Actually, I'm going to read first
the last verse of chapter 7. 1 Kings 7.51 through chapter
8 and verse 2, then skipping to verse 22 through verse 27. This is such a long passage of
Scripture, and we're going to have to cut it short somehow.
So, 1 Kings 7. 51 through 8 and 2, and then
down to the 22nd verse. This is Solomon's prayer at the
dedication of the new temple as it's ready to be put into
service. Verse 51, chapter 7. So was ended
all the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon brought in 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, 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
Ethanam, which is the seventh month. Now 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 which was promised him, thou
spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it in thine
hand as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel,
Keep with thy servant David, my father, what thou hast promised
him, saying, There shall 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 spakest
unto Thy servant David my father. Now watch verse 27. 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 built. Now, as I said, there is no way
that we could read the full account of this event lest there be no
time left for our preaching on the matter. What we have here
in 1 Kings chapter 8 is that glorious and solemn time of the
dedication of that fixed and permanent dwelling of the house
of God, also known as Solomon's Temple. What Thomas Goodwin referred
to as, quote, the wonder of the world while it stood, unquote. You already know that prior to
this temple built in Jerusalem by Solomon, that there was a
portable tabernacle carried about in the wilderness. Sometimes
that is called the Tabernacle of Witness, as in Acts 7, 44,
Numbers 17, 7 and 8, and 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 7. They referred to it or called
it the tabernacle of witness because the witness of the presence
of God was there. The tabernacle in the wilderness
it is called, Numbers 1 and verse 1. It is called the Tabernacle
of the Congregation at other times, as in Numbers chapter
2 and verse 2, many times the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And again, it is called the Tabernacle
of the Lord, Numbers 16 and verse 9, also several times the Tabernacle
of the Lord. Now this was, I repeat, a portable
tabernacle which was taken down and set up many times over. It was moved from place to place. When it was moved, the Levites
were in charge of taking it down, of moving it, and setting it
up again. Numbers 1.50 and verse 51 tells
us of the Levites' duty there. They took it down, they moved
it to wherever the cloud of God led them, and then they set it
up again, and they ministered in it, and exclusively the Levites
ministered in it. Now this was a place where the
Lord put His, let me call it, typical presence. And this is
where sacrifices were made and were offered. Atonement was made
by the High Priest of Israel in this place called the Tabernacle. And it was on these accounts
very greatly reverenced and highly esteemed by the people, or the
children, of Israel. Now, let us fast forward to the
reign of King David as he is king over Israel in 2 Samuel
6 and also in chapter 7. In chapter 6 of that book, the
ark of God is returned finally unto its place. Chapter 7, verses
1 through 3, it comes into David's heart And he consults with his
friend, the prophet Nathan. He seemed to be under conviction
that while he dwelt in a comfortable house of cedar, the very ark
of God, he said, dwelt out yonder in curtains. And so he would,
in his heart, build a house for the ark. But God sends the prophet
Nathan to check David in this endeavor that is in his heart. And he says to the prophet to
say to David, look, I have never asked you to build me a house
of cedar. 2 Samuel 7, verses 5 through
7. But he said that he would have
a house to his honor and his dwelling in time to come. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse
10 through verse 15. Now, in our chapter this morning,
in 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 12 and verse 13, Then spake Solomon,
the Lord that said that he would dwell in the thick darkness,
I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place
for thee to abide in forever." Back in 1 Kings 6 and verse 1,
Solomon first began to build this house of the Lord. Four years into Solomon's reign
as a king. 480 years after their deliverance
from the land of Egypt. Many of the Israelites were employed
in this work. Grand timber was imported from
other lands for use. Costly stones were gathered and
were squared for the foundation, as in 1 Kings 5. In 1 Kings 7 and 51, the house
at last, after much labor and after many precious things had
been gathered, was at last finished and furnished, the house of the
Lord. Now as has occurred when the
tabernacle was ready in Exodus 40 and verse 34 and 35, so again here in 1 Kings 8 and 6 through
11, when the priest of God brought the ark of the covenant into
the most holy place, and when they came out again from putting
the ark in its place, then we see here in verse 10, the cloud
