like a village without walls. You can't can't build build walls around this because it's immeasurable. This is this promise that this temple that will be rebuilt is gonna be far bigger, far greater, far more beautiful, far more sufficient than Solomon's temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:That God was gonna do a greater work, that out of of the ruins God was gonna bring redemption. But if you know the Old Testament, you look at this and you say, this sounds like a good plan, but when the temple is finally rebuilt, pastor, we never read about how God's glory returned to that temple. So did God lie? And it is true that when this temple was rebuilt, that the manifest glory of God was not seen to return there. But what God is giving here in this vision to Zechariah is more than merely a physical temple, a physical building being rebuilt.
Wilson Van Hooser:It's pointing to the ultimate temple. The ultimate presence of God, the ultimate place where sins can be atoned for, the ultimate place where you can find forgiveness, the ultimate place where you can belong to God in a relationship of grace, not one based on your own works. That this rebuilding of the physical temple was a forerunner to the true temple, the true presence of God, the true glory of God to come. And with all that in mind after twenty one minutes, this is the weight of what John one fourteen says. And the word, talking about the eternal son of God, Jesus Christ, and the word became flesh and the Greek literally says, and tabernacled among us.
Wilson Van Hooser:Eden in the presence of God lost because of our sin. In God's mercy, remember he drew near to to Adam and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and countless others via sacrifice, and then and then even more so he would bring the tabernacle and then he brought the temple, but now something far greater than all of those combined has shown up. And it is God himself, tabernacled in human flesh. And notice John goes on to say, and the word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we have seen his glory. Doesn't Zachariah say, and I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.
Wilson Van Hooser:What glory is this? Hebrews one verse three says that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, all of this tabernacle, temple, Eden, sacrifice, high priest language, all of this in the Old Testament is leading up to this one God man. That the plan of all the world, the plan of all the Bible, what drips ultimate reality, that nothing else in life matters unless this is true. All of it leading to that carpenter who came from Nazareth.
Wilson Van Hooser:Nazareth. God Almighty. Not merely a place you go to in a back room in Jerusalem, but the Holy of Holies in human flesh, born of the Virgin Mary. That is who Jesus is. It shows us that Jesus is the true temple.
Wilson Van Hooser:Jesus is the true priest. Jesus is the true sacrifice. Jesus is the true atonement. Jesus is the one who brings us into a relationship of grace with God. And how does he do so?
Wilson Van Hooser:Well, brothers and sisters, when Jesus Christ came to this earth, he didn't merely come as a temple, He didn't also merely come as a priest, he came as the sacrifice. He himself, that all those lambs and bulls and goats and anything else that was looking forward to access with God, all of it was merely just an external symbol and the one sacrifice of all those who would ever be saved, there he was, that man 2,000 ago who walked in the ancient Near East. The savior of the world. That if you and I want access into the presence of God, that's the man you need. That's the priest you need because he is the sacrifice.
Wilson Van Hooser:He's the atonement of sins and when he went to the cross he went as John the Baptist cried out, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That this Jesus who is the temple would purify us, giving us access into the presence of God, giving us a relationship with God. But then you ask the question, okay, but didn't he didn't he eventually he rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven, so where's the temple now? Great question. So glad you asked that question.
Wilson Van Hooser:Well, brothers and sisters, when Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent his Holy Spirit to us so that we would be the temple of God. We, through union with Jesus Christ the true temple, we are temples of God. Zechariah's vision, Zechariah's prophecy here is looking in part to what's happening today. The church doesn't have walls, the building does, but the people are the church. I don't see walls around us.
Wilson Van Hooser:It's going throughout the whole world. It's as big as we can imagine. It's got a multitude of different people and different nations. Are we not mostly those of us who are Gentiles? We're not even Jews.
Wilson Van Hooser:And yet we've been brought into the fold. We've been brought into true Israel. Is God not fulfilling this vision in part right now? That is why Eastern Shore exists, is because of this vision that Zechariah had. It's you and me.
Wilson Van Hooser:Paul says in first Corinthians three sixteen, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? That's your identity. How is that the case? Because a couple chapters later, first Corinthians six verse 17, but he who is joined to the Lord in union with him has become one spirit with him. When you receive Jesus, you become the spiritual house.
Wilson Van Hooser:First Peter two five says, you yourselves like living stones. You remember all those stones I mentioned in Deuteronomy? You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is not a philanthropy organization that has a little bit of religion. This is the temple of Almighty God.
Wilson Van Hooser:And this is God's purpose for our life. That every decision, every priority, every staff hire, everything we look to do along the Eastern Shore, everything the team of Scotland is gonna do, everything is built upon this foundation that God has made us his temple. And we're called to spread the temple. Because brothers and sisters, one day the temple will not merely be just people scattered about the earth. The temple will one day be all of creation.
