We shared on Solomon’s building of the Temple of God last week. Today in 1 Kings 7 we will look at the furnishings of the Temple.
• The building of the Temple was in the heart of King David and also the desire of his son Solomon.
• They gave their best for it, by providing the best material and getting the best workforce.
And they were serious about keeping to God’s design, the plan that God has shown to King David.
• This is no ordinary place. David said in 1 Chron 22:5 “the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendour in the sight of all the nations.”
• It is a place where people can draw near to God, and understand how they, as sinners can approach a holy God.
It is the HOUSE OF PRAYER. That’s what Isaiah and Jesus said.
• Isaiah 56:7 “…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
• Jesus quotes it – Matt 21:13 “It is written, My house shall be called a HOUSE OF PRAYER but you make it a den of robbers.”
The author then went on in 1 Kings 8 to tell us something about the building of Solomon’s palace.
• It’s bigger and took a longer time to build, but he reverted back to talking about the Temple again in verse 13.
• Just a short portion on the palace. It feels like a passing remark.
• No doubt the palace is grand and big but it pales in comparison to the significance of the Temple.
[Pictures] This is the artist’s impression of the Temple of God.
• This is how it might have looked – the pair of cherubim in front, ten lampstands, the Sea on 12 bulls, ten bronze basins.
Let’s take at the furnishing of the Temple - 1 Kings 7:13-22.
Huram erected two bronze pillars to stand in front of the Temple.
• These are huge columns 8.1m high. The capitals on top of the columns bore decorations, in brass, of lilies. Plus the capitals the pillars are 10m high.
• With a circumference of 5.4m (7:15), they are huge, and they are placed right in front of the Temple.
These pillars are not functional; they are not supporting any structures.
• They are clearly symbolic, not even decorative, because Huram named them.
• 7:21 the south one JAKIN (L) and the north on BOAZ. JAKIN means “He will establish” and BOAZ means “In Him is strength”.
On the left GOD WILL ESTABLISH and the right, IN HIM IS STRENGTH.
• God is sovereign - HE DETERMINES and He is Almighty – HE CAN DO IT.
• God has His PURPOSE, and He has the POWER to accomplish it.
• God has given His PROMISE, and He has the MEANS to fulfil it.
When the people draws near to the Temple, they could not miss these pillars.
• Taken together, it tells of the sovereignty of God and His power to accomplish His will.
• In fact, they have to be together. We can have purpose but no power to fulfil it, then it’s meaningless. Nothing is done.
• On the other hand, you can have great power, but no purpose. Then that’s chaos. No plan, no purpose. That’s futile.
God establishes His will, He has a good plan and a clear purpose. And He is fully capable of accomplishing His will by His great power.
• This is what Israel is seeing now – David has been enthroned as God promised, and now Solomon; they are in the Promised Land, experiencing peace on every side, and with the Temple of God being built.
• Huram says, God has established this, and He, by His power, has done it.
This is what the Lord promised David (through Nathan) – 1 Chron 17:11-14.
"11 When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.'"
It is GOD who ESTABLISHES, not Satan, not the demons, not fate, not you and I.
• Prov 16:9 “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” Man proposes, but God disposes. God executes His will.
• Prov 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.”
• Psalm 37:23-24 “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when He delights in his way; 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.”
Life may seems out of control sometimes, but it only looks that way to us.
• Everything works according to God’s sovereign will, and nothing is ever out of control to Him.
• We acknowledge God as sovereign and we submit to Him.
The Lord says in Isaiah 46:8-11
8 "Remember this, fix it in mind (NASV be assured, ESV stand firm), take it to heart, you rebels. 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfil my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Two things God says here:
(1) He declares how things are going to happen LONG BEFORE they ever happen.
(2) He accomplishes what He purposed to do.
He establishes His purpose, and He set out to do accomplish that purpose.
• He plans for it and He performs what He plans.
• And He is capable of doing that. He has the power to bring about the fulfilment of what He intends to happen.
That’s our God. He is sovereign and Almighty.
• The future is just the purpose of God being accomplished by God.
Therefore we trust Him and submit to Him. We acknowledge Him as Sovereign – there is no other, and there is none like Him.
• We cannot live life without reference to God and without reverence of God.
• Jesus says the one who leave God out of his life is a fool, when He tells the parable of the rich farmer (Luke 12).
A rich farmer who had a good crop and wanted to build more and bigger barns to store them.
• The fact that he is rich and having a good crop indicates that he must be hardworking and he is successful. He make good plans too, for his retirement.
• But he left God out. Jesus says he is “not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21)
• He left God out of his life. He forgot about his relationship with God (which is most important and eternal).
• He cared only for what is temporal – and what is that? Everything in this world.
And that night, he died. God did not even give him one more day.
• Jesus: “You fool! This very night your life will be DEMANDED from you.” (12:20)
• Why DEMANDED? Because life belongs to God; He gave it and He can take it back.
(1) Plan whatever you want, but acknowledge His Lordship.
• It is God who establishes everything, and He has a good plan for our lives.
• That plan has to do with a relationship with Him. It has to do with Jesus.
• Make that right, and everything else will be alright. Ignore Him, and nothing will be right. You can gain the whole world and lose your own soul.
• God will then say to you, the same words “You fool!” (12:20)
(2) Believe that God is powerful and will fulfil what He set out to do.
People look at the mess in our world and the many evil things that are happening, and conclude that there is no God or that God is not powerful enough stop it.
• They have concluded wrongly. God is patient and God is showing mercy. God will ultimately judge.
• When God confronted Pharaoh in Egypt - Exo 9:13-19. 13Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, `This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18 Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. 19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.'"
• God is extending mercy and giving time for Pharaoh to do the right thing and not suffer His wrath.
• Roman 9:22-24 “22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory - 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?”
God’s delay in punishing evil is not an indication of His inability to handle the situation, but an expression of His mercy and His intention to demonstrate His power.
We need to see that two bronze pillars by faith. That’s WHO God is. Trust Him.
