Zechariah 6:13

Christ himself is the builder of his spiritual temple, and he has built it on the mountains of his unchangeable affection, his omnipotent grace, and his infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon’s temple, so it is with this one: the materials need to be made ready.

There are the “Cedars of Lebanon,” but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose fragrant beauty will make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in Paradise.

There are also the rough stones still in the quarry; they must be hewn from there and squared. All this is Christ’s own work.

Each individual believer is being prepared, polished, and made ready for his place in the temple, but Christ’s own hand performs this preparation work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, except as he uses them for this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who shapes our hearts rightly.

Just as in the building of Solomon’s temple, where “there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house,” because everything was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy—so it is with the temple that Jesus builds. The preparation is all done on earth.

When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made fit here—all that Christ will do beforehand. When he has done it, we will be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.

“Beneath his eye and care,
The edifice will rise,
Majestic, strong, and fair,
And shine above the skies.”