Sunday, June 10th, 2012
I Chronicles 17 (2 Samuel 7 & Psalm 127)
“When God Builds the House”
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty. — Zechariah 4:6
Background Information:
- Many commentators see 1 Chronicles 17 as the heart of the Chronicler’s message for the entire book of 1 Chronicles.
- The rest of the account of David’s reign, in chapters 17-29, is taken up with the temple, directly or indirectly. In these chapters the theme of the temple is tightly interwoven with David’s role as king. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 120)
- This desire parallels royal ideology in surrounding ancient Near Eastern cultures. The inscriptions of kings and emperors around Israel demonstrate that one way monarchs proved their success was to build temples for their gods. It was expected that all good and powerful kinds would build temples. David had reached the point in his life when it was time for him to take this step. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 152)
- Several important activities of ancient Near Eastern monarchs in peacetime was to construct monumental architecture, to strengthen fortifications, and especially to build temples. From earliest times in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, rulers founded, rebuilt, or repaired shrines to their deities and left behind building inscriptions to document it.
Such activity was a gesture of gratitude to the deity for help granted, but there was also another side to it. The proper maintenance of temples was essential for the well-being of the land as a whole and was therefore the duty of the ruler. A temple where the god or goddess could reside and in which he or she could be properly looked after ensured that the deity would both remain among and be well disposed toward the people. (John H. Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Vol. 3, 262)
- 8 times in this chapter David refers to God’s “forever” kingdom and promises.
- The perpetuity of David’s dynasty has implications for the people of God. They are caught up in God’s royal purposes. Its “forever” extends to the covenant relationship which bound God to His people and them to Him (v. 22). This is a leap forward in Israel’s experience of God. Indeed, verse 21 is virtually the last time that Exodus is highlighted in Chronicles. Hereafter Israel looks back to the Davidic covenant as the charter of a new era which gathers the old into its broader and deeper scope. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 128)
- Post-exilic Israel hoped for national security against her enemies. It was through David and his seed that God promised such security. These promises served the Chronicler’s purpose of turning attention to the house of David as the permanent hope for Israel. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 154)
- Significant is the omission of the threat of punishment against the royal line for wrongdoing (cf. 2 Sm 7:14). It is unclear whether the Chronicler has assumed the fulfillment of the divine warning in the Babylonian exile or considered the menace moot since the monarchy is only a memory at the time of his writing. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 240-41)
The question to be answered is . . . Why does the Chronicler so clearly reveal both Nathan’s error in his advice to David as well as David’s ineligibility to build the temple?
Answer: Because the Chronicler wants his audience, as well as us, to know that when God builds the house, it will come to pass just as God determined. There is nothing we can do to thwart God’s plan. What we need to do is bask in the love, compassion, grace, mercy, forgiveness, patience, and grace of God as revealed in His promises to us.
