Sermon - Purification and Presentation 2025

To Dwell in the Temple of the Lord

1. What is the Temple?

1. The Temple is where God dwells on earth with His people.

2. When the first temple was built, God’s glory descended on it, and when it was destroyed the glory of the Lord departed.

3. When the second temple was built, God’s glory did not return, until Jesus entered because Jesus is the temple of the Lord.

2. How do we dwell in the Temple of the Lord?

1. Samuel was given to the Lord and dwelt in the temple his entire life.

2. God makes our bodies His temple when He dwells in us through faith, therefore our whole lives are dedicated to the Lord.

3. When we depart this life we go to dwell in the nearer presence of the Lord.

1. We prepare for death by: Prayer and Devotion; Expecting it soon; Waiting patiently; Live holy lives as though every hour were the last; Keeping a calm and quiet heart; We lay hold of Christ the Prince of Life and Conqueror of death.

A blessed feast of the Presentation of Jesus and Purification of Mary to you dear brothers and sisters in Christ! An alternative name for today is Candlemas, which is when Christians would bring their candles to church, light them, and have them blessed since today we remember that Jesus is the light for revelation. We may not be bringing our candles to church today, nevertheless it is fitting that we would dwell in the house of God on the day Jesus was presented in the temple.

The Psalmist says: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” To put it another way: It’s better to have the lowest place and just barely be in the house of the Lord than to have a comfortable home outside of God’s house. “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” I’m not sure this is always our mindset, but it ought to be, and perhaps this is why the words of this psalm should regularly be on our lips, so that we might learn to desire the crumbs of God more than the delicacies of this world. We ought to desire to dwell in the temple of the Lord.

The temple of the Lord is the focal point of the readings today. But, what is the temple and why does it matter? Remember when the Israelites were brought out of Egypt in the Exodus and the Lord led them through the wilderness as a pillar of fire and a cloud, and the glory of the Lord would dwell in the tent of meeting, filling the tent, later known as the tabernacle. When the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, none could enter it. God’s glory is so powerful that none can see His face and live. When God spoke to Moses on the mountain or in the tent, Moses’ face would shine reflecting God’s glory, and even this radiance was too great for the rest of the people that Moses had to hide His face.

Later Solomon built the temple made out of stone and wood and the glory of the Lord dwelt in the most inner chamber called the holy of holies. Only priests could enter the temple, and only the high priest could enter the holy of holies, and that just once a year on the day of atonement. Even then entering into that chamber was risky business, so they tied a rope around his waist to pull him out in case the Lord struck him down while he was in there.

Years later, at the time of the Babylonian Captivity, when Jerusalem was taken captive by Babylon, the temple was destroyed and shortly before that the glory of the Lord departed the temple. After the Babylonian Captivity the Israelites returned and rebuilt the temple, but the glory of the Lord did not return. Nevertheless, the Lord promised that He would again fill the temple with His glory. The Lord fulfilled this promise when Jesus, in whom the fullness of the deity dwells bodily, entered into the temple as a 40 day old infant.

Isn’t the incarnation marvelous! The Lord whose glory is so powerful that man cannot see it and live, took on human flesh, and the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary became the temple of the Lord. This glory of the Lord was born of woman, nursed by her, held in Simeon’s arms, and dwelt among His people. In His mercy, even when the Lord was physically abused, He did not strike out in wrath. He was spit upon, stripped, flogged, beaten, nailed, and crucified and still His glory didn’t consume His enemies. For the glory of the Lord dwells in Jesus not as a terror to His foes but as the Prince of Peace for all.

So understanding what the Temple of the Lord is in the person of Jesus, how is it that we might dwell in the Temple of the Lord? Consider Samuel. Samuel’s birth story is a fun one. His mother Hannah was barren, she couldn’t have kids, and in her sorrow she prayed to the Lord that He would give her a child, and if He did she would give her son to the Lord forever. While she was praying outside the temple in great anguish, the high priest Eli was sitting at the doorpost and saw her there, but given her strange behavior and moving her mouth but not praying out loud, he assumed she was drunk and told her to go home and stop being drunk. Hannah explained that she wasn’t drunk and revealed the contents of her prayers. Eli sent her home in peace and assured her that the Lord would answer her prayers. Indeed, a short time later, she became pregnant with Samuel.