filled the house of the Lord. Verse 11, the glory of the Lord
had filled the house of the Lord. So much so that the priest could
not even stand to stay in and to minister there. So great was
the manifestation of the presence of God in that particular place. Now, the dedication of this temple
was a great day in the history of Israel. Many sheep and many
oxen were sacrificed. Sacrificed, the Scripture said,
beyond number, in verse 5. And then again, in verse 12 through
verse 21, And Solomon encouraged and he exhorted the priest. And then in verse 22 through
verse 53, we have this lengthy prayer that Solomon prayed in
the presence of the congregation. One of the longest prayers in
the Scripture, and also one of the greatest prayers in the Scripture. Then in verse 54 through verse
61, Solomon invoked blessing on the congregation. Finally,
verse 62 through verse 66, there was joyful celebration that the
house of God is finished and the Lord has taken up His present. Now, we want to focus this morning
principally, mainly, working from verse 27. It is Solomon's
wonder and amazement that the ever majestic and the very omnipotent
God could indeed and would indeed condescend to dwell, quote, this
house that I have builded Now, I want you to understand this
is not said by Solomon out of doubt or of unbelief. Neither of those are guiding
him. It is not even a question of
the reality of God dwelling on the earth or whether such a thing
were possible. For if you remember in verse
10 and 11, God's glory had already filled that house. And in verse
20, it was the fulfillment of God's promise unto His father
David that such would be so. But Solomon's amazement at God
dwelling on the earth is from the fact of the excellency and
the immensity of God. God that is so immense, how shall
He indeed dwell upon the earth? Verse 23, there is that immensity
of God. No God like God in heaven or
on the earth. None other, no God beside, none
else like Him ever or could there be. And in verse 27, it is the
immensity of God that His immensity overflows the heaven and the
earth. Sometimes we call it the infinity
of God, the fullness of God, that He is so immense that He
is able to fill heaven and earth. Now, God's infinity, let's think
on that a moment. God's infinity, as it relates
on the time, is His eternality. He is ininfinite as to time. In fact, He is eternal, that
He is above time. He's not subject unto time, for
He has His being as an eternal present with no passing time. with our great God. But then
again, when the infinity of God is applied to what we call space,
it is His omnipresent. When the infinity of God is weighed
by space, it is omnipresent. And it bears repeating, I think,
that this immensity, this infinity, this omnipresent belongs to God
and to God alone, not to any other creature. Whether a holy
angel in heaven or a human, whether they be sinful or upright, this
quality and attribute belongs to none other. If God be confined
to any one place, squeezed down and confined to any one place,
He would not be God. In Jeremiah 23, 24, God asks
this question, Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall
not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth
saith the Lord," you remember also the 139th Psalm, that none
can flee from the presence of God. Thus Solomon is not doubting
or questioning, but he is confessing a truth which the great God also
declares. And that is that His immensity
cannot be, is not confined only to heaven, it also extends to
the earth, all deep places, the sea and hell itself, as we learn
in Psalm 139. Now, while declaring these things
to be so, we quickly reject the view of pantheism that says that
God is mixed up with all of those material things, and we also
reject the view of the deist that God is present everywhere
in power, but present only in heaven as to His essence. That that is confined only to
heaven. I would ask, how can you separate
these one from the other? Now the amazing thing that confounds
the wise Solomon is that the great and eternal Jehovah would
actually condescend to dwell among men and even put a part
of his presence and his glory in a house or a temple made with
earthly materials fashioned by the mortal hands of men. But he did indeed do that, as
we see in verse 11. The glory of the Lord had filled
the house, even as it did the tabernacle when it was ready. Now I'm hoping and praying that
in our study today, I don't chase your mind around in circles too
much. But this is a very large subject
to get our arms around. Plus, it requires us to bring
in other portions of the Holy Scripture as well that have a
direct bearing or relation on the subject at hand this morning. And then also there's something
else that we must tend to. That is we have to reconcile
those texts we meet in the Bible that speak of God dwelling in
the temple or the house of God, and others that declare that
the high and holy God does not dwell in temples made with hand. We meet both sorts of statement
in the Scripture. So let us remember, there are
two dwellings of God under the Mosaic economy. There was the
portable tabernacle of God in the wilderness, carried from
