In the same way that Israel and Judah turned the physical Temple into an idol, allowing it to become more significant to them than God, we may have made the church an object of greater desire and delight than the God it was intended to glorify. God founded the church, the spiritual Temple, to be a community of called-out believers, given His Spirit. It is a spiritual organism, not contained within the confines of a physical organization, with the purpose to perfect or complete the saints and foster spiritual growth into the image of God. Yet, like Israel with the Temple, either other believers or the individual organizations can become larger in our minds than God. Because they are visible and tangible, they can receive more of our attention than God, causing us to forget Him, even if only slightly. If regarded or used improperly, these things transform from being the means to an end to the end itself. As the example of Israel shows, God is quite willing to dismantle violently what He has commissioned to be built if it ends up drawing His people away from Him, and the church of God is not immune to this.

Jesus Christ, in His prophecy, spoke of the physical Temple's destruction, declaring that not one stone would be left upon another. While this primarily refers to the physical structure, the concept of a spiritual Temple emerges through the apostle Peter's depiction of believers as living stones. In contrast to the physical Temple's stones being separated, these living stones of God's spiritual house are being built up. Jesus Christ, the Chief Cornerstone, affirmed that He will build His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. This spiritual organism continues to grow, with a sense of positive progress, ensuring that it will always exist in some form, never to be completely dismantled as individual stones scattered apart.

God, through the apostle Peter, calls us special stones that He is shaping and polishing to be part of a glorious spiritual Temple, the holy House of God. Solomon's Temple was a type of this true House, where God's presence made it the Temple of God, just as today He lives in us by His Holy Spirit. If God is active and present in us, we are living stones and part of His spiritual Temple. This spiritual Temple of God is a work in progress, with God building us as living stones on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. The foundation of this spiritual Temple has been laid and cannot be changed; Jesus Christ is the Rock upon which He builds His church. Just as Solomon's Temple rose in a peaceful, quiet environment with stones finished at the quarry, so too does the spiritual Temple come together without noise of hammer or chisel. God is excited to see the different elements of His spiritual Temple taking shape. He is absolutely confident that He will have a holy, spiritual Temple in the end, which will make the glory of the former Temple pale in comparison. God speaks of this task as if it is already accomplished, having prepared us beforehand for glory and delivered us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. After God has planned, selected, hewn out, polished, and finished every piece, the spiritual Temple comes together quietly. All parts from across the world are conveyed to one place and assembled in peace. At the sound of the last trump, Jesus Christ returns, resurrecting those who have died in faith and changing the living into glorious spirit beings. The saints, now like Christ, are gathered to Him in the air, assembling as God's Temple, each fitting into a preordained position with a specific role. Jesus, the prophets, and apostles form the strong underpinnings, while some living stones will be flooring, others walls, and some supports, with a few as pillars connecting the superstructure to the foundation. The holy Temple of God, His family, assembles so perfectly that not even a thin blade could be inserted between the stones. When Jesus returns with His Bride, who will also be the living Temple of God, He will liberate this world from sin. The King will host a marriage supper for His Son and His Bride when the real Temple, the sons and daughters of God, assemble to form the true House of God. Jesus sets the tone by serving the Bride, in a dedication that will be the most glorious ever witnessed. We are handpicked stones, chosen by God the Father Himself, on the Builder's spiritual blueprints. Though the construction may be painful, if we cooperate with Him, focusing on His righteousness, grace, love, and strength, we will be prepared exactly for our place in this glorious new Temple.