Transcription of 20ID3352

1 Kings 5-8 “The Temple of ” June 10, 2020

Well, if you have a Bible with you, and I hope that you do, would you turn tonight to 1 Kings 5?

I have the difficult job – but I’m going to try to do my best – to get you back up to speed from where we quit thirteen weeks ago. We stopped our study through the historical books in the Old Testament, and we want to pick up tonight where we left off by taking us through the 1 and 2 Kings and Chronicles and all; and the history that God gives us about His people and His dealings with them, which has an awful to say to our spiritual lives and walks.

If you don’t remember, we told you months ago that the historical books are written in narrative form, which means the story is told. You don’t get all the information that you want, but you get everything that God wants you to know. And so you have to almost place yourself in the story, stand with the patriarch and the king and the false prophet and the godly prophet and the folks who are in the story, and just see about - what would you do? How would you respond? Because narrative has a way of bringing you around to experience what you’re reading. It’s just like the book of Acts, often like the gospels as well, and the best way you can learn from narrative is to put yourself in the story itself.

When we started 1 Kings back on March 4th, we first ended the life of (down through the middle of chapter 2 of 1 Kings). And we were given a lot about David’s life – forty years of ministry – but also chapter upon chapter of his rich walk with the LORD. And then, in the middle of chapter 2, he dies, he goes to be with the LORD, and we turn to take up the life of David’s son, Solomon, who would also build the Temple. Now there’s a lot Solomon gets credit for in terms of the wisdom that you find in the , in , in the Song of Solomon, but in the historical books, his claim to fame is God used him to build the place of worship. And as much as we are given of David’s life, we are not given much of Solomon’s at all; in fact, next week, when we get to chapter 11, we will lose track of Solomon already, and we’ll just move ahead, then, into the kings and all. But from chapter 2:12 to chapter 11:43 is the historical report of the reign of King Solomon, the third king that Israel had under their united kingdom: Saul, David and now Solomon. When Solomon dies (next week), his son, , will come to the

1 throne. He is a guy that is not very interested in the things of the LORD per se. He will lead the nation into a civil war. Ten and a half of the tribes of Israel will go north and split away from Israel, where God had put His name in Jerusalem. Only Judah and half the tribe of Benjamin will stay in the south, and this long series of the divided kingdom will begin. That begins for us next week. In fact, Solomon dies in 931 B.C. He reigns for forty years, as his dad did. The northern kingdom, when this split takes place, will be called Israel; the southern kingdom, during this time of the split, will be called Judah. It’s important that you write that down somewhere if you’re new to the Bible or you’re just beginning to take yourself through the Old Testament because you’ll read Israel and Judah, and you’ll think it’s the same thing; it is not. And it is important that you understand the division. In fact, I think, personally, the history of Israel through these four books that we’re going through now is the most important part for you to know at all. Because literally, all of the prophets and all will fit back into this timeframe, and the Bible will get a lot smaller because you’ll realize who was writing to whom and when.

The northern kingdom, when this split takes place next week, will last for 209 years. They will go till 722 B.C. The Assyrians will overthrow the north, these ten and a half tribes. They will not be allowed by the LORD to return as a northern kingdom. The northern kingdom was ungodly. It was resistant to the LORD. They had nineteen kings from eleven different dynasties, if you will, and they were all evil. In the south, Judah would last quite a bit longer. In fact, they would last 325 years. When the LORD dealt with them – for really the same problems as in the north, idolatry and disobedience – the LORD will use the Babylonians to come and take over the city and wipe it out and take the people captive and take them to Babylon, where they will not be left forever – only 70 years of judgment - and then the LORD will return them back to the land and to His promises. But the kings, there were twenty kings in the southern kingdom. Eight of them were very good kings, and so they brought a lot of God’s blessing upon the people over their time of relationships and leadership. All of the kings came from one family descendancy. So, because there’s that lineage that will go to Christ, the kingly line, they really needed to be that way. The north kind of all falls apart in every kind of direction.

But, like I said, if you can learn this history – the north, the south, the times of their overthrow, the kings – and next week, we’re going to give you a list of every king, where they’re listed in the Bible, who they were related to, how long did they reign, were they good kings or bad kings, how did they die, how the LORD used

2 them. And it’s important because at least a couple of times you’re going to find, in the north and in the south, kings with the exact same name, and yet they’re different kings. So we want you to have this, and I think if you put it in your Bible and keep it there for the next four or five months, it’ll help you tremendously. For example, if you read the book of Hosea, which you probably know where it is, or Amos or Ezekiel or Daniel, all of those prophets wrote to the northern kingdom during their time of rebellion against God. If you turn to Habakkuk or Isaiah or Jeremiah or Joel or Micah or Zephaniah or the book of Lamentations, all of those were sent to Judah in the south during the time of the split. So, I hope that…… we’ll give you some handouts that will divide all those things up so you’ll be able to look at them and go, “Man, I can see the Bible, maybe, coming together a little bit clearer for me than it might otherwise have looked.” Jonah and Nahum wrote to Assyria. Those are the folks that took out the northern kingdom. Obadiah wrote to Edom, who was actively involved with the southern kingdom.

