S1 E6: The Temple

Through the waters, to the mountain of God, for life in the presence of God.

This pattern is the pattern of creation and new creation. It’s the movement from chaos to order, and from slavery to salvation. God has not left his people scattered and confused, he has not left them bound in chains, and he will not leave them to die wandering in the wilderness. His goal is a garden-city where he will dwell forever in the midst of His people as an all-satisfying source of life and light. We’ve seen him walking on the Mount of Eden, we’ve met with him on the top of Mount Sinai, we’ve entered and ascended the Tabernacle - his mobile mountain, and now we will explore the glories of Mount Zion, that holy hill in the center of the regal city of Jerusalem - the place of the king and the place where God’s palace towers over the world - where He sits enthroned over all things. Just like the Tabernacle and the ancient garden of Eden, God’s temple was built so he could dwell with us, and we with him, always and forever, world without end.

My name is Kenneth Padgett and this is The Story of God Podcast – presented by Wolfbane Books.

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A great way to recall the story of the Bible, is to memorize the order of a handful of mountains. It all begins in the west, on the cosmic Mountain of God in Genesis 1-3, where God dwelled in the midst of his people in Eden. After the people rebelled and were exiled to the east, the whole earth was filled with violence and evil, so God washed the world with a great flood and established Noah and his family on the Mountain of Ararat. But flood or no flood, the same sickness was still deep in the broken hearts of humans, and in the height of their rebellion against the Good King of Heaven they built a rival mountain, the ziggurat Tower in the center of the wicked city of Bavel, often referred to as the tower of Babel or Babel. God confused their language and scattered the families of the earth to the furthest reaches of the world. But he wasn’t content to leave us scattered and confused, no, even before he spoke light into existence, he had fixed his eyes on a global garden city filled and flowing with his light and life, where he would dwell forever in the midst of His people. So he called a wilderness wanderer named Abraham and told him that he would establish this garden city of God through his family. He told Abraham to head west, up to a lush land that he would give him. In the middle of Abraham’s story he is told to head to a mountain in land of Moriah with his only son, Isaac. It is here that Abraham’s faith in God’s promise is tested, and when God saw Abraham pass the test, He provided a Ram as a sacrifice, in Isaac’s place. Gen 22 says, “And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place “YHWH will provide,” For which reason it is said today, “on the mountain of YHWH it shall be provided.” Mount Moriah, where this test takes place is called the Mountain of YHWH. After these things Abraham’s family went down into Egypt where they increased greatly in number, but were bound in chains by an evil king and forced to build Pharaoh’s kingdom. But YHWH saw them, he heard their cries, and remembered his promises. And with the fury of a faithful father God rescued his children from slavery and guided them homeward. Abraham’s family, now known as Israel, gathered at a mountain in the wilderness, what Exodus 3 calls “the mountain of God,” and what we know as Mount Sinai. It is here that he has them build the Tabernacle - His edenic mobile mountain. This tent - the one filled with all the same wonderful sights and smells of his mountain top garden - is set up in the center of Israel’s camp. God’s covenant promise to Israel is that He will be their God, they will be His people, and he will dwell in their midst. The mobile mountain tent, the Tabernacle, shows us that wilderness of Sinai is not the final destination of Abraham’s family, no, God had promised a lush land and He would take them their. What should have been a few weeks ended up taking 40 years, but God kept his promise and went with them. But the people already knew where they were heading. As they stood on the banks of the sea - the sea that had just swallowed up Pharaoh and his horsemen - they sang of God’s mountain. The song climaxes with this line in Exodus 15:17-18: “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—a place you made for your dwelling, YHWH, a sanctuary, my master, your hands have put in place. YHWH will reign as king for ever and ever.” Here the people of Israel sing of being planted (like a garden) on God’s holy mountain - a place where YHWH himself will dwell in a holy, royal sanctuary where he will reign as king over all things for all time. As they depart from Mount Sinai, they begin the long journey to the highest peak in the post-Eden era – the mountain of Zion, the Temple Mount.

I mentioned in the last episode that I will not be saying everything that can be said about the story of the Bible, or even the scenes in the story that I am highlighting, and the further we go on this journey the more this needs to be stressed. Think of a flight across America, the plane starts low and slow, but it rapidly increases in speed and altitude. When you take off you can see people and houses, and the traffic you were just sitting in, but when you get higher you get a different view of the world you’re crossing. In the first few episodes we were in those early stages of the flight, but now we are up at cruising altitude and covering great distances as we traverse the grand narrative of Scripture. But this height allows us to get a lay of the land and notice the most significant features of the story.

Though we are jumping from Sinai to Zion, it was not a quick flight for the Israelites. Remember, the Israelites are the descendants of Abraham, who was a descendant of the rebells at Bavel, who were themselves descendants of Noah – a man who’s story ends in heartache, like his forefather Adam’s. In the Bible and in world around you, if you’re dealing with humans, you’re dealing with rebells. Israel’s faithfulness to God ebbs and flows between Sinai and Zion. If you’ve read, say the book of Judges, then you know it gets pretty bad. But God’s faithfulness does not ebb and flow. It is sure and true. Yes, he disciplines them from time to time, but it’s because he loves them, and remember, through this family, now a nation, God is going to draw all the scattered families of the earth back into his presence. If he abandons Israel, he is abandoning his promise to reverse the curses of Gen 3-11. And wonder of wonders, to the glory of His great name, He will not forsake His promises.

