9/13/98: Up before dawn to catch a train to visit a church in Agra… I was asked to preach and drew up on Hebrews 7:24-8:2 as well as 2 Corinthians 6:16… The church was a warm and friendly group of Christians who invited us to join them for a delicious community meal after the worship service… We visited the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal complex later in the afternoon… The architecture is staggering to behold in person…
9/13/23: The Taj Mahal (“Crown Of The Palace”) was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to inter and memorialize his wife. Shah Jahan spent so much money on this and other extravagant building projects, that he was imprisoned by his own son to stop the expenditures! The Taj is, of course, more beautiful than postcards or coffee table photo books can show. One can only sense its magnificence and grandeur by standing barefoot on the cool marble lanai in the shadow of its towering minarets and domed central building. And yet, like Shah Jahan’s son, I could not help but wonder at the incongruity of such an expense for the dead.
For my sermon at church, I knew that we would be visiting the famous mausoleum later in the day, so, I chose to preach from Hebrews 7:24-8:2. The passage picks up on some architectural imagery that stresses temporality, while also explaining why there is no great burial memorial to Jesus Christ, for He is resurrected and continues in His priestly role still…
Hebrews 7:24 (ESV) …but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. … 8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man…
While the Taj Mahal itself is a burial memorial, Shah Jahan also commissioned two additional beautiful buildings on either side of the mausoleum, one of which is a mosque, or place of worship for Muslims. Christians have also built magnificent places of worship throughout history. Therefore, in my sermon I tried to encourage the Christians in that church in Agra, who are sometimes persecuted for their faith, with what the Bible says about God’s actual current “dwelling place”:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV) 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
I am thankful that there are beautiful buildings and art all around the world, and that I have had the good fortune to get to see some of them up close. But I am all the more thankful for a living God who takes up residence within those who believe, and begins to rebuild and transform our earthly “tent” into and glorious “heavenly dwelling” for Himself! What a strange and beautiful mystery.
NOTE: The photo above shows Ruth in the gardens of the Taj Mahal complex.
