Now this is another very long
chapter, so we're going to read the first 11 verses and then
we'll deal with the chapter a little bit more closely in what I have
to say. So we're going to 1 Kings chapter
8 and we're reading from verse 1 down to verse 11. Then Solomon assembled the elders
of Israel and all the heads of the tribes and 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
Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of
Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. And they brought
up the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the congregation,
and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even
those that the priests and Levites bring up. And King Solomon and
all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him
were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that
could not be told nor numbered for multitude. And the priests
brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into
the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the
wings of the cherubims. For the cherubims spread forth
their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims
covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew
out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in
the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without.
And there they are unto this day. There was nothing in the
ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb,
when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel,
when they came out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass,
when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud
filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not
stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the
Lord had filled the house of the Lord. Amen. May the Lord
bless to us this reading from his word. So as I mentioned this
is another long chapter but a rich and significant chapter nevertheless
in the history of Israel and we could say more importantly
in the history of salvation. It is important in the history
of Israel because it gives us the account of God honouring
the work of Solomon, his building of the temple. God honouring
the work of Solomon by coming to the temple with his presence,
so that the presence of the Lord dwelt in the temple that Solomon
had built. That's why it's important in
the history of Israel. But it is important in the history
of salvation, because it points us to the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is prefigured by the temple. And with that picture, we see
that the Old Testament people were taught to better understand
the work of the coming Messiah. Old Testament believers, Old
Testament men and women who had faith in Christ, because not
all had, of course. For many of them, the religious
practice was just to do with the physical and the tangible
and the things that they touched and the things that they heard
and saw and smelled there in the temple ritual worship. But
for those who had eyes to see, they looked beyond the rituals
and they saw messages, they saw revelations, they saw indications
of the coming Messiah and what he would accomplish. Now once,
many years before, God had come to dwell with his people in the
tabernacle that Moses had built in the wilderness. And now he
came again and dwelt with them in this temple that Solomon had
built in Jerusalem. And we might say just for completeness
that finally He came, that is the Lord, came and dwelt amongst
us in the person of his son, Jesus Christ. And he still does
dwell with us in Christ. For though the Lord Jesus Christ
has returned to heaven, he continues to live in the heart and in the
lives of each believer. who trusts in him and follows
him and serves him. We do not have a God who is far
away from us, but a personal saviour who lives spiritually
with us and in whom and by whom we enjoy spiritual life. So yes, a long, long time ago
and far, far away, The Lord dwelt with his people Israel in the
wilderness in a tent. Then he lived with them in the
Holy of Holies in the temple that Solomon built. But now the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, lives with us in our own hearts,
as by faith we trust and follow him. Now this chapter, long as
it is, If you turn over the pages of your Bibles, you will be keeping
turning pages until you get to the 66th verse. But this chapter,
I think, I've read it through a couple of times. It breaks
into, I think, five different sections. And I'm going to give
each of those sections a heading, and then we'll look at them briefly.
The first section is what we read, basically. where an assembly
of leaders from Israel is called by Solomon to consecrate the
temple and the Ark of the Covenant is brought from Zion to be placed
in the most holy place in the temple. And then the second part,
Solomon preaches a short sermon to the gathered crowd and he
gives thanks to the Lord for the building. So kind of in this
chapter we've got the whole ceremony that takes place at the consecration
of the temple. And the king thirdly dedicates
the temple to the Lord. And he asks the Lord, he asks
God for ongoing help for the people. It's as if he says, Lord,
This is your temple. This is where we want you to
come and dwell with us. And when you come, we want to
be able to approach you and ask for your help. And then fourthly,
Solomon blesses the people who are gathered to witness this
great event. And then he offers sacrifices
to God and he lays on a great feast for the people, the gathered
congregation. So I'm going to briefly mention
what happened at each of these parts and then try to draw a
little lesson from which we might learn something of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So the first part I mentioned
was this, that this, and it was what we read together, this assembly
of leaders called to consecrate the temple and the bringing of
the Ark of the Covenant from Zion to be placed in the most
holy place. So after the temple was built
by Solomon, and it took about a year from the completion of
the building to this consecration. And in that year, Solomon furnished
the temple and he prepared the operation of the temple. And this was the opening or the
institution of the worship at the temple. And it was scheduled
to coincide with one of the regular feasts that the children of Israel
attended during their religious year. So Solomon called the elders
of Israel to gather in Jerusalem for this opening ceremony. And it would involve the bringing
of the Ark of the Covenant, the short distance from its present
location in Mount Zion, that was where David had located it
some 40 years before, to its new location in the heart of
the temple in the Holy of Holies. And the priests and the Levites
carried the ark and they brought with the ark the candlestick
and the showbread and the table and the incense altar and all
the things, the pots and the pans that were part of the ancient
tabernacle worship and they brought all of those from Mount Zion
to be located in the temple. And this was the fulfillment
of the ancient promises given by God to the children of Israel
at the time of Moses and the time of Joshua. The Lord has
always had his elect people, his chosen people with whom he
promised to dwell. And from the times of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, whom he promised to bless by delivering them from
their sins. And let us remember, I've said
it several times over the past few weeks, God does not need
a physical temple in which to live. But he wished hereby to
teach his people about having a close personal spiritual relationship
with him and worshipping him in spirit and in truth. And in
order to show them that that's what was happening, a cloud,
the cloud of the presence of the Lord descended on the temple
and we read there together that the glory of the Lord filled
the house of the Lord. The Lord God took up residence
in the Holy of Holies. The second part of this chapter
is where Solomon preached a sermon to the people in which he outlined
the history of God's covenant and the promises that had been
made to their forefathers and particularly to David concerning
the temple. In this sermon Solomon thanked
the Lord for his goodness and he reminded the people of God's
faithfulness in doing for them all that he had promised. From the days of the Patriarchs
and the Exodus from Egypt, He said, Solomon said to the people,
the Lord hath performed his word that he speak. So Solomon was
ministering, he was preaching as it were. So although he was
the king, he was also fulfilling the act of a preacher. And he
was telling the people about the faithfulness of God. And this temple, he tells them,
was where God would meet with the people. It was designed to
point to the Lord Jesus. And it held those things which
we have seen had previously been given to point to Christ. The
Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the tables of stone with
the Ten Commandments written on them, the altar for sacrifice,
the levers for cleansing, the candlestick for light. In all
these items, those with spiritual eyes could look forward to the
coming days of the Messiah, who would fulfill the law, who would
accomplish holiness, who would cleanse his people from their
sins and give them greater spiritual light and understanding. And
Solomon showed the people how the Lord's hand was on all that
had been done. And this reminds us, you and
me today, to keep looking for the ways in which the purposes
of God are being fulfilled in our own lives as well. Nothing happens by chance in
a world where God is in control. And it might seem that the world
is going on without thinking about God and that things happen
by chance and randomly and we never know what's going to happen.