The Word for the Day is . . . build
What is the Chronicler trying to communicate to his post-exilic audience?:
I. David was ineligible to satisfy his heart’s desire to build a house for God because of his warrior past. (1 Chr 17:1-5; 22:8; 28:3; 2 Sm 7:5-7; )
As a warrior, David had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people (1 Sm 18:27). Rather than having a temple constructed by those hands of violence, God reserves that right for a person of peace: David’s son, Solomon. Keep in mind that this is not an ethical judgment on God’s part. David is the one who completes the conquest at God’s command, and it is only then that the temple which symbolizes stability can be built. Thus, the son of the conquest completer, whose name means “Peace,” should build it. (Dr. Tremper Longman, Quicknotes, 1 Chr Thru Job, 32)
“You are not the one to build me a house” (v. 4). How keen David’s initial disappointment must have been when he heard those words! David was a man with blood on his hands (see 1 Chr 22:8). True, it had been shed for the honor of God and for the sake of God’s people. Nevertheless, his life as a warrior rendered him unfit in God’s sight to build that peaceful house of prayer where God would dwell among his people. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 188)
II. It is not the temple building where God’s heart lies. (1 Chr 17:5-6; 2 Sm 7:5-7)
The incompleteness of David’s understanding is reflected in his conception of God’s “house.” His idea is purely material. He will, he thinks, build for the Lord a house like his own. Now the Chronicler by no means despises the desire to build a house, in the bricks-and-mortar sense, for the Lord. The Lord’s refusal to allow David to build presupposes that a house will nevertheless be built sometime. But the point of vv. 5ff. is that the relationship which God has with his people, through their leaders, has never depended, and can never depend, upon the mere construction of a building. (The parallel passage in 2 Sm 7 makes this point more strongly and may actually express a fundamental distaste on the Lord’s part for the very idea of a Temple). (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 56)
This place (the temple) symbolized the hearing ear of God (1 Ki 8:27-29), the resort of the stranger (vv. 41-43) and the house of prayer for all people (Isa 56:7), to the end that all nations of the earth should fear God (1 Ki 8:43). In the NT, it symbolized the body of Christ (Jn 2:18-21) as the obedient servant of God for propitiating God’s wrath on the sinner. Further, the Temple as God’s dwelling place symbolizes the Christian as the dwelling place of God (1 Cor 3:16).
In the early days of the Church, Stephen, slain for his faith, was evidently going to declare that the people were putting the Temple above God, forgetting that He did not really need a temple building in the sense of rooms of stone and wood (Acts 7:44ff.; cf. Acts 17:24, 25) but that he desired the believing heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26, 27) on which He could impress His law, i.e., His nature, which would result in obedience and holiness of life.
There is a prior step to the achievement of this result. The millennium will see a Temple raised to God, the refuge of all nations; but it will be primarily memorial. When the millennium runs its course and the new age of perfection is established, there will be no Temple, for the Lamb will be there in the midst of His people (Rv 21:22). Thus the Temple is mediatorial in all ages, justifying Stephen’s position. (Merrill C. Tenney, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible: Vol. Five, 626)
Yahweh’s dwelling is repeatedly insisted to be “in heaven” (Dt 26:15; 1 Ki 8;30, 39, 43, 49); in fact, “heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain” Him (1 Ki 8:27). The temple was built “for the name of the Lord” (1 Ki 3:2; 5:3, 5 [MT 17, 19]; 8:44, 48), and only His name is said to dwell there (2 Sm 7:13 qualifies 7:5; cf. 1 Ki 8:16-20, 29; 9:3; 2 Ki 21:7). As a result, Yahweh hears prayers which are directed toward the temple where He has put His name, but He hears them “from heaven [his] dwelling-place” (1 Ki 8:29f., 33f., 35f., 42-45, 48f.). (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Vol. Four, 764)
III. God promised to build a house for David which was greater than anything David could imagine; but it would take faith and time to realize. (1 Chr 17:7)
In David’s response to God’s promise, two qualities of his heart are apparent: humility, and trust in God. (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 50)
The Lord communicated his will to David by means of a pun, a divine play on words. As in English, the Hebrew word for house can be taken in more than one sense. It can mean a dwelling place, or it can refer to the family that lives within the dwelling. Its second meaning can also be extended to refer to an entire genealogy, a succession of people coming from a common ancestor. God used the second meaning in his promise to David. God would build a dynasty for David. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 191)
