Year One, October 17

You Yourselves Like Living Stones Are Being Built up as a Spiritual House1

2 Chronicles 3

1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

This was the place where Abraham offered up Isaac and near the spot where the Lord Jesus suffered as the Lamb that God had provided for sacrifice. It is a place that reminds us of sacrifice and atonement.2 As the living temple of God, the Church should be a constant reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the atonement he purchased for lost sinners.

2He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3These are Solomon’s measurements for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits (about ninety feet), and the breadth twenty cubits (about thirty feet). 4The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits (about 180 feet). He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. 5The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 6He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. (The woodwork was expensive, but it was covered with pure gold of the best kind and then decorated with precious stones. The Lord’s church is also built at a huge cost, because it is very precious in his eyes.) 7So he lined the house with gold--its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors--and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents (over 20 tons) of fine gold. 9The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels (a little over one pound of gold for each nail). And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold. 11The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits (about seven feet), touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub, 12and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 13The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits (about thirty feet). The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave.

Did these symbolize angels? We think so. They are here represented as standing on their feet as servants and not as sitting on thrones like gods. We do not worship angels, but we worship with angels, joining in their holy song of praise to the Lord of all.

14And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it. (This curtain hid the Most Holy Place. The gospel of Christ had not been made clear yet.)

15In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits (about fifty-two feet) high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. 16He made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, (the Lord will establish) and that on the north Boaz (in him is strength).

These pillars were enormous columns intended for glory and for beauty. The Church is the greatest design of the Great Architect. Holy Scripture gives us a full description of the various parts of the temple and the different pieces of furniture. Everything was decided by God and is full of instruction. Those seeing the completed temple must have thought it was magnificent beyond compare.

^{_______________}

¹ 1 Peter 2:5

² atonement - A payment made to satisfy someone who has been wronged. An animal sacrificed as an offering to restore a relationship. Jesus is the Lamb of God and offered himself as a sacrifice to restore the relationship between God and man that was broken when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden.