Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 5 April, 2026
“Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone,
a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. 28:16)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
He Suffered Under Pontius Pilate [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 18:28-19:22
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 15
I. Historical
II. Public
III. Crucifixion
IV. Legal
Psalms: 92:1-6; 18:43-50; 22:14-20; 2:1-8
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Jews and Gentiles United in Christ (11)
The New Testament Temple of God [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
Text: Ephesians 2:21-22
I. Its Harmonious Fitting
II. Its Organic Growth
III. Its Local Manifestation
Psalms: 89:1-6; 19:1-8; 118:17-26; 114:1-8
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
D. M. Lloyd-Jones: “We must forget ourselves and think of the [temple] wall, the building, and realize together that it is the Lord who decides where we are to be and what we are to be, and what particular function we are to perform. And, believe me, if you are in this building, or are going to be in this building, you will be formed and fashioned. It is God’s building, let us remember, and if you and I do not apply the teaching and the instruction and the message of the Scriptures as we ought, God has another way of doing it. Read the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and you will see what I mean. ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’ If the appeals and arguments of the gospel do not make you discipline yourself, and if these corners and irregularities are not got rid of, he has got a mighty chisel and a mighty hammer, and he will knock them off you. We all know something about this in our personal experience. He humbles us, he brings us down, and he has many ways of doing it. He can do it through illness or sickness, or death, or sorrow, failure, misunderstanding: a thousand and one things. And he does it. Thank God he does. For if he did not do it to us, none of us would finally be fit to be in that wall” (God’s Way of Reconciliation, p. 470).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Bob & Carolyn Prins, Kyle Prins and Mrs. Clara VanBaren from Trinity PRC, and Suet Wan (Huiyi’s mother) from the CERC in Singapore.
The April Covenant Reformed News is available on the back table.
Monday night catechism classes:
6:30 PM: Felicity & Sophie (Juniors NT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 2) – TEST
Tuesday Bible study will meet at 11 AM to study God’s essential oneness or simplicity of nature.
The Belgic Confession class meets at 7:30 PM on Wednesday to consider the victory of the general resurrection.
Men’s Bible study is this Saturday, 11 April, at 7:30 PM on-line, treating Psalm 142, using A 30 Day Walk With God Through the Psalms.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “O God, Strengthen My Hands” (Nehemiah 6).
The Council meets next week Monday, 13 April at 7 PM.
Offerings: £1,314.60. Donation: £250 (England), £61 (Co. Tyrone).
Translation Additions: 6 Apostles’ Creeds (Bikol, Iban, Ladin, Nias, Tyap and Venetian), 2 Chinese, 5 Dutch, 4 Hungarian, 3 Polish, 3 Spanish and 1 Urdu.
PRC News: Grace PRC called Rev. Engelsma. Calvary PRC called Rev. J. Holstege. Hope PRC (Redlands) called Rev. Maatman.
Temple
Rev. Dale Kuiper in the Standard Bearer, vol. 78, issue 17
A temple is a place where God dwells. Idols such as Dagon, Moloch and Diana also had their temples. Antichrist himself will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (II Thess. 2:4). But in Scripture we learn that the only God worthy of the name is the God who dwells in the temple, and that in a way that He is not present elsewhere. The word dwell is very rich; one of the Greek terms for temple has the basic meaning of dwelling, resting, or fellowshipping.
The temple idea has a history in the Bible, a history that continues today and shall continue world without end. First of all, the tabernacle made by Moses in the wilderness to divine specifications was really a portable temple (Ex. 25:9). The heart of the tabernacle was the small square room called the Most Holy Place, which contained the ark of the covenant. The cloud which went before the Israelites as they marched from Egypt to Canaan went into the Most Holy Place whenever Israel made camp. That cloud, the Shekinah, was the cloud of God’s glorious presence. God dwelled between the cherubim, above the mercy seat which covered the tables of the Law, all behind the veil. All these things were figures of the true (Heb. 9:24) and patterns of things in the heavens (v. 23).
Secondly, Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (I Kings 6), something that David desired to do but might not because he was a man of war (II Sam. 7). This temple was magnificent. Everything was covered with gold. It was seven years in building. The temple of Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar about 590 BC, and the treasures of the temple were carried off to Babylon. About 520 BC, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the temple was rebuilt, God having put into the mind of King Cyrus that he should free the Jews and instruct them to return and rebuild the city and temple (Ezra 1). This temple was finished in 21 years, causing great joy among the people but weeping among the elderly, for it was not nearly so beautiful as Solomon’s (Ezra 3:11-12). This temple contained no ark, and was later defiled with the idolatrous worship of Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15).
Herod the Great rebuilt the temple on a grander scale in 21 BC. The project took 46 years (John 2:20). This temple was in use at the time of Jesus’ birth and earthly sojourn, and had its veil rent from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus’ death, which death opened the way into the presence of God for all those given to Christ for redemption (Matt. 27:51). Soon after, all legitimate use of the temple came to an end, and the building itself was destroyed when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman legions under Vespasian in AD 70. Jesus prophesied of this destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:1-2.
The next step in the history of the temple is the fulfilment of all Old Testament types, figures and ceremonies. After cleansing the temple the first time just after His baptism, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The Jews murmured at this, John informs us, “But he spake of the temple of his body.” As we said, a temple is the place where God dwells. Through the wonder of the incarnation, God began to dwell in Man; Jesus Christ became Immanuel; human and divine are united inseparably forever. “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
When Jesus raised up the temple of His body and ascended into heaven, He poured out the Holy Spirit which He had received as His Spirit (Acts 2:33). This Holy Spirit of Christ comes to dwell in every elect child of God at his regeneration (John 3:5-8). The indwelling of the Spirit makes of every believer a temple of God. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Cor. 6:16). After Paul admonishes the believer to flee fornication as a sin against one’s own body, he writes, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (I Cor. 6:19).
Old Testament tabernacle and temples. Christ, the temple of God. Believers as the temples of the Holy Spirit. One more step yet! The holy place made without hands is heaven itself (Heb. 9:24). Heaven is the tabernacle of God with men! Heaven is the covenant of grace in Jesus Christ brought to its perfect, everlasting form (Rev. 21:1-5). John saw no temple in his vision of heaven, “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it” (v. 22). Our response to Christ’s promise to come quickly is “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
