He Promised

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HE PROMISED

1 Kings 8:12-21

12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." 14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 15 Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.' 17 "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18 But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart. 19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood — he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.' 20 "The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."

NIV

The main theme of these words of Solomon is that the LORD promised and He had kept his promise. We too should always have the words, “Praise be to the LORD” except He is not just the God of Israel, but He is also the God of the universe who spoke everything into existence and who formed us with his own hands and breathed life into us as he formed us in the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because He used the words, “in our image”. But it is first the promise, and second, that he keeps His promise. When we take His promise for eternal life to all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we sometimes say that it is our hope, or our hope is in Jesus. But because He promised, is it really just a hope? Does hope diminish His promise or make it null and void? God promised, and He has always kept His promise, so then the question is whether we believe Him. Jesus promised that He would prepare a place for us, so that where He is we can be also, and that because He prepared a place for us, He would come back to take us there. He promised, and the Lord always keeps His promise. He told Martha that whoever lives and believes in Him will never die, then he asked that great question, “Do you believe this?” He asked the same question of the blind man, when He asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” it always come back to the truth that the Lord promised and He always keeps His promise. So then we could say that we are people of the promise. We live in Jesus, but we also live in His promise. He also made it clear if we want to be in His promise, that is to see the kingdom of heaven, we must be born again, or born from above. That too is a promise, and he always keeps His promise. So then, as a born-again, spirit-filled follower of Jesus, we will see His promise fulfilled in us and to us, because He promised and He always keeps His promise. 

His Glory

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HIS GLORY

1 Kings 8:1-11

8:1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2 All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. 3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. 6 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. 8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. 10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

NIV

Interestingly, it would seem there were two tents of meeting, but there would have been only one ark of the covenant in the tabernacle built by Moses under the LORD's instruction. According to this record, the tabernacle was in the city of David, Zion, or Bethlehem, while there was a tent of meeting at Gibeon on a high place where Solomon met with the LORD and was told he could ask for anything; that is where he requested a discerning heart. But the ark was brought from Bethlehem, so we think that is where the whole of the first tabernacle was kept by David until it was time for the temple to be built. The other thought by some is that the original tabernacle was at Gibeon, but David had built a temporary one to house the ark of the Covenant in Zion. Is it that important as to where the ark was, as it is that it was brought up and placed in the Holy of Holies, and then the LORD’s presence filled his temple? This is the truth that brings it home for us. Although we are told that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we do not belong to us, but He, the Holy Spirit, fills His temple. His presence filled the temple that Solomon built, but it is referred to as the glory of the LORD filling his temple. We cannot build ourselves into a temple, for that is the work of Jesus when we, through faith, accept him as our Lord and Savior. Once we made that commitment, then he does the work within us, making us into the temple in which the Holy Spirit comes to dwell. In the case of the temple that Solomon built, it was the glory of the LORD, which does not mean the LORD Himself, that filled the temple. However, it is not just the glory of the Holy Spirit that fills us, but it is the Holy Spirit Himself that fills us, as we are baptized with Him, or immersed in Him, as He fills His temple. We simply offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, and He is the one who makes us holy and pleasing to Himself, the Lord. However, it still comes back to the truth that because we are that temple of the Holy Spirit, who is full of glory, and his glory has filled us, we then are filled with the glory of the Lord, and should reflect His glory, which means we have no glory of our own, but only are filled with His glory. 

Reflection

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

REFLECTION

1 Kings 7:41-51

41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars); 43 the ten stands with their ten basins;  44 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;   45 the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls. All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the LORD were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined. 48 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the LORD's temple: the golden altar; the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; 49 the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and tongs; 50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple. 51 When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated — the silver and gold and the furnishings — and he placed them in the treasuries of the LORD's temple.

