Turn it again this morning to
1 Kings and chapter 6 and the description of the temple that
Solomon built. We read from verse 21. So Solomon
overlaid the house within with pure gold and he made a partition
by the chains of gold before the oracle and he overlaid it
with gold and the whole house he overlaid with gold until he
had finished all the house also the whole altar that was by the
oracle he overlaid with gold And within the oracle he made
two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. And five
cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other
wing of the cherub. From the uttermost part of the
one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
And the other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubims were
of one measure and one size. The height of the one cherub
was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. and he set
the cherubims within the inner house and they stretched forth
the wings of the cherubims so that the wing of the one touched
the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the
other wall and their wings touched one another in the midst of the
house he overlaid the cherubims with gold and he carved all the
walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims
and palm trees and open flowers within and without and the floor
of the house he overlaid with gold within and without. carved all the walls of the house
round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and
open flowers within and without and the floor of the house he
overlaid with gold within and without. This house that Solomon built
was a wonder it shone It was overlaid with gold within and
without the entirety of it and the walls were carved with cherubims,
palm trees and open flowers. Why did he build it with cherubims,
palm trees and open flowers? Well of course as we saw before
the cherubims are a reminder of those two cherubims the angels
that God set guarding the way back into Eden and to the tree
of life when Adam when mankind fell in Adam into sin When Adam
disobeyed the command of God and ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, when sin entered into man as a consequence and
death by sin, and God cast man and his wife out of the garden,
he guarded the way to the garden, he guarded the way to the tree
of life with these two cherubims and the sword of justice, that
flaming sword that guarded the way. But the cherubims are a
reminder of the paradise of Eden, which was lost unto man, out
of which Adam was thrown. And these depictions of the cherubims
and the palm trees and the open flowers that Solomon set in the
temple and overlaid with gold are a picture of that paradise,
a picture of Eden, a picture of the paradise of God. The garden, the glorious dwelling
place that Adam once had with his God, which was lost. But there are an even greater
picture of that paradise to come. They depict the way unto salvation. This paradise of Eden is that
which was lost in the fall. But Christ came to make a way
of salvation, to bring his people into a new heaven and a new earth,
of which Eden was but a picture. And these palm trees, these open
flowers and the cherubims that guard the way are all a reminder
both of Eden which was lost and of the salvation which God has
wrought for his people in Jesus Christ. The temple that Solomon
built was a picture of salvation, the way to salvation, the way
into the presence of God, into the house of God, where man could
dwell with his maker. They depict the glory and the
paradise of dwelling with God. This is what the temple pictures,
the way to salvation. This is where God dwells and
to enter into where God dwells there's an entrance, there's
a way. The high priest would take the sacrifice, he would
slay it upon the altar and he would take the blood and go into
the Holy of Holies which only he could enter into and sprinkle
that blood upon the mercy seat. And when the people knew that
he had gone in and the blood was sprinkled, they rejoiced
for that blood was sprinkled to take away their sin, to propitiate
the wrath of God against their sin. All of this was done in
practice in the temple that Solomon built and in the tabernacle proceeding
as a picture of what Christ would do once for his people forever. in offering up himself once,
in shedding his blood once, in sprinkling it upon the mercy
seat once, in taking away the sins of his people once and for
all, never to be repeated. It's all a picture of that glory
which he leads them into. He brings them into the presence
of God. He brings them into a paradise,
a paradise with his God. from which they can never be
removed, from which they will never be cast out. A paradise
depicted in Eden and depicted in the temple with palm trees
and flowers and a glory presented by the
gold with which it was overlaid, within and without. Solomon carved
all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of
cherubims and palm trees and open flowers within and without. And the floor of the house he
overlaid with gold within and without. Inside and outside it
was completely covered in gold, overlaid in gold. It was pure,
it was wondrous. What a paradise, what a glory.
it depicted. Christ spake of paradise to come
when he suffered upon the cross. When our great high priest, our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree as he
suffered, as he died, when his blood would be shed, he turned
to that thief at his side. who cried out unto him with faith, having been shown
that this was his Saviour who was crucified in the midst. Those
two thieves on either side who were railing at Christ, who were
deriding him, the one changed, seeing who Christ was, that he
suffered innocently. And Christ said unto him, Today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. Because here Christ, as the high
priest, and as the sacrifice, was there in that sinner's place,
offering himself, and then taking that blood into the Holy of Holies
to sprinkle it on his behalf. in order to lead that sinner. And every sinner like him. Believer,
you're the same. You were as that thief, hanging
upon the cross, railing upon Christ, despising Him, rejecting
Him, until the day that His Gospel entered into your soul, until
the day that the Spirit of God made you see Him for who He is,
this man's innocent. We deserve to die but He doesn't,
He's the Saviour. When the Spirit of God has given
you faith to see Him for who He is, then you like that thief
see your Saviour entering into the Holy of Holies, entering
in as it were into the midst of the temple and sprinkling
His blood for you to wash you clean. in order that he might
say unto you, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That day, that thief, that wretched
sinner, that guilty sinner entered into glory and entered into a
place depicted by this temple with cherubims and palm trees
and open flowers within and without, a place the floor of which was
overlaid with gold within and without. He was led to salvation,
led into the city above, New Jerusalem, covered in gold, led
to the tree of life, which that flaming sword of God's justice
barred the way, those cherubims barred the way, but now the Saviour
has been slain, now that sword has been brought down upon the
Saviour, now the way into salvation has been opened, and that day
that thief entered in, on blood-sprinkled ground as it were, into those
new heavens and new earth. where he saw his Saviour risen,
glorified, victorious. Yes, this is why we read of palm
trees and open flowers, a reminder of that paradise which was once,
from which man fell, and a reminder of that paradise into which man
would once more enter. As Christ prepared to die, as
Christ prepared to go to Jerusalem, where he would be crucified,
where he would be slain, he entered Jerusalem, riding into Jerusalem
upon that ass. And as he came, the people cast
down palm trees, they cast down palms in his way. We read in
John chapter 12. On the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth
to meet him and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had
found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter
of Zion. Behold, thy King cometh, sitting
on an ass's cot. These things understood not his
disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered
they that these things were written of him, and that they had done
these things under him. The people therefore that was
with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him
from the dead bear record. For this cause the people also
met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
The Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, perceive ye
how ye prevail nothing. Behold, the world is gone after
him. He entered into Jerusalem and
they cast down palm trees because here was the Savior coming for
his people, the one who would lead his people back into paradise. into a greater paradise, an eternal
paradise, a greater paradise than Eden ever was, but pictured
by Eden of old and pictured in that temple of old. In Revelation
chapter 7, we read of that time to come. After this I beheld and lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands,
and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the
angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and
the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and
worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God
forever and ever. Amen. As Christ, approaching his death,
was greeted by those with palms And in glory to come, having
died, having risen again, having been seated upon his throne victorious,
the Lamb of God will see his people gathered around him, a
great multitude for whom he suffered, a multitude called out from the
four corners of this earth, all wretched sinners like that thief
upon the tree. all lost in the darkness, all
rebels like you and I, without a care for him, hating God. despising him, rejecting him. We were amongst that crowd that
cried out in rejection of him, crucify him, crucify him. We
were like that thief upon the cross who mocked and jeered and
cast accusations in Christ's face as he suffered there next
to us. there we were in our sin and
there he was in his innocence bearing the sins of his people
and we rejected him and despised him until that hour when God
in the gospel spake unto us and said live and then with the thief
we saw him for who he is And Christ would turn and say, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. And everyone whom he has said
that unto in his gospel in power, everyone that the Spirit of God
has come unto in their lost estate of sin, every sinner far off
that God comes unto in the gospel and says unto, today thou wilt
be with me in paradise. There is coming that day when
the Lamb of God will see them gathered, when a great multitude, which
no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,
shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hands, and who will cry
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb. Are you among them? Is that you? Have you as that thief heard
the voice of Jesus Christ? Or are you like the other, heading
to the grave in darkness and shame? and hatred and rejection. Well there between these two
thieves hung one, a priest, a sacrifice, a saviour, a king, God as man
in Jesus Christ. There hung one, who was the way
unto salvation. There hung one of whom Solomon's
temple was a picture. Here in the midst of those two
sinners was the glory of God himself, as it were covered in
gold within and without, perfect and glorious, holy in all that
he was, not a spot of blemish in him. There was the temple
of God, the way unto salvation. There
in the midst of them was the tree of life, and the one was
given ears to hear, and the other went to his grave in darkness. Christ led the one to a city
above Jerusalem, which is paved in gold. We read from Revelation
21 earlier of this city. The building of the wall of it
was of jasper and the city was pure gold likened to clear glass
and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with
all manner of precious stones. The twelve gates were twelve
pearls, every several gate was of one pearl, and the street
of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it,
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour
into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day,
for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory
and honour of the nations into it, and there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defileth. neither whatsoever work if abomination
or make if a lie but they which are written in the lamb's book
of life. Oh what a city this is. Christ
himself is the glory of it. There's no sun, there's no moon,
there's no need for these things. It's eternal day there. He is
the glory of it. He is the temple He is that which
is covered with gold within and without. And there is none that
can enter into that place who have any sin upon them. No murderers,
no liars, no whoremongers, none that defile. Only the righteous, only those
whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Then who can enter in? For who
is there upon the face of this earth who has not lied? Who is there who would not defile
such a place? Who is there who is without sin? When you look within, when you
look into the secret place of your heart, no matter how well
you may keep the outer side, no matter how good an appearance
you may put before others, no matter how gold like you may
appear on the outside, what is it like within? Are you covered, as it were,
with gold, within and without? Is there righteousness within
your heart and without? Truly we must say, as the scriptures
tell us, there is none righteous, no not one. The reality is not
only are we sinners without, But sin rages within our hearts. Then there's no way in to such
a place. There's no way in. Then how could
Christ say unto that thief, that wretched sinner, just like the
other on the other side, how could he say unto him, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise? He could only enter in if his
name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He could only enter
in if he would not defile that glorious place into which he
would enter. He could only enter in if he
was perfectly righteous from head to toe, within and without. And yet there are none who are
righteous. No, not one. Then he must be made righteous.
