Freedom is Good News Part 142

When Solomon, the son of David, took over the kingship, he immediately began to do the work of building a temple to “the name of YHVH (the LORD)”.  Some might ask, why should we take time to consider this temple that existed some 3000 years ago?  The answer: because it was the place where God dwelt with His people!  And so I might ask, where does God dwell with His people today?

Dear friends and brethren, the scriptures tell us that “if we repent of our sins and are baptized, we shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).  So, where does the Spirit of God dwell?  “Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1Cor. 3:16)  But Paul doesn’t stop there.  Later in that same letter, he tells the Corinthians, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body.” (1 Cor.6:19)

In King David’s day, he wanted to honor and glorify God by building a temple for Him.  God told him that it would be for his son Solomon to build that temple and as we saw last week, when the temple was completed, “A cloud filled the Temple of the LORD … for the glory of the LORD filled His temple.” (1 Kings 8:10&11)  God came to His temple and Solomon knew it!!  Solomon was filled with awe and rejoiced that the God of the entire universe had come to dwell with His chosen ones – the nation of Israel.

Solomon’s prayer of dedication is found in 1 Kings 8:22-53.  Let’s break into the middle of this prayer and consider some of what King Solomon had to say to God, “But will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and even the highest heaven can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!  Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day; that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.”

Are you a child of the living God?  Do you consider yourself to be a “temple of God”?  If you answered yes, then are you filled with awe at the presence of God within?  Does this cause you to rejoice?  Solomon prays that God’s “eyes may be opened toward this house night and day.”  These words of Solomon are not just for the physical building he had built.  These words are prophetic for the ages to come when God would see fit to dwell within His children.  He sent His Son to cleanse and purify those whom He would call.  Remember what we read above, “For you were bought with a price”.  The price that was paid for you and me was the precious life’s blood of His Son. 

“May your eyes be opened toward this house night and day.”  God takes care of His own and watches over them!  He loves His dwellings and desires to fill them with His glory.