NIV

There was so much burnished bronze that it was left unweighted. What would be the purpose of accounting for how much there was? We are also not told how much all the stone, cedar, gold, and silver weighed either, for there was so much, an abundance of everything that was used for the temple of the LORD. Why should it be any other way? However, there was a tremendous amount of details so the temple would be the most magnificent place, the center of life in Jerusalem. Still, it was just a building, and compared to the glories of heaven, it was but a dim reflection. This is the amazing story of our deliverance from the darkness of this world. Jesus, who was before the beginning of time and who created all that was created, lived in the most glorious of glories that is above all else and beyond our abilities to comprehend how incredibly glorious it is, left all that to come to earth in the form of man for the singular purpose to save us from our sins. There was a way to describe the temple, but we cannot truly describe the glories of heaven, or, for that matter, God himself. Yet, Jesus told us that if we have seen him, we have seen the Father. His word gives us enough of His description, or at least of his character, that we do know the Father. But to understand the glory might be more difficult, yet we are supposed to reflect the glory of God in ever-increasing glory. The temple was supposed to reflect the glory of God, and it was full of gold, silver, bronze, and all sorts of preciousness. We do not have the gold or silver or cedar or bronze, but we are full of preciousness in the sight of the Lord. We are precious to him, and he calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that is how we can reflect the glory of God. He dwells within us, shining his light within, and it should be shining so brightly that it shines out of us, reflecting His glory. That is why Jesus told us that we have become the light of the world. Wherever we stand, there can be no total darkness, for our light should be shining so brightly that it reflects the light of God. If we are reflecting that much light, how could we ever appear gloomy or downcast? We wonder if we spend too much time concerned about our physical appearance, or the condition of our physical bodies, thus our countenance is not reflective of God, and we have forgotten that we are to reflect Him. Let us lift up our Lord, and He will lift us up so that we can walk as the light, with the appearance of light, with a shining demeanor, reflecting the glory of God. 

Cleansed

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

CLEANSED

1 Kings 7:27-40

27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.   28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim — and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand.   36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape. 38 He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. 40 He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

NIV

These ten carts were 6 feet long and wide and 4 ½ feet high, each a basin that would hold 230 gallons of water. The purpose of these basins is not explained to us in this passage, but it is thought that they were used for several purposes. First, in such an arid place as Israel, except for the fertile plains, water was at a premium. These carts could have been wheeled to water and filled so as to fill the large Sea Basin for the ceremonial washing of the priests. The water in the ten movable stands would also have been used to wash the animal sacrifices or to carry away the blood and waste from the sacrifices. This whole system was designed around the duty of the order of priests that served in the temple of Yahweh, Adoni. Everything and everyone had to be cleansed before the LORD. But all that water could only wash the exterior of the priests as well as the sacrifices. It was said that the Romans, and it appears the Jews, felt that cleanliness was next to godliness. But what good is our cleaning the exterior of our bodies, if the inside is but dead men’s bones?  Jesus accused the Pharisees, chief priests, and teachers of the law of being clean on the outside but having dead men’s bones inside. It was the same as the clean cup on the outside and dirty inside, teaching that he used. Of course, we do not want to walk around dirty on the outside, because we have so many methods of cleansing our bodies. However, if we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, then we need more than a ceremonial washing. We have to be cleansed on the inside, and that is what Jesus has done for us, being the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins. We do not need those carts either to carry away the waste, for Jesus has carried away all our waste, all our sins, the things within us that are not acceptable as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord. All we need is Jesus. Because the priests had to wash themselves before serving in the temple, we cannot wash ourselves, but Jesus has cleansed us completely so that we can be the royal priesthood we are meant to be. No matter what symbols or articles were used in the temple and what they were meant for,  all we need is Jesus, and we will be cleansed. 

Preparing

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

PREPARING 

1 Kings 7:25-26

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

NIV

The sea, which is not a sea, but a bronze basin with a diameter of 15 feet that was 45 feet in circumference and 7 ½ feet tall. It rested on the hindquarters of 12 bronze bulls, each facing one of the four directions. From the description, the rim was tapered outward, like a lily blossom, and about 3 inches thick in solid bronze. It would hold about 11,500 gallons of water. The size might resemble some of the modern baptismal tanks. From what we can gather, it seems it was used as a place where the priest would ceremonially wash before entering the holy place, the temple, to perform the service to the Lord. But what spiritual significance would apply to our lives? We could use the Hebrew word ‘Yam’, which means to roar, like roaring water, such as a large sea, to resemble or represent the water the Spirit hovered over in the creation account. We could see this as the waters of baptism we should walk through, as we follow Jesus, as he walked through those waters in the Jordon as he was baptized by John. We could view this basin in the way the priests used it as a ceremonial cleansing before entering the presence of the LORD in his temple. Although we are not just ceremonially washed by water, we are cleansed of all our sins by being washed in the blood of Jesus. This large basin would have replaced the brazen laver that stood before the entrance of the tabernacle in the wilderness. This laver was hammered smooth like a mirror to show the dirty feet of the priest, symbolizing sin. The word of God shows or reflects our sins to us and our need to be cleansed before entering the presence of the Lord. We know this is personal and spiritual, but we wonder if we prepare ourselves before we enter the presence of our Lord when we enter the holy sanctuary at church. We know it is just a building, but so was the temple Solomon built. When we come into the sanctuary of the Lord, have we prepared ourselves? Of course, we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, but we have walked in the filth of this world, even if we have not entered into partnership with it. We have not yet attained perfection either, so sin has been somewhere within before we enter the sanctuary of the Lord. Should we not prepare ourselves so that we can truly worship in spirit and in truth? Sometimes it is bothersome to use the church as a meeting place for chatter, even gossip. We have been in some churches that have great coffee bars, donuts, sweets, and places dedicated to this chattering and clamoring about, trying their best to label it fellowship time before entering the sanctuary, if it can be called that, when it looks more like a theater to view a performance. Let us prepare our hearts, our spirits, our minds as we come to worship our Lord, so that we can worship in spirit and in truth. 