Do you remember the creation pattern that we mentioned in the last episode? Through the waters, to the mountain of God, for life in the presence of God. We saw this pattern in Creation, we saw it in the Flood, we saw it with Moses in Exodus 2-3, and we saw it with Israel coming out of Egypt, through the waters of the sea, and to God’s mountain at Sinai. Well, I probably don’t need to tell you this, but it happens again. The people are coming out of Egypt, which is technically west of the Promised Land, so God has them loop around the southern end and come into the land from the east, so they are traveling up and west as they enter in. In the third Chapter of Joshua, we see God and his people cross the Jordan river and head into the land. Of course this isn’t your typical river crossing. God causes the waters of the Jordan to stand still and the people pass through on dry land. It’s like the author is yelling for us to see and notice this water crossing! Now after they cross the Jordan we might lose sight of the pattern, the next step would be to head to God’s mountain, for life in his presence, but first God has them cleanse the land in which he will dwell. The Tabernacle eventually makes it’s way to Shiloh, about 20 miles north of Jerusalem, but the people, during the dark days of the Judges allow it to fall into disrepair, almost forgotten. They had no king, and did only what was right in their own eyes. Of course they did have a King, their mothers and fathers sang of Him in the song of the sea back in Exodus 15…YHWH shall reign as king forever and ever. In the books of Samuel God gives them a human king, and in 2 Samuel 7, the mighty King David is lamenting that he lives in a palace made of cedar, while the ark of the covenant is stowed away in a shabby tent. He wants to build God a grand house. Now the Hebrew word for house is bayit, and in this chapter there is a great word play happening. As David announces that he wants to build God a bayit, a house, God responds through the prophet Nathan that in fact God will build a great bayit, house, for David. But God means a house-hold. The house of David means a lineage of kings. He tells David that he will make his name great, and that kings will come from him. Does this sound familiar? It’s almost exactly what he told Abraham! He promised Abraham that he would make his name great, and that kings would come from him. David is a royal son of Abraham, and David’s sons will be royal sons of Abraham. But God hones in on a Son who will come, and this Son will build God’s house (bayit), and God himself will establish his kingdom. And this Son of David will reign as king forever and ever! 2 Samuel 7 starts with David’s desire to build the Temple, but gets blown up into a triumphant covenant about another Temple-Building King from David’s house. Even from the song in Exodus 15, the Temple and the King are inseperably bound together.

David’s son, Solomon, is the one who runs with his father’s vision of a grand palace for YHWH. They are now in the land of promise, so there is no need for a mobile mountain. A permanent structure is now in view. The Tabernacleing presence of God makes way for his Templeing presence. But where will it be? Is there a “mountain of YHWH” in this lush land? The Israelites sang of YHWH’s mountain, they called it the mountain of his inheritance, where his sanctuary is, where God will make his dwelling. Indeed, YHWH’s mountain is the place of his provision. 2 Chronicles 3 tells us that Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah. The mountain of Abraham’s test, the mountain where God provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham’s offspring. The Temple, God’s bayit, his house, is a place of atonement through substitution. YHWH’s Mountain, is the mountain of his provision. Mount Moriah is Mount Zion.

Now, I hope you are holding in your head all the imagery of Eden and the Tabernacle. A mountain sanctuary with trees, flowers, water, angels, gold, precious stones, vivid colors and sweet smells – and most importantly, God and humans inhabiting the same space. Like the seven days of creation, the Temple took seven years to finish. It was finished in the seventh month, and King Solomon had a series of seven day celebrations to consecrate the Temple. In Exodus 40 we saw the fiery presence of God descend from Sinai and rest in the Tabernacle. In 1 Kings 8, at the completion of the Temple, we read that the ark was brought up and placed in the Holy of Holies by the priests, and the glory of God’s presence filled his new house! Zion, the great mountain of YHWH, in the heart of the city of Jerusalem, was beginning to look a little like a garden city where God and mankind dwelled together. God’s good goal for all creation is that he would dwell in the midst of his people as an all satisfying source of life and light, and we’ve imagined together how this would ultimately manifest itself in a global garden city. Jerusalem, that holy city of old, and Mount Zion, the place of God’s garden sanctuary, where he rules as King over the cosmos, is a testimony to His faithfulness! Abraham, all those years before had just a hazy glimpse of what was coming, a city with eternal foundations, the City of God.

This is how the Temple Scene reads in our book, The Story of God with Us: God led the camp from place to place, until they finally settled in that long-promised land. Then one day, a royal son of Abraham named David ascended the throne. And, like a heavy rain on thirsty land, God showered loving and life-giving promises over him saying, “David’s kingdom will never ever end! He shall have a Son who will reign and rule over all the families of the earth, from everlasting to everlasting!”From the love that God poured out on David there sprang forth the most magnificent garden-palace anyone had ever seen!

Decorated with glittering gold-gilded trees, fancy-carved fruit, flocks, and flowers flowing in the breeze.

Then when it was all ready, God filled it with His life and light, and a city blossomed around it!

Just like the special tent and the ancient garden long before it, God’s temple was built…

So He could dwell with us, and we with Him.

Always and forever, world without end.

But you’ll never guess what happened next!