Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Wait, what?! That cannot be true!  Our pastor has been dating another woman who is not his wife?  But he is our pastor, how could he do that?  We look to him to solve our problems, give counsel, correct our path.  How could be so wise for everyone else but  fall for his own selfish desires while devasting his own family?  This scenario happens more often that we’d like to admit in God’s church.  I’ve witnessed our past pastor leave the ministry God called him to be and do to pursue freedom from marriage so he could build upon his growing wealth. He was savvy in business but weak in relationships with those who loved him most.  How could it happen?  Sometimes the pressure of the pedestal we as the congregants put on these once servants of God becomes so great they lose all focus of Who, what, and why they served.  Any job, any person, any distraction other than God and His church becomes their new attraction and focus which leads to a spiritual sickness that can lead to death of their relationship with God.  All becomes lost when sinners think, “I deserve it.”

How did the decline from wisdom to foolishness happen for Solomon?  Going back to Egypt may have been Solomon’s first step in turning away from the Lord. He secured a bride from Egypt, Pharaoh’s daughter, and he purchased horses and chariots there. Both of these actions revealed Solomon’s unbelief in God.  While building a Kingdom of wealth; he turned from God who had given him the greatest gift—wisdom beyond that was beyond all men.  God also gave Solomon all that needed but Solomon wanted more. Dissatisfaction with God gives birth to our discontent which leads to our sins.

1 Kings 11

Solomon’s Wives

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Solomon’s Adversaries

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. ¹⁵ Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.

¹⁹ Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children.

²¹ While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.”

²² “What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?” Pharaoh asked.

“Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but do let me go!”

²³ And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ When David destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. ²⁵ Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.

Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon

²⁶ Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

²⁷ Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. ²⁸ Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.

²⁹ About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, ³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. ³² But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. ³³ I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.

³⁴ “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. ³⁶ I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. ³⁷ However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death.

Solomon’s Death

⁴¹ As for the other events of Solomon’s reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? ⁴² Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ⁴³ Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Solomon’s love for spiritual values was replaced by a love for physical pleasures and material wealth, and gradually his heart turned from the Lord. Unfortunately, this decline can lead to being condemned with the world and losing everything. 

God disciplines those He loves.  From Adam to Solomon and later to the church in Corinth that began after Jesus’ died and rose again, God disciplines those who are distracted by evil.  Paul, servant of Jesus, church builder, relays the words of God’s Holy Spirit to the people of the Corinthian church attenders who were making Holy Communion a mockery of Christ that included wild partying.  They had forgotten the command of Jesus “do this in remembrance of Me” as sacred worship, taught at The Last Supper with His disciples.  Here is part of the letter of admonishment;

“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.” –Paul, 1 Corinthians 11:28-32

This also happened to Lot (Genesis 13) and it can happen to believers today!  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Romans 3:23.  But it is not God’s desire that anyone perish—so God provides the discipline we need to correct our path in our humble walk with God. Listen to Him!

Look at life this way—

God tells us to love the Lord with all our heart (Deuteronomy 6:5) and receive His Word into our hearts (Proverbs 7:1–3). God wants us to do His will from our hearts (Ephesians 6:6). If a person’s heart is wrong toward God, that person’s entire life will be wrong, no matter how successful he or she may appear to others.  God knows our hearts.  It is unwise and useless to hide what is in our hearts.  Confess and allow His correction.

Our sin affects everyone around us—

Solomon had sinned greatly by introducing idolatry into the land, a sin that would eventually destroy the nation and lead the people into captivity.

Our sins forgiven is the Message of Truth!

Like King Saul, Solomon was handed great opportunities but didn’t make the most of them. He knew a great deal about animals, plants, bringing wealth to the nation, and constructing buildings, but he was defective in sharing the knowledge of the Lord with the Gentiles who came to his throne room.

May our allegiance always be sincere and loyal to Jesus Christ, the one “greater than Solomon,” who died for us, who lives for us, and one day will come for us.

And may we boldly share the Good News of redemption with every opportunity God gives us!

In Jesus Name, for His glory and our good, Amen!

