2 Chronicles 2-5

[0:00] It is good to see you this evening and trust that you've had a good week so far. Thankful for the opportunity we have to be together.

[0:11] Take your Bibles and let's go to the book of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 2. 2 Chronicles chapter 2. Will be where we start at this evening.

[0:22] Again, it's going to be one of those portions in which we cover a large section of Scripture. I don't know that I'll read it in its entirety.

[0:34] But again, there's some redundancy and repetition. I'm always cautious. I don't want to say, oh, since it repeats it, we don't want to read it. Because quite often when Scripture repeats it, we want to be sure to read it.

[0:47] We want to pay attention to those things. The repetition here that we find in this section in particular has to do with the articles within the temple. So we're going to be looking at chapters 2 through 5 tonight is our grouping.

[1:02] I have a reasoning for looking at it in that such large section. And the reason I don't want to focus so much on the furnishings of the temple is not because they're irrelevant.

[1:16] It's because we spent some time focusing on the furnishings of the tabernacle when it was constructed in the wilderness. And then we spent time focusing on the furnishings of the temple where it's mentioned in 1 Kings in the construction there.

[1:32] So while some of the things that are in the temple are unique to it, there are also some things that are repetitive between the tabernacle and the temple. And so for that reason, I'm not going to spend much time talking about the furnishings, the table, the showbread, the candles, the basins, the pitchers, the goat, all those things.

[1:50] Now they're important, and they're important because they are representative of things which Christ fulfills. They're representative of the water in the basins, are representative of being cleansed by the word.

[2:02] I can give you that. I give you that now because anytime water is used in scripture for washing, it is a symbol of the washing of the word.

[2:15] Now if you want to see the image of that, the priests were to wash their feet and to wash their hands before offering, or after offering the sacrifices and before continuing their work in the temple.

[2:26] And it was a picture of being cleansed by the word because we see the fulfillment of that when Christ says, he who is cleansed only needs to wash his feet to be cleansed when he washed the disciples' feet and to be cleansed as they minister.

[2:41] So there's a lot of typology there and a lot of words that we could spend really a lot of time looking at, but we have already in our course of going through the Old Testament seen much of that.

[2:52] So we're not going to spend a lot of time looking at the furnishings. We're really focusing on the temple itself. So let's pray and then we're just going to get right into the text.

[3:02] We'll read through. There are some things that are unique. We'll read through the unique things. And again, some of the things that we've already looked at, we won't spend a lot of time on. So let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for just allowing us to gather together.

[3:17] We thank you for your faithfulness towards us. We thank you for your goodness that you display to each and every one of us. And Lord, what a joy it is to be able to gather together and open up the word of God and study it with the people of God.

[3:28] So we pray that as we read and we study, we would see so much more than just the words that it contains, but we would be focused on who it is pointing us towards, that we would draw closer to you through our study and understanding of it, that we would grow closer to one another, that Christ be magnified even in the historical works and writings of Scripture.

[3:54] We pray that you be with those working with our youth and our children in the back. We pray that, again, as always, that Christ be magnified in each and every part and portion that's taking place throughout this place this evening.

[4:07] We ask that you continue to lead and guide us as a church and that you just use us in a mighty way. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[4:19] All right, let's start in 2 Chronicles 2. And we will read. While some of this is repetitive, it is worth reading it here. And then we'll read straight through for some time.

[4:31] Now Solomon decided to build a house for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself. So Solomon assigned 70,000 men to carry loads and 80,000 men to quarry stone in the mountains and 3,600 to supervise them.

[4:47] Then Solomon sent word to Hurom. If you read in Kings, it's Hurom with an I. It is the same individual. Hurom, the king of Tyre, saying, As you dealt with David, my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house to dwell in, so do for me.

[5:02] Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, dedicating it to him, to burn fragrant incense before him, and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening on Sabbaths and on new moons, and on the appointed feast of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Israel.

[5:20] The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for him? For the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain him.

[5:32] So who am I that I should build a house for him except to burn incense before him? Now send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings to work with the skilled men whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David, my father, provided.