He must be made righteous. You must be made righteous. I
must be made righteous within and without we must be pure we
must be like pure gold like the temple like Christ there's only
one way that wretched defiled sinners can be made righteous
and that's if another takes their sin, every last sin, every last
drop, every last thought and deed, indeed sin itself, that
which we are, he must take it and suffer for it and take it
away and blot it out and he must wash us and cleanse us inside
and out and make us to be perfect And that's what Christ came to
do. That thief entered paradise not
because he had done one good thing. He never lived to. He'd
been a sinner until the day that he hung upon that cross beside
Christ the Savior. He never had a chance to live
right. He was utterly defiled. And it's only because there was
one beside him. that took every sin, all his
sin, that took himself, his very being, what he was, and suffered
for it, and took it away and cleansed him. Christ washed him
in his blood. He washed him from head to toe.
He washed him inside and out. He made him in Christ to be pure
gold, to be righteous from head to toe. and cleansing him thoroughly
inside and out, Christ could truly say unto him, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Oh, has the Saviour come unto
you and done the same for you? Are you like that wretched thief? Do you know the wretchedness
of your sin? Do you know your unbelief? Do
you know your apathy? Do you know your hatred of God
by nature? Do you see it? Do you feel it?
Do you see the wondrousness of God's salvation in Christ? That
he took all the sins of his people, all that they are, and blotted
it out. Did he do that for you? Did he
take all of your sins, every last thought, every last deed? Were you nailed to that cross
in Christ? Were you crucified? Like Paul
was, he said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. Everything that Paul had done
kept him out of the kingdom of God. Every
thought, every action, all that Paul was kept him out of the
kingdom of God. And yet he was crucified with
Christ and rose again and in Christ he was perfect. In Christ he was pure, righteous,
holy, within and without, just like this thief. And in Christ,
Christ could say unto Saul, unto Paul, thou shalt be with me in
paradise. As he said it unto you. Because
to enter into this paradise, depicted by this temple, with
its cherubims and palm trees and open flowers within and without,
covered in gold within and without, to enter into this paradise we
need to be pure, holy, righteous as pure gold within and without. That's what the gold depicted,
it shone. It showed forth God's glory,
it showed forth His honour, His holiness, His righteousness.
And it was overlaid in this temple within and without, it was total. Everywhere you looked there was
the glory of God set forth by this gold everywhere. There wasn't
one bit that was not covered. for if we were to enter into
glory and we covered ourselves as it were with our righteousness
if we did our most zealous efforts if we worked with our most zealous
deeds to make ourselves righteous if we try to cover ourselves
with gold and yet there was that within That sin within, hidden from
view to others, but still there. If there was one spot, one blemish,
we'd be condemned, we'd be guilty. God would never let us enter
into his kingdom. We'd defile it. We need gold. Within and without, we need righteousness
within and without. The Pharisees made great efforts
under the law of God, to be righteous. They make great efforts to clean
the outside. But as Christ said unto them,
the Lord said unto him, now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside
of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening
and wickedness. You're full of sin within. we can read that and we can acknowledge
that and yet so few know it so few know it because it's so easy
in religion to look upon the outside It's so easy to be so
zealous about how we live and how we should do this and do
that. It's so easy to look upon others on the outside and wag
the finger and judge and consider whether they are walking as they
should. Everything's outward with us. And we hide that which is within.
We hide it from others. We try to hide it from God himself.
