The Temple Teaches Us
The temple built by Solomon was built to teach people both about God and about ourselves. There is a zealous group in Israel today called ‘the Temple Institute’ who want to rebuild the temple again in Jerusalem and not just talk about it. They say,
"No one can say how, and no one wants to do it by force. But sooner or later, in a week or in a century, it will be done."
But the temple is meant to be a visual aid, not an end in itself. How to understand the significance of the temple can be found in 1 Kings chapter 8. From verses 22 to 53 Solomon prays to God and from verses verses 56 to 61 he speaks to the people. Constant repetition is a very good way to teach others and ourselves. Here Solomon, in his dedication prayer and sermon, uses the repeated use of particular words to teach us all about the one true God and about ourselves. Solomon here gives us a remarkable summary of Christian teaching.
About God
A Scottish theologian, John Baillie, who taught at Edinburgh University, opened his course on the doctrine of God with these words:
“We must remember, in discussing God, that we cannot talk about Him without His hearing every word we say. We may be able to talk about others behind their backs, but God is everywhere, yes, even in this classroom. Therefore, in all our discussions we must be aware of His infinite presence, and talk about Him, as it were, before His face.”
Solomon’s temple reminds us of certain characteristics of the one true God.
1. God is Magnificent
He is a great big God, impressive beyond our understanding. This magnificent temple with all its size and gold was to remind people about this.
“O LORD, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth below.” 1 Kings 8:23
Our God is a ‘great big God.’ Nothing is too big for our God to accomplish, and nothing is too little for Him to use in accomplishing it!
Abraham Lincoln was at a Prayer meeting with some church leaders during the American Civil War. One minister said,
“Let us pray that God is on our side.”
Abraham Lincoln interrupted him,
“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”
2. God is Faithful
When God promises something he can be relied on to keep his word. Solomon reminds us,
“You who keep your covenant of love with your servants . . .” 1 Kings 8:23
“You have kept your promise to your servant David my father;” 1 Kings 8:24
“ . . . with your mouth you have promised and with your hands you have fulfilled it.” 1 Kings 8:24
“Keep for your servant my father the promises you made . .” 1 Kings 8:25
“And now, O God of Israel let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.” 1 Kings 8:26
This is a repeated theme throughout the Bible. Jesus himself affirmed that God speaks reliably to us in the Bible,
“ . . . Scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35
It has been well said,
“Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.”
3. God listens
In Solomon’s prayer, between verses 27 and 53, can you count how many times the word ‘hear’ is used referring to God? I counted that God hears 12 times. That is no coincidence. God is a listening God. He hears when his people speak to him. Yet in most instances it takes a personal problem for people to realise how much they need God and turn back to him. It is the Lord who has initiated those difficulties. How often this is the way that God wakes us up. Ask people who have become Christians as adults and so often this is still true today.
In World War 1, an English soldier was badly injured on the Western Front and had been brought back to a hospital in England. His problems led him to think about eternity. When he could summon up enough energy to talk, he turned to the man in the next bed and said,
“Mate, I’m going to die. Can you help a man with a bit of religion?”
“Oh, you’ll be all right, chum. There’s a lady comes in here every Thursday with tracts and what-not. You’ll be all right on Thursday!”
“Thursday! I don’t know I’ll be here on Thursday, mate. Can’t you help me yourself.?”
“I’m afraid I can’t, chum. I don’t know much about these things.”
There was silence for four or five minutes. It seemed as if the dying soldier’s last bubble had been pricked. He had lived a perfectly respectable life, steering clear of the cruder temptations of life, he had followed popular opinion which said,
“Win the war first. You can clean up your problems after that!”
Afraid of being called ‘pious,’ he had been no more regular in the outward observances of religion as the average person of his age. But now that the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ was closing in on him, he felt keenly the need for something. He knew it must be more than saying a creed occasionally. It was too late for him to go to church, and somehow he knew he was not fit to be ushered into the presence of the Holy God.
He had been fighting to stem the tide of man’s inhumanity to man, but now that didn’t mean much to him now. He needed someone to do something for him that he could not do for himself – to take away his sins and guilt and bring him peace. And Thursday was too far off. He had no hope of seeing the lady with the tracts on Thursday and the man in the next bed couldn’t help. He relived his life in seconds, how thoughts flood in when death approaches.
Then he remembered something from his youth and he turned again to the man in the next bed,
“Mate, there’s a verse going through my mind, can you tell me if this is from the Bible or from a hymn?”
“What is it chum?”
“Suffer,” his voice began to fail, “the little children . . . to come . . . unto me . . . and forbid them not . . . for of such . . . is the Kingdom of God.”
“You’r all right there, mate. That’s the Bible. That’s God’s Word.”
“Well . . . he says he wants . . . little children . . . to come to him . . . I wonder . . . if he’d have me . . . Anyway, I’m going to ask him.”
That soldier pulled the sheet over his head but it never came down. He died soon afterwards.