[5:54] Send me also cedar, cypress, and algam timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber of Lebanon, and indeed my servants will work with your servants to prepare timber in abundance for me, for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

[6:09] Now behold, I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber 20,000 cores of crushed wheat, and 20,000 cores of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.

[6:20] Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in a letter sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them. Then Hiram continued, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth, who had given King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build a house for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

[6:42] Now I am sending Hiram Abi, a skilled man, endowed with understanding, the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrean father, who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and purple and violet, linen, and crimson fabrics, and who knows how to make all kinds of engravings, and to execute any design which may be assigned to him, to work with your skilled men and with those of my Lord David your father.

[7:06] Now then, let my Lord send to his servants wheat and barley, oil and wine, of which he has spoken. We will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you on rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may carry it up to Jerusalem.

[7:20] Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, following the census which his father David had taken, and 153,600 were found. He appointed 70,000 of them to carry loads, and 80,000 of quarry stones in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors to make the people work.

[7:39] Let's go on down. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. At the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, he began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

[7:57] And we read of the dimensions. We're not, again, not going to spend an amount of time on the dimensions. You need to know just from study that the temple is exactly twice as large as the tabernacle.

[8:11] It was 15 by 45. The temple is 30 by 90. Okay? So, magnificent in size.

[8:22] He makes everything according to the plans. And we see here the sculpting of it. We see the things that are there. We even read in here the weight of the nails.

[8:36] So, that's something to pay attention to. When you see this, there's the weight of the nails that are used inside the Holy of Holies. It is pretty astounding the details that we get.

[8:48] So, let's go on over to chapter 4. Again, speaking of Hiram Abi, the skilled craftsman, then he made a bronze altar, 20 cubits in length and 20 cubits in width and 10 cubits in height.

[9:02] And he made the cast metal sea, 10 cubits from brim to brim, circular in form. And its height was 5 cubits and its circumference 30 cubits. Now the figures, like oxen, were under it and all around it, 10 cubits entirely encircling the sea.

[9:14] The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece. It stood on 12 oxen, three facing the north, three facing the west, three facing the south, and three facing the east. And the sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inwards.

[9:26] This was the sea in which they were to wash their hands and their feet. There is one thing that is unique in this description. If we were to continue reading, again, I'm not going to read throughout all of it because I want you to go there and read it.

[9:42] That it is unique in this description that is not described anywhere else. And that is actually the description of the veil that is hung between the holy place and the holy of holies. That is unique to 2 Chronicles.

[9:53] It speaks that he made not only the courts, but then he made the holy of holies and he put the veil there between the two. Now let's go into chapter 5.

[10:05] Thus all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold and all the utensils.

[10:16] And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Then Solomon assembled to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes and leaders of the father's households of the sons of Israel.

[10:28] To bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast.

[10:38] That is, in the seventh month. Then all the elders of Israel came and the Levites took up the ark. They brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils which were in the tent. The Levitical priest brought them up.

[10:51] And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priest brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place.

[11:05] Into the inner sanctuary of the house. To the holy of holies. Under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark. So that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.

[11:17] The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary. But they could not be seen outside. And they are there to this day. Just stop right here. That's just really so that we understand.

[11:33] Many, I think we've said this before, that Ezra is writing this. But so that you know that they're writing this from the records of the kings. This should not be taken literal that they're there to this day. Because that is actually found in kings too.

[11:44] Because at the time of this writing, if you remember, that temple was not there. Okay, so this is written after the Babylonian captivity. So that the ark of the covenant is not there. The poles aren't still there at the time of its writing.

[11:57] But he is writing accurately what had been recorded concerning the scripture. Okay, so that's, it's just one detail of the accuracy of the record that is given there.

[12:07] Anyway, so we keep going on. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt. When the priests came forth from the holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to divisions.

[12:26] And all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Judothan, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar. And with them 120 priests blowing trumpets in unison.

[12:40] When the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord. And when they lifted up their voices accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music.

[12:52] And when they praised the Lord saying, He indeed is good for his loving kindness is everlasting. Then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house.

[13:14] 2 Chronicles chapters 2 through 5. I hope that you go back and you read all the details, because the details do matter. For the sake of our time, We're not going to spend a lot of time reading those details, but the details are of great importance.

[13:29] Because it is with grand detail and design that God moved them to do a perfect work and a great work. Again, they know the weight of the gold used in the nails when they nailed the gold plating inside the Holy of Holies.

[13:47] That's how meticulous their keeping of records was. And so we have trustworthiness here of what we find, and the title tonight would be, A Well-Constructed Temple.

[14:00] A Well-Constructed Temple. What does it look like when the temple was finally built? This is the thing which David longed to do. David was told he could not do because he was a man of warfare, but that one of his sons would do.

[14:13] And now we finally get to the point where the temple is there. And if you remember, in Chronicles, the house of David, the building of the temple, and the Levitical priesthood, are all important. Because each one of them is representing not just that thing or person in particular, but the hope that is connected with them.

[14:29] The house of David, we're waiting for the king coming from the family of David, right? The temple shows that we are people made to worship. And the priest declared to us how we should worship, and that we could come before the presence of the Lord.

[14:41] All of these things are restoring the nation and reminding them who they are as the people of God, people who can worship and people who adore him. And it's not necessarily about Solomon's temple, because the temple that they were worshiping at failed in comparison to this temple, but it shows them what a well-constructed temple looks like.

[15:02] The first thing that we notice here in this well-constructed temple is the people required to build it. We notice the people that are required to build it. It says, Now Solomon decided to build a house for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

[15:18] Solomon, by this time, is well-established. He's fairly secure. It tells us in the third chapter that this began in the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

[15:30] So this isn't just like the very first thing that he does. By the time he says, Hey, let's build the temple now, all of those enemies that David told him at the end of his life, be sure to take care of this one, this one, and this one, all that's been done.

[15:43] So now there's peace. There's prosperity. Solomon has been given wisdom and discernment. God has already displayed that in his own life. And now Solomon says, Okay, now it's time to build the temple.

[15:56] Now when we think about this, Solomon is an established king. He has a very prosperous nation. He has already been given an abundant list of materials and supplies by David and the people with David.

[16:11] He already has the craftsmen and the skilled men appointed around him. He has much imposition to start the construction. But it's telling because the first thing he does is he reaches out to Hurom, or if you're reading in Kings, it's Hurom, the king of Tyre, and says, I'm getting ready to build.

[16:32] So he reaches beyond, and we pay attention to this, he goes beyond the borders of Israel. Right? He reaches to a Gentile king.

[16:43] Now, Hurom slash Hurom was a friend of David, and David had disclosed to him that he wanted to build a temple, but he couldn't, that his son was. David had prepared in advance with Hurom that, Hey, I want you to provide timbers because these are lumberjacks, I mean, to put it any other way, right?

[17:01] These are woodsmen. They know how to cut wood. And they send it to where? Where do they send it to? Joppa, right? Pay attention to Joppa because Joppa is the very seaport that a man named Jonah will sell out of later on and go in the wrong direction and end up coming back to.

[17:14] Joppa is also the place that a man named Simon. Peter is saying at a tanner's house, his name is Simon, and he gets a vision of going and speaking to the Gentiles. Man, it seems like Joppa is a place that you go to Gentiles. Right?

[17:25] It's, ooh, man, scripture is so good, isn't it? Right? Because all of a sudden the timber is coming from the Gentiles to build the temple, and then is Jonah supposed to go to the Gentiles and he doesn't want to?

[17:36] And Peter is hanging out in Joppa and he's getting commissioned to go to the house of Cornelius, which is a Gentile. Isn't it amazing? Scripture says the same thing over and over and over again, even in the most minute details.

[17:47] If you ever want to know what excites me about Scripture, that's it. How accurate it is and how faithful it is and how trustworthy it is, even in the smallest. And we'll get into the rest of that in just a moment. But anyway, so he reaches out to Hurom, King of Tyre, and he says, I need help.

[18:01] He says, okay. He says, well, I can send you all this. And we are disclosed in this portion of Scripture. 1 Kings tells us he's going to give him some things. This tells us some people think there's some discrepancies.

[18:12] Say, Pastor, if you're so good at this, and let me point out some discrepancies to you. Well, before you point out discrepancies to me, let me point them out to you, okay? In 1 Kings, there's not this full detailed listing of everything Solomon said he was going to give.

