Although America had been discovered a little less than a century ago, some 16th century mapmakers put Jerusalem at the center of the world. In 1581 Heinrich Bunting, a German Protestant pastor and theologian, published an interesting cloverleaf map, naming the three known continents, Europe, Asia and Africa,[1] with Jerusalem at the very center; Britian to the north, of course, was known to be an island, but little was known about America to the west, but it appears it was thought to be nothing more than an island, as well. The map was published in Bunting’s book: “Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae” (Travel Guide Through Holy Scripture). The map’s purpose wasn’t meant to be a literal geographical guide, but instead was a metaphor that expressed Christian theology and a medieval worldview (Ezekiel 5:5).
Our perspective of the world, of course, has been redefined since 1581, but the perspective of most Christians about heaven, where God lives, has not. The space we give to God is somewhere ‘up’ there, somewhere ‘out’ there, far, far away. The Jewish perspective had been that the Lord dwelt with them, in the Temple, specifically, in the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place, behind the curtain in the second room of the Temple, what was called the House of God.
God’s Presence was something very real to the Jews. It began as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire by night. After the Tabernacle was built, the space for God was inside the second room within the Tent or Tabernacle that was made for him. Solomon, of course, built him a Temple of stone and precious metals, and his Presence within the Temple was unmistakably felt, in that the priests were unable to perform their duties, because of Cloud of Glory, representing the Lord’s Presence, filled the House of the Lord (1Kings 8:11). Nevertheless, because of the Jews’ rebellion, the Presence of the Lord departed the Temple, just prior to the Babylonians defeat of the Jews and their destroying Jerusalem and the Temple that Solomon built (Ezekiel 10:4, 18-19).
Although a second Exodus occurred, this time from Babylon, and the Temple was rebuilt, the Presence of the Lord was never recorded in scripture to have occurred a second time. Nevertheless, the prophets did promise the Presence of God would return to the Temple (Malachi 3:1), yet nothing like 1Kings 8:11 ever occurred again before the second Temple was destroyed in AD 70. What are we to understand about these things, vis-à-vis Malachi 3:1? Where is the space we give to God, that Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place, where heaven and earth meet, like had been so, when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, when heaven and earth were close to one another and interlocked within the House of God?
What Jesus was doing during his earthly ministry, was redefining the space, where the Lord’s Presence dwelt. He came declaring that God had returned to his people and was presently reigning, but not as had been expected. It wouldn’t have been a redefining, if God had returned to his people in a manner that was expected! Jesus’ miracles showed the people that God was present, and he was restoring all things to their rightful place: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dumb speak and the dead are raised (Luke 7:22). The space where God dwelt was where the healings were taking place, where the parties were, where forgiveness was taking place (cp. Luke 15:7).[2] In other words, the overlapping space where heaven and earth met was wherever Jesus was and in whatever he was doing. He was the living, walking Temple of God, a living, breathing space, where Israel’s God dwelt!
Remember, David had desired to build God a house, but God responded that, instead, he would build David a House. David’s “house” that he wanted to build for God was a stone building, but the Lord’s House was family, a living, breathing House, and David’s Son, his descendant, would build that House, which David desired to build, but according to the idea of God (Matthew 16:18; cp. 2Samuel 7:11-13).
Solomon’s Temple was a mere “signpost” that pointed to the coming reality found in David’s descendant, Jesus, the Son of God—the Presence of God in flesh (John 1:1, 14), vis-à-vis a living, breathing House of God. With the coming of Jesus, the “signpost” was no longer needed! The signpost had become a symbol of God’s Presence and a promise that he would defend his people from all their enemies. Battle and Temple was a reality for Jews from David to Judas the Hammer and to Simon the Star. Yet, Jesus came as the Prince of Peace. A contradiction? No, it was a redefining of the reality that had been misunderstood. Jesus wept over that misunderstanding, “If only you had known… the things belonging to your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes,” and he foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple that stood there (Luke 19:42-44). Israel’s God had returned, but they didn’t understand; a wrong worldview had hidden it from their eyes (John 1:11). Jesus was redefining space, the space where God dwelt. It was a living, breathing space, not one built of stone.
[1] Bunting’s Map of the World shows the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, which are believed to have been the places, where Noah’s three sons migrated and lived, and Jerusalem is placed at its cloverleaf center.
[2] The Temple at Jerusalem was also a banking system, of which the money changers and the buying and selling of sacrificial animals was a part. It was a place of investment, and loans and the center of records for the debts of the people! It is not surprising, then, that one of the first things the rebels did when they began the war with Rome in AD 66 was to destroy the records of debt found in the Temple (see JOSEPHUS; Wars of the Jews; 2.17.6). It was a corrupt system, run by hypocrites who offered prayers for the people, while at the same time enslaving them in debts that should have been forgiven every 7th year in the calendar. Such things add to the significance of Jesus casting out the money changers in the Temple, each time he entered Jerusalem in the week before his crucifixion (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45-46).
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