So, all that to say here’s where we are: Solomon’s forty years, but they’re covered in literally nine chapters. 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles last about 400 years, so we’re covering from 791, when David dies, to 590 or so, through the reign of King Solomon, through the division of the kingdom into the south and the north, to the fall of both north and south, and Babylon took over the south beginning in 606. I know I’m throwing a lot of information out, but it’s been thirteen weeks. So pay attention. 1 and 2 Kings, where we are, are primarily interested in the kings of the north in Israel. 1 and 2 Chronicles most closely focus on the kings of the south. So we’ll give you everything like that next week.

Back in chapter 2, when we began Solomon’s reign – who is also obviously the son of Bathsheba – God began to richly bless Solomon. Younger Solomon seemed to be a godly young man. He prayed, as we’ve been mentioning on Sunday morning in Ecclesiastes, for God’s wisdom. God gave it to him without measure. Smartest guy that ever lived. And he used that smartness and that wisdom for quite some time to lead God’s people. A year prior to chapter 3, he married a woman named Naamah, who was an Ammonitess, and she would bear this son, Rehoboam, who would come into play after this next week. If you read chapter 4, or you were with us at that time, it is an overview of God’s blessings upon Solomon’s early kingdom life – his wisdom, the businesses he got involved with, the administration that he established. Solomon was only about 20 years old when he came to the throne. We are given little of his life aside from the devotion that he makes to the Temple building. Chronicles will give us a bit more information about Solomon, if you’re

3 interested; the first eight chapters of 2 Chronicles talk about Solomon’s life. But when you go there to read about Solomon, you will read something very interesting because the LORD leaves off all of his weaknesses, all of his improprieties in his character. It’s almost like written by a godly Father in His grace over His loving son. It is the Romans 8:1 response. Right? “No condemnation to those who are in Christ.” But the historical account here in Kings provides Solomon’s records, warts and all; not doing so well all the time, as the old expression goes.

Just to remind you, when we started a couple of months ago, early on Solomon had to survive a coup attempt led by his brother named Adonijah. He then had to mourn over his father’s death. When he finally came to the throne, he had to deal with lots of threats and deceits. He was established as the king of the nation. God gave him great wisdom. And the end of chapter 4, which will get us to where we start tonight, is really an evaluation of the LORD over Solomon’s early life. It’s kind of the state of the state address – what is the state of the state of Israel under Solomon’s reign, from God’s perspective; and it was good.

Well tonight we go through what has to be the most technical portion of this book. It is, at least some of the information here, about the building of this magnificent Temple, this place and this house of God that his father, David, had envisioned. We are going to pick up the pace tonight. We’re going to do chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8. We’re not going to read every verse because some of them are very clear in description, and I’ll leave them to you to read.

The tabernacle – that place where God met with His people – had been with Israel since the days of the wilderness. And you remember that God gave them that first job to build that tabernacle, to carry it, to have the priests qualify, the way that they would approach the LORD, the way the thing was supposed to set up, the way the tribes would camp around it and all. And so they carried it on their backs as a portable place of meeting. During the wilderness wandering those forty years, it was eventually set up in a place called Shiloh. In fact, it sat in Shiloh longer than it sat in Jerusalem. It was the place where the worship had begun. At some point during those history years, the tabernacle was stolen by the Philistines. Remember the Jews carried it into battle, not because they wanted the LORD with them but because they saw this tabernacle as an amulet, almost, like something you’d wear around your neck. And it was stolen. God made Himself known to the Philistines; they didn’t keep it for very long, sent it back. And then for years it was kind of out of sight as the place of God’s meeting. The problem with that is in the Old

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Testament, the tabernacle was the only place you could go to meet with God. You were allowed to do sacrifices at other places, but as a nation this is the place God called everyone to meet, worship. The Feast Days all took place in this place. So when it was neglected for so long, obviously the people weren’t doing very well.

When David became king (not Saul), David sought to restore the neglect of that place of meeting between God and His people, and he brought this tabernacle out from abandonment. David, when he built his house and was living in luxury, saw the poor conditions of this place called the tent of meeting and desired more than anything else to build God a beautiful permanent place of worship. When the LORD heard that, He was happy with David, but He disallowed it because David’s job had been to bring peace to the nation. He was a man of war. He left the place without an enemy at the time. Solomon certainly had an easy time of it early on. And so God told him, in 2 Samuel 7, “Your son will build it,” and David literally spent the last part of his life doing nothing but selling things that he owned and getting other people to contribute so that by the time he died, Solomon had everything he needed to build the Temple. There wasn’t anything that he lacked. We are told in the Bible that the Temple, which we will mention tonight, and its layout were to be earthly reflections of heaven’s position of the people before the LORD in heaven. God gave to very specific instructions as to the contents and the building materials and how things were to be built. All of them were really reflective of the types of what Jesus would come to do, saving man. They’re rich in symbolism and typology. If you were with us when we went from Exodus forward, we spent months going through them in very detailed order. If you are interested in all of those types, you should go listen to those tapes, and I think the Lord will teach you much. But this was certainly the greatest accomplishment of Solomon’s life.

