In fact 1st Kings 7 51 and then
reading over into chapter 2 verse 1 chapter 8 and verse 2 and then
we'll be skipping around because it's a rather long chapter and
a rather long passage so look if you will at 1st Kings 7 and
verse 51 over to verse 2 of chapter 8 so was ended all the work of
that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon
brought in all the things which David his father had dedicated,
even the silver and the gold and the vessels did he put among
the treasures of the house of the Lord. Then Solomon assembled
the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the
chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon
in Jerusalem, that they might 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 unto King Solomon, at the feast in the month of
Ethanem, which is the seventh month. Now jump to verse 22 through
27. And Solomon stood before the
altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel
and spread forth his hands toward heaven. And he said, Lord God
of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on the
earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants that
walk before thee with all their heart. who has kept with thy
servant David, my father, that that you promised him. Thou speakest
also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand,
as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel,
Keep with thy servant David my father, that thou promised him,
saying, Thou shalt not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the
throne of Israel, so that thy children take heed to their way,
that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. And now,
O Lord God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified
which thou speakest unto thy servant David my father. Now watch verse 27. Here is our
focus and our hub. But will God indeed dwell on
the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that
I have builded. Will God indeed dwell upon the
earth? Now there's no way that we could
take the time to read all that is involved in this or else there
would be no time for preaching. What we have here in 1 Kings
chapter 8 is that glorious and solemn and long-awaited dedication
of the permanent temple or house of God that had been built under
the direction of Solomon. Thomas Goodwin referred to it
as the wonder of the world while it stood. And indeed it was a
building set out and apart from other buildings of that time
or that place. Now you already know that prior
under this, prior to the temple built by Solomon, that Israel
had used a tent or a tabernacle to serve as the place of worship
and the dwelling place of God. There was a tabernacle and they
moved it about from place to place as God led them from one
place unto another. Now, this tabernacle, or this
place of worship in the Old Testament, sometimes it was called the tabernacle
of witness, like in Acts 7, 44, Numbers 17, 7 and 8. 2 Chronicles chapter 24 and verse
7, the tabernacle of witness for here was a witness of the
things of God. Again, it was called the tabernacle
of the congregation. on several occasions, Numbers
chapter 2 and verse 2, and again the tabernacle of the Lord in
Numbers 16 and verse 9, also several times referred to by
that title. Now, this was a portable tabernacle,
if I may use that expression, moved from place to place. And
the Levites were in charge of it. They would put it up in its
place, they would take it down, they would move it to the next
place, and then they would assemble it again. This was their job
exclusively. None of the other children of
Israel had a part in it. And they ministered in it the
things of God into and by and before the people. But this was
the place. where the Lord put his typical
presence in the holy of holy in the cherubim above the mercy
seat. Now we fast forward then to the
reign of King David and in 2 Samuel chapter 6 and 7, first in chapter
6, the ark of God is returned to its place. Chapter 7, verse
1 through 3, it is commended under David's heart. And he consults
with the prophet Nathan that while he lived in an elaborate
house, one that served him well, yet the temple, or rather The
covenant or the mercy seat dwelt in a tent, or a house of canvas,
or a badger skin. And he said, the Lord had never
asked you to build me a house. The prophet said, God never asked
you to do that, 2 Samuel 7 verse 5 through verse 7, but would
have a house in time to come according to 2 Samuel chapter
7 verse 10 through verse 15. So if we look here in 1 Kings
chapter 8 and let me read verse 12 and 13 which we did not read. Then spake Solomon, the Lord
said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely
built thee a house to dwell in, in a settled place for thee to
abide in forever." Now in 1 Kings chapter 6 and verse 1, Solomon
began to build this house. He began to send forth and import
materials and buy them and bring them and cut the timber and such
thing for the preparation for the building of the house. And
four years into Solomon's reign as king, 480 years after the
deliverance out of the land of Egypt, and many were employed
in the work of this great endeavor. Timber imported, costly stones
were brought and cut to make the foundation, 1st Kings chapter
5. And then we read in 1st Kings
7 and verse 51, At last the house was finished. All things were
built and put in their place. comes the day and the time of
the dedication. And so, as had occurred when
the tabernacle was ready, that's back in Exodus chapter 40, 34,
35. When the tabernacle was ready
