2 Chronicles 6:1-21
Introduction
I was raised as a church-going kid. But even that statement says something about how we thought. The Bible speaks of the church as the Christian people but in my mind the church was the physical building. I do not want to go too far down that issue, except to say that for many Christian traditions the building is extremely important. I can still picture my childhood church with all of its wood and stained glass and candles. There was something about the physical space that told you that you were in a holy place. I remember another kid spitting on the ground in the church building, not in the sanctuary but on the stairs. I was horrified. Would a lightning bolt come down? How could you treat God’s house with such disrespect? The most reverent that we feel about our Christian churches does not even come close to how the Israelites saw their Jerusalem Temple. The Temple stood in Jerusalem, in two different versions for just less than a thousand years. The Temple was the only place that they could offer sacrifices and it is the destruction of the Temple that prevents Jews today from performing sacrifices. It was a magnificent building, one of the wonders of the ancient world. But it was more than just a nice building in which to have religious activities, it was the place where God’s presence dwelt. The Temple has been gone for almost two thousand years. All that is left are the foundations stones on the western side, a place known today as the Western or Wailing Wall. But the Temple continues to cast its shadow on our Christian faith. In the New Testament, Temple imagery is used for the church, for our bodies and even for Jesus Christ. It is helpful then to understand how the Temple shaped the worship of Israel and how that impacts us. Let us take a look at the Temple, not in the details of what sacrifices were offered how, but in terms of how the Temple was understood as Solomon was dedicating it.
Touch
There was a real challenge as Solomon was building the Temple. The actual construction was relatively simple. Solomon had the resources and the manpower to physically build the Temple. But they were looking for more than just a beautiful and well constructed building. What they wanted was for God to dwell among them, for God to actually be in the Temple. But there is a major problem with this. As big as this Temple was, God is much bigger. You can hear the sense of wonder in Solomon’s voice. The heavens are not even big enough to contain God. I like the was the Message paraphrases this: “Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built.” And yet somehow this takes place. God condescends to allow his presence to dwell in this human made building. The Israelites understood God to be literally in the Temple. Precautions were made to remove the body of a priest who died from being careless in the presence of a holy God. When the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, many people were confused. If God was actually in the Temple, it should have been invulnerable from any Babylonian attack. In response, God gave the prophet Ezekiel a vision in which he sees God’s presence removed from the Temple as a result of the people’s sins. What the Babylonians destroyed was an empty shell. What I want you to see here is that worship, true worship of the God of the Bible, includes an understanding that God comes down and touches us. Physical touch is a very important part of demonstrating love. I love to hug and cuddle and wrestle with my children. When I visit Abby, a huge part of our time together is her climbing on me and carrying her around. God desires to touch us as well. He does that by making his presence known. We may wonder, like Solomon, how the God of the universe could come into this place. But he has. The Christian story is about God coming to us. God became a lot more compact than the Temple when he appeared in Jesus Christ. God poured out his Holy Spirit and places him in everyone who calls on the name of Christ. In worship, reach out and touch the God who has reached down to touch you.
Hear
What I would expect when reading about the dedication of the Temple is a real emphasis on sacrifice. After all, when I think of the Temple I things of the priests sacrificing lambs and bulls. Of course that was very important. But Solomon chooses to focus on something else. Since the Bible says that Solomon was given special wisdom by God, perhaps we should listen. Solomon speaks of this place as a place of prayer. Solomon is praying this dedication, but he is also speaking of all the prayers that would take place after this. Solomon’s prayer is that God would hear this prayer. The Temple as a house of prayer? Jesus seemed to think so. When Jesus was cleansing the Temple, he quoted Isaiah by saying “My house shall be a house of prayer.” Prayer? But I thought the Temple was a place of worship? To divide worship and prayer is artificial. I am not sure how you could worship without some sort of prayer involved. Even if you offered some sort of sacrifice, you would likely pray that God would accept that sacrifice. They are closely connected. But the prayer that Solomon has in mind is not an empty ritual. He expects that God will hear this prayer. If there is something that drives my children crazy, it is when I do not hear them. They ask for something or want to show me something and I am so occupied with something else that I do not even hear them. They want me to hear. And we want God to hear. I remember as an Anglican having a certain part of the liturgy dealing with prayer. After each part of the prayer, we would say together “O God, hear our prayer.” Even if we do not say that out loud, it would be a good idea for us in worship for us to have the inner desire “O God, hear our prayer.”
See
There is another very interesting part to this prayer. Solomon prays “May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night.” For Solomon, it is not enough that God would hear our prayers, as if they were recorded and played back at his leisure. Rather, he wants God’s eyes on the Temple. He wants God to be watching the people. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 121. “He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” (Psalms 121:3–6 NIV) The Lord watching over us. Why is that important? Again, it speaks to the intimacy of worship, of the context of relationship. Do we really want our worship noticed by some angel passing on a memo that this church fulfilled its worship obligation again this week? Or do we want God to be watching us? There is something special about watching the one you love. There are times Amanda will ask me how she looks and I will respond quickly with “Great.” Unfortunately, Amanda notices that I did not even look at her before responding. It becomes an empty compliment. My children love it when we watch them. They perform shows, concerts, dances, races and acrobatic demonstrations. It is not enough for them to know we are aware of their activity. They want us to watch them, even if they do the same thing over and over again. Do we have that same longing to be watched by God? As people forgiven as a result of Jesus on the cross, we need not fear God’s gaze. God looks at us, not to find fault, but to adore us as his children. Part of worshipping is to desire to be seen by God.
Conclusion
The Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. It was rebuilt only be destroyed by the Romans. The Temple is gone. But the words of Solomon’s dedication remain for us. Solomon, wise man that he was, understood that true worship was about the senses. It was about being touched, being heard and being seen. These principles continue to hold true. As we come to worship, we must long for God’s presence to be so real that he actually touches us. We should worship prayerfully, confident that God would hear us. We should worship in the sight of God, knowing that he watches us as a Father watches his children. Let us worship as the Temple of God.