[18:25] But read the words. In 1 Kings, Solomon says, this is what I will give you, Hurom, King of Tyre. Here, he says, this is what I will give you and your woodsmen.

[18:36] There's more people included. That's why there's more material included. And when you read 1 Kings, we meet this man named Hurom Abi. Here it's Hurom Abi. It's probably a scribal mistranslation of the name.

[18:48] Not to say it is wrong, because it's not wrong. But what we find here, this is not a variant. This is actually good. Here, he is referred to as a Danite, right? His mother is from the tribe of Dan.

[19:01] There, his mother is referred to being from another location. There's no discrepancy there, because it is in particular to be born of the tribe of Dan, therefore being a Danite, but living in another portion of Jerusalem and being from.

[19:15] Again, the words in Scripture matter. So what we find is Hurom Abi now is this craftsman, who is what we would refer to in the New Testament, like those from Samaria.

[19:33] He's half Jew, half Gentile. His father is from Tyrean descent. His mother is a Danite from Israel descent, which shouldn't surprise us, because the tribe of Dan is the one on the fringe, and they're the first one to enter into idolatrous worship, and they were the ones living closer to the region of Tyre anyway.

[19:54] So what we find here is now all of a sudden, Solomon is leaning on not only the king of Tyre, but a craftsman from there. And then we come in. He comes back to his place, and it says, and he numbers the aliens.

[20:08] Now that's not green or gray people. That's non-Israelite people living among them, right? He numbers the aliens living in their land after the census of David. Here's something else good that's coming out of David's census.

[20:21] And according to the Mosaic law, he can employ those in labor. They're not slaves. Don't think of them as slaves. But he can employ them in physical labor. The one thing that divides the nation is that Solomon does employ his own people in this physical labor too, and the taxes and employment gets a little heavy.

[20:40] That's why when his son is on the throne, they're like, hey, you've done it too much. And that's kind of caused some riff. But anyway, he takes these people, and he puts 70,000 of them over here.

[20:50] He puts 80,000 of them over here, and he puts 3,600 of them supervising. If you read 1 Kings, it'll tell you that the number supervising is 3,250. And you say, oh, there's some discrepancies.

[21:01] Not really, because if you continue to read 2 Chronicles, and you find another number that is connected with this group, and you continue to read 1 Kings, and you read another number connected with that group, the grand total number is exactly the same.

[21:14] You say, well, see, it's Wednesday night, so I give you everything, right, so that if anybody says, well, I read this, and they don't match. Yes, they do. Keep reading. It's there. It's just some of the, what is qualified as overseers in Chronicles were designated something else in Kings, but the same amount of people were helping.

[21:33] But what I'm wanting you to see here is this one thing, that when he got ready to build the temple, though he was the king, and though there were workers in Israel, and though there was enough supplies set aside by David and the men of Israel to do it, he went to a Gentile, he got a half Jew, half Gentile craftsman, and he used the non-Gentile people in the land to do it.

[21:52] Why? Because the temple of the Lord was to be a temple of and for the nations. Right? God has drawn the nations to himself.

[22:04] This is why when you get to the Herod's temple, there is a court of the Gentiles because it was to be open to the nations. This is not just a Jewish temple.

[22:18] Right? It is a temple that the Jews are building to maintain their rituals and to do that. We'll get into that in just a moment. But it was a temple just like the tabernacle. Go back to the tabernacle.

[22:28] It's not solely built by all Jewish people. Right? Who funded all the articles for the resources to build the tabernacle in the wilderness?

[22:41] Well, they plundered the Egyptians when they left. Right? The gold earrings and all the things and all the dot. Where did they get the tortoise skins? Died red. Where did they get all the material? Where did they get all these algal trees and things like that? Where did they get the acacia wood?

[22:52] Well, they got it from the Egyptians. Why? Because God is the God of the nations. He's not just the God of the Jews. So we look at the people required to build it.

[23:05] It is inclusive of all people. Number two. We see the purpose of its construction. Why are we building it? Solomon declares it for us here. He says that I am going to build a house.