It has been said that there is greater joy in the journey than upon the arrival at our destination.  Mm.  But it seems that it all depends on our motives reflected in our attitudes in the journey.  There is a special unexplained, unspeakable, eternal joy that God give us for each day’s agenda; but it comes only by trusting and obey His will. This joy overflows when we seek an intimate loving relationship with God first.  It is a joy that builds and leads us to a holy contentment no matter what current circumstances dictate.  This heaven bound eternal joy is not found in completion of tasks, pleasing people, or even the gift of great wealth in moments of time on our journeys; it is found in God through Jesus Christ who removed all our repented sins and set us free to grow our relationship with God who is the joy we long for and seek.  

God’s eternal joy is freedom from the ugly pride and arrogance that can seep in when our accomplishments are successful but we think we did it all on our own.  Joy is freedom from wallowing in envy and jealousy of what our neighbors have that we do not. God’s joy is freedom from judging others, holding grudges against those who hurt us, and letting go of all worry and discontentment that tries to steal our joy. These are all traits of our real Enemy who goal is to take our joy of Jesus and replace it with fear and anxiety. 

Real joy is found in knowing Jesus, giving all we have and all we are to Jesus, with keen focus on God’s plan and purpose for us with expectant, obedient hearts.  Pure, unadulterated joy, comes from asking God what HE wants instead of telling God our demands and then doing what He says to be and do. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) means to let go of what we think and hold onto with a tight grasp and seeking God’s view and perspective of Life and Truth.

Centuries later, another builder, Nehimiah, called by God to rebuild the Temple that was destroyed by the Enemies of God, reminded the workers who were tired in the work but not of the work; “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehimiah 8:10 This verse emphasizes that joy is not a fleeting emotion but a source of strength derived from a relationship with God. There IS joy in the journey until we meet God face to face and arrive at our final destination with Jesus.  Jesus said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you.”  Can we say to Him, We’re not there yet, but we are on our way; and we need your help!

A trait that sustains holy joy in the journey is thanksgiving to God for all the ways He sustains us by His strength, provision, and protection as He carries us through all the circumstances of this life.  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 God uses life momentary circumstances to teach us all we need to know our way to Him!  Be grateful for the lessons!  Listen to Him in the trial for some of God’s best work in us comes from our humbled attitudes brought on by our trials.

The work on the temple structure was completed in seven years, but Hiram and his crew took several more years to decorate the interior and construct the furnishings. While they were busy at the temple, Solomon designed and built a palace for himself that was a combination of personal residence, city hall, armory, and official reception center. Later he wrote, “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). King Solomon learned much from building the Temple of God. The greatest lesson?  Remove the “I.”  Vanity and pride are not traits pleasing to God nor do they provide the joy King Solomon sought in the Lord.

1 Kings 7

Solomon Builds His Palace

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. ² He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. ³ It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. ⁴ Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. ⁵ All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.

⁶ He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

⁷ He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. ⁸ And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

⁹ All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. ¹⁰ The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. ¹¹ Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. ¹² The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.

The Temple’s Furnishings

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram, ¹⁴ whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. ¹⁷ A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. ¹⁸ He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. ²⁰ On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. ²¹ He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. ²² The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it. ²⁴ Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. ²⁸ This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. ²⁹ On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. ³¹ On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴ Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. ³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. ³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. ⁴⁰ He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord: ⁴¹ the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; ⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars); ⁴³ the ten stands with their ten basins; ⁴⁴ the Sea and the twelve bulls under it; ⁴⁵ the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.

All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s temple: the golden altar; the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; ⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and tongs; ⁵⁰ the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

⁵¹ 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.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

All that King Solomon had came from God who owns it all.  Even the king’s wisdom was given to Him by God!  God built all that King Solomon accomplished.

