Tag: temple

God Deserves Our First, Our Best, and Our Most

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 18, 2016

How Much Time We Spend on Our Activities Reveals Our Priorities

King David longs to build a temple for God, but God says this is not to be. Another, a descendant of David, will attend to its construction. Instead David must content himself with the temple’s planning and in accumulating its building materials.

Then he dies, having never seen the temple he desired to build.

Solomon succeeds his father, David, as king of Israel. Solomon oversees the construction of the temple. A grand edifice, it takes seven years to build, a fitting effort for God’s earthly dwelling and the center of Jewish worship and life.

However, in a telling aside, the Bible indicates that Solomon spends almost twice as much time building his own residence.

This seems out of balance: seven years for the house of God and thirteen years for a house for Solomon. What does that say about Solomon’s priorities?

The temple is for all the people, as well as for God; the palace is for Solomon.

Yes, the palace must be a structure worthy of a king, but spending over a decade on its building may be a bit much, especially given that it consumes almost one third of Solomon’s forty-year reign.

Yet I wonder how often we effectively do the same thing, placing greater emphasis on the things we do for ourselves than the things we do for God, the time we spend with him, and the offerings we give.

We need to not only put him first, but he also deserves our best and our most.

I fear we too often fall short in those areas.

We must truly make God our priority.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Kings 5-7, and today’s post is on 1 Kings 6:38-7:1.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags give, God, King David, King Solomon, temple

Bible Insights

Jesus Rends the Veil That Separates Us From God

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 20, 2015

In the Old Testament, the people perceive the temple as God’s dwelling place here on earth. Therefore, to approach God they need to go to the temple. They worship God there and no place else.

The God in the Old Testament commands it.

In the temple hangs a thick, heavy veil (curtain) that separates the temple’s inner sanctum where God resides (the Holy of Holies) from the regular people, even most of the priests.

The only person who can enter it is one specially selected priest and then only once a year.

Jesus Dies to Change that

At the moment Jesus breathes his final breath the veil in the temple rips in two, symbolically allowing the people direct access to God, without the need for a priest to act as an intermediary.

Additionally the veil tears from top to bottom, from heaven to earth, to show that God initiates it.

This is Jesus’s doing, not man’s.

Now through faith in Jesus we may approach God directly, freely and with confidence. The veil is gone. We have no need for a middleman to act as our liaison to God.

Peter writes that we are now living stones. God actively builds us into a spiritual temple. We are to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices to him.

That is who we are through Jesus.

[Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45, 1 Corinthians 6:15-20, Ephesians 3:12, 1 Peter 2:5]

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Tags temple, worship

Bible Insights

Have You Ever Been Overwhelmed by the Glory of God?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 17, 2013

When Solomon dedicated the temple, the people praised God with much fanfare and then something strange happened.

A cloud formed—inside the building. But there’s more. “The Glory of the Lord filled the temple.” It became so intense that the priests couldn’t even work; God’s presence was that strong. It was extreme.

They became overwhelmed with God’s presence and his glory. But what exactly does that mean?

It could be the awe of God engulfed them to such an extent that nothing else mattered.
It could be that fear of being so close to God effectively paralyzed them.
It could be the cloud was so thick—that is, God’s presence was so heavy—that they literally couldn’t see what they were doing, or
It could be that with God in the house nothing else mattered.

Regardless of the explanation, we can conclude that God’s presence was so significant that all activity ceased.

Can you imagine worshiping God and collectively feeling his presence to such an extent that all the singers stop singing and all the musicians stop playing?

Silence fills the room and nothing else matters. Then the highest form of worship becomes to simply do nothing and bask in his presence.

Have you ever been that overwhelmed with the glory of God?

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Tags God, King Solomon, temple

Bible Insights

The Curtain in the Temple was Torn in Two

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 31, 2008

The “Holy of Holies” (also called “the Most Holy Place” or “the Holiest of all”) was the innermost part of the tabernacle and later, the temple.

It was so sacred that only the high priest could enter it and then only once a year.

When Jesus died, the veil (which was very thick, more akin to a wall) in the temple around the Holy of Holies was torn in two, from top to bottom. This is significant for two reasons:

First, being torn from the top down signifies that it was God’s doing. Since it was 30 feet high, a person would only be able to tear it from the bottom up. In effect, God was saying, I’m changing the old way of doing things.

More importantly, this opened up the Holy of Holies, showing that everyone could now approach God, at any time—not just the high priest once a year.

Jesus changed things indeed, making it possible for all us to directly approach God.

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Tags Jesus, temple