Becoming A Vessel Of Honor Rebecca Brown

156 of demons being present in the temple had continued off and on over a period of almost 100 years. Finally, God brought judgment. He removed His presence from the temple and then the temple was totally destroyed! Now, let’s look at the New Testament.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." I Corinthians 3:16-17.

These two verses are clearly addressed to Christians. Now, if it were not possible for the temple of God to be defiled, then this verse would not be in scripture. These verses carry a sober warning. Do NOT allow your temple to be defiled. If you do, eventually you will be destroyed. It is interesting that the same Greek word is used in these verses for ’defile" and destroy - meaning to spoil, corrupt, destroy; to bring into a worse state; to deprave. (A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Tes tament , by Ethelbert W. Bullinger [Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI 1975], p. 213.) I believe the sense here is that the defilement a person per mits into the temple (himself) will result in his destruction. For instance, if a person goes out and participates in a homosexual relationship, not only will he receive the defile ment of demons, but he may also receive AIDS. The AIDS will destroy his physical body, thus destroying the temple. A born-again believer cannot expect God to protect him from AIDS if he participates in a homosexual encounter any more than he can expect God to protect him from receiv ing demons!

Chapter 9 Defilement of God’s Temple