And tonight the work of the building, the dedication of it, God’s approval of it, are all found in these chapters. The project would take seven-and-a-half years to build, this Temple. Sounds like our fellowship hall, doesn’t it? (Laughing) We’ll try to get through it in 45 minutes. So put on your seatbelts. We’re going to do 173 verses, seven-and-a-half years, in 45 minutes. Ready?

Begin. Verse 1, “Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David. Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: ‘You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the LORD put his foes under the

5 soles of his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.” ’ ” Hiram, the king of Tyre who was in the north, was a good friend of David. He now sends a letter of warm greeting to this young son of David, Solomon. Most of the wood and most of the representation of Lebanon during these Old Testament years portray Lebanon as a place of tremendous fir trees and cedar trees, forests all around. There are two major mountain ranges in Lebanon. That is not the case today. After the Turks took over that area, it was pretty much deforested, and you wouldn’t know Lebanon today was like that. But it was certainly like that in the days of Solomon. David’s, notice from verses 2 through 5 here, calling from God was to establish the nation in peace; he had done that. Solomon, by the way, his name means “peaceful.” But he would be allowed to build the Temple. And I love the picture because if you have a still heart, the heart that is at peace with God, then you can begin to worship. Right? Then you can begin to come and give Him your life. I love the picture. “We’ll build a place of worship when there’s peace all around.” And that’s really what God has intended for us.

So, in verse 6, Solomon requests from Hiram. He says, “ ‘Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians.’ So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, ‘Blessed be the LORD this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!’ Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: ‘I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household.’ Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.” So they made an agreement together. Hiram is just blessed to be able to bless David’s son; he had been a friend to him. He recognized the blessings of God upon Solomon – the wisdom and all – and he agreed to chip in, if you will.

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Now Hiram is a Gentile who plays an important role in the manufacturing and in the tooling of the wood for the Temple. And that’s pretty interesting because when you get to the book of Peter (later on in the New Testament, especially chapter 2), Peter will recognize that as such, and he’ll talk about the living stone rejected by the men that’s become the chief cornerstone and all. And then he’ll talk about this priesthood and this gathering and this church that God has established. And you will read there that in the picture of the body of Christ, the temple, indeed, consists of Jews and Gentiles. Right? They are part of the fabric, if you will. And, like I said, Peter uses that same analogy as he speaks about the church.

Notice, in verses 8, 9, 10 and 11, that Hiram consents to these arrangements, and he delivers the logs by sea, which means that they would have floated them in the Mediterranean from Tyre down to Joppa. That’s about 50 miles in the ocean, imagine, and then they would have had to carry them overland to Jerusalem, which is about 35 more miles. Quite a task. And, like I said, Lebanon, at least in these days, was known specifically for its trees. So the payment from Solomon to Hiram consisted mostly of food for Hiram’s household. A kor is both a liquid and a dry measurement. A kor dry measurement is about 6¼ bushels; in liquid, it’s about 58 gallons. So a kor, if you’re into all that stuff (I have to look them up every time, I never remember any of them), is equal to about 10 ephahs or 10 baths in the Old Testament sense. There was quite a bit of stuff that he was agreeing to pay to the king and to do so year after year.

We read, in verse 12, “So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram” (the king in Lebanon, there) “and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.” So they went to work. It starts with verse 12, though. God gave wisdom to Solomon. And certainly the key to everything you read about Solomon is that. God gave him wisdom, and Solomon paid attention. Later on, God still gave him

7 wisdom; he didn’t pay attention. Tonight God gives you His Word. You pay attention, you can be wise. But here’s what happens to Solomon at the end of his life or towards the end of his life: his heart turns away, and God’s guidance is refused, and he spends all of those years just kind of spinning his wheels. But here, early on, godly man, moved by God’s Spirit, wise in all of his endeavors.

We read here that Solomon drafted thirty thousand people to work in three shifts in Lebanon to facilitate the shipment of the wood and learn to cut the wood; ten thousand in shifts every month. They go home for two months. And then we’re even given the name of Adoniram, the guy in verse 14, who the LORD used as the foreman for the job there. His name means “let the LORD be exalted.”

