When repairing or remodeling our homes—we want the best skilled reliable people to do the work with and for us!  We call our friends to see who they have used and who might know the reputations of reliable companies.  We lean heavily on “word of mouth” testimonials rather than on media advertising blasts.  When we seek to build a new home from the ground up; we want the best—so it will last!

Soloman has been given wisdom by God along with advise with resources previously acquired from his father, King David.  Solomon now begins giving orders for the work to be done.  He begins with contracting the work to skilled workers who will build the greatest Temple possible.  His words speak his heart when he says; “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods,” which sounds boastful until he adds, “But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?”

The new, young king could be feeling the intense pressure to succeed in this overwhelming task handed down to him from his father, King David. Who on earth has not felt the intense pressure and stress coupled with anxious excitement before beginning a project beyond what we think we can accomplish? 

2 Chronicles 2

Preparations for Building the Temple

Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself. ² He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.

³ Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre:

“Send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. ⁴ Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

⁵ “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. ⁶ But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

⁷ “Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers, whom my father David provided.

⁸ “Send me also cedar, juniper and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours ⁹ to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. ¹⁰ I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of ground wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.

¹¹ Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

¹² And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

¹³ “I am sending you Huram-Abi, a man of great skill, ¹⁴ whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵ “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised, ¹⁶ and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷ Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel, after the census his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. ¹⁸ He assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Where God guides; He provides. Always. 

We are called with purpose and equipped with skills to accomplish God’s purpose He designed and planned for us before we were born!  Our response is to give our best back to the Giver! “Give of your best to the Master…” This old hymn of praise and direction for believers comes to mind immediately.

As Solomon begins to build a grand temple in Jerusalem. The Temple will be designed for worship of God, prayers to God, with offerings given to cover our sins before God—only God.  The Temple will be the place where God’s people are directed to give of their best to Him in sacrifice—animals “without blemish,” the first and best of the flock for only the best given with a humbled repentant heart will be acceptable to God.

The wise King Solomon seeks the best, the most skillful, who will give their best efforts to building the Temple.  The blueprints were given by God to King David; but the contracting work to build would be King Solomon’s purpose for his life accomplishment. Only the best wood and precious metals were used for God’s house. Solomon declared that God deserves the best we can give. God deserves our finest possessions, our most valuable time, and our precious money. After all, who owns all we have been given?  God, the Giver who gave His best for us!

IN THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE; GOD IS BUILDING A NEW NATION

God sees and knows what lies ahead. God’s ultimate plan is for all nations to come together to worship Him in spirit and in truth.  Jesus, Son of God, alpha and omega, is God’s Plan of redemption for all and whoever believes in Him and follows Him, giving their best to the Master who redeemed us and set us free!

Warren Wiersbe comments;

“Solomon enlisted both Israelites and resident aliens to help construct the temple. Thousands of Israelite workers cut timber in Lebanon for a month and then returned home for two months, while thousands of “alien” laborers cut and delivered massive stones from the hills, supervised by Israelite foremen (1 Kings 5:13–18; 9:20–23). The fact that Gentiles worked along with the Israelites suggests that the temple was indeed a house for all nations. We must not think that these resident aliens were treated as slaves, because the Law of Moses clearly prohibited such practices (Exodus. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:33, 34).” –Wiersbe Study Bible

“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

One of many prayers of written by David is for all nations to worship our God!  Did he know something others did not know at the time? Probably.

“Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” Psalm 86:8-10

When Jesus was sent to earth to seek and to save the lost; He came to the Temple in Jerusalem.  This magnificent structure, designed and dedicated to be “a house of prayer for all nations” had become a market place of corruption. The Son of God/Son of Man saw it with His own eyes and heard it with His own ears. His heart, overwhelmed with disgust turned to righteous anger.  The Temple was now owned and operated by the resident priests, scribes, and teachers who had rewritten and added to God’s Law without consulting God. The Temple of God’s Holy Presence became a place infected and infested with greed and the thirst for power. This way of life had taken the place of humbled service to God in accordance with His Law.

We know the stories of Jesus ridding the Temple courts of the marketplace that sold  sacrifices with corrupt pricing. We’ve read and heard it preached about how Jesus “set the Pharisees and religious leaders straight” about what God desires of us of us leaders and followers.  So, maybe it is time to stop and prayerfully consider our attitudes and evaluate our behaviors in our places of worship.  Yes, I’m going there.

Do we exclude people, sometimes without thinking, and greet those we know with inside jokes and yammer while avoiding first time visitors who we assume are not like us?  Are we known for not offering a simple “hello” with a smile when they come to the doors of our church? We visited a church not long a few weeks ago—not one person greeted us, so yes, it still happens. God is grieved when we stay securely planted in our holy huddles.

Do we judge by their appearances?  Do we assume they probably are here only for the donuts?  Do we assume their kids will be unruly and sigh when we must make room for them?

Do we invite them to sit with us as soon as we see them; or do we tighten our grasp on “our row for our friends and family” loudly expressed by our body language? Visitors get it when they are not welcomed—we aren’t hiding anything.

And even if people scale the heights of our church rules because of their sole and soul purpose to  seek, find and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord; what is our expectations of them then? Do we love them as they grow in faith or expect new believers to grow up immediately to be like us? What is our endgame? Do we allow growth and maturing to be done by God’s Holy Spirit in them or by our church rules and regs?

The real life goal Jesus commands of us is “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20  Goal with a promise!

We must realize that none of us has arrived at perfection. We all strive daily with God’s help to be more and more like Jesus who perfectly taught us humility, love and service. And when we falter, stumble an fall; He picks us up, dusts us off, and perfectly forgives us so we can keep moving forward in his love, mercy, and grace.

Who we really are—in the words of Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus build His church;

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:9-12

Who we are called to be—

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:21-25

So, are we a club with club rules that must be adhered and honored? Or are we a house of prayer, worship, with learning how to humbly walk with God like Jesus taught us by example who go and teach others no matter who they are? The “club mentality” is so easy to fall back on when relating to those we do not know from other places.  Avoid it—like the plague!  Sometimes I wonder if Jesus needs to come and set us straight once again!  Oh wait, He is coming back!

John, the beloved disciples of Jesus, was given a revelation of things to come. This revelation revealed the habits and attitudes of seven real churches operating at that time.  Jesus reveals truth that humble us if we read and study what He says with open hearts who seek God’s Holy Spirit’s guidance to Truth with loving course corrections. 

Jesus is indeed coming back—sooner than we realize!  In what shape will He find our Temples?

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” 1 Corinthians 3:16

Lord,

There are many thoughts that lead to me to ask you to “search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) 

You are God, we are not.  To you be all glory, honor, and praise!  Daily cleanse the temple in which you dwell—my heart, mind, and soul. Remove all that does not belong.  I offer my life to you. I’m listening for I am your servant.  Help me to be more like you in every way instead of merely trying to be a better me like the world teaches. 

In Jesus Name, Amen