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Solomon's Temple Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee;
The Tabernacle, which accompanied the Israelites throughout their wilderness journeyings, mainly prefigured things concerning the faithful church in its developmental phase during the Gospel age. Ezekiel’s Temple, which has never been built, prefigures the work of the faithful in blessing all families of the earth during the thousand-year kingdom of Christ, the Millennial age, and forever after. Solomon’s Temple does more to connect the works of the Gospel age and the Millennial age. The implications of Solomon’s Temple are for the benefit of Christians in the Gospel age: “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Corinthians 6:16, NASB; see also Leviticus 26:12; Exodus 29:45; Jeremiah 31:1; Ezekiel 37:27.) Building the House of God It was King David’s grateful desire to build a house dedicated to the Lord. However, the Lord sent word through the prophet: “You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in; for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another” (1 Chronicles 17:4,5, NASB). Throughout the Gospel age, Christians have been tempted to build the Lord a house—a denomination that will include only his people, and that will exclude everyone else. Time after time a hierarchy takes over and demands to control the consciences of its members, and sometimes of everyone else as well. Exercise of individual conscience towards the Lord is then commonly rewarded with excommunication, disfellowshipping, or the equivalent. The spirit of the Lord moves on, and sincere Christians endeavor to get together again for another effort to honor him. However, Solomon’s day typifies the Millennial age, when the faithful church will be complete and, together with their Lord Jesus Christ, will constitute the true Temple of the Lord. Then all the families of the earth may come to the “Temple” to be blessed. “Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD” (1 Kings 6:1, NASB). This text links the building of Solomon’s Temple to the Exodus from Egypt, which itself is a type of the deliverance of humankind from the sin, sickness, sorrow, and death of this present age to resurrection and life in the kingdom of Christ. Even so, the present development of Christ and his church as a new priesthood is for the purpose of delivering humankind in the Millennial age. However, King David did provide the materials for Solomon to use in building the temple: “I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass [copper] and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men that are skilful in every manner of work: of the gold, the silver, and the brass [copper], and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and Jehovah be with thee” (1 Chronicles 22:14-16, ASV). The school of Christ is in the present. Its laboratory experiences teach us how to put theory into practice. We must learn to be poor in spirit; to mourn for abominations, especially those committed in the name of God; to hunger and thirst after righteousness; to be merciful; to be pure in heart; to be peacemakers; to uncomplainingly accept persecution for righteousness’ sake; and to be kind even to our enemies. If we learn the lessons diligently, we will graduate and be fit for our future work. We will enjoy it, never tire, and never retire. Solomon and Hiram Hiram, king of Tyre, had been friends with King David and continued living in peace with Solomon, saying, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the LORD, and an house for his kingdom” (2 Chronicles 2:12; see also 2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1-12). Hiram furnished master carpenters from Sidon and expert stone-masons from Gebal to provide the best cedars and foundation stones for the temple. If it is surprising that most of the temple materials came from a Gentile land, it may suggest that a majority of spiritual Israel comes from among the Gentiles. Tyre originated as an eastern colony of Tiras, or Thrace (Genesis 10:2), as did Rome and the rest of the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in the west. Thus, Tyre came from Japheth. Sidon and Gebal were from Canaan, and therefore were from Ham (Genesis 10:6,15). So, with Israel from Shem, all three of the sons of Noah were represented in building the temple of the Lord. Of the lamb of God John writes, “Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood [us] of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they shall reign over the earth” (Revelation 5:9,10, ASV). Perhaps we grow up thinking, “My kind is best!” until we have an unfortunate experience with some among “my kind.” The body of Christ consists “of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Building the temple of God takes team work, cooperation with all who are trying to conform their lives to the character of Jesus Christ: “Present your bodies [plural] a living sacrifice [singular], holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Noiseless Construction “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings 6:7, ASV). The training of each member of the bride of Christ, the true church, is being done now in the Gospel age. We each are to be shaped for a specific work in the body of Christ. Each must purge himself of every desire to sin, orient his efforts to honor not self but the Lord, and learn to love even his enemies. Our development of character must be complete in the quarry of this present evil world, as afterward each member of the temple must fit