“Shlomo said, ‘Adonai said he would live in thick darkness. But I have built you a magnificent house, a place where you can live forever.‘”-1 Kings 8:12-13
What does Solomon mean when he says the Temple will be Adonai’s dwelling place forever?
This brings up a critical point.
The Temple was never meant to be God’s permanent earthly residence.
It was the place where God chose to make His presence known to His people.
And where He could meet with them for their benefit.
That distinction is important.
When Scripture speaks about the Temple as a place where God would dwell forever…
Don’t be picturing a building of wood and stone sitting in Jerusalem until the end of time.
Why?
Because buildings decay or get destroyed.
Even Solomon’s magnificent Temple eventually disappeared.
But God’s presence does not disappear.
And Solomon knew that.
Fifteen verses later, he says it himself:
“But will God really live on the earth?
Even the highest heavens can’t contain you.
How much less this house I have built.”
-1 Kings 8:27
Read that again.
Is Solomon confused here?
No, man.
He built the thing.
He dedicated it.
And now he’s standing in front of the whole assembly telling them it can’t hold what he built it for.
He knows exactly what he’s doing.
The structure was the vessel.
What made that structure the Temple was the divine presence that inhabited it and set it apart as holy.
So when Solomon says God will dwell there forever…
The forever ain’t attached to a structure.
The forever is attached to a relationship.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
We place way too much importance on exterior things.
We focus too much on the outer vessel…
Rather than the Spirit that inhabits it.
God is not contained by the vessel.
He never was.
What He wants is the relationship the vessel was built to serve.
Ya feeling me here?
Done.
Leave a Reply