If you have a chance to go to Israel with us – and we are going in March, it looks like – the right side of Herod’s Gate, between it and the Damascus Gate, you will still find the quarries of Solomon. And you will see stones that were moved from that place to build the Temple. You’ll still find the chisel marks on the walls. It’s an amazing place. It’s certainly the center of Jewish interest, God’s meeting with His people. And I must say if you go to Israel today, there’s a great movement to rebuild the Temple. They really believe that the LORD will come to that Temple, having missed the Lord that we know. The limestone was removed – and these blocks were huge – by drilling holes into them and then inserting wood through the holes; and then they made the wood wet, and it would swell up, and it would break the limestone. You didn’t have to cut through it; the wood itself would do the cutting, if you will. And they would break off these huge blocks. If you go to Israel today, especially in Jerusalem, every building within the city limits has to have a façade of this kind of Jerusalem stone, this limestone. So, if you’re in Jerusalem, and the sun rises in the morning, everything looks very gold. But that’s, even to this day, a want.

The cutting of the stones was so exact, according to what we read, that no mortar was used in the building of the Temple. Things were that tight; in fact so exacting that a knife blade could not fit between the stones. The stones were, for this Temple, roughly 12’ long, 8’ thick and wide. But limestone is very soft, and so it only hardens when it comes out of the ground or out of the cave and it’s exposed to the air. When you, later on, go to Herod’s Temple, which is in Jesus’ time, they found blocks in the Temple (and we’ll show them to you in Israel) that are 37’ long and 5’ wide and 8’ thick that weigh 100 tons, and they were all carved in this same manner. So this wasn’t a low-cost money-saving labor. This was an all-out assault.

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Two hundred thousand laborers, seventy thousand delivery men, eighty thousand masons, thirty-three hundred supervisors. The permit process must have been (Laughing)…..oh, wait. Nevermind. He’s the king. It’ll be just fine. So you get the feel for it. This was a consuming life for everyone in Israel at the time, and it went on for seven-and-a-half years, 24 hours a day.

Chapter 6, “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.” So, here’s the exact day the building began: the four hundred and eightieth year after they came out of Egypt, the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the second month. And whenever there is not a day mentioned, the first of the month is presumed, and that always seems to work itself out.

Can you put that first slide up on the board behind me, Josh? I don’t know if you guys can see that or not. It’ll help a little bit, so we’ll just stick with that for now.

We read, in verse 2, “Now the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. The vestibule in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long” and all. And so you get down through verse 6 or so, the description of the size of this place of worship. It was twice the size of what the tabernacle was that they used to carry around. A cubit is about 18”. It’s the length from your elbow to your fingertip, like this space right here (Pastor Jack demonstrates). So 90’ long, 30’ wide, 45’ high. So the footprint of the Temple would have been about 2700 square feet, but it would be on more than two-three levels, several levels. (You can read that in verse 8.) And then there was a porch attached to it, which was also 30’ wide and then 15’ deep.

We read, in verse 7, “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” Now that’s phenomenal! In other words, Solomon didn’t want any man’s labor to be found in the house of God. Isn’t that a great picture? A beautiful picture because, look, it’s God’s work that the church is built, isn’t it? When you witness to people, God saves. When you share His Word, it’s His Word that is powerful. Our best efforts, literally, as a church, are to pray and to believe God and to be obedient to Him. Our fellowship with God is where

9 the actions then flow. So, God is very interested in inspiration and work, not perspiration and self. So I love the picture. Nobody’s showing up to build the house of God, hammering away. The work is done over there, and when it’s brought here, God is the One who begins to bless it. So we can plan and work well, and that’s good and necessary, but, look, the results are from God’s hand, isn’t it? Do you remember when the crowd gathered when that lame man was healed, there in Acts 4? And the people began to gather, and Peter said, “Do you really look to us now, by what power we have done this?” And then he said to the people, “Look, this is none other than our faith in Jesus Christ, whom you crucified,” and he began to preach the gospel to them. “It isn’t by our power.” But then he said, “This is the stone which the builders rejected. It’s become the chief cornerstone. There’s salvation in no other but in Him.” And so Peter stood up when he was questioned, and he began to speak about that God had raised him up and that He was the chief cornerstone; He would do the work. It wasn’t Peter, it was the Lord. And we’re kind of in that same place, aren’t we? We can work hard and do well, but fruit comes from God. Right? So, I love the picture in verse 7. It really says there’s no sense in sweating the work of God. God does the work. And we should do well to prepare ourselves, but He’s the One who brings the blessing.

Verse 8, “The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third” and all. And so it just begins to lay out for you all that is being built.

Verse 11, when this was being built, “Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: ‘Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.’ So Solomon built the temple and finished it.” So as he began to finish, God reiterated to Solomon the conditional promise of His uninterrupted presence among His people that He had made to David. “If you will walk with Me, you won’t be on your own,” provided they would just faithfully serve Him. Now that didn’t happen. Right? Unfortunately, that didn’t last; 325 years from this point forward, 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar came and made his first incursion against Jerusalem. He started by taking all the rich young kids who could be trained, among them Daniel. He then came back in 597 and looted the place and made lots of warrings and took a lot of captives. He then returned in 586 and leveled the place so that there wasn’t really a stone left upon another. All of that because the people had turned away from

10 the LORD. After years of unrepentant, ongoing idolatry, God brought in the Babylonians to chastise them. So the Temple, this Temple, which we erected in not seven-and-a-half years but in 12 minutes, stood from 960 B.C. (when it was finished, seven-and-a-half years) until 586 B.C., when it was leveled. So it stood nearly 375 years as a place for meeting with God.

Now, the Temple was not built for people to congregate in as a church like we would meet together here. It was a place where God would dwell, and men would come to meet with God, would offer sacrifices, would be represented by the priests that God had chosen so that their sin could be covered. What separated them from God could be dealt with. It was dealt with in very elaborate, very detailed rituals designed to teach people just two things: the horror of sin and the inability on our part to be able to bridge that gap. The horror of sin is every time someone came to cover their sin, an animal had to give its life. Bloodshed was required. On the other side, God had a great redemption plan that would not allow you to be out there away from Him if you desired to be saved. At the dedication of this Temple (and we’ll look at it in a little bit), Solomon was quick to say, “It’s foolish to think God’s going to live here. This place can’t contain Him. The very worlds can’t contain Him. However, this is a place that He has made so that we can come meet with Him.” And in that regard the Lord dwells in you as you’re His temple tonight if you’re born again. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You are indwelt. “You’re no longer your own, you’ve been bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). So, can you contain God? No. But God has come to dwell with you and to be your God. So, good thing God doesn’t look for beautiful temples to live in, or most of us would have been in trouble to start out with. But we don’t need to build a place for God to dwell in; we just have to be available to Him. And we’re in the process of building some new places to meet in, but I guarantee you they’re not going to be fancy. They’ll be functional. But God forbid anyone should ever walk in our church and go, “This place is beautiful!” and miss Jesus. Rather you come in here and just, “Isn’t Jesus great?!” and forget about the place because certainly that’s the way God would intend it to be. So, as long as nothing distracts from Him, then I think we’re good.

Well, starting in verse 15 here and going to the end of the chapter (we’re not going to read those verses), they speak of the construction, the cherubim, the Holy of Holies, the overlaying of things with gold; the ark was placed within, which was the only furniture in the Holy of Holies. Like I said, if you were with us through that long process between Exodus and Deuteronomy (we went through all of those

11 things in great detail), I would refer you to them. The ark of the covenant was either lost or hidden at the time of the siege of Jerusalem - we don’t know – by Nebuchadnezzar. There’s a rumor, and there was a rumor written in those days, that Jeremiah had it; we can’t be sure. Wouldn’t it be great to find the ark of the covenant? This’d be like the raiders of the lost ark, wouldn’t it? The tablets of stone that were written by God’s own hand. Lots of speculation. Now, here’s what I can tell you for sure about the ark: that we read in Revelation 11:19 that the ark is found in the temple of God in heaven. Don’t know how it got there, but the LORD’s keepin’ good track of that ark. Right? That place of meeting. So, Revelation 11:19 mentions the ark. It’s the last time it’s mentioned in the Scriptures.

Completely off the subject – when we finish the historical books, we are planning to do a very in-depth study through the book of Revelation on Wednesday nights. We’ll bring you all the notes that we can to give you. I don’t think Revelation should be the hardest book in your Bible. I would suggest there’re three or four that are much more difficult than Revelation. And aside from two or three sticking points that you kind of have to go “I don’t know,” it’s a pretty simple, straightforward book. So I think you’ll have a lot of fun going through it with us. I think I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a few years since we’ve looked at it. So, that’s on the agenda on Wednesday nights once we get down the road.

Verse 37, as we skip to the end of chapter 6, says, “In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.” Actually seven years and six months as we read in the other verses.

Verse 1 of chapter 7 says, “But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house.” So the first eight verses, here in chapter 7, give you a description of all of the other large buildings that were taking place during the reign of Solomon. The construction of the royal palace, the various wings took thirteen years to complete, about twice as long as the Temple itself. Verse 2 tells us he also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon, which they used an extensive bunch of cedar and fir trees. Verses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 – the main house was 12,000 square feet, with lots of beamed ceilings and windows and porches; had the typical eastern row of pillars; had a room that stored the armories of Solomon’s, which were three hundred golden shields. They’re mentioned in Isaiah 22 and 1 Kings 10

12 as well. Verse 6, he also made the Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment, a tribunal; the court was held in his house, if you will. He, verse 8, made a separate household for the Queen of Egypt that he married, one of the wives that he took on, if you will. Verses 9, 10, 11, 12 would tell you it was very expensive, very elaborate. This, again, was not a budget deal.

We read, in verse 13, “Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.” So we meet this new guy, a specialist, Huram. Sounds like Hiram, right? The guy, the king. But this is….he’s a Jew. He’s from Naphtali. He’s a worker with brass. And I love verse 14. I underline these all the time because so often you read that when God gives you a talent, it finds its greatest fulfillment when you use it to serve the Lord. Right? No matter what your talent is, you give it to the Lord and that means something now. So here’s a guy that was really good with his hands and the very things that would be used to work with brass and all, and we find him just at work serving the LORD and yielding his gift to the LORD. Hey, if you’re a good singer, come sing. If you’re a good accountant, come add stuff. You know, go where God calls you to go, and use what God has given you to serve Him. Just amazing. But he gets a comment, all of two verses, and then he disappears from the scene, but this is a man that God greatly used.