place to place, and this one was actually ported or carried
into the land of Canaan. And then the permanent temple
was built there by Solomon. And let's try to get a grasp
on the transition from one of them unto the other. That is,
from the portable to the permanent house of God. Consider a few
verses found in Acts 7. If you want to go ahead and turn
there, we begin with verse 44. While we are turning and locating
that place and fixing our attention upon it, let's remember that
this, in act, is a part of a rather long speech which Stephen delivered
before the Jewish council or the Sanhedrin court. And in that
process, they had suborned false witnesses who had perjured themselves
accusing Stephen in Acts 6, 13 and 14 of blaspheming against the temple
and against the law, saying that this Jesus of Nazareth that Stephen
is preaching about would destroy this place and change the custom
which Moses delivered unto us. That is, that Jesus would put
an end to the customs of longstanding of Israel, which Moses had received
from God and had delivered them unto the people. So in Acts 7,
Stephen gives a survey of the history of the Jews. And then
look at in here this point, one thing that he emphasizes is the
changes, the changes that God had led them through as a people. Now, that's very important. I'm
going to say it again. Stephen emphasizes in this history
the changes that God had brought them through as a people. Now, let's read verse 44 through
verse 50. Our fathers had the tabernacle
of witness in the wilderness, as he appointed, speaking unto
Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that
he had seen, which also our fathers that came out after brought in
with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove
out before the face of our father 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. Howbeit, the Most
High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as says the
prophet. Heaven is my throne, 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 these
things? Now we're brought in with the
other. God dwelleth not in temples made with hand. James A. Alexander
in his commentary on the book of Acts, made, I think, a very
good point by showing that Stephen reminds them, reminds them forcefully,
that the then and their present state of things had no existence
before the time or the day of Solomon. Verse 44, Our fathers
had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as Moses was
told to build it. Verse 45, They brought it into
Canaan, when Joshua led them in, and God drove out the Gentiles
that were there, and the tabernacle served them up until the days
of David. Verse 46, David having favor
with God, desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob, a dwelling
place, a house for the ark of God. See Psalms 132 and verses
1 through 5. Then look at Acts 747, but it
was Solomon that built him a house, meaning the temple. Therefore,
the temple was not until the reign of Solomon. in that all things had not continued
without change, as such changes were brought about by God's direct
providence and guiding. Now when Stephen says, In Acts
7.48, Solomon built him a house. How be it? The Most High God
dwells not in temples made with hand. Then he confirms it from
Scripture. He's not contradicting what occurred
in Solomon's day, nor is it a blight upon what Solomon did in setting
up this house of God or Jehovah. For Solomon was well aware of
what Stephen said, that God could not be shut up in any particular
house. Saying in 1 Kings 8 and verse
27, Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven
and the heaven of heaven cannot contain you, how much less this
house that I have built." F.F. Bruce noted, the heathen might
make their gods and their idols, build them a house and then shut
them up in it and close the door. As we read of an idol's temple,
1 Corinthians 8 and 10, The temple of Dagon in 1 Chronicles chapter
10, or 8 and verse 10. The temple of Dagon, 1 Chronicles
10 and 10. And in 1 Samuel 5 and 2, the
house of Dagon. And this was the place where
the idol god Dagon was kept. The thought is that such gods
were only local. They were not omnipresent into
their nature. They were in one location only,
one place at a time. They were strictly material,
not in any degree omniscient or omnipresent. What's more,
they were, as Psalms 115 says or describes them, they were
deaf, they were dumb, and they were blind. Psalms 115, 1 through
8. In short, Solomon and Stephen
are in agreement. Stephen does not contradict what
Solomon did or what occurred under the Mosaic economy. Nor does the prophet Isaiah,
from whom Stephen quotes Isaiah 66, verse 1 and verse 2. It is true under the ceremonial
law The practice of God's presence with the people was symbolized
by the building of a tabernacle, or a dwelling place among them. Again, of two sorts. A temple
in the wilderness, a permanent building in Jerusalem. God was pleased to dwell there
and to manifest His presence there to the people. While at
the same time, He was by no means exclusively confined to that
house or tabernacle. The people made appearances there.
