Sermon Tone Analysis

In Order to Improve Our Understanding of the Bible…

We are Trying to See the Bible as a Unified Story that Leads Us to Jesus

And We are Doing that By Taking a Look at Several Major Themes that are Found in the Bible

Themes are People, Places, Things, or Ideas that Continue to Pop Up and Play an Important Part in the Story

We’ve Looked at the Tree of Life, Babylon, and Sabbath so Far

Tonight We are Looking at

Temple

A Temple = a Building or Structure that is Considered the House of a Deity and Where that Deity can Be Worshipped

It is a Place Where God Dwells

It is Often Called “God’s House” or “the house of the Lord”

The Temple was a Special Place Where God’s Glory Could Be Found

God is Holy, and Any Unholy Person Who Enters His Presence Will Immediately Die

So the Temple Had to Be Made Just Right

With Curtains Seperating the Holy Place (Where Priests Could Enter) and the Most Holy Place (Where God’s Presence Was)

Rules Had to Be Followed Perfectly

No Entering the Temple Unless You’ve Followed Certain Sacrificial and Cleansing Rituals

And No One Could Enter the Most Holy Place of God’s Presence…

Except the High Priest On the Day of Atonement

And Even Then There Had to Be Many Precautions Taken so He Wouldn’t Die in God’s Presence

Why was the Temple Necessary?

For a Number of Reasons:

It was Where His People Would:

Worship God

Pay Their Tithes

Bring Their Sacrifices and Offerings

But Ultimately Because God Wanted to Dwell With His People

As With All Themes, the Temple Idea Takes Us Back to the Very Beginning

Adam and Eve Were in the Garden of Eden

After They Had Rebelled Against God and Ate the Forbidden Fruit, We Read:

Genesis 3:8 (NASB)

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Adam and Eve Lived in the Presence of God Before the Fall

Before Sin Made Humans Unholy, We Were Able to Live in God’s Presence

There was No Need for a Temple

The World was God’s Temple

And We Also See Familiar Temple Language in Genesis 2:15

Genesis 2:15 (NASB)

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

It Isn’t Immediately Obvious in English…

But it is in Hebrew

The Words Translated “Cultivate” and “Keep” are Very Common Words in the OT

“Cultivate” is Most Often Translated “Serve” and “Worship”

In its Most Basic Form, it Means to Work

But it is Used in Many Different Ways

And One of the Ways it is Used is in “Serving” and “Worshiping” God

One of Joshua’s Most Famous Quotes Uses this Word Several Times

Joshua 24:15 (NASB)

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Many Times the Word is Used in Relation to Temple Service and Worship

“Keep” is Most Often Translated “Keep” and “Observe”

In its Most Basic Form, it Means to Watch Over Something

But it is Used in Many Different Ways

And One of the Ways it is Used is in “Keeping” and “Observing” God’s Covenant Laws

But it Also Involved the Priestly Duty of Watching Over and Caring For the Temple/Tabernacle

1 Chronicles 23:32 (NASB)

Thus they are to keep charge of the tent of meeting, and charge of the holy place, and charge of the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the Lord.

So All the Way Back in the Garden of Eden…

Humanity Lived in the Presence of God

And They Were Put There to Priest-Like Duties

Serve, Worship, Keep, and Observe

The Garden of Eden was the First Temple

That Also Explains the Decorations that God Commanded that the Tabernacle Have

The Curtain that Divided the Most Holy Place From the Holy Place of the Tabernacle was to Have Something Very Specific On it

Exodus 26:31,33 (NASB)

“You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman…You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.”

These Heavenly Beings are Woven into the Fabric as Guardians Separating the Unholy From the Holy

How is that Reminiscent of the Garden of Eden?

Genesis 3:24 (NASB)

So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Cherubim Were Stationed as Guardians to Separate Unholy Humans From the Paradise Garden

Then When Solomon Built the Temple, There was Even More Garden Imagery Added

1 Kings 6:18 (NASB)

There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen.

1 Kings 6:23–28 (NASB)

Also in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits.

The other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of the same measure and the same form.

The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.

He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall.

So their wings were touching each other in the center of the house.

He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

1 Kings 6:29 (NASB)

Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.

(Picture of the Temple)

Cherubim, Trees, and Flowers are Covering the Walls and Doors of the Temple

And 2 Giant Cherubim are Standing On Both Sides of the Ark in the Most Holy Place

All of These Details are to Make Us Think of the First Temple

The First Place Where Humans Served and Worshipped God

But the Temple Doesn’t Just Remind Us of the Garden Temple in the Beginning of Genesis

It Also Reminds Us of One of the Most Important Tests of Faith in the Book of Genesis

2 Chronicles 3:1 (NASB)

Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Solomon Built the Temple in the Exact Location that His Father David had Built an Altar Years Prior

(You Can Read About that in 2 Samuel 24)

This was All On Mount Moriah

We Read About the Mountains of Moriah in Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1–2 (NASB)

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”