1 Chronicles – The Temple – A Sacred Place for a Sacred People

• What building in Hoover best represents our city? In Alabama, for our state? In the U.S., for our nation?
• What’s the most impressive building you’ve ever seen or been in? What stood out about it?
• What do these buildings symbolize or represent for people?
• Why are big buildings, monuments, museums, cemeteries or statues important to people?

Listen.

When David first took the throne as king, he realized that he was now living in a fine cedar-walled palace while the place to worship God was still in a tent – as it had been going all the way back to Moses’ years of wandering in the wilderness. God told him that one of his achievements would be to build a permanent place of worship, a temple in Jerusalem. But then David screwed everything up by the terrible decisions he made and there was so much bloodshed involved in regaining and then keeping the throne, that as much as God loved David, he would not let a man with that much blood on his hands be responsible for creating such a sacred space. God’s instrument for this building project would become David’s son Solomon.

David said to Solomon, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth. See, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, so that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed.  – 1 Chronicles 22: 7-13

So many times it seems like violence was what God wanted to pursue in the Old Testament. What we see here is that violence or war was actually not what God had intended for his people to get what they wanted. In fact, as much as David wanted to pursue God and build him a temple, the fact that he was such a violent man excluded him from being able to build the temple that he had always dreamed of worshiping in. That project would be Solomon’s charge to complete. And God again tries to explain to Solomon through David that Israel will not be protected through armies or even God’s Temple or the Ark of the Covenant being stored there. Israel’s true protection will be through following God’s commands.

• If every church in our community was razed to the ground and no one was allowed to build a new one, where would you go to connect with God?
• How would you connect with other Christians?
• What parts of our Christian community would be the hardest to replicate without a building?
• What parts would be the easiest?

Remember

Violence cannot achieve the will of God. Neither can buildings.

There is a lot of violence in the Old Testament. But our God is not a God of violence. God of is a God of peace. Violence, anytime it happens, is a result of something counter to the will of God. Many Christians see a connection to Jesus here. For centuries after the construction of the Temple, different Jewish military leaders tried to take it back by force from invaders and reestablish a Jewish kingdom. But Jesus told his followers that their very bodies would now serve as God’s Temple and that the Kingdom of God would never be achieved by violence and for that very reason it could never be defeated by threats like the Roman empire.

Pray

Pray for people around the world who are not able to worship God in the open because of persecution and violence. Pray for people who have had their churches destroyed and their lives threatened because of their faith. Pray for their safety and pray for God to change the hearts of their persecutors.

More

Check out this Minecraft recreation of the Temple in the time of Solomon.