They went into the temple to pray and to sacrifice. At the same time we know this
was a temporary arrangement. that God had set up. It was not
to continue without end. It was typical of something better
and something more perfect that was to come. It was not an end
in itself. When that which was perfect is
come, then that which is typical is done away. And as James A. Alexander wrote in his commentary
on the book of Acts chapter 7, 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 says, You know that
when Solomon built the temple, he said, you know Solomon even
said when the temple was built, the heavens cannot contain you,
how much more this house that I have built. And Isaiah said,
heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. Stu, where is
the house you will build me or the place of my rest." They must
not esteem a building and its ceremonies above God. That must not be done. Nor to
think that God is more to be found in a particular building
or more present in a particular building, no matter how costly
or how beautiful or how long in construction. The question,
if we say, The temple was typical. Then what was it typical of? If this temple was not an end
in itself and was typical of something better to come, then
what was that something better that was to come? What did it
typify? For you know, we admit that everything
under the Mosaic economy and under the Mosaic law was typical
of something about the new dispensation and Christ. First, two things
about the temple and the Lord. Matthew 23 and verse 38. The Lord, near the end of His
ministry, after being much opposed by the Jew, said in Matthew 23,
38, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Then we remember
in Matthew 24, verse 1 and 2, the disciple said, Master, Look
at this magnificent temple. Look at the stones and how it
is arrayed and so forth. And Jesus told His disciples
that that temple would be completely, absolutely destroyed. It would
be razed, R-A-Z-E-D, down to the ground. Not one stone left
standing up on the top of another. the place where God had put His
presence for and among the people. What then shall come in its place
if the temple is to be raised and destroyed what then shall
come in the place as a symbol of the presence of God unto the
people. I'd like for just a moment to
yield the pulpit temporarily to Brother Thomas Goodwin, one
of the old Puritan, who will tell us, quote, this temple and
the ark in the holy of holy thereof in which God dwelt between the
cherubim was His Christ that was to come in the flesh." Notice
the last part, "...was His Christ that was to come in the flesh."
Will God indeed dwell upon the earth in a house? Will God do
so? John 1.14, "...and the word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth." There in John 1.14
we have in our English versions the word dwelt." That word is
the word skenuo. The words say expositor, literally
means tabernacle. Tabernacled among us. Pitched his tent. John uses that
word four times in the book of Revelation alone. He tented among
us. The Word did. He tabernacled
among us in a house of flesh. This is His incarnation. He was born of a woman. He partook of flesh and of blood. to take a close kinship unto
his brethren. He assumed a body that God had
prepared for him, as we're told in Hebrews chapter 10. Yes, he
was. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16, God
manifests in the flesh. This is a great mystery, the
mystery of godliness. When it is said that God was
manifest in the flesh, 1 Timothy 3.16, the first reference is
to His Christ, the Lord Jesus, who is meant and not another. These things cannot be said of
any other man or person. He that was in the beginning
with God and was God. John 1 verse 1 and 2, who shared
the invisible eternal nature of the divine essence. The second
person manifested in the flesh, and some beheld His glory as
the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Some, says Peter,
like we, were eyewitnesses of His majesty." Again, John 1.14,
the Word. meaning the Son, the second in
the Godhead, as we like to say, was made flesh, became flesh,
assumed flesh, partook of flesh and of blood. Now the word made
in our King James Version is a word with some latitude. But primarily we find the meaning
of it to be, to cause to be. He was made to cause to be, to
become, to come into being. And the word in verse 14 is the
same word in John 1 and 3, all things were made by Him. Twice the word is used. It's
again in John 1, And verse 10, the world was made by Him. It came to be by Him. Again in John 2.9, the water
was made wine. It is the same word that we have
in John 1.14. Now this is not to say, we must
