The Place of God's Rule & Rest

Prayer

Story of the Old Testament / Building of the Temple

We’re back on our journey through the Old Testament, back where we left off before taking a break for the season of Lent, in 1 Kings. When we left off last time, David had passed the mantle of king over Israel to his son, Solomon.

Then we saw how the Lord came to Solomon in the midst of a dream, inviting Solomon to ask of the Lord for whatever he wanted. Solomon pleased God greatly by not asking for wealth or long life, but instead he asked for wisdom, so could he rule over God’s people well, with justice and righteousness. The Lord gave him greater wisdom than any person (other than Jesus) has have ever had.

We get a description of how well things are going under Solomon’s reign in 1 Kings 4:20-25: The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life. 22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25 During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.

Before we step into our focus today, I want to remind us of an integral part of the story, as it comes into play today. Way back in 2 Samuel 7, we saw that David, after having achieved peace in the land, began construction projects - he build a palace for himself, and then he wanted to build a house, a temple, for the Lord. The Lord came to him and said, “no”, instead I will build a house for you, your ancestor will sit on the throne forever (that, of course, turns out to be Jesus). But we also get this from 2 Samuel 7:12-13, ...I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name...

This brings us to what we want to look at this morning, which is David’s son building a house for the name of the Lord. Solomon will build the first great temple for the Lord. But before we get to the actual building of the temple, we need to pull back and take a bigger picture of what the temple represents - and this is important because its a central theme throughout entire Bible. Let me explain to you what I mean (quick note, The Bible Project’s video on the Temple which was included in last week’s newsletter is really helpful here).

In order to get a better understanding of what the temple is all about we actually have to go back to the very beginning of the story, all the way back to Genesis 1, God creating the heavens and the earth. In the midst of the chaos and darkness, God forming and filling, making all that exists over the six days of creation. On the seventh day, God enters into his creation in order to rest and rule. This idea gets played out in further detail in Genesis 2, where we see God forming mankind out of the dust of the earth and placing him in the garden of Eden.

Here are the primary things I want you to see in this. First, is that God comes to dwell in his creation, in the garden, with us. Whole intent, God with us. Second, is this twin theme of God’s rest and rule - all of this is God’s creation, we were created to rule with God, under his rule, have dominion over creation. And to enter God’s rest, his delight, experiencing all his goodness.

That all falls apart when Adam and Eve rebel against God’s rule, decide they want to live on their own terms. And what’s the consequence of that? They are kicked out of the Garden of Eden, out of God’s rest because they no longer wanted to submit to God’s rule. Word “Eden” means delight, God’s goodness.

So this is what the temple represents, what it’s a symbol of: God dwelling with his people, his rest and rule, and they are invited to share in that. That was true even before Solomon built the temple, when God first ordered Moses and the Israelites to build the tabernacle. This was the tent that they housed the ark of the covenant, box that house the stone tablets on which the ten commandments were written. Ten commandments were God’s rule, the Israelites were to live in obedience to God, and if they did, God would bless them, they would experience his rest, his goodness, peace, abundance.

We’ll see how all of this is reflected in the construction of the temple by Solomon, the description of which is covered in 1 Kings 5-8. Obviously we’re not going to read through all of that, so let me give you the highlights.

In 1 Kings 5 we see Solomon making preparations for the construction of the temple, primarily by making an agreement with King Hiram of Tyre who lives in what we would know now as Lebanon, the area north of Israel, and an area loaded with trees - cedar and juniper trees. Hiram will provide the lumber needed for the temple. We also get a description of the work done for the stone needed - stone being quarried, cut, dressed, transported back to Jerusalem.

Now the scale of this project is huge, absolutely immense. Solomon is making a big, beautiful temple for the Lord. Just to give you an idea of how big - Solomon had 80,000 stonecutters, 70,000 carriers and 3,300 supervisors. Even with that many workers, it will take seven years to complete. While we’re referencing time, let me give you a quick side note as far as time frame goes - 1 Kings 6:1 - In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.

From other ancient historical records we have a good idea of when the fourth year of Solomon’s reign was - 966 BC (a little less than 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus). So, quick math, add 480 years to that, we get 1446 BC. There’s some scholarly debate about this, but I think that taking this number literally is the best interpretation, which would put the year of when the Israelites escaped slavery in Egypt as 1446 BC.

Throughout the rest of 1 Kings 6 and in chapter 7, we get a description of the temple, first the building itself, then all its furnishings. It’s a detailed description, I encourage you to read through it, but I’m just going to give you the details.

So the scope of the building was 90 feet long x 30 feet wide x 45 feet tall, about five stories tall. As you can see from the illustration, there are rooms on each side that go three stories high. A portico was part of the front of the temple. Cut stone formed the exterior, the lumber was used for the roof beams, as well as planking for the floor and walls, with gold inlay covering the wood.

Reminder that the room at the far back of the building, just like the tabernacle, the tent, was the Most Holy Place, the area where the ark of the covenant was placed, sitting behind a huge curtain which separated it from the rest of the temple area. This was the area that only the high priest could enter, and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, in order to make sacrifices for himself and for the people for the forgiveness of sins.