We hide it from ourselves. Yet the Spirit of God speaks
within. He speaks within the heart. And
he makes us see what we are by nature. That it won't do to be
covered with gold on the outside. We need it within and without. We need Christ's blood to wash
us inside and out. We need righteousness within
and without. Within and without. We need the blood of that one
that hung in the midst of those two thieves. We need his blood
to cover us. thoroughly from our sins, to
purge every one of them, to cleanse us, to justify us. We need to be washed within and
without that blood which was shed when the flaming sword of
justice that two-edged sword that turns every which way when
that sword of justice that was between the cherubims was brought
down from on high upon the sacrifice upon the Son of God and slew
him and shed his blood that blood and no other blood that blood
that sacrifice that Savior his righteousness must be applied. God must come in his gospel and
take that blood and wash us with in and without. It's a thorough work. There's
no half measures. The transformation must be total
and we must know it. Oh how glorious Solomon's temple
was, oh how glorious! The golden cherubims, palm trees,
open flowers, the paradise depicted, how glorious it was! How righteous,
how holy. That's how holy we must be to
enter into this paradise. That is why When God moved Noah
to make an ark. Another picture of Christ. Another
depiction of his salvation in delivering his people from the
wickedness of this world. in bringing his people through
from the old world of sin and death and darkness into a new
world of righteousness when God moved Noah to build an ark for
the saving of his house. and put Noah and his family,
those eight people, Noah and seven others within that ark
and brought them through that great storm and poured out his
wrath and justice upon this world destroying everything and everyone
that was outside the ark and then brought them through the
other side of the storm unto salvation. This is why when God
instructed Noah to make that ark that he told him to pitch
it with pitch within and without make thee an ark of gopher wood
rooms shalt thou make in the ark and shalt pitch it within
and without with pitch with blood with righteousness with gold
it must be inside and outside. Likewise that arc of salvation
that delivered Noah is pictured again in that arc of the covenant
that was in the Holy of Holies that depicted that place where
Christ's blood was sprinkled the mercy seat between the cherubims. In Exodus 25 we read of the making
of that ark. They shall make an ark of shitting
wood two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof and a cubit
and a half the breadth thereof and a cubit and a half the height
thereof and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within and
without shalt thou overlay it and shall make upon it a crown
of gold round about. Time and again God reiterates
through his scriptures in his gospel throughout time into eternity
that to enter into his glory there must be righteousness,
holiness, perfection within and without. And not one man Not one woman,
upon the face of this earth, can begin to touch upon such
perfection. We're all sinners. We're all
lost. We're all wicked, except God
takes us and puts us in an ark, like Noah was, and brings us
through the storms of his wrath, safely the other side. Except
he comes unto us as we hang as it were, upon a cross like that
thief, about to plunge into eternity as we hang suspended between
heaven and earth. All that we have to our credit
being our sin, our filthiness, our iniquity, our rejection of
God, our blindness and darkness, as we hang on the face of eternity,
all that we have as a hope is that Christ should turn unto
us in love and mercy and say, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise, washing us in his blood, within and without. Noah's Ark, the Ark of the Covenant,
like the temple and like the kingdom to come, holy within
and without, pitched within and without, covered with gold within
and without, covered in the blood of Christ. within and without. Where are you? Where are you? If you knew the reality of where
you are, you are just where that thief was on that day. No matter
how young or old we may be, we are dying in our sin. And we
are, as it were, hanging upon a cross, justly condemned as
thieves before God. This is where you are today. This is where I am by nature.
We're hanging, condemned, on the brink of eternity, with no
hope in ourselves. But if we hang beside a Saviour
who turns in mercy and grace unto us, And if he says unto us, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise, then we will enter into that
kingdom of which there is no end, that city with floor like
gold, like clear glass, that city in which there is no sun
or moon and no need of a temple, for Christ is the temple therein. That place in which a great multitude
are gathered around the throne of God, praising Him forevermore. That place in which God's people
are clothed in pure linen. They are righteous, within and
without, because Christ hung in their place. And the sin that
they committed, He bore. The sin that they are, he was
made to be. The wrath and the judgment that
they deserved, he drank it up. The condemnation that should
have come down upon them, he bore. The flaming sword of justice
which turns every witch way, was thrust into him and not them.
And the blood that he shed, which cleanses from all sin, was poured
over them from head to foot, inside and outside, and blotted
out every transgression, every sin, all iniquity. In Him they were made to be the
very righteousness of God. They enter into a glorious kingdom,
as it were covered with gold inside and out. They see the
cherubims. They see the palm trees. They
see the open flowers of the paradise. And it's paradise because there
in the midst is the Lamb of God who loved them and gave himself
for them. Is that where you're headed?
Is this your savior? As he said unto you, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Did he love you and give himself
for you?