[23:18] He says, I'm about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicating it to him to burn the fragrant incense before him and to set out the showbriah continually and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening on Sabbath and on new moons and on the appointed feast of the Lord our God.

[23:34] This being required forever and Israel. First thing I want you to see is the purpose was they were building it so that they may obey what he had already commanded them to do. God had declared they should come before him with three grand festivals a year.

[23:48] They should come before him with these sacrifices and the burnt incense. They needed a place of obedience. Right? So this is far different from every other temple that we see being constructed around the world.

[24:00] But the first thing that we see is they're doing it. He wants to build this temple so that they may live in faithful obedience. But then he goes on to say he makes this great declaration the house which I'm about to build will be great for greater is our God than any other God.

[24:19] But then he says the same thing we've been saying all over but who is able to build a house for him for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain him.

[24:31] So who am I that I should build a house? This is what I want you to know. The temple was not built to confine or contain God.

[24:41] It was built in order to appoint the people to him. everything that is going on there the burning of the incense the offering of the sacrifices every article within the temple is representative of the holy character of God.

[25:01] The fact that you should wash before you go before him the fact that there is this veil between the holy of holies the fact that the blood is being poured out beside the altar before it is put upon the sacrifice right?

[25:14] The fact everything that takes place there is symbolic and representative of the reality of what it looks like to approach God and it is pointing them to it.

[25:24] Now that's important because by the time of Christ people are worshiping the temple not the one that it's supposed to be pointing to.

[25:36] What grand charge did they bring against Jesus? He said that he would destroy this temple when he was speaking about his body right? they get upset because and they make an oath and they pledge an oath by the altar and the gold that's in the temple and Jesus himself said what's more precious the gold or that which is being offered on the altar right?

[26:00] They began to worship the object rather than worshiping the one the object was supposed to point to by the way we'll find the application for us here later in just a moment so the purpose was to point them beyond the temple to the one who resided in the heavenly temple and that they may walk in obedience before him it's the grand purpose of the temple number three we notice the place of its inhabitants this is good all right this is good stuff right chapter three look at what chapter three says then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah you need to go glory hallelujah because that's only mentioned one other time in scripture anybody know where Mount Moriah is mentioned one other time in scripture yeah it's where Abraham took Isaac his son in Genesis in the book of Genesis Genesis chapter 22 is the only other mentioning of the mount in Moriah that I will show you this is the dot that connects the lineage of what

[27:08] God is doing why is it here why is it declared here and this is why we say well why do we need second chronicles we've already read everything listen first king says not tell us this is Mount Moriah but second chronicles does don't displace it don't dispel it because if it wasn't for this book if it wasn't for this repetitious book this thing that's already telling us things we would not know that the place that David had purchased from Ornan to Jebusite was also Mount Moriah which was the very same place that Abraham took up his son Isaac and offered him on the altar it is not coincidental by the way that when the plague came up during the time of David's census that the angel of the Lord stopped before he came into Jerusalem and stood over the threshing floor of Ornan or Arunah the Jebusite you ever think about that when Abraham was commissioned in Genesis chapter 22 God says to Abraham Abraham Abraham says yes Lord he says I want you to take your son and go to Moriah to the mount that I will show you so he sets out he doesn't know where he's going he's going to the mountain that God will show him so who chooses the mountain

[28:14] God right so Abraham is going he doesn't say oh that looks like a good one there I'll take that one no he doesn't goes to the one that God will show him during the days go centuries later keep going keep going keep going through history and all of a sudden here's this mountain of the Lord we don't know where it is we've kind of lost sight of it and then all of a sudden David makes this numbering of people that is a grand sin and the angel of the Lord is going through and 70,000 people die and the angel of the Lord stops and stands over a particular place and that particular place happens to be the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite now there was an altar in Gibeon that David could have went to but he was afraid he couldn't go before the Lord said I want you to offer me a sacrifice where that angel is standing right that's what he told him he told David to go by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite so that he could make a sacrifice why so that when he purchased the land and he was there and he says this is the house of God that's what it tells us there and in the end of first chronicles he says oh wow I'm in the house of God and he leaves the plan and he gives it to

