This Old House from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

God has always had a special place to meet with His people. When the Israelites left Egypt, Moses met with God in a tent called "The Tent of Meeting" (Exodus 33:7). When Moses went inside, the pillar of cloud would descend on it, and the Lord would talk with Moses.

Then the Lord gave Moses detailed plans to build a tabernacle, or sanctuary, for His presence to dwell among them, as mentioned in (Exodus 25:8-9). It was essentially a large tent that could be dismantled and moved, surrounded by a courtyard 150 feet long and 75 feet wide.

The tabernacle was divided into three sections: A fenced-in courtyard containing a tent with two rooms. As you entered through the gates in the courtyard, the first thing you saw was the large brass altar. The message here was clear: to approach God, a sacrifice was needed.

Beyond the altar was the "brazen basin," made from polished brass mirrors and filled with water for the priests to wash. The message here was that you have to be cleansed to enter the presence of the Lord.

Beyond the brazen basin was the tent, which had two rooms inside. The front room was called the Holy Place, where priests cared for the lampstand, burned incense, and replaced the showbread.

The back room was called the "Holy of Holies" and contained the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Ten Commandments carved on stone tablets, a jar of the manna that had fallen, and Aaron's staff that had blossomed with almond flowers. It was separated from the Holy Place with a thick veil.

Inside the Holy of Holies, sitting on top of the Ark of the Covenant, was the lid with two angelic beings called cherubim facing each other. This lid was called the Mercy Seat. The Spirit of God would descend on the Mercy Seat in this innermost room and meet with Moses (Exodus 25:21-22). The Israelites met with God at this tabernacle during their 40 years in the desert.

After they entered the Promised Land, several generations passed, and the Lord provided King David with plans for a new temple. So David gathered the plans, money, materials, and contacts, but David was not allowed to build the temple. It was His son Solomon who oversaw its construction (1 Chronicles 28:11–14).

The structure took seven years to build and was called Solomon's Temple. It was completed around 957 BC. The temple was stunning and richly decorated, serving for over 350 years before it was looted and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, and most Israelites were taken into exile.

After the seventy years of exile prophesied by Jeremiah ended, the Israelites returned to Jerusalem and began building a second temple on the site where Solomon's had stood. The city was a pile of rubble and rose from the ashes of the old one, reusing some of the same burned stones. They completed it around 515 BC. It was not very elaborate compared to Solomon's temple, didn't have the Ark, and some people wept when they saw it (Ezra 3:12).

About twenty years before Jesus was born, around 19 BC, King Herod the Great began remodeling and significantly enlarging the Second Temple. At one point, over 10,000 skilled workers were involved. Herod completed most of the work before his death in 4 BC, but the project continued for more than sixty years after that.

When Jesus visited the Temple during the first Passover of His ministry, John quoted the Jews there as saying that the Temple had been under construction for forty-six years (John 2:20). It was completed around 63 AD and stood for only seven years before the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.

While Jesus was there, He had something interesting to say:

(John 2:18-21 NKJV) So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Jesus said that His body was the temple that would be destroyed, but it would be raised again in three days. Jesus spoke of the human body as a house, a container for spirits. Our physical body contains our spirit, can contain the Holy Spirit, and can also contain evil spirits. Jesus said it this way:

(Matthew 12:43-45 NKJV) "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first..."

The evil spirit called the man "MY house" and brought seven wicked friends home with him. One of the most detailed examples of demon-possession is in Luke chapter 8:

(Luke 8:26-29 NKJV) Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

This man didn't start that way... For example, he may have originally picked up a single evil spirit through extreme behavior. Anything that an evil spirit would enjoy doing a lot of attracts them when you do a lot of it—even extreme fear. So an evil spirit came to join him. Then the man quit doing it, and the evil spirit got bored and left. Then, as Jesus covered above, when the man started back this time, the evil spirit returned with seven more "friends" to his house, and the man's problem grew much worse. So he quit once again, but the next time, those eight spirits brought back seven friends each... 8x7=56 friends. Repeat that one more time, and he has 56x7=392 friends.

Now this poor man was beyond rock bottom. He went around naked and lived in the tombs with the dead, cutting and punishing himself. He had no control over anything and was more like a wild animal than a human. When they tried to chain him up, he would break the chains and was driven by the demons to be alone so they could torment him to the max. This man's life had become a living hell.

The demon screamed, "Do not torment me," at Jesus because Jesus had told them to come out. When demons are out of a body, they have no peace, and when they are in yours, you have none.

(Luke 8:30-33 NKJV) Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

A Roman Legion may have over 6,000 soldiers. The man probably didn't have that many demons, and maybe they were just trying to sound scary, but the Scripture is clear that "many demons had entered him" at the same time and that he was driven out of his mind as a result. I know some people have a problem with that idea, but I didn't make this up. Mary Magdalene had seven:

(Mark 16:9 NKJV) Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

The enemy loves to remain concealed and for their victim to take the blame for the demon's actions. They are okay with you not believing they exist, just as long as they get to stay in their house. They will do anything to stay in their house.

Compulsive behavior that you cannot seem to control is often a sign of demonic activity. Some believe that a Christian cannot have a demon, but satan entered an Apostle of Jesus Christ, even though he was one of the twelve Jesus chose:

(Luke 22:3-4 NKJV) Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.

We can have the Holy Spirit and an evil spirit at the same time, and I have... The Holy Spirit simply moves into our house just as we are and begins remodeling and transforming us from the inside out into the likeness of Christ. He drives darkness out of us one room at a time as we work with Him. This does not happen instantly.

For example, someone who is a drug addict on Saturday night and gets saved on Sunday morning is now a Christian drug addict. Are they saved? Sure! But they will find that those old friends and desires are still there when they get home from church. Will God deliver them from drugs? Absolutely! Once they "Repent," meaning to turn away from and stop using... Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). There are exceptions to anything, but more often than not, this is the way.

Summary: The "House of God" today is no longer a building, for we are the temple of God. People used to travel great distances to meet with God, like the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip met on the road and baptized (Acts 8:27), but Ezekiel spoke of the day when the Lord would put His Spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:27). Paul elaborated on this:

(1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

(2 Corinthians 6:16 NKJV) For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."

Our body is God's temple today, and His Holy Spirit lives inside of us. We don't have to go anywhere to meet with God, though we should not forsake assembling ourselves together, because we draw strength from each other (Hebrews 10:24-25). We are each a living stone, and with all the believers in Heaven and Earth together, we form a living temple for God's presence (1 Peter 2:4-5).

What does this mean for me? God does not live in a building, but inside of you. You carry the Spirit of God with you into the grocery store. He goes with you to work. God goes to a church building when we go, or to a bar. He lives with us in our homes. He listens to our conversations. There will still be sacrifices to make, there will still be cleansing to do, but now He helps us do the things that we cannot. We are the house of God, and He remodels us from the inside out.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please cleanse and refine me from the inside out. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me get in tune with what You are doing today on the Earth. Come and be a part of my life today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!