Emmanuel: Dwelling in the Temple
Emmanuel: Dwelling in the Temple • Sermon • Submitted
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The Temple of God
The Temple of God
Family Church
Explain fill in the blank sheets
Kids, get ready to answer some questions, cuz I brought my candy from across the street.
Today we are going to continue our Emmanuel series that Devin started a couple of weeks ago. As you can see from the video I played, we are going to be talking about the temple. Not only the temple that Solomon built, but the mini temples that the video referred to. I could just about let you watch just the video and call it good, but I think I might get in trouble if I just showed and video and then took off. So we are going to get into it a little bit. What the temple meant to the Israelites and what it meant to us. And also what it means to be a mini temple. So if your good with that, let’s get started. First, kids, who built the temple?
Solomon built the temple**
Solomon did, right! This wasn’t just some little building. It was huge and amazing. It had to be right? It was God’s dwelling place.
It’s funny.
I tried to put myself in the Israelites shoes. Because this temple is a big deal for them, but it is hard for me to understand why. Mostly because I’m so used to seeing churches and buildings everywhere. Not that the temple was just simply a church. Up until now, the Israelites only had the tabernacle, and they weren’t even allowed in it. And it was just a tent. Now it was nicer than any tent I’ve ever had but mind you, still a tent. For them to finally have a permanent place must have been an amazing feeling.
For me it reminds me of when we first started here at the Outpost over a year ago. We were meeting in homes kind of scattered around. We didn’t have a place that we could call our own. We made it work and grew during that time, but when we got this building it made us feel more permanent. Not that we weren’t already there and doing what we should, but this place gave us a symbol in the community that they could look to and know that we were around. Back to the temple, on top of it being a permanent place for them, and an amazing structure, they also go to witness what happened when God came down and dwelled in the temple.
Now we know that God didn’t physically hang out in the temple all the time. It was however, a symbol of their connection to God. They didn’t have that before. That didn’t happen when we moved into this building, but we have got to see God fill it with all of you week after week. But like our building showed our community that we are here, so did the temple for the Israelites and all the people surrounding them. The temple was a symbol of God’s presence on earth.
The temple was a symbol of God’s presence on earth**
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.
For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord,
so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
The building of this temple was not something that just happened over night.
Many people gathered to see this place. David, Solomon’s father designed it and collected supplies for the temple for years before his death. We know that the temple took approximately 7 years to build. That doesn’t even account for how long it took to collect all the supplies. Can you imagine working 7 years on the same project. We complain about how long projects take around here now.
Some people helped start this project that would never see it completed. David for one. Suffice to say, that a lot of time and energy and resources went into the building of this temple. It was important to the Israelites. But as you know from the video, the temple is eventually destroyed.
The temple was destroyed.**
The Israelites, long before the time that the temple was destroyed, had been wandering away from God. It is kind of a theme among the Israelites. But don’t be too hard on them, because it is probably a theme with most people. We get close to God, and we slowly draw away allowing sin to come between us. Then we get our hearts right and get close to God again. So on and so on. Check out 2 Kings 25 for how the destruction went.
And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
These were now a people without hope. If they weren’t dead, they were in captivity or fled to Egypt. Not a great time to be an Israelite. Their temple was gone. Their land was gone. Their freedom was gone. I’m thankful to have never been in this situation, but I do know the feeling of hopelessness. The feeling of drowning in all of the things going wrong in my life. I don’t know for sure what is going on in everyone’s life right now, but I know that most of you have been there. Maybe your family is falling apart, you’ve lost your job, or someone close to you is dying. Or maybe your marriage is struggling. Maybe your stuck in a pattern of habitual sin day after day. Or maybe its loneliness or depression. I don’t know where you are right now. But I’m sure you can understand the feeling of hopelessness that the Israelites felt in this moment. But I assure you, there is hope. That hope is in the Story of Jesus
The story of Jesus**
I’m sure that most of you know the story of Jesus, so I’m not going to spend much time there. And if you don’t, stick around for the next few weeks because Devin is going to be talking a lot about that. Jesus came and was born to a virgin all so that he could die on a cross for our sins.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John the Baptist is telling the people about Jesus who is coming very soon. Jesus was going to come as a man and dwell among us. Gave up everything in heaven to come down here, become a man, and die for us. That is what brings us hope. Jesus was the new temple.
Emmanuel: God with us**
We have hope because of Emmanuel, God with us. Not just in a temple, not just in a church or because of our pastor or a priest. But we have Hope because God is with us. When we make that choice to repent of our sins and become a Christ follower, we have the eternal hope that God will always be with us. Jesus wasn’t a priest, but he was the true temple and we are to be mini temples throughout the world. Let’s look at Acts chapter 2 real quick.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
That same fire that came down and filled the temple is the same fire that appeared over the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Why tongues of fire? Fire symbolizes God’s purifying presence, which burns away the undesirable elements of our lives and sets our hearts aflame to ignite the lives of others. God empowered the apostles to spread the gospel, and that continues to be our responsibility as christ followers today. That puts a lot of responsibility on us. We are to be a symbol of God’s presence here on earth. Mini temples as the video said.
We are to be mini temples**
What does that mean for us. Well it means that people are looking at you and watching you. It certainly doesn’t mean that you are going to live a perfect sinless life from here on out. I guarantee you are going to mess up. I do it all the time. It is how we respond to those things. I’ll give you an example. Some of you know that one of my children had cancer, and that we went through almost 3 years of treatment for her. The place I work at brought me in contact with a lot of people that are not Christ followers. They knew what was going on because of my constant absences and such. And I didn’t keep a secret either. I tell you what though, I had more gospel conversations with those people during that time, than I ever would have otherwise. Why? Because they came in and said man, I just don’t know how you are doing so good while all of this is going on with you. It was at that moment that I could point them to Christ, the only hope that I had. I probably never would have been able to talk to them about Christ had it not been for the situation we had going on.
Like i said before, I don’t know where you were when you came in here today. Maybe you’re here and you know that you are hopeless without Christ. If you are ready to make that decision to become a Christ follower, or if you just have more questions about it. Devin and I would love to be apart of that journey with you. So come talk to one or both of us any time.
Maybe you already made that decision to be a Christ follower, but are struggling with what God wants you to do next. Devin and I would be more than happy to help you along in that journey as well.
Let’s pray.