I will never forget that day!  We were filled with excitement because our dream of what it would be like to live in a new home with practical spaces for our current needs in ministry were being realized!  As we packed up our stuff and moved into our new home the vision became reality. From previous plans of our builder; we modified a plan that would fit the growing needs of our family.  We planned to use this home in our ministry of training young adults, welcoming visiting missionaries, and hosting small groups.  There was also space enough to invite our growing family with grandkids over for the night.  It was indeed a time of praise for all God had provided with expectant hope for how He will use this space for His glory.  We prayed for God’s blessing as we dedicated our home to Him to be used for His work.  Our hearts were full for what God was doing.

Now that the Temple has been built, it is move in day, bringing in all the tools of God’s work.  The Ark of the Covenant was brought in by the priests according to God’s specific instructions from the days of Moses.  After lavishly constructing and decorating the temple, King Solomon offered a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing to God. He praised God and prayed for the people.  We can hear the excitement in his words as he recalls the past history of God’s people and gives God glory for the His promises fulfilled.  But we know that God is not finished yet, there is still a Promise to come and He is Jesus. 

As he finished his blessing, Solomon said that God had given rest to his people and had kept His good promises.  Did King Solomon think God was finished?  Did the king think he was finished?

The Ark Brought to the Temple

Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. ² All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, ⁵ and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶ The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. ⁸ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ 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.”

¹⁴ While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. ¹⁵ Then he said:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

¹⁷ “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’

²⁰ “The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven ²³ and said:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. ²⁴ You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

²⁵ “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ ²⁶ And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

²⁷ “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. ³⁰ Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

³¹ “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, ³² then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.

³³ “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, ³⁴ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ³⁶ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

³⁷ “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, ³⁸ and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— ³⁹ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), ⁴⁰ so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

⁴¹ “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— ⁴² for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, ⁴³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

⁴⁴ “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶ “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; ⁴⁷ and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; ⁴⁸ and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; ⁴⁹ then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

⁵² “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. ⁵³ For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

⁵⁶ “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. ⁵⁸ May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. ⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. ⁶¹ And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

The Dedication of the Temple

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Truth: God was, is, and always will be God.  There is no one like God.  Never will there be anyone else like God—though the Enemy has tried to take God’s place and still tries to distract us from God.  God loves His people and that love never changes. God is faithful to His people even when they are not.  When people lose their way; God provides the Way.  God’s love is so great that it is hard for our human minds to fully grasp; because we have yet to understand how deep, wide, and long the Father’s love is for us; but His love grows in us none the less! 

Because of His love; forgiveness is God’s habit.  Our response to God’s love is to humbly surrender, ask, repent, and love Him back with all that is within us.  All is forgiven and we move into a new life with God!  God’s Holy Spirit immediately moves into our being to help us in our steady walk with God!  How can we love God back? Our obedience to what He says is the best way to express our love for God, not from fear of punishment but from gratitude for saving our souls through Jesus, His Son!

It is God’s desire that no one perish from their sins that lead to death.  In the days of Moses; God provided a way of atonement (covering) for sin through the sacrifices of unblemished animals upon the Altar designed for that purpose.  Priests were called, cleansed, anointed, and dedicated from the Levite tribe to provide this atonement in very specific ways by God.  The tools for sacrifice along with the altar built are part of the Temple design.  Forgiveness of sins must be done to come into God’s Presence.  That has not changed.  God and our sins cannot occupy the same space.

What has changed is the process.  If we think the glorious Temple erected by the orders of King Solomon as directed by God was great and glorious; then we haven’t seen or heard of the greatest gift of God yet!  Through the ages, God had another Plan in place since the beginning of time—His Son, Jesus. Jesus, God in the flesh, moved into the neighborhood of humanity who were lost, sick, confused by religion and rituals that no longer led to God.  He lived among a people brokenhearted, poor, and deemed outcasts.  All God’s people were oppressed by a government who did not know God.  There seemed to be no way out—until Jesus, the Promise of Eternal Life: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6  Love, mercy, and grace came down and gifted us with all we have ever needed in the form of a perfect, without sin, Savior and Lord who removed our sins forever!  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”—Paul, Ephesians 2:8  God did for us through Jesus what we could not do for ourselves.

The Temple is built.  God’s people are moving in with grateful praise and thanksgiving, but the Best is yet to come!  And we are invited to come to Him and move into His love, receive His forgiveness, and walk humbly with our God.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  To you be the glory, honor, and praise forever and ever, Amen!