and raised up, then God came with mighty glory and put His
presence in that particular place in the Holy of Holies above the
mercy seat between the cherubim." We read in verse 10, the cloud
that filled the house of the Lord. Verse 11, the glory of
the Lord had filled the house of the Lord so much so that for
a while the priests could not even minister there. So great
a was the manifestation so evident, the manifestation of God's presence
and of His glory. Now the dedication of this house
of God was a great day in Israel. We couldn't count the number
of the sheep and the oxen and the blood that was shed in sacrifice
and dedication in verse 5. In verse 12 through 21, Solomon
encouraged and exhorts the priest. Then in verse 22 through 53,
here we have the prayer of Solomon. It's one of the great prayers
of the Bible, one of the longest. As Solomon stood, hands lifted
to heaven, and prayed on the God at the dedication of the
scripture. In verse 54 to verse 61, Solomon
invoked blessing on the congregation. And finally, in verse 62 to verse
66, there was a jubilant celebration that the house of God is ready. But we want to focus this morning
principally upon verse 27. and Solomon's wonder and Solomon's
amazement that the ever majestic and the omnipresent God could
condescend to dwell in a dwelling of material goods up on the earth. This house that I have built
is the wonder and amazement unto Solomon. I don't think this is
said out of doubt, or unbelief, or even to question the reality
of God dwelling upon the earth, or whether such a thing were
possible. For if you remember, back in
verse 10 and 11, God's glory had filled the house. And in
verse 20, It was the fulfillment of God's promise unto David that
it would be so and that it would come to pass. Now Solomon's amazement
at God dwelling on earth is from the fact of the excellency and
the immensity of God. One who fills heaven and earth
and the heaven of the heaven of the heavens. How shall that
one dwell on earth and dwell in a house made by the hands
of men? In verse 23, no God like God
either in heaven or on the earth. None other beside God, none other
like him, none other at all. And in verse 27, it is the immensity
of God that amazes Solomon that he would dwell in a house upon
the earth, and that his presence flows from heaven and the earth. and all places therein. Sometimes the immensity of God,
we call the infinity of God when you think about God's attributes
and God's being and his majestic being and such like. The infinity
of God. And we can relate that to some
things about his attribute. That God's infinity, as it relates
on the time, is his eternality. That his infinity as to time
is the eternality of God. That he has always been, that
he will forever be, that he is uncreated, he had no beginning,
and he can have no end. He's above time, as it were. He is an eternal being. He is not subject to time, though
he works with men in the span of time. For God has his being
in an eternal present. Days do not pass and months and
years with him as such, but he has his being in an eternal and
everlasting present. But then again, When we think
of the infinity of God, then we apply that infinity onto space. We have the omnipresence of God. God, according to space, is omnipresent. And it bears repeating that this
immensity, this infinity, this omnipresence belongs to God and
God alone. No other creature in all of being,
whether angel or human, on earth or in heaven, whether they be
sinful or whether they be upright, no other being has that omnipresent. If God be confined to any one
place, He would not be God. Jeremiah chapter 23, 24 asks
this, Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not
see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth,
saith the Lord? You have that great text in Psalm
139, that it is impossible to flee from the presence of God. Thus Solomon standing here and
confessing a truth which the great God also had declared about
himself, that his immensity cannot be, it is not confined to heaven,
but it extends also to earth and to space and the universe,
all deep places, the sea, hell, Hades, if you will, and God is
there. While declaring these things
to be so, we at the same time reject the view of pantheism
that God is mixed up in his matter and that matter is God. We also
resist that view of the deist, that God is present everywhere
in his power, but that his nature and his essence are confined
only in the heaven. How can you separate these, the
one from the other? Now, amazing thing to the wise
Solomon is that the great and eternal and immense and omnipresent
and infinite God would put a part of his glory in a house upon
the earth. A house made with hands, made
of earthly material, and fashioned by the hand of mortals. But that he did. Indeed we find
the scripture teaching us this. We see it in verse 11. The glory
of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. God's glory, typically,
partially, came into that place. Now, we're doing this. I hope
I don't chase our minds around and off in circles. This is a
very large subject for us to be able to get our arms or our
mind around. Plus, it requires us to bring
in other portions of the scripture that have a bearing upon this
subject and this matter that we're discussing today. And also,
we have another task. And that is to reconcile those
texts that speak of God dwelling in the temple or the house of
God with those that declare that the Most High God does not dwell
in temples made with hands. that is presented everywhere
on one part and on the other, that this great and eternal God
does not dwell in temple made with hand. Now, let us remember,
there were two dwellings of God under the Mosaic economy. There was the portable tabernacle
of God used in the wilderness, and this one was carried into
the land of Canaan when they entered there. And then there
was built that permanent tabernacle or temple of God in Jerusalem,
not moved from one place unto the other. Now let's consider
some verses. If you want to go ahead, in Acts
chapter 7, I'm going to read in a minute or so a few verses
of scripture. While we turn there and fix our
attention upon this particular place in the scripture, let us
remember that it is a part of a rather long speech given by
Stephen before the Jewish council or Sanhedrin when he was brought
before them. You remember maybe that false
witnesses had been hired and perjured themselves and had accused
Stephen in Acts 6, 13, and 14 of blasphemy against the temple
of God and against the law and saying that this Jesus of Nazareth
would destroy this place and change the custom which Moses
had delivered unto them. That is, they were telling that
Jesus would put an end to the customs that they had worshipped
by for so long and so faithfully. The ones that Moses had delivered
unto them, they said that the Lord would do away with, and
Stephen was preaching that. And Stephen, therefore, gives
them a survey of the history of the Jew and the changes. Now, get this. Here's the emphasis,
the changes that God had made toward Israel over his past providential
dealing with them. He had led them through. Now,
in Acts chapter 7 and verse 44 through verse 50, Stephen is
the speaker He's reminding them of a part of their history. Our
fathers, he said, had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make
it according to the fashion that he had seen, which also our fathers
that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of
the Gentile, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers
unto the days of David, who found favor before God and desired
to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built
him an house. How be it? The most high God
dwells not in temples made with hand, as saith the prophet. Heaven is my throne, and the
earth is my footstool. What house will you build me,
saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? hath not my
hand made all of these things." James A. Alexander made a good
point by showing that Stephen reminds them that the then present
state of things had no existence before the day of Solomon. That it moved around from place
to place, and so did they before the time of Solomon. So again,
look at verse 44, Acts 7. Our fathers had the tabernacle
of witness in the wilderness, like God told Moses to build
it. Then look at verse 45. They brought
it into Canaan with them when Joshua led them in. When God
drove out the Gentiles, or the heathen, and the tabernacle served
them in the days of David. Verse 46, David having favor
with God, desired to find a tabernacle for the Lord God of Jacob, a
dwelling place, a house for the ark of God. You can also read
Psalm 132, 1-5 if you care to. Verse 47 of Acts 7, but it was
Solomon that built him a house, meaning the temple, And therefore
the temple was not until the reign, the kingship of Solomon. So that all things strictly had
not continued the same from the beginning. There was one change
after another. When Stephen says here in Acts
7 and 48, Solomon built him a house. Howbeit, the great God of heaven
dwells not in temples made with hand." And then, to confirm it
from scripture, he is not contradicting what occurred in Solomon's day,
nor is it applied on Solomon that he did set up a house for
God to dwell in and to meet with him. For Solomon was well aware
that God could not be shut up or could not be confined in an
earthly house. 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 27. Will God indeed dwell upon the
house upon the earth when the heaven and the heaven of heaven
cannot contain him? How much less this house that
I have built. reading F.F. Bruce in his commentary
on the book of Acts, and he noted that the heathen might shut up
their gods in a material house. They could put them in there,
they could close the door, and they could shut them up. We read
of an idol's temple in 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 10. And we read in 1 Chronicles 10.10
of the temple of Dagon, that old false corrupt god that they
set in a building and closed him up. 1 Samuel 5 and 2, the
house of Dagon where the idol god was kept. Now the thought
is such gods were only local They did not move. They were
not omnipresent. They had no knowledge and they
had no influence beyond their local material being. They could
only be in one place at a time and were strictly material. and
in not any degree were they omnipresent as is the God of heaven. What's
more, if you read that mocking description of them in Psalm
100 and verse 15, they were deaf and dumb and blind and could
not speak or walk and such like. In short, Solomon and Stephen
are in agreement as to what both of them has said. Stephen does
not contradict what occurred under the Mosaic economy, nor
does the prophet Isaiah, whom Stephen quotes from Isaiah chapter
66, verse 1 and 2. It is true Under the ceremonial law, the
practice of God's presence with his people was symbolized by
the building of a tabernacle and then a temple, a dwelling
place among them where God was pleased to put his typical glory. He did the same thing in the
