June 22, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory." — Zechariah 6:13 · KJV

Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple, and He has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable affection, His omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was with Solomon's temple, so with this one: the materials need to be made ready. There are the cedars of Lebanon, but they are not yet framed for the building; they have not been cut down, shaped, and made into those planks of cedar whose fragrant beauty will gladden the courts of the Lord's house in paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry; they must be cut out and squared. All this is Christ's own work. Each individual believer is being prepared, polished, and made ready for his place in the temple, but Christ's own hand performs the preparation. Afflictions cannot sanctify except as He uses them to that end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashions our hearts aright. As in the building of Solomon's temple "there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house," because everything was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy, so it is with the temple that Jesus builds: the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made fit here—all that, Christ will do for us beforehand—and when He has done it, we shall be carried by a loving hand across the river of death and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to stand as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord. Beneath His eye and care the edifice shall rise, majestic, strong, and fair, and shine above the skies.