In 2 Chronicles we can read about how King Solomon built the first Temple, in Jerusalem. It’s an extraordinary story of how a King who loved God had the honour of building a dwelling place for Him and how when it was completed, God manifested His Glory and Presence there.
The temple itself was unique. There was nothing else like it in the ancient world. It was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 30 feet high – about the size of a tennis court and well over two stories high. It was built of stone and wood. The stone was all cut to exact size off-site in the quarry. The whole of the inside, wall panelling, doors, ceiling timbers were overlaid in gold brought from India or Arabia. Even the floors were gold. The timber was felled in Lebanon, floated by sea to Joppa and transported overland to the site. The inside of the temple was decorated with intricate gold designs of chains and palm trees and precious stones were everywhere. The furnishings were amazing. A bronze altar 30 feet square and 15 feet high – the size of a two storey house; two pillars at the front that were 60 feet high; a bronze “Sea” to be filled with 14,500 gallons of water, that was 15 feet diameter and 8 feet high with figures of bulls as part of the casting. It says that this was cast in one piece in a clay mould 45 miles away, and then transported (in one piece) to Jerusalem, and up Mount Moriah to the Temple site!
Just to set this in context, in Britain at this time (950 BC, that’s 3000 years ago) we were enjoying the benefits of the Iron Age, living in round huts with a hole in the roof and painting our faces blue to scare our enemies.
Now here’s the significant thing. After the Temple was built Solomon dedicated it by sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded and the Priests brought The Ark and placed it in the Most Holy Place; and the whole temple was filled with a cloud which was the Glory of God. His presence was so strong that the Priests couldn’t do their task.
There were many things that Solomon could do, and do well (and the same is often true for us – especially leaders).
- He could make a plan
- He could organise what was needed to make the plan work
- He could make a programme to deliver the plan
- He could import skilled people to help deliver the plan
- He could ensure that no detail was overlooked
- He could gain favour from the rich and famous (King Hiram)
- He could finance the plan or attract finance
- He could finish the plan well
What he couldn’t do, with all his skill and planning was deliver the Glory and Presence of God
Even in our private lives, we can have goals, plan around those goals and work towards them – and they may be good goals – but we can’t command the Presence or the Anointing of God onto those goals.
We can manufacture a temple, a church, a home-group or a lifestyle but we cannot manufacture the anointing or Glory of God resting on those things. That choice belongs to God.
In Solomon’s case, God was pleased to let His Glory rest in the place that Solomon had built. He was pleased with Solomon’s heart, his motive and his application. Solomon’s response to God’s manifest presence was to dedicate himself and his people to God. God’s response was to send down fire to burn up the offerings, fill the temple with His glory a second time; so much that again, the priests could not minister.
This was probably the high point of Solomon’s life. The scripture says that it took him 7 years to build the Temple, but, it took him 14 years to build his palace – and the scripture never gives us details like that for no reason. There is a conclusion to be drawn….
You might think that would have been the high point in our lives too, had we seen the Glory of God like that. But, I bet that many of us would have then tried to repeat it! “If we just stand the priests there, if we just play the same instruments and tunes, if we just get the same number of animals……”
Often we can have moments when we see His glory or when we sense His presence, either personally or in a church meeting, and then we try and replicate it by doing the same things over again. I know I have. I have seen it many times in church too.
The truth is that God makes His Presence felt in response to our hearts, not in response to what we do. He wasn’t counting up Solomon’s sheep being sacrificed….. “another thousand and I will show them my glory”. Father Son and Holy Spirit are not looking at our Sunday meeting and saying “Ooh, look. They’ve got a violin in the worship group this morning. We’ll turn up for that”!
2 Chronicles 16 v 9 says “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him” Its a heart thing.
His Presence can’t be manufactured, can’t be summoned, it can’t be franchised and it can’t be counted on as a ‘given’. “Our God is in heaven and He does whatever pleases Him” (Psalm 115). This is a matter of the heart rather than a matter of what songs we sing or how we structure our meetings or churches.
Final point: The Presence of God should not be expected only when we meet on a Sunday or in a big worship setting. Our Sunday meetings have often become the main part of our Christian focus. If we spend 2 hours in church on Sunday and sleep for 8 hours every night, then we spend 112 hours awake every week, and only 1.8% of that time is at church. That leaves 98.2% of our lives to live as believers. Just don’t make Solomon’s mistake, seven years to build a place for God and fourteen years to build a place for himself!
I would really like you to listen to this song “Home” and think about the lyrics as they come up on your screen. God Bless.
Church is out there 