This was David’s defining moment. Not that he had defined himself by his own great accomplishments or by anything he had done. God had defined him by telling David what he would do for him. David simply received that promise and trusted that what God had said to him would most certainly be done. In that moment David realized that he was more than a king, more even than a king of God’s people. God had so raised him up that now he and his offspring were to be inextricably woven into the substantial fabric of God’s eternal will to save a world gone wrong. From now on all God’s people would find comfort and strength from “the sure mercies of David” (Isa 55:3, Acts 13:34). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 194-95)
David’s conclusion is one of faith in God’s words: claiming the immediate blessing and affirming its eternal outcome. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 397)
IV. David boldly relishes in the future reality God promised. (1 Chr 17:16-27)
If taken out of context, David’s final response (1 Chr 17:23-27) might sound excessively bold. But David is only agreeing to the things that God has already promised him; he is affirming what God has said. It is because of his knowledge of God’s will for his life that David can pray with such boldness. (Dr. Tremper Longman, Quicknotes, 1 Chr Thru Job, 33)
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: What does the Chronicler’s message have to do with me and my relationship to Christ?:
A- When God builds the house then like Christ and David our unanswered prayers result in our greatest joys. (1 Chr 17:1-5 in relation to 17:16-27; Mk 14:36 & Lk 22:42 in relation to Phil 2:1-11; Jn 11 (Lazarus); 2 Cor 12:7-10; Heb 11:35-40 )
Contemporary readers often have difficulty appreciating the extent of David’s humility because we have little sense of the cultural implications of his prayer. Royal propaganda in the ancient Near East often focused on temple construction as evidence of a king’s success. For this reason, the prohibition against David building a temple threatened to bring him great shame. Nevertheless, David humbly submitted to God’s pleasure. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 155)
Are we grateful for the times he also says “No” and closes one door that he might open another? We may eat our hearts out over some lack in our life. Or we may accept what God has given and allowed us to do and say we’re grateful for the privilege. We may spend the rest of our days not knowing why God has done this, other than to say he knows what he’s doing. (John R. Mittelstaedt, The People’s Bible: Samuel, 213)
He was forbidden to build the temple, but God would build him a family, and the world’s needed glorious Deliverer was to be the “offspring of David.” A greater honor than he sought came to him. God was pleased with his pious wish, and fulfilled it in a nobler way. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 5)
While God declined David’s service, He gave him the grandest compensation. “You will not build Me a house, but the LORD will build you a house.” He turned the tables upon him effectually by saying, “You thought to do something for Me, but, instead, you must consent that I shall do something greater for you. I am the Sovereign of all worlds and the Lord of all resources. I need not your gifts, but I need those who can accept My gifts and receive My blessings in the magnanimous spirit in which I bestow. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 360)
B- When God builds the house then we can give up trying to do something God NEEDS done. (Ex 3:14; Job 34:23; Ps 50:9; Jn 5:26; Acts 7:48; 17:24-25)
Another reason why God did not want David to build him a house is that he wanted David (and us) to understand who is God and who isn’t. He wanted to remind David how important it is to let God be God. That means, among other things, that we need God’s help. God does not require our help. We need God to serve us first (Jn 13:1-8). God does not need us to serve him (Ps 50:10-12). God is the one who exalted and showed his favor to David. He did not need David to show favor to him. God had experienced no sense of privation in having his ark–a visible symbol of his presence on earth–dwelling in a tent. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 188)
There was another reason suggested for God’s refusal of David’s proffered service. He intimated that He did not care very much about temples anyhow, and had been perfectly content to wander through the wilderness in shifting tents. What God wants is not splendid architectural palaces, but living temples of holy hearts in which He can dwell and rule. I do not believe a song would cease in heaven if all the splendid gothic cathedrals in the world would be shaken to pieces by an earthquake tomorrow. God would let them all go rather than have a single saint defile the living temple of the Holy Spirit. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 362)
The Chronicler altered the text in 2 Sm 7:16 where it reads “thine house” and “thy kingdom,” meaning David’s. This deliberate change indicates the difference between the religious and irreligious view of life’s possessions. The godless man says to himself, “This is my house and I will do what I please with it.” Jeremiah said to his friend, Baruch, that even our individual life is not our own, but is a trust from God wherewith we may be faithful to do his will (Jer 45:5). “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,” sang the psalmist (24:1), and the final Jewish law magnificently translated the poetry into conscience-searching prose by declaring that the soil belongs to God, and men must cultivate it as his tenants, not in order that the prosperous may build still bigger barns for their own benefit, but in order that there may be plenty for all; other men are our brethren, for each of whom God cares equally. (Abingdon Press, The Interpreter’s Bible Vol. 3, 407)
