June 22 "He shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory" (Zechariah 6: 13). Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple. 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 in this. The materials need to be made ready. The cedars of Lebanon are not framed for the building. They are not cut down, shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty will make glad the courts of the Lord's house in Paradise. The rough stones are still in the quarry. They must be hewn 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 the preparation work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, except as they are used by Him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashions our hearts. In the building of Solomon's temple, there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy. So it is with the temple which Jesus builds--the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with afflictions, no planing us with suffering.