[29:21] Solomon then we turn the page and we find that when Solomon starts the construction he begins construction on Mount Moriah Mount Moriah is Temple Mount that's still in Jerusalem today now it's important to pay attention to that because when Abraham was walking up the side of the mountain that God told him Isaac said father he said yes son he says I see the fire I see the wood but where's the sacrifice and Abraham says the Lord will provide the lamb right remember that the Lord will provide the lamb and I said now again every word in scripture is important what does he say the Lord will provide the lamb right so he gets up there and he's on top of Mount Moriah and he has Isaac laid out there and he draws his knife and

[30:23] God says Abraham and he stops him he says yes he says now I know that you love me with all of your heart that you will not even hold back your one and only son and it says and Abraham looked and behold he saw what caught in the thicket no a ram ah the Lord will provide the lamb but what he saw was a ram so now all of a sudden you pay attention those words in the same chapter by the way so what Abraham said God would provide he hadn't provided yet he provided something in place of Isaac but he had not provided what Abraham said he would provide pay attention so we're not done on Mount Moriah right he found a ram he didn't find a lamb that's a big you say oh pastor what difference it matters stay with me okay we're going through scripture I told you these are things that get me excited the Lord's going to provide a lamb Abraham finds a ram so he offers the ram in place of his son but we're still looking for the lamb and then all of a sudden Abraham makes this great declaration in the mount of the Lord it will be provided Genesis chapter 22 he calls the name of God Jehovah

[31:27] Jireh the Lord will provide he says he is the Lord will provide Jehovah Jireh in the mount of the Lord it will be provided and then we walk off from there we don't ever think about it again until we get here and then we get here and we start building this temple and now all of a sudden this place is sacred because this is Temple Mount now this place isn't sacred because it's Temple Mount this place is sacred because it's a particular place for a particular purpose because it is here later that we will find someone walking into that place of which John the Baptist said behold the lamb the Lord will provide the lamb and guess where the lamb walked into he walked in to the temple on his triumphant entry and he presented himself the very first place where did he present himself at the temple behold the lamb who takes away the sin of the world this place is not just some place it's the place that we were supposed to be watching all along this is a particular place that God chose for Abraham he calls his angel to stand over it for David and then he moved Solomon to start construction on it so that centuries later the lamb would walk in and we would say there he is do you know why I'm not waiting on another temple to be built there I know right now if you go there today in Jerusalem you'll find the dome of the rock which is a Hindu Islamic temple I'm not looking for another one you know why because the lamb has already been there the lamb's already been provided what God said he was going to do he's already done so the work is finished that's why what did Jesus say when he walked away from that place the very last time oh pay attention the glory has departed and then he walked away hold on to that one for just a moment until we get to the end so you see the place of its inhabitants number four finally look at the presence that filled it this is the fifth chapter the presence that filled it now I know the furnishings are there they're magnificent they are detailed they are ornate even the naming of the pillars is intentional it is the reality that God is upholding the temple that's why we have the naming of the pillars they are splendid they are testimonial to his grandeur they are given to display his glory what man counts as precious are used in the most inner place the holy of holies which is only seen one time a year by one man a year right there are 600 shekels of golden nails inside that one room that only one man walks into once a year the thing that man desires is there before him and all of the furnishings of the what do you do

[35:10] So they bring in the ark, and inside the ark, the only thing that's in the ark is the law. Which we say, well, where's Aaron's rod that budded? Where's the jar of manna? Well, the only thing that's in the ark is the law. And that's on purpose because you have the law, God, the presence of God with the law, and the propitiation seat above it.

[35:27] And so there's the Shekinah glory that dwells above that. So between the glory of God and the standard of God is the blood of the Lamb. And so there's mercy. That's the mercy seat. But they bring it in, and every priest consecrates themselves.

[35:41] They're not worried about their divisions. They're not worried because this is a day of celebration. Now, pay attention to this. They wait a little bit before they dedicate the temple. It takes seven years to build the temple.

[35:52] They wait a couple more months until they get to, it says, to the feast. And it tells us that in verse 2 that when Solomon assembled everybody, and in verse 3 it says all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast.

