Another brick in the wall

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd wrote this song in 1977 with an entirely different meaning in mind, but here is the hook line of the chorus:  All we are is just another brick in the wall.  This morning, the approach that was decided upon was this:  We are all bricks in the wall.  I’d like to expound upon this second position.

Adam, before the fall, would have been fine offering a sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God.  Prior to the fall, he was capable of fulfilling the Law, and as such, he was in covenant relationship with the Creator.  After the fall, man had need of a different type of sacrifice.  This sacrifice was one of atonement.  The atonement in the Old Testament sense was a covering up of sin, to make us presentable.  This type of atonement was insufficient in a number of ways.  While it may cover up our sins, it failed to do anything about our condition of sin.  Therefore, when we continued to sin, we required another sacrifice of atonement.  This system, though, had the purpose of teaching us about the importance of sin and the need for atonement.  The second problem with this type of sacrifice is that while it may cover up our sin, it did nothing to reconcile us to God in the relationship to Him that we, in Adam, had so grievously damaged by sin.  Therefore, these sacrifices of atonement in the Old Testament were mere types and shadows of the great atonement to come, one that would fully wash away not only our sins, but also our condition of sin, as well as propitiate or reconcile us to God.

Let’s say just a little more about these sacrifices of atonement.  In these ceremonies, there were actually two goats.  Notice Leviticus 16 which describes the ceremony on the Day of Atonement.  The first goat was pure and innocent.  This goat was sacrificed for the atonement of sin for all of Israel, to appease the anger of God.  His pure blood was sprinkled upon the altar.  Then the priest would take the second goat and confess the sin of all of Israel upon that goat.  The sin would be transferred or imputed to the goat.  That second goat, or escape goat, would be set free into the wilderness, banished to certain death.  Now, there are issues of mistranslation both from Hebrew to the Septuagint as well as further into the Vulgate, but the story of the two goats remains.  Perhaps a scholar versed in Hebrew can expound on this for us.  But again, this ceremony is merely a type and shadow of the ultimate sacrifice in which Christ will represent both goats in one, both fully God and fully human.  While theories of the atonement are not my intention in this post, these types and shadows we see in this part of the Old Testament should be pointed out for their value in the overarching tale of redemptive history presented in the whole Bible.

Coming forward to today’s conversation about the Temple, what is important is to understand that Jesus broke the Temple on the third day.  What is important to realize is that Jesus became the Temple.  He is the Temple and the sacrifice.  What is more, He is also the Great High Priest.  This is the Work of Jesus in His office of Priest.  We have spoken before about the three offices of Jesus: Prophet, Priest and King.  Here, we see the fulfillment of this type and shadow of the Old Testament in the Work of Jesus on the Cross.

Let’s go back to the verse I quoted in Bible study from Revelation 21.  The whole book of Revelation has been misused and misinterpreted to the political ends of man for centuries.  Again, my series on Daniel 9 is helpful in understanding my view of eschatology.  The label is amillennialism and it dovetails with covenant theology of which you have heard me speak often.  In Revelation, John is recording his vision after seeing the open Book of Life, the book that Daniel was instructed to close in his dream.  The most helpful way to read Revelation is to see the same story told from seven points of view, rather than the laborious and impractical manner of viewing it as repetitious and cyclical.  What we see described is the heavenly Jerusalem.  This is a vital point and one that I hope is not lost in all of the dispensational mindsets that we Americans have held fast for decades.

Israel in the Old Testament and the Covenants between God and Israel are given as types and shadows of the ultimate heavenly Jerusalem.  Israel was supposed to be an example in this world, in this present Age, of what Heaven would be in the future Age to Come.  Unfortunately, Israel consisted of fallen men and became a poor shadow of that which it was supposed to model for us on this world.  But Abraham knew that Jerusalem and Israel were pointing to something else, not of this world, and much greater.  Through the Covenant of Abraham, the promise is made to the remnant, and the promise is kept.  Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise.  Jesus fulfills the Law and reconciles His chosen people, the new Israel in Christ, to Himself.

Therefore, when John says this in Revelation 21:22, And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb, we can discuss this in the context of the New Jerusalem actually being in the Age to Come, in the New Heaven and the New Earth.  These places are not of this world in this present age.  The Temple is Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb, who is Jesus.  Through the Holy Spirit, that indwells all true believers, we become part of the Body of Christ.  In this way, we truly are a part of the New Temple of Jesus.  We become just another brick in the wall.  But more importantly, we should view it like this. 

We have justly become-- all of us elect, through faith alone, by His Grace alone, through Christ alone, to the Glory of God alone, as revealed generally in Scripture alone, and specifically to each of us by the work of the Holy Spirit alone-- we have justly become another of the countless bricks in the New Temple of Christ.

--Troll--