Never Ending Story

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

NEVER ENDING STORY

1 Kings 7:13-40

 

13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,   14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him. 15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, by line. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. 17 A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.   22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

NIV

This is unclear when there was a transition from describing his palace to describing the items for the temple of the LORD. But we know from all the rest of the things that were made, this was for the temple, not his palace. These two pillars were at the door or in front of the doors into the temple, and they were 27 feet high and 18 feet around. Their tops of their crowns were about 7 feet high. Again, it is difficult to determine if there are any significant truths for our lives from the pillars of any other items in the temple. However, we do know that from the letters to the churches that whoever overcomes, that remains steadfast, Jesus will make a pillar in the temple of God, and the overcomers or pillars will never leave, and they will have his name written on them and the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem. Some day, the Lord will be finished with all his work on the pillars that will stand in the temple of God in that new city of Jerusalem. Interestingly, the pillars were cast or made by a man, but the pillars that will stand in the temple of God, who are those who overcome, are not made by man, but by the work of the Lord. If we are to be those overcomers, we have to come to grips with the truth that it is not up to us to become a pillar. We cannot get there by any effort of our hands or deeds, but it is all about the hand of the Lord at work, casting us into the shape and size he has determined that we all fit together as living stones into the temple of God, or pillars in the temple. The symbolic meaning of being a pillar is that we will have a permanent or eternal place in the realm of God within that new city of Jerusalem, never to leave it. This world only offers temporal things and places for us to have and live in, but there in the temple of the Lord, everything will be forever, eternal, and our presence there will never end. Once we arrive in the new city of God, the new city of Jerusalem, as a pillar, we will have a never-ending story.

 

What Splendor

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

WHAT SPLENDOR

1 Kings 7:9-22

 

9 All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight.   11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico. 13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,   14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him. 15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around, by line. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. 17 A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.   22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

NIV

This is a lot of detail about the two bronze pillars that stood at the front of the Palace of Solomon. Why are we told all these details? What is important about these pillars to the spiritual benefit of the reader? We know that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for correcting, rebuking, teaching, and training in righteousness, so that we are fully equipped for every good work, but how does this apply? We do wonder just what the new city of Jerusalem looks like and what kind of materials are used to make it. Will God just speak a whole city into existence? We know that Jesus told his disciples, which would include us, that he was going to prepare a place for us and that if he did go and prepare a place for us, he was coming back to take us there. It has been over two thousand years since he went to prepare this place, which could very well mean the new city of Jerusalem, and we would think it has to be done by now. We know it has a lot of gold, streams of water, trees, places to dwell, and the size of the city is fifteen hundred miles wide, long, and high. We envision a mountain for God has used mountains to visit his people; in fact, Jerusalem is built on Mt Moriah. We wonder if there will be pillars of bronze, or maybe of gold, all around, and large dressed stones, with many fine cedar rooms, or dwelling places in our Father’s house. We know Solomon employed the best tradesmen to construct his palace, yet there is none better than Jesus, as he prepared this place where we will be forever. Solomon was but a king, and Jesus is the King of kings, and the palace he has prepared is far superior to anything a man could build. Whatever man builds will fall away, perish in the course of time, no matter what material is used to build it. However, this place Jesus has prepared will last for eternity, and nothing within the city will perish, including all of us who Jesus comes back to get us and take us to that place. There we will have our inheritance, being a co-heir with Jesus. What a glorious day that will be, when we will see our Jesus. How magnificent it will be to walk and talk with him along on some street of gold and sit under a fruit tree, enjoying the never-perishing fruit with Jesus. Then to sit at the great banquet feast, with all the finest of foods, prepared perfectly for our enjoyment. Solomon’s palace, even with all its splendor, could never compare to the splendor of our new palace with Jesus.