Another essential aspect here is how the temple was decorated, because here’s where we get the connection of all of creation as God’s temple, the place where he resides. The walls were decorated as a garden, with carved images of the cherubim (winged creatures), and palm trees and flowers. Additionally, the menorah, the golden lampstand carved to feature flower blossoms, representing the Tree of Life from the garden of Eden. So everything about the temple symbolizes what we were talking about earlier, God dwelling with his people (especially in the Most Holy Place), his rule and rest.

One last thing I want to share about the story of the construction of the temple in 1 Kings, and that’s the dedication of the temple in chapter 8. After seven years, they finish the temple, the ark of the covenant is brought into the temple, elders from all the twelve tribes gather in Jerusalem for the dedication.

Watch what happens as the priests bring the ark into the Most Holy Place, 1 Kings 8:10-13, When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. 12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

God’s presence, his glory, represented by this thick cloud, fills the temple. God comes to dwell among his people. It’s telling the priests cannot perform their duties - this is not a moment to be working, this is a moment to delight in the presence of God, to glory in his presence, his being with his people.

1 Kings 8 goes on to record a lengthy prayer by Solomon, dedicating the temple to the Lord, asking that he would bless his people by coming to be with them, in their midst. I want you to hear this part of Solomon’s prayer, 1 Kings 8:27-29, But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

So notice that Solomon knows that God is not bound by the temple, as if he lives inside of it. Not even the highest heaven can contain God. But he prays recognizing that this is the place that God has attached his name, the place where the Israelites can seek to come into his presence, the place from which God, at least symbolically, they come to enter God’s rule and rest.

After the dedication and the celebration that followed, we see God’s response to Solomon: 1 Kings 9:1-3...When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

God responds with a beautiful affirmation - I have consecrated this temple, made it holy, set apart for me. God did that by putting his name there, this is Yahweh’s house. God is claiming it as his own so that his people know that he is with them, he is their God.

Then that final word, my eyes and my heart will alway be there. This is language that God is communicating that he is really with his people - not remote, distance, unattainable (knock on the door, God’s never home). No, I’ll be here, watching over you, being attentive, listening to your prayers, my heart open to you, to be with you, to receive you, to pour out my blessings on you as my people.

This is really remarkable - no matter how many times the Israelites stray from God, God continues to come back to them with his desire that they would be with him. That they would come under his rule, that they would enjoy his rest, all his goodness poured out upon them. God’s heart for this people - for us - revealed in what he tells Solomon here, really, an amazing thing.

The problem is, as it’s been throughout the Old Testament, their eyes and hearts are not toward him. If only they would keep their attention toward the Lord, offering their hearts to him, coming to enjoy the rest of his presence and living in obedience to his rule. Sadly, this time of faithfulness to the Lord will not last. In fact, their disobedience will continue for so long and be so egregious that God will destroy the temple through the Babylonians. Now that’s a long ways off - we won’t get to that part of the story of the Old Testament for a while.

The Temple

So, where does this leave us? What does the temple have to do with us? Why are we even talking about this? In order to understand that, we have to turn to Jesus and to an incident that takes place in the temple courts - it’s the story of Jesus clearing out the moneychangers in the temple area. The religious leaders confront him, and Jesus says something quite surprising, John 2:18-22:

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Remember when Solomon prayed to God, will God really dwell on earth? There’s no way, he cannot be contained! But God did come to dwell on earth, contained by a human body - Jesus of Nazareth. In John 1:14, when John writes that the Word, Jesus, came to dwell among us, the word used there is actually tabernacled, Jesus tabernacled among us. Jesus become God dwelling in our midst. No longer in the physical building, the temple - but in a physical body. The body that he willingly gave up on the cross and was raised three days later - which is what he’s describing here when he refers to himself as the temple.

Jesus is saying that he, now, is the one in whom we enter into the presence of God - he is God dwelling with us. It is through Jesus that we come under the rule of God and we enter into his rest. Which was God’s intention from the very beginning, when he created it all - that we would dwell with God, under his rule, enjoying all his goodness, his rest. That’s the invitation, that’s what it means to trust in Jesus.

But this goes one step further - it’s not just Jesus who is a temple of the Lord, it’s us, too. We become mini-temples, the Holy Spirit, God’s presence and power, in us. We saw that in 1 Corinthians 6, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?” Same thing in 1 Peter 2:5, “You yourselves are being built into a spiritual house (that is, a temple) to be a holy priesthood.”

Through his Spirit, God dwells us in. Through us, God invites others into his rule and rest. Why there’s no more need for a temple. We have the real thing, God dwelling in us. All made possible through Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Discipline - How do we live God’s presence with us, under his reign, entering his rest? Really what the spiritual practices are all about, being attentive to God in us, seeking to live in obedience to him, enjoying all his goodness.

Let me finish this morning by encouraging you to put into practice what we talked at our Lunch & Learning time the other Sunday - engaging in Listening Prayer & Missional Prayer, using what Jesus taught us, the Lord’s Prayer.

Listening Prayer - Our Father, who are in heaven (rest & respect). Lord, where are you at work in me?

Missional Prayer - Thy kingdom come, thy will be done (surrender and serve). How can I join in and what you’re doing?

Closing prayer - time for reflection