A God Shaped Box

1 Kings 5:1–5 NET

King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place. (Hiram had always been an ally of David.) Solomon then sent this message to Hiram: “You know that my father David was unable to build a temple to honor the Lord his God, for he was busy fighting battles on all fronts while the Lord subdued his enemies.But now the Lord my God has made me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat. So I have decided to build a temple to honor the Lord my God, as the Lord instructed my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, is the one who will build a temple to honor me.’

1 Kings 8:1–13 NET

Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem Israel’s elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion).All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month). When all Israel’s elders had arrived, the priests lifted the ark. The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy items in the tent.Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered. The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its assigned place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs. The cherubs’ wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles.The poles were so long their ends were visible from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. It was there that the Lord made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord’s temple. The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord’s glory filled his temple. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives in thick darkness. O Lord, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently.”

Why did Solomon Build the Temple?

[Explain the interaction between God and David - 3 minutes]

God’s temple was meant to be a house of peace. It could hardly be built by a king who was known primarily for his success in war.

A Similar Thing Happened in the Reformation.

John Calvin spent a great deal of time fighting for the cause of reformation, particularly in Geneva.

His was not a physical war, but a war of ideas. He spent most of his life either being attacked for his theology, or attacking others for theirs. He won many of these battles, and yet the church never really adopted his ideas during his life time.

After his death, Calvinism eventually became widespread; one of the most significant branches of the Protestant Reformation.

Solomon and the People Who Followed Calvin Made the Same Error

After Solomon’s temple was consecrated, he insisted that this would be the building where God would dwell forever.

That didn’t happen. It was eventually torn down. Then rebuilt. Then that too was torn down.

Today there is no single temple where God dwells. Rather, God is with us and among us throughout the earth.

When Calvin’s followers tried to establish the church he’d envisioned, they thought they were creating the one true church.

Many of them sailed to America, setting up theocratic colonies which they believed represented God’s true church, a “city on a hill” shining into all the world.

But God could not be contained in a single building, and God could not be contained within one man’s theology, either.

God’s Glory is Universal

The success of Calvin’s reformation was not in gaining political power or discovering the one true doctrine. It was in showing that no one person, not even the Pope, had the market cornered on God’s truth. Just like Solomon’s temple showed that no building, even one first constructed by Moses, could be the sole container of God’s glory.

In both cases, there was a natural temptation to simply transfer allegiance. To replace God’s tent container with God’s new wooden container. To replace the Pope’s Catechism with Calvin’s Institutes.

The truth is found, however, when we stop looking for the perfect box to contain God, and begin to worship the God who refuses to be contained by anything we can construct.

On this Reformation Sunday, may we be reminded that God is still speaking. God is still moving among the people of God, calling us to new ways of being, new ways of acting, and new ways of worshiping. May we allow ourselves, our hearts, and our actions to be not just reformed, but transformed into the people God is calling us to be.