Scripture

Yahweh will build a house for you. And it will be that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish His throne forever.

~1 Chronicles 17:11-12, LSB

Quote

True worship always moves from the visible to the invisible, from symbol to Savior, from created thing to the Creator.

~A. I. Bailey

In a recent reading of the Chronicles I was reminded that it was David’s idea to build Yahweh a temple. Isaiah 66 begins like this..“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?Could you build me such a resting place? My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken!” So the idea of a Temple originated with David; he had a burning desire to build a Temple for Yahweh. Many of the pagan deities had Temples and David wanted a Temple for Yahweh. Yahweh is the eternal, self-existent, infinite and invisible creator of all things. He is separate from and above or beyond His creation. He could never be contained or confined to a 30X30 cube. The LORD told David, “Instead of you building me a Temple, what about me building you a Temple. He will be your descendant, He will be a King and His kingdom will last forever. The word ‘seed’ in the above verse is a reference to Jesus.

Jesus said {John 2} “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Of course the narrow minded Jews thought he was referring to Herod’s Temple but he wasn’t. He was talking about Himself. He was the Temple or better still, He is the Temple {Revelation 21:22}. The Jews worshipped the Temple of Solomon and Herod’s Temple. They had more faith in the building thant they did in God Himself.  They were still worshipping the Temple in Jesus day. He told them repeatedly, there is something greater than that temple standing here, but they didn’t get it. Herod’s temple was a distraction and an object of worship.

We don’t worship a building or a place. We don’t worship decor or furnishings. Church building should not be elaborate. The original Holy of Holies constructed by  Solomon contained 22.5 tons of gold. That would be 2.96 billion dollars today. You cannot justify such extravagance. God’s concern is for people not buildings. For God so loved the world {people}. Jesus did not die for buildings. Opulence and extravagance are sins of idolatry.  You read the gospels again and see if what I say is not true: the very people that had Jesus crucified loved the Temple but they hated people, especially Jesus.

Extra

James and Pricilla are back home and the shock treatment worked, James’ heart went back to a normal rate. PTL! Holiday weeks always go too fast. Thank goodness the grands get a break from Basketball. Ty has had four games in six days and he needs rest.

LORD willing: I will be visiting most of the day and I have a couple of turkeys to inject. June ordered me a grapple for Little John. We found one on sale for $1,349.97 which is the same price three years ago. Regular price was $2,749.97. We have discoved something. You can order your parts on line cheaper than you can get them in the Tri-Green stores. So GPBC, you bought me a grapple for Pastor appreciation. Every time I use the grapple, I will think of you.

I hope you have a good day and thanks for reading the blog. Lets go inject some turkeys….Ya’hoo!!!!