The Temple

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

THE TEMPLE

1 Kings 6:1-10

6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD. 2 The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.   3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow clerestory windows in the temple. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. 7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

NIV

Having translated from cubits to feet, we find the temple to be 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. There are many more details given, but the idea is that this was the temple Solomon built for the LORD. There are many visual depictions of the temple, and this is not about picturing what it looks like, but more about its purpose. This temple was to represent the presence of the LORD among his people. It was a place thought to be where God resides. We know that the Lord cannot be contained within a building constructed by man, yet it was a place where men served, worshipped, and sacrificed offerings to the LORD. It was a holy place, especially the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. Today, people have built various versions of temples, although we call them churches, as a place to come and worship the Lord. Over the years, some have been extremely ornate, with some having been given names, such as “The Crystal Cathedral”. Some edify the builder more than the Lord. Some have built entire campuses with the design to express their importance, rather than to enhance the worship of the Lord. But the idea still comes down to the simple truth that we, our very beings, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This brings us to the truth that we should not edify ourselves, or make ourselves look important, or build ourselves up. It is also not about our physical appearance, although the world promotes that our appearance is most important; in fact, billions of dollars are spent annually on beauty products. Some believers think that we should not defile the temple of our Lord, developing a list of things we should not do ingest, mostly about smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages, but rarely include over-eating, or gluttony. Jesus said that it is not what we consume into the body that defiles it, but what comes out of our mouths, for our words come from our hearts, that defile us. This temple is more than our bodies; it is our minds, souls, or spirits. This temple is our very selves, who we are, our inner being. We are the people whom the Lord knit together in our mother’s womb. He knew us before we were born. Although the temple Solomon built had specific dimensions, we do not. Solomon’s temple could not expand beyond its walls, but we can expand in our spiritual lives through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. Let us resist too much concern for the physical, although that might be of some importance, but let us truly focus on our spiritual being, the temple, as we worship in spirit and in truth.