temple when it was ready and dedicated. God was pleased to
dwell there and to manifest his presence, and before that the
high priest of Israel came, making sacrifices in behalf of the people. But he was by no means exclusively
contained or confined to a house. There made appearances there,
They went into the temple to pray. There they brought their
sacrifices. There the priest with the altar
made them and offered them unto God. And at the same time we
know that this was a temporary arrangement. It was to continue,
not without end. It was to have an end. And that means that it was typical
of something better and something more perfect that was to come. It was not an end in itself. And when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is imperfect is done away. James Alexander
wrote in his commentary on the Book of Acts, and I quote, any
attempt to prolong it after the time set for its abrogation was
contrary to both the gospel and the spirit of the law itself,
unquote. So Stephen said, You know that
when Solomon built the temple, he said, the heaven of heaven
cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built. And Isaiah said this, heaven
is my throne, the earth is my footstool, where is the house
that you build, where is the place of my rest? says Isaiah. Now they must not esteem a building
and its ceremonies above the God of heaven who is to be worshipped
there. They're not to think that God
is more to be found in a building or more to be present in a building,
no matter how beautiful, how ornamental, or how fanciful,
or how expensive. We're not to think that the building
is adding anything unto God. Now the question, if we say that
the temple was typical, then what was it typical of? What did it represent? This house
of worship, this temple where they came, where God's presence
was, where the veil was, and the holy of holies behind it,
and where the priests ministered. If we call it typical of something
to come, then what was it typical of? What did it typify? That temple where God was worshipped. For everything, almost everything
I get in the ceremonial law was typical of something under the
Christian dispensation or economy. We read that, Colossians 2. 16
and 17. They were types and symbols and
shattered. We read it again in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 1. These were not the very substances,
but were typical of those things that were to come. Now first,
two things about the temple and the Lord himself in flesh upon
the earth and what he had to say about that temple in Jerusalem
that the Jews so revered. First of all, Matthew chapter
23 and verse 38. The Lord said something mighty
important. Your house is left unto you desolate. He spoke of the temple. Your
house is left unto you desolate. They had rejected the Messiah. They had rejected the very one
that had come from God to reveal the Father. And so some of the
Lord's last pronouncements were, your house is left unto you desolate. Then let's go to Matthew chapter
24. On a certain occasion, the Lord was coming out of the temple
with the disciples. They said, Master, look at these
wonderful stones and this wonderful building. And Jesus said to his
disciples, I tell you, there shall not one stone here be left
upon another that shall not be thrown down, raised to the ground,
completely leveled and destroyed. Not one stone left upon another. the place where God had put his
presence, where he had met with them, with the high priest, and
where redemption was made. I'd like to yield the pulpit
for a moment to Old Brother Thomas Goodwin, the Puritan. Quote,
this temple and the ark, in the holy of holies therewith, in
which Christ dwelt between the cherubims, was his Christ. which was to come in the flesh,"
unquote. This temple is typical of Christ,
where God dwells, where the glory of the Lord is. Indeed, will
God dwell upon the earth and that in a house? Now listen to
John 1 and verse 14. And the word was made flesh dwelt
or tabernacled or tented among us, we beheld his glory as the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
of truth." Here we have the word dwelt in John chapter 1 and verse
14. Is that the word skenuo? The
words say expositors mean tabernacled or tabernacled among us, pitched
his tent. And John uses that word four
times in the book of the Revelation. He tented among us. The Son of God tabernacled or
tented or dwelt among men up on the earth. Now this is his
incarnation. He was born of a woman of God's
own blessed choosing. He partook of flesh and of blood
like his brethren. He assumed a human body, begotten
in Mary. And he had that body prepared
for him by God, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5. And he was 1
Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, God manifested in the flesh. This one was God manifested in
the flesh. This is a great mystery. It is
the mystery of godliness. When it is said that God was
manifest in the flesh, the first reference is to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is meant and none other. He dwelt in his Son. These things cannot be said of
any other man, no matter how great, or of any other angel. It cannot be said that he was
of any other, that he was in the beginning. But Jesus was,
John 1, 1 and 2. He shared the uncreated, invisible nature of
divine essence, and that one was manifested in the flesh. And some beheld his glory as
the glory of the only begotten of the Father. And some were
eyewitnesses of that majesty and testified to it and wrote
of it." But again, In John chapter 1 and verse 14, the Word, meaning
