God’s Temple (1 kings 5-8)
It’s the quiet that gets me.
No mindless chatter. No clanging scaffolding pipes or deafening drills. This is a construction site like no other, with not a single ‘hammer, chisel or any other iron tool being heard at the temple site whilst it was being built’.
It seems such an insignificant detail doesn’t it, in a mass of words detailing its construction and decoration? But this small detail packs a punch. For with it, we’re given a window into the quiet reverence and awe held by all those building the temple. And as we stand with them, in the eerie quiet of construction, watching the temple rise, we too are also led to ponder in quiet reverence this astounding moment in history.
It’s a moment that’s been foreshadowed in the wilderness, as the tabernacle, a temporary structure, became witness to God’s glory descending in a cloud. And it’s something that has been awaited with eager anticipation, in view of the Lord’s covenant with David. And now, under Solomon’s wise rule, without chisel or hammer, the place where God will dwell with his people rises from the ground with gold, glory and grandeur.
And as the last gold socket is laid in place, the quiet gives way to raucous celebration and worship. Everyone you can think of is summoned. This is not something to be missed. And along with the entire assembly of Israel, there is a cacophony of cattle and sheep, all partaking with deafening joy, as they anticipate the grandest of moments: ‘the glory of the Lord filled his temple’.
And as we, thousands of years later, take stock of both the hushed reverence, and thunderous worship before us, what can we do but consider these very words from the mouth of Jesus:
“I tell you that something greater than the temple is here”
What can we do but stand in hushed reverence at the sheer wonder that ‘the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’? And what can we do but join in with the heavenly multitudes, praising Christ with jubilant adoration that ‘we are no longer foreigners or strangers, but fellow citizen’s with God’s people… with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.’
Whether our days are quiet or loud, may Christ be the root of all our reverence and worship!
