The glorious Bride in Revelation. Metaphor of the living temple body of Christ. Temple and body are metaphors too. Yet metaphorical words for the living reality. Build the Temple. It means turn humans into individual temples which combine into temple circles of individuals which combine into one big temple over all time, which is the body of Christ. Revelation foresees this resurrected, raptured and all gathered into one and calls this the Bride. What then does it entail to build the temple. At an individual level it means to turn someone into a temple which is a person who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and then to lovingly build up this person to someone blessed, growing — physically, spiritually, mentally, and in wisdom — and perpetually functional as a living temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in uplifting and upholding the reputation of the Father and the Son. At meeting level it means gathering such people together, at times together in one place, and otherwise together in spirit even when not in body, and seeing that these fulfil tasks given each one by God to lovingly build up the temple at its various levels. At a wider level, it means to keep all of these temple circles of temple individuals combined into one, even one over time too, since even those who sleep in Christ (deceased members of the overall temple) are part of the one body of Christ. Members are across continents, and countries, religions, churches and denominations, even across centuries of time. It is one metaphorical body. The metaphorical Bride for Jesus Christ the Bridegroom. A living Temple of God. Now, without the Holy Spirit, is it even a temple? It is vital to find how to lay on hands and preach well the good message of the God-given gospel to open the way for the Holy Spirit to descend on people and indwell them. It was once only through apostles. Then elders were appointed and hands laid on them initially by the apostles. In some parts of the world there has been a continuous succession of this down the centuries such that the Holy Spirit indwelling people and manifesting miraculously has not diminished, and is kept ongoing by monastic and mystic traditional practices. The wise virgins out of the parable ten. For those who know the parable. It all diminished over the centuries among West tradition churches. The West’s Protestant denominations and Brethren traditions considered it to have ceased altogether and formed doctrines around this observation. Somehow Pentecostals saw it return. Many Pentecostals now in the West again have the Holy Spirit miraculously manifesting in people, (even descending visibly onto them, the Holy Spirit has been noticed). Baptising of believers may have contributed to this in an important way, but renewed faith in the renewed gospel message, also discerning appointment of elders and laying on of hands upon them, all contributes. The lamps are lit again. The challenge now is to store the extra supply of oil so if they go out or run low on oil, in the metaphor of the ten virgins parable, they can be lit again when the Bridegroom comes. Those blessed with the Holy Spirit in the West are learning from the East and the Orient tradition churches and setting aside equivalent groups to the monastic and mystical orders, of those with the Holy Spirit to learn to build up spare oil supplies, inspiringly worded gospel messages, accounts, songs, hymns, practices, stories, to reignite future failing lamps. There are communities of such people in such groups as those who write many worship songs. Songs from such groups sung in churches can all help to inspire the worshippers. It is all for the building up of the living Temple of God.