the Son, the second person in the Godhead, as we like to say,
was made flesh, became flesh, assumed flesh, partook of flesh
and blood, assumed a true human nature in union with that divine. And the word made there in the
King James ought to be noted. It is a word with some latitude
when we study it out, but primarily it means to cause to be, to become,
or to come into being. And the word in verse 14 of John
1 is the same word in John chapter 1 and verse 3, all things were
made Him and twice the word is there it is again in John chapter
1 and verse 10 the world was made By him it's again in John
2 and verse 9 the water that was made wine or became wine
by the power of the Lord now this does not say let's be careful
and It does not say that the word was turned into flesh, that
it ceased to be what it was before. The word of the Son of God, he
did not strip himself of his deity or of his attributes or
of his glory, though these were veiled to a degree in him behind
the veil of flesh, as the tabernacle was where the greater glory of
the God dwelt at the mercy seat, even so within and behind the
veil. Veiled from the eyes of the people,
but seen by the priest when he went in. Surely Goodman was right
that the temple of old was typical of Christ that was to come, who
would be filled with the glory of God. What did the angel say
to Joseph in Matthew 1.23? Call His name Emmanuel, which
means God with us, God dwelling among us, God dwelling in our
midst, God manifest in the flesh. The New Testament uses terms
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that are reminiscent of the temple
of old. As when he told some in John
2 and verse 19, they said, show us a sign why you're doing these
things. And he said this, destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up again. John tells
us in verse 21, he's talking about the temple of his body. They didn't understand, but John
said he was talking about the temple of his body, in which
was enshrined or dwelling the eternal word of God made flesh. In Matthew 12 and verse 6, he
called himself greater than the temple, as the substance is always
greater than the type. Consider Colossians 2 and verse
9. In him, that is in Christ, dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Catch every word. In
him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, that is, the divinity,
and that bodily, that is, in a body. Back to Colossians 119. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell, that is, in the incarnate Christ. Paul says these things against
the errors at Colossae, that Christ is the manifestation of
the invisible God. He is the manifestation of that
divine nature and essence and being. J.B. Lightfoot put it,
in him resides the totality of the divine powers and attributes,
unquote. In him the fullness of the Godhead
dwells bodily, and that in two senses. A, bodily, in the incarnate
Christ, for God was manifest in the flesh, and B, permanently
dwelling within this one. The divine fullness is permanently
at home in Christ. The fullness dwells in him. And he came into the earth and
was that inner sanctuary of God whereby the fullness. In Ephesians
1, 22 and 23, has put all things under his feet, gave him to be
head over all things under the church, which is his body, that
is, the church is his body, the fullness of him that fills all
in all. Now the apostles' reasoning in
Colossians 2 and verse 9 is, any system of worship or religion
not founded upon Christ is not only false, but it is doomed
to fail, because in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And this word Godhead is three
times in the King James Version of the Scripture, Acts 17, 29,
Romans 1 and 20, and here in Colossians chapter 2 and verse
9. It literally means the divinity, or the divine nature, or the
deity. The divine essence or nature
is what we mean by the Godhead. God, in the incarnate Christ,
tabernacled among men, dwelt upon the earth, not in a material
tent or a brick or a stone building, but in a fleshly tabernacle,
a body, a flesh and blood body. And for this reason, for this
reason, The temple at Jerusalem not only is abandoned by God,
but it must be destroyed, and it was destroyed in 70 A.D. Notice what happened in the temple
when Christ died. And this is so significant, we
can't miss it. Christ died on the cross. He
yielded up the ghost. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And the veil in the temple was
rent. entwined from top to bottom at
the moment that our Lord died upon the cross. Not from age, not from the priest
moving it. By the significant fact, this
is significant that Christ has come the new and living way. The temple is not only abandoned,
but it must be destroyed. And it was brought down in 70
AD and leveled to the ground. Christ is God's great temple
among men. He dwelt among men. He tabernacled
there. In him was all of the fullness. Now the tabernacle of God is
with men. God even calls our bodies the
temple of God. Your bodies are the temple, the
dwelling place of God. The Holy Spirit lives within
us, and the people of God he also calls his temple. But that
great temple that Solomon built was typical of the great person
of Christ, the God-man. who came and was God manifest
in the flesh. So we see the value of it for
a time and the lesson that was there and the type that was set
forth before their very eyes. Though many did not catch it
or understand it, yet those with spiritual eyes understand that
that temple was the typical of Christ and gave way when he came.