Warren Wiersbe writes;

“Because of the abundance of these cedar pillars from Lebanon, the structure was known as “the House of the Forest of Lebanon.” The assembly hall was no doubt used for official government occasions. In this hall, Solomon displayed two hundred large shields and three hundred smaller shields, all made of wood covered with gold. Because gold is too soft to provide protection, these shields were not used in battle but were there to impress visitors. They were taken from the building only when displayed on special ceremonial occasions.” –Wiersbe Study Bible

God as the Source of Strength

“The two pillars were named “Jachin” (“He establishes”) and “Boaz” (“in Him is strength”) and they stood outside the entrance to the Holy Place—Jachin to the south and Boaz to the north. The pillars bore witness to the Israelite people that God had established their nation and that Israel’s faith in Jehovah was the source of their strength.”—Wiersbe Study Bible

Considering that gold overlay covered the inside walls and floors, the furniture, the doors, and the cherubim, this had to be a very costly building. Yet all this beauty was destroyed and this wealth was confiscated when the Babylonian army captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple (Jeremiah 52).  God allowed it because His people abandoned Him and turned to their own wicked ways.

It costs to follow God with all our hearts, minds, and souls; but it costs even more to not trust and obey Him.

Lord,

Your story through your people teach us more about You and how our story fits into your plan.  Lord, I’m yours and I’m listening to you speak to my heart by Your Holy Spirit today. Lead and guide all we think, say, and do.  May your will be done in ways that we declare your glory. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Rome wasn’t built in a day” is a phrase still today to mean that important achievements, complex projects, or great things take time, patience, and consistent effort to complete and cannot be rushed. The phrase serves as a reminder to be patient when things are not progressing as quickly as desired and that significant accomplishments require a long-term commitment. 

Imagine watching the Temple in construction with detailed carvings in stone and wood, overlaid by gold all done by human hands.  There were no heavy equipment machines to push, tug, and pull large stones, specifically cut for the Temple.  No, all were tediously positioned in just the right place by human brute strength, using carts, ropes, and pullies.  It is no wonder that wise Solomon rotated the workmen so that only one-third of the workforce lived away from home at a time, giving much needed rest and time with family that kept the moral and the muscles of the workers strong!

New church buildings are built brick by brick.  As I shared yesterday, after the ground breaking ceremony and the debt of the land paid off a few years later; I then watched as an anxious, impatient teenager as brick by brick was laid upon the solid concrete foundation. I realized then that workers must have a plan and then materials obtained.  The real work begins when the plan and resources come together with a foreman to oversee each part of the work.

Construction of any major building is accomplished brick by brick, beam by beam, put into place upon a firm foundation on the outside.  When that work is accomplished and the building is “in the dry” with a roof over the top; the inside work begins.  My grandfather, who was an elder in the church, as well as a professional carpenter, consented to be the Foreman of our church building project.  Everyone trusted him with both his professional abilities as well as his spiritual mentorship. God has a way of putting the right people in the right place at the right time for our good and His glory.

OUTSIDE IN AND INSIDE OUT

Many who passed by thought the church was complete by looking at the outside only; but the tedious, detailed, inside work took even more time to accomplish in preparation for the real work of God on the inside of all hearts who would come to this building dedicated to God.

Building a structure where people come to meet God in pray, worship, teaching, while growing their relationship with God, is not accomplished in a day, a week, or even a year but over a lifetime. It begins, brick by brick, stone by stone being laid on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ. 

God will remind Solomon, during the work, of the real reason for the Temple with the outcomes of love and obedience to God.  We often need to be reminded of why we attend church, too, or it becomes all to quickly a habit without substance.

1 Kings 6

Solomon Builds the Temple

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.

² The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. ³ The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple. ⁴ He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. ⁵ Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. ⁶ The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

⁷ In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. ⁹ So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. ¹⁰ And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to Solomon: ¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. ¹³ And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple and completed it. ¹⁵ He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. ¹⁶ He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. ²¹ Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. ²² So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

²³ For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. ²⁵ The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. ²⁶ The height of each cherub was ten cubits. ²⁷ He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. ³⁰ He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. ³² And on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. ³³ In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. ³⁴ He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. ³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

³⁶ And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We must always lean into God’s wisdom and knowledge given to us from Peter and Paul, called and sent by God to be planters and builders of people, called “church,” who are built on the solid foundation of believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Son. We believe Jesus died for our sins, resurrected from death to life, appeared to his disciples to declare the glory of God who raised Him, demonstrating eternal life for all who believe, trust, and obey Jesus. Allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead us to all Truth.  Jesus is the Head of the Body.  We are the Body of Christ.  We are Temple in which God/Jesus/Holy Spirit takes up residence as our Life source.

