ext still further reminds us that the Priest-King of men
builds among men the Temple of God.

The Prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity
with the gigantic palaces and temples which Assyrian and Babylonian
monarchs had a passion for rearing. They had learned to regard the king
as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings. Zechariah
foretells that the true King shall rear a temple more lasting than
Solomon's, more magnificent than those which towered on their
marble-faced platforms over the Chaldean plain.

Christ is Himself the true Temple of God. Whatsoever that shadowed
Christ is or gives. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead. 'The
glory' which once dwelt between the cherubim, 'tabernacled among us' in
His flesh. As the place of sacrifice, as the place where men meet God,
as the seat of revelation of the divine will, the true tabernacle which
the Lord hath pitched is the Manhood of our Lord.

Christ builds the temple. By faith, the individual soul becomes the
abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of
Glory. 'Know ye not that ye are the temples of God?' By faith, the whole
body of believing men 'are builded together for an habitation of God
through the Spirit.'

Christ builds this temple because He is the Temple. By His incarnation
and work, He makes our communion with God and God's dwelling in us
possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends
them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life, He
hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so
that 'coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house.'

Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work. Our
prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an
excuse for indolence. Underlying all our poor labours, and blessing them
all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the
line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labours, in the strength
of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be
few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned Priest,
even _He_, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the
temple.

Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is
yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history.
For the present, there has to be much destructive as well as
c