precisely into the position for which he is now being trained. Otherwise he will be rejected and another trained to take his place. There will be no disharmony among the resurrected members of the body of Christ, the temple of the coming age. Dedicating and Completing the Temple The first week of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple was the week of the divinely-appointed seven-day Feast of Sukkoth (booths, or tabernacles—Leviticus 23:33-36). This annual feast was in the seventh month, Tishri (also called Ethanim), the month at the beginning of autumn. On this exceptional occasion the week was doubled; it would have lasted from full moon until the moon just disappeared, days 15 to 28 in that month. Three days later was the beginning of the eighth month, day 1 of Marheshvan (Bul), the month when the temple was completed (1 Kings 6:38; 8:2). Thus, the temple was dedicated before it was completed. Similarly, in Revelation, the temple was opened, and later it was completed with the words, “It is done” (Revelation 15:5,8; 16:17). Similarly at our Lord’s return the saints that were asleep in death are raised sometime prior to the completion of the church. Smoke filled the temple on the first day of dedication: “The cloud filled the house of Jehovah, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah” (1 Kings 8:10,11, ASV); “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished” (Revelation 15:8, ASV). Similarly the resurrection of the sleeping saints at our Lord’s return does not yet enable the new priesthood to minister the blessings of the New Covenant, nor can the people of this world yet come for the promised blessing of all the families of the earth. Not until the priesthood is completed at the end of this age will this be possible. The seven-day Feast of Sukkoth was to foreshadow the Millennial kingdom of Christ (Zechariah 14:16-20), leading to a holy convocation on the eighth day. But on this occasion, Solomon interposed an additional week of dedication before the eighth day. Thus, it is reasonable to assume the extra seven days typify the time after Satan is destroyed, the perfect ages forever (1 Kings 8:65,66). Compared to the Tabernacle The temple has much in common with the Tabernacle before it. The Holy and Most Holy were of the same shapes, the high priest served there, the Passover lamb was slain there, the Day of Atonement sacrificing was done there each year, and afterward the people brought their offerings to it. The high priest represented Christ (and/or the church as his body—Hebrews 4:14,15; Leviticus 16; Zechariah 3:1-5) who entered into the “Most Holy” by resurrection to the divine nature. The Passover lamb represented Jesus’ sacrifice, the Atonement Day represented the sacrifices of Christ and the church (though the church adds no atoning merit), and the people’s offerings represented things concerning the world in the coming thousand-year kingdom of Christ. There are also some significant differences. The Temple had a foundation. The great and costly foundation stones evidently symbolized the twelve apostles, whose testimony are inspired and trustworthy (1 Kings 5:17, Revelation 21:14). The Temple house was built with cedar, whereas the Tabernacle had boards and pillars overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:9; Exodus 36:34). Cedar wood is toxic to termites and other insects; gold is the only metal that has no stable oxide at any temperature and so will not corrode. Both are apt symbols of the immortality of the divine nature that is associated with the Most Holy (Hebrews 9:23-26). The Temple had a distinct porch before the Holy, which the Tabernacle did not. The porch occupied the first ten cubits in front of the door to the Holy and was twenty cubits wide (the width of both the Holy and Most Holy, 1 Kings 6:2-3). These are the dimensions of Zechariah’s flying roll, and probably the scrolls of Revelation and Ezekiel as well (Zechariah 5:2-4; Revelation 5:1-5; 6:1 to 8:1; Ezekiel 2:9 to 3:3). In any event, these all appear associated with judgment: “I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town” (Isaiah 1:26, ASV). God’s judgments are a prod to learn righteousness: “When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9, ASV). “And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together” (1 Kings 5:12). The time of Millennial peace was prefigured by Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, whose name means, “king of righteousness” and whose royal title means “king of peace” (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1,2). Melchizedek specifically prefigures Jesus Christ whose “name shall be called … the Prince of Peace.” Lessons for Today Our knowledge of the temple is of value only if we can put it into practice, and do put it into practice. Solomon’s Temple provided types and shadows of better things. Whatever have been our sins or shortcomings, we all have need of mercy: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). The more we are conscious of our own shortcomings, the more we see our need for our redeemer, Jesus Christ, and the more patient we must be with the shortcomings of others: faults are thick where love is thin. The devoted Christian of this age is in training to be a merciful priest in the coming age. So let it be asked, Can others hope for our mercy today? “And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh” (Jude 22,23, NASB). There are three cases:
An ultimate purpose of the living temple is, “If any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19,20, NASB). |