WHO WE ARE—

Living Stones

“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and,

‘A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.” –Peter, 1 Peter 2:4-8

Royal Priesthood in Christ

“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.”—Peter, 1 Peter 2:9

The Body of Christ

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”—Paul, 1 Corinthians 12:12

“But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”—Paul, 1 Corinthians 12: 24-27

Joint heirs with Christ!

And speaking of Rome not built in a day,Paul preaches that “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:14-17

WHAT WE DO—

Reconciled to lead others to reconcile with God

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”—Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:

Commanded and Commissioned by God through Jesus

“Therefore 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.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20

We the people are God’s church, the Body of Christ.  We are far from perfect but we are perfectly forgiven.  God is not as concerned with our perfection but for our progress in becoming more and more in every way like Christ. 

Our Source of Life

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”—Paul, Philippians 3:10-14

Lord,

Take hold of me and transform me daily, brick by brick. I know this will take a lifetime until I see you face to face.

In Jesus Name, Amen

I was in elementary school when the people of our church met on a section of ground just outside Oklahoma City.  At that time, I didn’t fully realize what was going on but I certainly felt the excitement of the grownups who gathered there in a tight, holy circle.  The pastor and elders were in the center of the circle with shovels.  As I kid, I didn’t know what was going to happen next on that cold, wintery day; but I was glad I was there.  The smiles on the faces of men and women declared their expectant hope in what God was doing and would do next. 

After the reading of scripture, the men prayed for God’s blessing on this dedicated ground.  They prayed for God’s timing, power, and wisdom in building a place where people would be welcomed and taught to know, love, believe and follow Jesus. The people were taught to be God’s light to this community. They prayed fervently and passionately for God’s will to be done in every detail of the building process.  Then, beginning with the pastor followed by the elders, they ceremoniously, one by one, put the shovel in the ground to turn over the dirt to symbolize the beginning of the process to build.  God led His people to this place.  God led this small group through all the preparations and finances to build a church (people) built within us on the foundation of faith with the Cornerstone declared to be Jesus Christ.  Jesus the One who redeemed us and gave us purpose.  Yes, I will never forget that moment in time.  It is etched in my memory.  When we follow God and His timing; God does great things that are beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations.  May God’s Kingdom come; His will be done.

THE HOUSE THAT DAVID’S SON BUILT

King Solomon has been given the go ahead from God to begin the building of the Temple, a place of worship of God. How exciting for the King to begin the gathering of materials!  As a wise leader, following the directions of David, his father; King Soloman began with securing resources, to add to what David had saved for this moment.  King Solomon turned to he knew had the best for God’s Temple.

God’s timing is perfect.  King Solomon is “at rest” from battles and wars.  He can fully focus on the Temple that David wanted to build but God told him, no, not now.  Your son will build it.  According to Scripture, God’s will and design for His Temple is that it be a House of Prayer for all who seek Him.  To meet with God, listen to Him, talk with Him with humble honest is what God seeks.  No other purpose is greater.

It is important to note that God told David, “I don’t need a house;” it is God’s people who need a sacred place, away from ordinary to be with our God. While humans want bigger, better, and best in what it looks like; God’s prophet Isaiah proclaims and describes God’s real purposes for His Temple, His House;

“And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:6-7

Will God’s plan and purpose for His Temple prevail? Stay tuned from building to completion to entering…we have only just begun the story of God and His Temple through Solomon.

1 Kings 5

Preparations for Building the Temple

When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. ² Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

³ “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. ⁴ But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. ⁵ I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’

⁶ “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

⁸ So Hiram sent word to Solomon:

“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. ⁹ My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”

¹⁰ In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, ¹¹ and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. ¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, ¹⁶ as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. ¹⁷ At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. ¹⁸ The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

King Solomon was gifted first with wisdom (his request) with God’s wisdom came great wealth (God’s blessing). God’s purpose for David, with God’s leading, was to bring “all His enemies under his feet” and bring the twelve tribes of Israel back together as one.  In gratitude, David wanted to build a Temple for God that would be so much greater than the former Tent of Meeting set apart for God by God through Moses. God said no to David, but yes to his son, Solomon.  Now, in time of peace, by God’s will, David’s desire for a Temple to God will be fulfilled in Solomon, a temple glorious and magnificent.  “Only the best” will do is the King’s mantra. But what does the “best” mean to God?