During World War II an evangelist, Leith Samuel, told that story to a group of injured French soldiers who were also recuperating from injuries in England. He asked them whether they thought that man would have gone to heaven. They thought it probable. Leith replied saying,
“No, it is certain, because the Lord God who created us has said, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)
Leith then explained to the French soldiers that Jesus had made it possible for anyone to come to him just as they are because Jesus took our place and bore the penalty for our sins when he died for us on that cross. He explained,
“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Leith then asked the French soldiers,
“Is there one of you who will accept the Lord Jesus here, this afternoon, under this tree?”
Without hesitation, one of the group said,
“I will receive him.”
Out there in the open air, they closed their eyes and prayed to the Saviour who is not confined to church buildings or even a temple, to a God who always hears.
4. God forgives
This is a major feature in Solomon’s prayer. He relies on the fact that God is a gracious God who is always ready to forgive -those who sincerely ask for forgiveness.
“ . . . and when they pray towards this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel.” 1 Kings 8:35-36
“ . . . then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his hear (for you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land . . .” 1 Kings 8:39-40
This is the message of the whole Bible. God is gracious and will always forgive those who genuinely turn back to God in sincere repentance. Saying a prayer is not enough, it must involve a willingness to permanent y change the direction of our lives.
It is important for all people to see ourselves as God sees us. Have you have done this? Have you seen your need for forgiveness?
5. God is everywhere
Solomon recognised that God is a universal God. He is not restricted to living in a man-made temple in Jerusalem. That was only his symbolic home. Solomon prayed,
“The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built.” 1 Kings 8:27
Of the twelve references to God being a hearing God, the last six say,
“Hear from heaven.” 1 Kings 8:32, 34, 36, 39, 43, 45, 49
Solomon recognised that heaven is God’s real home but he did ask a profound question. This question was to be answered by the prophets who looked forward to the day when God’s eternal Messiah would come to his world to save it. Solomon asked,
“But will God really dwell on earth?” 1 Kings 8:27
This great question was finally answered by the coming of the Lord Jesus.
About Man
1. Our Sin
Solomon was very aware of mankind’s greatest problem and keeps reminding his hearers of this. Solomon understood that the reason the Lord allows people to face a wide variety of problems is to give them an opportunity to reconsider how they have treated their Maker, and change direction, to repent of their sin. Solomon gives several examples of the future difficulties his people would face and the reason God would permit these:
1. When the people of Israel would be defeated by an enemy ‘because they have sinned against you’ (1 Kings 8:33).
2. When there is a drought ‘because your people have sinned against you’ (1 Kings 8:35).
3. When natural disasters such as famine, plague, locusts come, whatever disaster or disease may come and ‘each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart’ (1 Kings 18:38).
Jesus also reminded people that the problems others face should wake those who survive that they must recognise their sins against God and take the opportunity to repent before it is too late (Luke 13:1-5).
This is what God wants people to recognise today. God is willing to allow problems, such as Corona virus pandemic, to warn us that we must repent and return to God.
We are living in a moral world where there is right and wrong. In a moral world we can no more sin and get away with it than we can break physical laws such as gravity and escape the consequences.
2. Our Mission
Solomon built his temple, not to demonstrate how rich he was or how impressive his architects and builders were, but to help people of other faiths realise how great God is. This was always to be the role or mission of God’s people.
One section in Solomon’s prayer concerns the foreigners who come to Israel
“. . . because of your name – for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand . . . when he comes and prays towards this temple.’ 1 Kings 8:41-42
God wants to use his temple and his people to draw all people to himself
“ . . so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel.” 1 Kings 8:43
This is also Solomon’s concluding theme when later speaking to the crowds. It is clearly something we all need to learn. Involvement in evangelism is an essential feature of all God’s people.
“ . . . so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.” 1 Kings 8:60
However this desire to win others for God must be associated with a genuine love for the God who has revealed himself to us in ‘his Word’. Solomon concludes,
“But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.” 1 Kings 8:61
About the Temple
Solomon has reminded us that this magnificent building only symbolised God’s presence on earth. The reality came later; Jesus taught us that he is the real temple of God.
“I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.” Matthew 12:6
After driving out men selling cattle, sheep and doves from the temple, Jesus was asked by what authority he had done this. He replied,
“ ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days’ . . . But the temple he had spoken of was his body” John 2:19,21
It is important to realise that everything in the Old Testament refers to the Lord Jesus and the relationship that he, as God, wants to have with all people. He is so magnificent, so powerful and he wants people of all nations to come and worship him.
Those who belong to the Lord Jesus are now his representatives. Paul wrote,
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.” 1 Corinthians 3:16
All we do and all we say must demonstrate this fact. The church is the body of Christ and together we are being built up in him and for him.
“In him (Jesus) the whole building joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which god lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22
If anyone is not concerned about this, then it is likely that they are not yet Christians. We do need to keep being reminded that we have to work hard together to be god’s temple here in North Herts.
So Jesus Christ is the answer to Solomon’s question,
“But will God really dwell on earth?” 1 Kings 8:27
BVP