Now we’re told about the Temple, in verse 15, that there were two pillars of bronze that were placed outside of the Temple itself. In fact, when you read down through verse 22 or so, we read that there were two 27’-high brass pillars that were 18’ in circumference. In other words, these were some big pillars, if you will, that stood in front of the Temple; one of them on the right side (it had a name, it’s called Jachin, which means to establish or to prepare), the one on the left side was named Boaz (in Him is our strength). And a statement of confidence in God as those who go into the Temple that in the strength of Jehovah, the king will prepare to serve. And so these were symbolic, but boy I’m sure they were just amazing when you stood and looked at them.

By the way, I’m sure you probably know, if you’ve been around for a while, everything that you find outside of the Temple and the altar was always overlaid with brass; and brass, in the Bible, is the metal of judgment. So everything that is found there has to do with the judgment of our sin or the blood that needs to be

13 shed and all, everything that you need for sacrifice. When you go into the Temple, everything inside that deals with the heavenly is all overlaid with gold. It speaks of God’s glory and His honor. So this guy that was working in brass had a lot of work to do.

Verse 23 tells us about another thing at the Temple area, that there was a Sea of cast bronze. In fact, do you have that other slide? I don’t know if we can see it any better. I know….yeah, so that may be a little helpful. I know it’s kind of dark. But see these guys down here, this big laver down here with twelve of these animals holding it up from all sides? That thing was 15’ across, in diameter, 7½‘ deep, twelve brass oxen supporting it, three looking in each of the four directions. It was used to wash, ceremoniously, those who would come before the LORD. In fact, if you go to Israel today to the Wailing Wall, you’ll see lots of fountains, and the water’s constantly going, and people are washing themselves. It becomes very quickly a ritual, I think, but it was designed to remind us that we can’t go before the Lord in our own glory, in our own strength, or in our own righteousness. It held 2,000 baths of water; a bath is about six gallons, so 12,000 gallons of water – roughly the size of, I guess, a small pool (if you have one at your house). But needless to say, that was also a part of the outside structure. So you can see the columns, you can see the place of washing, you can see the places where the priests would come to wash, where the offerings would be made. And the Temple would look much like that. Storage around the outside. But how important is it? It was vital! Because this was to teach the people what? God had a plan, and you’re going to need His help if you’re going to be saved.

From verse 27 (and look how well I’m doing) through verse 47 (again, we’re not going to read those), they speak of the portable basins that carry the water from the main brass Sea, which we see to the sides (there on your left), that the priests would use for cleansing.

And then verse 48, jump there, “Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick- trimmers of gold; the basins, the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.” Everything was made of gold. Verse 51, “So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house

14 of the LORD was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and the furnishings. He put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.” Seven-and-a-half years, with money to spare.

There is a Temple Society in Israel today that is a radical group, to be honest with you. They are pushing to get the Temple rebuilt. They have begun with lots of money from investors to rebuild the things that will go into the Temple. And one of the things that they have on display in Jerusalem is an all-gold candelabra, if you will, that cost I forget how many millions of dollars. It’s all wired up though. You can’t grab it and run with it. It’s big. But, anyway, they’re making things to……. “Hey, we’ll all be ready when the Lord….when we can get in there.” For them, it’s a lot of political fighting. But, needless to say, one of the things that the Antichrist is going to be able to do is facilitate the building of the third Temple, and that’s going to get him in good stead with the Jews who are going to trust him as being the Messiah. And only in the three-and-a-half-year mark, they’re going to realize this guy’s the devil. He’s going to demand worship, and he’ll take over, and your freedom will be gone. But it’ll all revolve around this rebuilding of the Temple. And when you’re in Israel, we’ll even take you up on the Temple Mount and show you where we think the Temple will be built since the outer court, according to Revelation, will be given to the Gentiles; it’ll be kind of left out of the formula. So, important that you learn about the Temple. I know all of these little details, you just go, “Oh, I don’t know.” Just get the big picture. Right? Get it all in your head as a big picture so that you can see it.

Well, finally, in chapter 8, the first twenty-one verses, after seven-and-a-half years of labor and thousands upon thousands of man hours, we are brought to the awesome God-now-moves-in ceremony. The LORD comes to inhabit the place of worship, accompanied by (beginning in verse 22) Solomon’s prayers of dedication, and then the last twelve or thirteen verses talk about the closing ceremonies, the week of celebration that the people enjoyed.

Verse 1 says this, of chapter 8, “Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion. Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. So all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

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Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” So, the day of dedication……historical books, put yourself in the shoes of these folks. This feast day, by the way, coincides with the Feast of Tabernacles in the Jewish calendar. The Temple is furnished. The ark is placed by the priests in a way that the LORD has ordained. And, according to God’s Word, the people have all gathered to worship. This is the day that, “Here, LORD. This is what You caused us to make. Now meet us here.”