During the temple construction, God reaffirmed to Solomon the promise he had previously made to David. It was predicated on Solomon obeying the Lord’s laws and commands.  It’s a wonderful day indeed when we stop working for God and begin working with God. (Go ahead, read the sentence again). David’s legacy to his son was to gather materials and artisans in preparation for the Temple project.  This prep work gave Solomon a starting point to begin God’s plan with His purpose given to David.

As any pastor and church board can attest, building programs are not easy, and they either bring out the best or the worst in God’s people. But like Moses who supervised the building of the tabernacle, Solomon had a great deal going for him. Both men knew that God had chosen them to direct the work and that He would enable them to finish successfully. Both leaders had an incredible amount of wealth and materials at their disposal before they started, and both received the construction plans from the Lord Himself. Both were blessed to have leaders who gave generously to support the project.

What should remain on our minds when God leads us to undertake a great building project is the “why” and “the cost.”  Jesus taught; “For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?” (Luke 14:28). Jesus used a construction project to illustrate the decision to follow Him. Every life project should be undertaken by seeking God’s guidance, practicing good stewardship, and recruiting capable and trusted help along the way. These steps of wisdom won’t necessarily make the project easy, but they will make difficult challenges achievable.

Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that Name—

In the history of God’s people, this very Temple will be destroyed and desecrated by the Babylonians, barbaric enemies of God. God will allow it because His people have turned their backs on God in disobedience to God.  The Temple became a beautiful site to see but lost its original purpose.  Another Temple, even greater than this one will be built later in Jerusalem by another king but for his glory and recognition. In fact, it will become a “den of thieves” by the Son of God, Jesus who will grieve heavily over the Temple leaders and those who come to the Temple for what is supposed to be the House of Prayer, a “meeting place” with God.

Yes, centuries later, Jesus and his disciples, will walk through the rebuilt Temple. The disciples of lowly heritage will be impressed at its beautiful structure but Jesus will not only warn them of putting too much stock in buildings as he grieves and become righteously angry over what God’s Temple has become. 

Jesus used this very moment to prophesy its destruction, shifting their focus from physical buildings to spiritual truth.  Matthew, one of those disciples, will write later of the incident at the Temple;

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  ^‘It is written, he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’”.

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him.

Yes, replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?

And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.” Matthew 21:12-17

God’s Temple Built on the Foundation of Jesus Christ—

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”—Paul to the church, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

The statement “the temple of God is within you” is a core Christian believers’ concept which teaches that believers’ bodies are inhabited by God’s Holy Spirit and are, therefore, sacred. This means the presence of God is not limited to external structures but resides within individuals, emphasizing spiritual significance and the call to live a holy life that honors God’s presence. 

Paul further explains; “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”—Paul to the church in Corinth who were fighting, committing sexual sins, and worshiping idols along with God. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 It would be eye-opening to read the whole chapter (maybe both letters to the Corinthians) to get the full picture of how together, we form the Body of Christ!

Paul brings this point home as he witnesses to the leaders in Athens;

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:24-31

Our response?

Believe, repent, be saved for eternity—this is the beginning place of building the Temple of God within us.  God’s Holy Spirit will guide our temple building with the wisdom we need to make our temple a place God desires to dwell within.  As we grow we will begin to bear the fruits of God’s character; “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23.  Seek first God and all these traits will be added to lives who seek these treasures from God.  The Lord will answer when we come to Him.

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lessons we must learn from you to be more like you in every way. Thank you for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls, and making us whole from brokenness. Thank you for restoring and sustaining the joy of Your Holy Presence living in us while molding and shaping us to be all you created us to be.

In Jesus Name, Amen