not misunderstand it to say, that the Word turned into flesh,
or cease to be what it was before. The Word, or the Son, the eternal
Son of God, did not strip Himself of His deity, or His attributes,
or His glory, though they were to a degree veiled while our
Lord was here in the flesh, as in the tabernacle, the greater
glory was inside about the mercy seat and dwelt there within the
veil. Surely, good when the Puritan
was right, the temple of old was typical of Christ that was
to come. What did the angel say unto Joseph
in Matthew 1 and verse 23? Call his name what? Immanuel,
which means God with us. Thou shalt call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us, dwelling among us in
our midst. The New Testament uses terms
concerning the Lord Jesus, reminiscent of the temple of old. As when he told some in John
2 in verse 19, look, you destroy this temple three days, I will
raise it up again. Think of the significance of
that. Words reminiscent of the Old Testament temple. John tells
us in verse 21 of chapter 2 that he was talking about his body. I'm not talking about that material
temple that the Jews took it to be, in which was enshrined
or dwelling in him the eternal Word in the temple of the Lord,
his body. Consider Colossians 2 and verse
9. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead, and then he adds this word bodily. In Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Back in Colossians 1.19,
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell,
that is, in the incarnate Christ. Paul says these things against
the errors that had been brought in at Colossae, that Christ is
the image of the invisible God. He is the manifestation of the
very divine nature. Or, as J.B. Lightfoot put it,
in Him resides the totality of the divine powers and attributes,
unquote, in Christ, that the whole fullness dwells in Christ,
and that in two senses, if we are careful here with the scripture.
A, bodily, in the incarnate Christ dwelt the fullness of God. God was manifest in the flesh
so that the Lord Jesus could say, He that has seen me has
seen the Father. Boy, that's a tremendous statement. John 14 and verse 9, "...who
has seen Me show you the Father? Why, he that has seen Me has
seen the Father. But then be it dwelt another
way, not only bodily, but permanently." The divine fullness is permanently
at home in Christ, our blessed and incarnate One. In Ephesians
1, 22 and 23, "...and has put all under His feet, gave Him
to be head over all to the church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that fills all in all." The apostles' reasoning in Colossians
2 and 9 is, in a system not founded upon Jesus Christ is doomed and
is a false way. In Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Notice he uses the word here
Godhead. This is three times in the King
James Version. It's in Acts 17, 29, Romans 1,
20, and here in Colossians 2, and verse 9, and means divinity
or deity, godlike, the divine essence or nature. God in the incarnate Christ,
tabernacled among men. dwelt upon the earth, not in
a material tent, but in a fleshly tabernacle prepared for him by
God in a special way by a virgin. For this reason For this reason,
that Christ is the temple of God. Christ is that fullness
of God. For this reason, the temple at
Jerusalem could no longer stand after our Savior had appeared. See what happened there. in the
temple when Jesus died. When Jesus died on the cross,
the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom, signifying
an end to the old economy and an end to Judaism as they had
known it. The tabernacle of God is with
men. You know, God even calls our
bodies the temple of the Lord, and He calls the people of God
His temple as well. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is the fulfillment of that Old Testament temple and tabernacle. God put His presence there as
much as they could stand, the glory above or underneath the
mercy seat and the cherubims on that mercy seat. And the priest
went into that place and made an atonement and came out. Jesus
is our mercy seat. Jesus is that place where atonement
is made. where God is appeased, where
propitiation is made, where sins are expiated. Jesus Christ is
that mercy seat, is that temple, is that bread, is that light,
and all that was typical about the tabernacle. Yes, God, the
wonderful, immeasurable God, has dwelt upon the earth. in a marvelous way, first typically
in the tabernacle temple, but then in our blessed Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, God has dwelt upon the earth,
and yet His fullness was not diminished a whit while He dwelt
in that tabernacle upon the earth.