When you combine verse 9 with what else we learn in the Scriptures – for example, in Hebrews 9:4 – we are told back in chapter 9:4 that in the ark were these tablets, obviously that the LORD had written that had been broken, remember, when Moses got angry, found the people worshipping a calf and had thrown them down. But also in the ark was to be the golden censer, and also to be in the ark was the golden pot that had the manna in it that had been budded when Aaron’s rod had budded, and they had grabbed it as well. So there’re supposed to be three things in this ark. Right? The ark was supposed to be carrying those three things, if you will – the golden censer, the pot that budded of manna, the Scriptures or the Ten Commandments that were broken. When you read, here in verse 9, there was only one of these three left, either the emphasis is here on God’s Law and the obedience to it, which is what the nation was doing, or those other two things were lost already. I can tell you what everyone I’ve read thinks, and everyone has an opinion. Here’s my opinion – I have no idea. And I only have no idea because the Bible has no verses for me to hang on to. We are told back in Hebrews that at some point there were three things in there. Now, here, there’s only one. Were they lost? I mean, there’re lots of theories. I don’t think it matters. Obviously

16 the Lord doesn’t want you to know. I just know that they were there, and now they are not. The people gathered to worship.

Verse 10 tells us, “And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.” That I really like. I understand that. Right? They entered into the LORD’s house. His presence was communicated to them by a cloud. He liked what He saw. He came to meet with the people. We are told, in 2 Chronicles 5 and 7, if you want to read there, that this visible presence of God wiped out the workers. The people couldn’t stand. They couldn’t serve. The priests were overwhelmed with the power of God’s presence. But here it was an indication that God approved of the work. He accepted the labor. He came to meet with the people as He had promised. You see the exact same thing in Exodus 40 at the dedication of the tabernacle there, where the presence of God came to just overwhelm. Now, I’ve heard Pentecostal preachers say, “Well, you see, here they were slain in the Spirit.” No they weren’t. They were just overwhelmed at the presence of God. God didn’t knock them down; they just couldn’t stand up. The LORD was with them. It was more than they could handle. It was more than they could understand. And for us, when the Lord fills your life, oh, man. What more do you need?

And so, beginning in verse 12, Solomon, seeing all these things, begins to bless the people. He says to them, “ ‘The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.’ Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And he said: ‘Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and with His hand has fulfilled it, saying, “Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.” Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. But the LORD said to my father David, “Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.” So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built a temple for the name of the LORD God of

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Israel.’ ” So, awesome truth.

And I want to point out to you verses 17 and 18, and maybe you can mark that down for yourself, because sometimes the intentions of your heart are things you can’t carry out. And yet, if it is really in your heart and the Lord doesn’t give you occasion, I think you’ll still get a reward. It was good that it was in David’s heart. In other words, David couldn’t act upon this for a lot of reasons, but God took note. Had David had the occasion, if David had the permission, David would have given all that he could to make this place of meeting between God and the people. So, He takes into account a far greater measure than the actual deed. He’s interested in the condition of the heart. I would say this – if you do something with the right motive, and it turns out to be the wrong action, you’re probably in much better shape than if you do the right thing with the wrong motive. God is very interested in the “why” we do what we do. And at times it does seem like God gives us a desire for something that we really can’t be involved with. The best example I know…….I know a lady that loves the mission field, and then she had eight children. She’s not goin’ anywhere…..for years. Her mission fields are pretty much crawling around at her knees all the time. But her heart is to be in the mission field, so she prays and writes letters and just heart for the people that are out there and calls and is actively involved. It’s in her heart. There’s no way it’s in her life right now. There’s no way she can physically pack up and move to a foreign country and do work in the mission field. Yet, if God sees your heart, I think He’ll credit your account. And He certainly did that with David. “You did well that it was in your heart.” God is interested in your heart. So sometimes when you feel like, “Gosh, I want to serve the Lord, God’s not opened the door,” I wouldn’t feel too bad. Wait upon the Lord. Great. But I just know the fact that God knows the heart, and I’m good with that. Sometimes that’s the best blessing you can have, just knowing that God knows your heart.

And I love Solomon’s words in verses 19 and 20, where he says, “The LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke and promised,” regarding this house, regarding my life, regarding what He promised to David. God will always do what He says. Let me end in verse 21, “ ‘And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.’ ” So that was his words to the people.