After Hannah had weaned Samuel, when he was about 3 years old, she brought him to the temple and then lent him to the Lord as long as he lived. This was unusual because the ordinary duration of serving the Lord as priest among the Levites didn’t begin until they were 25, and then ended after they turned 50. But Samuel’s entire life was dedicated to the Lord.

So, too, us! “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” Again, we read in Romans: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” 

Through faith, God has made your bodies His temple. The Word of the Lord dwells in you richly as you receive His word in faith. Once when you were baptized the Lord made you His own. Weekly when you receive the sacrament, the Lord dwells in you bodily. Daily as you receive His Word the Lord is in your ears, and on your heart, mind, and lips. You, like Samuel, have been given to the Lord your whole life long. You belong to the Lord and you belong in His house, because the Lord dwells in you and among you. Weekly you come into His presence here in the Divine Service, where you are fed and nourished, where you fit in together as the body of Christ, where you are one of the many bricks in the wall built upon Christ in whom the whole structure is joined together. Daily, you serve the Lord when you are not conformed to this world, but conformed to Christ, because your body is the temple of the Lord. When you live as a Christ-ian in your daily vocations, you are serving the Lord and living a holy and God-pleasing life, and dwelling in the temple of the Lord as a member of the body of Christ.

That said, our daily christian living is only part of dwelling in the temple of the Lord. For when we depart this life we go to dwell in the nearer presence of our Savior. This is what the old righteous man Simeon recognized when he sang the Nunc Dimittis: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” This is akin to old Jacob saying to his son Joseph when they were reunited: “Now let me die, since I have seen your face.” Simeon has seen the face of God, and is now prepared to depart this life and die.

To that end, whether you want to realize it or not, one of the primary things taking place in church is preparation to dwell in the heavenly temple of the Lord eternally; the job of your pastors is to prepare you to die well. As your pastor, I want you to leave this place in peace and joy, prepared for death whenever it may come. From the lesson of Simeon we learn what it means to prepare for death, and so live in the temple of the Lord.

First: we prepare for death by prayer and devotion. When Simeon saw the Lord he opened his mouth in prayer. Only the Lord knows the days appointed for us, and He alone makes us lie down and sleep. So we can only prepare for death by turning to the Lord in prayer. “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord!” So the Lord strengthens the frightened soul. Death is therefore like a messenger, exhorting us to fly to God in prayer, for He will keep and preserve us.

Second: we prepare for death by expecting it soon. Simeon was ready right then and there to die. The reality is that death slinks after us every moment, and we must always be ready for it. There is no harm in being ready to die at any moment, but it would be a great calamity to disregard death, be unprepared for it, and to die without faith.

Third: we prepare for death by waiting patiently until the Lord summons us. Simeon was patiently waiting for the consolation of Israel, and so we too patiently await the Lord. Like a soldier in the line of duty, we must neither give up waiting and desert, nor hasten death, but we patiently await the Lord’s timing.

Fourth: we prepare for death by living holy lives as if each hour were our last. Simeon was righteous and devout, like other saints, and like we must be also. If we are to die in the Lord, we must also live in the Lord by serving Him in holy and righteous lives. It’s like the rule that we are to live as if each hour were our last hour, and if we were to die in an hour, would we do this or that thing? 

Fifth: we prepare for death by keeping a calm and quiet heart. Simeon was now face to face not just with His Lord, but with the end of his life, and his heart remained calm. This life is constant spiritual warfare for the Chistian, constant labor, and to die is to be with Christ. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain… My desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Death need not frighten us Christians, for in death we shall be transferred from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant, and receive the crown of life.

Sixth and finally: we prepare for death when we lay hold of Christ the Prince of Life and Conqueror of death. We do not see Christ with our physical eyes as Simeon did, but we do behold Him with the eyes of faith. Jesus is the author of life, His word is life, and whoever holds fast to His Word passes from death to life. Christ is the true eternal temple, and when we cling to Him in faith, we shall endure beyond this life. For the Christian death is no death, and life does not end, for death is but a slumber from which the Christian shall awaken and arise to a more abundant life. The monster of death, which appears to swallow us up, in turn ends up being like Jonah’s fish and spits us out, but on the shores of paradise, where we shall abide in the temple of the Lord forever.