This Place

I Kings 8: 22-53

Solomon's prayer dedicating the Temple:

... Listen to the prayer which Thy servant shall pray toward this place ... and forgive ...When they sin ...if they repent ... and pray toward this place ... hear and forgive ...

This is the first Temple built to worship God. It's based on the plans God gave Moses for the Tabernacle, that was the tent that the people carried with them while they wandered in the Desert. 

It also had elements of other temples, pagan temples, that Solomon was familiar with, so it was more complicated than the tent was. But it retained the basic format, having the altar and holy place and most holy place, and the furniture that was in the Tabernacle. 

Solomon recognized that even God's whole Creation cannot contain Him, let alone this house he had just built; nevertheless, this house, this place, would be the focal point of where God will see from Heaven and answer the prayer directed toward this place. 

And Solomon knew that Israel would need forgiveness repeatedly, "for there is no man who does not sin" (v. 46). 

And he even had a missionary heart, concerning those in other Nations, "For they will hear of Thy great Name and Thy mighty hand, and Thine outstretched arm" (v.42), "in order that all the peoples of the Earth may know Thy Name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel..." (v. 43). 

God's purpose is that all peoples, every tribe, every nation, every language group, would hear and know that, "There is no god like Thee in heaven above or on Earth beneath..." (v. 23). 

God's Plan of the Ages is still being carried out by the people in this World. The Tabernacle was made according to the "pattern" God showed Moses, the real Temple in Heaven. And now this Temple was also built according to that same basic Pattern. 

What is real is what is spiritual and what is material is only temporary, only a shadow or reflection of what is real. Our eyes can only see what is material. One day we will have eyes that can see what is real, but right now we can understand by looking at the models we have here. 

They're not the genuine articles, but they show us enough to see what God is doing. Like a model car isn't a real car, but is shows what the real car looks like. 

There's a connection between the Temple in Jerusalem and the Temple in Heaven, as that is the place where God has "set" His Name, and the prayers directed toward that place will be heard by God. 

Today we as Christians are God's Temple. We don't need to position ourselves geographically to face in any specific direction to assure that God hears our prayers, He has put His Holy Spirit within each of us, and we are the living stones that comprise His Temple on Earth today. The church is not a building, it's the people that are the building. 

But God's Plan has not changed. He still wants people everywhere to know that He is God, not anything else. He is the only God, everything else people worship is only an idol, a false god. 

Only God can give Life. All the false gods deal only death; division and separation and dis-ease. God provides unity and relationship and health. God is the Source of everything good, everything we are made for, everything we need. 

God loves what He made, and He wants us to know Him, and to love Him back, and to love one another as He loves us. Love is Life. God's Love gives us life. 

O my Father, strengthen me to clearly show others Who You are. Give me Your clarity of Purpose, to promote Your ways and Your Kingdom, so I won't be distracted by worldly pursuits. Keep my feet straight on the path You have placed me on, and I know You will never let go of my hand.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!