Now, beginning in verse 22 and going down through the rest of the chapter, we will read of Solomon’s prayer, if you will, of dedication. And I’ll just read you a couple

18 of verses, not all of them, but just a couple that stood out to me. Verse 22, “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; and he said: ‘LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.’ ” “There’s no one like You, God.” Could you say that tonight? Yeah, I’m sure you could. No one so faithful. Verse 24, “ ‘You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.’ ” To me, there’s nothing more exciting than standing and watching God work. In the midst of everything that you go through, God will not fail. You know that? He will not fail. He’ll meet needs, He’ll heal the sick, He’ll raise up a body, He hasn’t failed, none of His promises ever fail. I feel much better about life in the world knowing God doesn’t lie. You can depend upon Him, and we’re going to look to Him for all that we need. And Solomon recognized that. He stood before the LORD so grateful. Quite a different Solomon than we read in Ecclesiastes. But this is a young man who’s now pushing 30 years old, 27-28 years old; actually started in his fourth year, and he’s gone seven, so eleven – he’s 31, 31 years old. Young guy. So he’s right where he needs to be. He sees things clearly, and his life God was able to use.

He says, in verse 27, for example, “ ‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!’ ” So he recognized that this place was a place of meeting. Right? People talk about the church like it’s some special place. This church is an empty building when you go home. But when you’re here, you’re the church. Right? God has come to dwell in His people; we’re the church. And we can’t contain God, but God comes to dwell with us. So it was a symbolic meeting seen by the outside but representing the truths of the inside – God meeting with man.

He said, in verse 30, “ ‘And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive’ ” us. I love the fact “when you pray toward this place.”

Now, beginning in verse 31 and all the way down (I’m going to save you some time today) through verse 53, Solomon then, having said, “LORD, when we pray to this place, hear us,” Solomon, in his mind as he begins to pray, starts to create

19 different foreseeable situations where the nation might be in a position where they need to pray towards this place, and they might need God’s help. Even asking the LORD, like in verse 41 or so, to answer the call of a stranger who would look to this place and not just God’s people, the Jews. When Daniel was in Babylon, you might remember, in captivity, he went up to his room to pray, looked out the window, and faced himself towards the place of the Temple. Interestingly enough it was destroyed then, or it was on the way out, anyway. And he was, no doubt, thinking of this passage. But he prayed towards that place. Not that that was necessary, but it reminded him that it was to the LORD that he was seeking. You can read, and you might write in the margin 2 Chronicles 7 beginning in verse 11, and there’re about fifteen or twenty verses there, where you hear God’s response to this prayer. It’s not recorded here, not all of it, but it is recorded there, where Solomon will hear from the LORD, and the LORD will say to him, “I’ve heard your prayer, and in all of those situations I will indeed, if you’re seeking Me, I’ll hear your cry, I’ll come to deliver you.” The prayers of His people can change the heart of the nation. In fact, in that 2 Chronicles 7 response are those famous words that we hang onto as Christians. Right? “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” So, church, we need to pray because we need a healing. And if that won’t get you to praying……..if God says to you, “You pray, I will heal,” if that won’t get you on your knees, nothing probably will.

Well, we read in verse 54, jumping ahead there, “And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, that he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.” That’s the posture in prayer. I don’t know if you’ve ever prayed on your knees. If you grew up as a Catholic, I know we got on our knees a lot during masses. But have you ever just prayed on your knees? I’ll tell you what praying on your knees does. It’ll help you to be just uncomfortable enough to not daydream. It’ll keep your mind in the game because when you’re on your knees, it’s hard to…. you want to get done. You want to get to it, you know? And it puts you in a position where you recognize where you are before the Lord. He’s the Lord, you’re not. You’re on your knees. Beautiful picture of just…..I just see this little guy, or actually this young guy, sittin’ on his knees, hands raised, the whole nation with him, God’s presence as a cloud. Everyone knew that the LORD had come. What a beautiful picture!

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Verse 55, “Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.’ ” I hope you know the Lord like that. If you know that the Lord will not fail and that what you study and when you come to church every week, and you get the Bible out, hey, God is gonna stand behind everything. And if you know that to be so, you have great rest tonight. I guarantee you’re not worried about the latest endeavor in the world. God’s good, and your joy will be full. What a great statement: “God hasn’t failed in one way.”

Verse 57, “ ‘May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require,’ ” (whatever we need, that God will give us what we need for that day) “ ‘that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be loyal to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.’ ” Let’s just go this route.

Verse 62, “Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.” You can read in 2 Chronicles 7 that, when they had finished praying, Solomon did, fire came from heaven, and it consumed the burnt offerings, and the glory of the LORD filled the Temple. And the very thing that they saw at the tabernacle (in Exodus), you see now at the Temple. God sends fire. He consumes the first offering, He approves the sacrifice, and He shows His approval. And I can just imagine how it must have been to be there that day.

Verse 63, let’s finish this up, “And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep.” (The guy did nothing small.) “So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings,” (they couldn’t handle it on the altar) “and the fat of the peace offerings. At that time Solomon held a feast, and

21 all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days – fourteen days. On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.” They went home with great joy. Ah!

We did it! Forty-five…..no, we didn’t. We took longer. I’m sorry. (Laughing)

Next week we will bring you those outlines. Please don’t miss. I want you to get this right, especially these next few months. Tell your friends and your family.

Submitted by Maureen Dickson June 15, 2020

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