The Supernatural LifeSample

Our Bodies as Sacred Space

Things changed in the New Testament but also stayed the same. God is still other. His holiness requires that we be purified to enter his presence. For us, that’s accomplished by believing in what Jesus did on the cross.

Everything Jesus did on our behalf had supernatural overtones. He went out into the wilderness—the place we would expect to find the forces of evil—and overcame Satan’s temptation. That event was followed by the beginning of his ministry, which culminated in overcoming the devil, who “has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14). Jesus was crucified outside the holy city (Hebrews 13:12). He was unclean because our sins were upon him, and Jerusalem was holy ground.

Jesus’ death and resurrection sanctify us—make us fit for God’s presence. Our sins were “taken away” (Romans 11:27; see also 1 John 3:5). Though unclean sinners, we are holy if we are in Christ. Though imperfect, our imperfections are overlooked because of Jesus. It’s that simple, yet that profound.

We tend to think the Israelites were in many ways more spiritually privileged than we are. After all, they had God’s presence right in their midst. They lived in a world where supernatural, cosmic geography was real. We tend to think we would be more spiritual, more tuned-in to God, if only we had what they had, if only those continual reminders of God were our reality.

The New Testament says they are.

We don’t need a tabernacle or temple to mark sacred space. Our bodies are sacred space. Paul calls our earthly bodies a “tent” (2 Corinthians 5:4) because we are indwelt by the same divine presence that filled the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple (Romans 8:9–11). Eventually our body, the earthly home of our spirit, will die, only to be replaced by a “house not made with hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1–3), a heavenly dwelling—the new Eden, heaven returned to earth (Revelations 22:1–3).

Since God indwells believers today through his Spirit, each church​—​each gathering of believers​—​is holy ground. This is why Paul, when sadly telling the Corinthians to expel an unrepentant Christian who was living in sin, instructed them to “deliver this man to Satan” (1 Corinthians 5:5). The church was holy ground. Outside the fellowship of believers was the domain of Satan. That was where sin and its self-destruction belonged.

It’s time we looked at ourselves through supernatural eyes. You are a child of God, fit for sacred space, not because of what you do or don’t do, but because you are in Christ, adopted by God (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5). You’ve been extracted from the realm of darkness and “transferred . . . to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).

We must never, not for a moment, forget who we are in Christ—and what that means to the world.