[36:06] And it tells us what month that feast was at. Now, I'm not going to ask you to go back and look in the book of Leviticus and in the book of Numbers and find out what feast this is. I'll tell you, this is the feast of tabernacles.

[36:19] That's pretty good, isn't it? You say, no, well, you mean that's good. This is the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles. Because you know what the feast of booths and the feast of tabernacles celebrated? It celebrated the reality that the presence of God led the nation in their 40 years of wilderness into wanderings.

[36:37] So they were celebrating a festival which reminded them of the presence of God among them. And in their celebration, they worshipped.

[36:48] They gathered together. They brought the Ark of the Covenant in. It was a holy day. Everyone was gathered. The trumpets, the cymbals, the singers, and they're declaring the praise of God. And then it says, And the presence of God, which was represented by the festival they were celebrating, showed up.

[37:08] The cloud fell on the temple. And it says that the priests had to quit ministering. And the singers had to quit singing.

[37:20] Why? Because when God really shows up, we don't do anything. What are we going to do then? But nothing. For the glory of the Lord filled the house.

[37:38] We call that the Shekinah glory. Now, during the days of Eli, we wrote Ichabod across Shiloh.

[37:51] For the glory had departed. Remember that? Go read in 1 Samuel. During the days of the priest of Eli, who was heavy, sitting upon his stool.

[38:01] And he fell over backwards because he heard that the Ark of the Covenant was caught by the Philistines in the battle. And they wrote Ichabod across the tabernacle. For the glory has departed.

[38:13] When Moses erected the tabernacle in the wilderness, the glory came. And the glory dwelt among them. The glory led them. That's why they celebrate the booths for the Feast of Tabernacles. God had tabernacled among them.

[38:24] And then there comes a day where the glory departs. Now, the glory doesn't come back until Solomon builds the temple. A lot happens between the days of Eli's and the day of Solomon. And now, all of a sudden, the glory comes back.

[38:36] Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel. If you go read the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel has a vision. And in Ezekiel's vision, he sees the glory of God, this glory, departing from this temple.

[38:47] And he again writes Ichabod across Solomon's temple for the glory has departed. But in the days of Ezekiel, he sees the glory of God resting upon another temple. He says, but the glory will rest upon another temple.

[39:00] Now, that's why I bring the application and I'm almost through. Because what does a well-constructed temple look like? It's made up of people for a purpose in a place filled with his presence.

[39:14] When Jesus walked away from the temple, Herod's temple, on the last time he visited it, the night of his betrayal, he said, the glory has departed.

[39:28] And he walked across the Kidron Valley and went into Gethsemane. In that moment, there was no glory of God upon that temple, for the glory of God was kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane.

[39:39] But when Jesus ascended to the Father, he left behind a gift that filled a people for a purpose in a place with his presence.

[39:54] And we call that the church. For God said, I will be his father and he will be my son and he will build the temple.

[40:06] We're not looking for another Solomon's temple. Friend, listen to me. The church is the temple. We are the people.

[40:17] He is building a temple with people from the nations. And he's building them for a purpose to declare the glory. Too often, much like they began to worship the temple rather than worshiping the one the temple was supposed to point to, too often in history, people have tried to worship the church rather than worshiping the one the church was to point them to.

[40:39] We are people with a purpose to walk in obedience and to point others to Christ. We are people with a purpose in a particular place.

[40:51] That is, he's left us here until he calls us home. And we are filled with the presence. For where two or more are gathered together, I am there as well. The Gospel of John, Jesus says, it is good for you that I go away.

[41:05] For if I go away, I'll ask the Father and he'll send the Spirit and the Spirit will tabernacle among you. He said, and when the Spirit tabernacles within you, then I and the Father will make our bow within you as well.

[41:15] See, that is the fullness of God dwelling in the people of God for the glory of God. A well-constructed temple is built by people for a purpose in a place filled with his presence.

[41:32] And when we gather together as a church, that's what we are, is a well-constructed temple. But may we be very, very careful that the building doesn't become the primary.

[41:49] For the temple was to declare the glory of the one that the highest of heavens could not contain. And they are to proclaim his glory and all of his splendor.

[42:02] And we find that in 2 Chronicles 2-5. Thank you for your great patience as we made our way through the extended section of Scripture there.