How exciting it is to watch the foundation be laid for your new church building! After years of dreaming, planning, raising funds and finding resources to do the work in the most efficient way possible by a group of dedicated people who love God; it’s gets real when the concrete is poured into the forms! From dreams to plans to reality—This is really happening!

I was there with my family and a few others to see the poured foundation. We walked the perimeter and imagined where all the rooms were going to be. We came often to see the continuing progress and sometimes help in small details as my Grandpa, a carpenter by trade, was the appointed contractor by the elders of the church. Grandpa volunteered his time and talents to this project.  He loved God with his whole heart, mind, and soul and everyone knew it. He turned away from any praise given to him. His dream for this structure was to be a place for all people to be discipled and sent to “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.”—just as Jesus commanded. (Matthew 28:20) And God was definitely was with Grandpa as he worked diligently each day.

I wonder how many people marveled at the progress of the building of a Temple that would exceed all expectations of all nations in its beauty and majesty?  What did they think as precious stones were inlaid and pure gold was overlaid over bronze and fine wood?  Can we imagine what the common people must have thought as they watched?

Only the best wood and precious metals were used for God’s house.  God deserves the best we can give. But God also deserves our finest possessions, our most valuable time, and our precious money with knowledge that He owns it all anyway!  But we must not ever think we can out give the Giver of Life Eternal. 

Will this magnificent building distract the eyes of those who seek their majestic, all powerful, all knowing, God?

2 Chronicles 3

Solomon Builds the Temple

Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. ² He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

³ The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard). ⁴ The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high.

He overlaid the inside with pure gold. ⁵ He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs. ⁶ He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. ⁷ He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

⁸ He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of fine gold. ⁹ The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

¹⁰ For the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. ¹¹ The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. ¹² Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. ¹³ The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.

¹⁴ He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it.

¹⁵ For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital five cubits high. ¹⁶ He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷ He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

King Soloman went over and beyond what was needed to build a Temple of the Lord. The once humbled young king is now making sure that only the best and the finest will be used in the structure meant to bring glory to God.  For example, at the west end of the Holy Place, sixty feet from the doors, hung the beautiful veil that marked off the Most Holy Place. This created a room that was a cube, measuring thirty feet on every side. In the tabernacle of Moses, the Most Holy Place was also a cube, but it measured only fifteen feet per side. In fact, the dimensions of the temple were twice those of the tabernacle!

But wait, there’s more—

The walls of the Most Holy Place were paneled with cedar wood and covered with gold (See also 1 Kings 6:16), and the floor was made of gold-plated cypress planks (1 Kings 6:15). Even the nails used in the Most Holy Place were plated with gold (v. 9). The ark of the Lord’s Covenant was later placed in the Most Holy Place.

“When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.” 1 Kings 7:51

We learn from comparing notes with 1 Kings written description of the building of the Temple along with King Solomon’s own palace residence, that once these magnificent projects were complete, Solomon will later write; “I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards” (Ecclesiastes 2:4), but he found it meaningless, “vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 7:11).  Notice all the “I’s.” What happened within Solomon?

When the project itself is worshiped and praises for the contractor are made by the people; it all suddenly becomes meaningless.  Buildings will age, crumble and fall.  Centuries later, Jesus sternly warned his disciples of being distracted by the Temple’s beauty and majesty on that one particular day in Jerusalem;

“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”—Jesus, Luke 21:5-6

At that point, the temple was rebuilt about 516 BC. In addition, Herod had undertaken a massive renovation and enlargement of the temple. Jesus prophesied that persecution would come, and the temple would be destroyed—and it was by the enemy again! Jesus’ words to his beloved disciples shifted the focus from the physical grandeur and permanence of a man-made structure to the reality that all earthly things are temporary. He wanted his followers to invest in what is lasting—His eternal kingdom—rather than being attached to material or national symbols. 

Mm, how attached are we to our church buildings?

When the building becomes our salvation and awe; our hearts are not in sync with God who sent His Son to redeem us.  In fact, do we dare say, that our worship of anything other than God cheapens the precious work Jesus did for us on the cross to redeem us!

Buildings are not redeemers who give life; but merely places meant to meet our Deliverer, the Giver of Eternal Life. Can you handle more truth? —Our Bodies are His Temple in whom He wants to reside and abide on earth! (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)  And guess what, even this Temple Body will taken down as a tent at our passing from this life to eternal life with our souls intact!  We will be given a new body—like Christ’s resurrected body that will last for eternity! (1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5) Ah, friends, believe Jesus, trust in God—He knows what He is doing!

As Jesus’ disciples, we should also be prepared for persecution and be discerning about world events. However, because Jesus is God, we take great comfort knowing Jesus will one day return and make all things right. Church buildings and earthly temples can and will be destroyed; but nothing can destroy our souls given to our Father God who protects those who put all their trust and love in Him.

How do we know? Jesus said;

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”—Jesus, Matthew 10:28-33

Two choices: Life or Death.  Choose wisely this day whom you will love, worship, and serve.

Lord,

Wow, you have stirred our hearts once more by your Word that speaks volumes to us through Your Holy Spirit. Cleanse our hearts; remove all that does not belong. Renew our minds, refresh our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.

In Jesus Name, Amen