And in a sense, from our perception, that is true. but not from God's. Where God is in control, he is
working out his purpose for each of us. And while that sometimes
seems that things are not connected, that isn't so. Such things as
happen to us happen for a reason and we should always be looking
out for what the Lord is teaching us day by day in the events and
circumstances of our lives. That's what Solomon pointed out
to the people in his sermon and it's a good lesson for us all
to learn. The third thing that we have,
and I need to move on quickly, the third thing that we have
to see in this chapter is that Solomon dedicated the temple
and then he asked for the Lord's ongoing help. He gave the temple
to God. And we call it, we still do,
we still call it Solomon's temple because he built it. But Solomon
tells us that he gave it to the Lord And then, having given it
to the Lord and inviting the Lord to dwell in it with his
presence, Solomon gives a long list of occasions when the people
would require God's forgiveness and mercy. These include when
an enemy would oppress them, or when drought or famine or
pestilence or disease or any trouble would come upon them. Those troubles would come, Solomon
says, because of their sin. And he asked that God would hear
the people's prayer for help when they prayed looking towards
the temple. And I think that's significant.
So that what Solomon was asking the Lord, and I'm going to read
a verse. Well, let me read the verse first. But this is what
he says. hearken thou, so he's speaking to God, hearken thou,
listen to the supplication, the prayers of thy servant and of
thy people Israel. When they shall pray toward this
place and hear thou in heaven, Solomon didn't think that God
needed this temple to live in. He knew that God was in heaven.
Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and when thou hearest,
forgive. So that Solomon was saying, when
the people look towards the temple, let that be a sign that they
are asking in faith for the forgiveness of their sins. And you come and
help them and bless them. And that's the same picture of
us looking in faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
symbolism that is being set before us there. Solomon knew we all
are sinners, but he believed that forgiveness of sin is possible
with God when we approach Him in the way of salvation that
He has ordained. And that way is by Jesus Christ. Now you might say, but Jesus
Christ was not in the temple. That's right. But remember the
altar and the furnishings. They all pointed symbolically
to Christ so that by faith, the people understood that their
salvation was by mercy and grace because of the merits of their
substitute and their saviour. And I think this is interesting
as well. Solomon asked that non-Jews who heard about the Lord's glory
might also obtain God's mercy when they looked towards the
temple as well. That is, when they looked towards
Christ. Solomon saw that God's grace
would extend beyond the borders of Israel and that Christ would
be a saviour for the whole world. He said, this is what he said,
they shall hear of thy great name and of thy strong hand and
of thy stretched out arm. when he shall come and pray toward
this house. So that Solomon was asking for
us, he was praying for you and me, that you and I would be heard
of God when we ask for forgiveness in Jesus Christ, looking as it
were towards the temple, not really the temple in Jerusalem
because it's long gone, but to the one that the temple typified
seeking forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And then fourthly, Solomon
blessed the people. He said, Blessed be the Lord
that hath given rest unto his people. There hath not failed
one word of all his good promise. The Lord our God be with us as
he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us nor forsake
us that he may incline our hearts unto him to walk in all his ways. Solomon was a wise king and a
wise leader who knew the well-being of God's people rested upon the
grace and mercy of the Lord. And finally, the fifth part of
the chapter, Solomon offered many sacrifices to God and he
laid on a great feast for the people who had gathered. You
see, Solomon offered these sacrifices because he knew the importance
of blood sacrifice to obtain God's help and blessing. There's
no point in asking for God's help if our sin still stands
between us and God. Seeking God's mercy must be done
on the basis of a worthy sacrifice and cleansing for sin. As I've
said already today, several times, Jesus is that sacrifice. We don't kill animals now. That
was a symbol, it was a picture of the true Lamb of God, who
is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And every time we ask
God for help, and every time we pray and come to worship Him,
we do so on the basis, on the foundation, on the merits Christ
sacrificed for our sin on the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus
that he made when he offered up himself in our place. Solomon made a feast for the
people from the portion of the sacrifices that could be kept
and consumed. So when each of these sheep,
or cows, or whatever it was, these bullocks were sacrificed,
some of the meat was burned completely, and some was allowed to be taken
back to be consumed by the person who made the sacrifice. and from
that part which could be brought back and consumed by the people
Solomon made a feast and this speaks to us of the spiritual
food and nourishment that we obtain from Jesus Christ when
we hear the gospel preached and all of the good blessings and
the provisions that God gives to us and enables us to enjoy
under the gospel in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you for listening once again to what the Holy Spirit is teaching
us from this chapter. And we're finished now. Amen.