Wilson Van Hooser:Revelation 21 verse one through three says this, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. Listen to this, and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place, literally, when it says in John one fourteen that Christ tabernacled among us, literally, the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation twenty one ten through 11, and the angel carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me this holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
Wilson Van Hooser:This temple city had the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most rare jewel, like jasper clear as crystal. Revelation twenty two one through two, then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb through the middle of the street of city. Now think about how similar this sounds to Eden. Also on either side of the river there was the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit each month.
Wilson Van Hooser:The leaves of the tree do not wither. Brothers and sisters, what is the story of your life? Listen. Your Monday job only matters if this is true. The entirety of all of everything about your life, how you think about yourself, high school students, you're about to go to college, elementary school students, you're thinking, I'm going into middle school.
Wilson Van Hooser:What in the world's gonna happen in middle school? College students, you're graduating trying to find a job. Parents, you're to send your kids to college or you're about to near is on your life and your heart, whatever burden is there, none of it matters unless this is true. This is the ultimate reality. The ultimate reality is that despite all of your sin and all of your suffering, if you belong to Christ, if you belong to he who is the true temple, there is a hope and a future for you.
Wilson Van Hooser:There is a heavenly place where you will know for certain that all sin has been utterly eradicated, that there is peace forever with God, that the bright shining face of the Lord Jesus Christ smiles upon you and that you can know for sure that every moment of your life has always been in his hand. Brothers and sisters, this is all the case because of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ as the book of Hebrews points out, he is the divine glory of God. He is God in our flesh, tabernacled among us. Hebrews two verse 14 says that he, the eternal son of God, partook of our flesh and blood so that he can be our high priest.
Wilson Van Hooser:In Hebrews three, it says that he builds a better house of God, a better people of God than Moses did. In chapter four verse 15, it says that Jesus that he is the high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. In chapter five verse two, it says that he is able to deal gently with us who are sinners. In chapter five verse six it says, he is the priest after the order of Melchizedek. In chapter six verse nine it says that even though some people merely externally they have an interest in Christ and then they fall away, But it says in the case of those who believe they can never fall away.
Wilson Van Hooser:It goes on to say in chapter seven that because of Christ, his indestructible life, his divine nature and the resurrection from the dead, that he is a priest who lasts forever. And it culminates into chapter eight through chapter 10 describing Christ as the priest who when he was on the cross went to the heavenly temple to make that once for all atonement. Brothers and sisters, no one is greater than Christ. You must bow down to him and you either will willingly or unwillingly at that last day, but every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that this is the one atonement, the one priest, the one temple who alone has salvation and that anyone and everyone with no matter what sins you have can come to this high priest to have access to God.
Wilson Van Hooser:The mission of this church is the mission of a temple. That anyone who draws near to Christ has drawn near to the true high priest and now he employs us to be priests in this new temple. He's put you to work. And one way he's put you into work is to pray for that baby boy right there. Priests pray for people.
Wilson Van Hooser:You're called to do that. Priests spread the gospel. They minister God's word. We're called to do that across the street and around the world. As we draw near to Christ, we can know for a certain fact that we have the fullness of salvation.
Wilson Van Hooser:As we draw near to Christ we can know for sure that even when we're prayerless he is always interceding for us. We can know that when we draw near to Christ that all of our past sins, all of our present sins, and all of our future sins are all atoned for by Christ. You can never lose your salvation if you have Christ. That if you draw near to Christ that now despite your own sins or any of the sins of someone against you, you are beautified and you are set apart as holy to be the heavenly temple of God. Brothers and sisters, my one goal today is that you would think about how amazing our God is and how he wants to involve you in that plan.
Wilson Van Hooser:That's it. The vision that Zachariah saw has everything to do with you and me today. But you must believe the gospel. You must believe the gospel or you stand outside and you are unclean and the wrath of God is upon you. But if you run with your uncleanness, with deserving the condemnation and the wrath, and you run to Jesus Christ who became condemnation on the cross for you, you will be cleansed of all your sin.
Wilson Van Hooser:All of it. You will be forever washed in his blood, and you will always have access to his presence no matter how often you run away. Do you believe that? Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we do ask that you would show us the glory of this this temple that you have made us.
Wilson Van Hooser:And, oh Lord, how often our sins are ever before us, and yet you remind us that we've been cleansed by your blood, the one true atonement. Lord, we do pray that just with the application that each and every person needs that you would press it upon their hearts, but the big the big application being, Lord Jesus, you are amazing. Lord, save us. Help us to live as temples of the living God. We ask all this, Lord Jesus, in your name.
Wilson Van Hooser:Amen.