C- When God builds the house then it is not what we do that matters. It is where our hearts’ affections are located that will matter forever. (Isa 64:6; Zech 4:6; Lk 18:9-14; Jn 6:63; 15:1-17; Rom 8:1-17; Gal 2:20; 5:22-23; Eph 4:13; Phil 3:2-11)
The true glory of the church will never be found in our own strength of numbers, the great men and women among us, or the mighty things we can do. The true glory of the church will always be found in this that we have been graciously chosen by God to bear his name and to be his very own. It is all by grace, and it must remain by grace so that in the end, all glory will go to the true God, to whom it truly belongs. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 197)
Luther once remarked, “It is the nature of God to create out of nothing; therefore, God cannot make anything out of him who has not yet become nothing” (WA 1 183). If you think that you are something, there is not much God can do with you. God makes righteous only those who see their sin. He opens the eyes only of those who know they are blind. He heals only those who recognize that they are sick (see Lk 5:31, 32). Before we become so busy about our doing, we need God to be busy about his doing for us! We need to guard ourselves against that sense of self-exaltation that comes from all our good deeds. How easy it is to let our perception of ourselves as being “heroes for Christ” slip into the center of our spiritual lives! There it replaces the love and forgiveness Christ has for us, from which alone true spiritual life comes. In the end, such self-exaltation leads only to weariness and the despair that comes from carrying an unmanageable burden of guilt. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 189-90)
David wants to do something for the Lord, and we may be sure that that desire is appreciated. But the fact is, says the Lord, that what I do for you is infinitely more important than anything that you can do for me; our whole relationship from start to finish is based upon my grace; I have done this, and this, and this for you, and if there is to be any house-building at all, it will be first and foremost that I will build you a house. (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chr, 89)
“The Lord will build you a house,” he says, in a remarkable reversal of David’s plan (v. 1). To this extent had David failed to appreciate that it was the Lord who was the real architect of the continuing healthy relationship between himself and his people. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 56)
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Lk 18:9-14), Jesus taught that prayer based on our own self-righteousness is no prayer at all; it is when we recognize our unworthiness, and our absolute dependence on God’s grace, that our prayers have meaning and power. David’s prayer, then, is both a model for prayer, and theological statement of the meaning of prayer. (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chr, 76)
It is not enough that we are willing and eager to work for God, but the work itself must be of God. It must be God’s man, in God’s way, at God’s time and according to God’s plan. This is one of the deepest deaths that Christians are often called to die. Indeed, our work is unacceptable to God and useless to ourselves and others until it first has been bathed in the blood of Calvary and touched with the sign of crucifixion. It must cease to be our work and thus become His and His alone. We must learn to acquiesce in God’s refusals and to believe where we cannot see that He has something better for us than the work we chose. To do this without losing time and becoming discouraged and morbid requires the very highest manifestation of the grace of God and the Spirit of Christ. To learn to wait without fretting, without petulance, without haste, is the perfection of discipline and the best preparation for effectual work. (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 359-60)
D- When God builds the house then we can boldly relish in the future reality God promises for us, who are “in Christ”, the Son of David. (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:4; 2:39; Rom 4:13-21; 15:8; 2 Cor 1:20; 7:1; Gal 3:14-29; Heb 4:1; 6:12-17; 8:6; 10:23, 36; ch. 11; Jms 1:12; 2 Pt 1:4; 3:9; 1 Jn 2:25)
The repeated use of the word “forever” (׳olam) points to the distant future and indicates the Chronicler’s message is intended for another audience as well (17:23, 24, 27). Previously, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel attached messianic expectations to the promises of the Davidic covenant (cf. Jer 23:5; 30:9; 33:21; Ezek 34:23; 37:24). The NT recognizes Jesus Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of those promises. He is the heir of David, and he inherited the throne of King David (Lk 1:32). Jesus is both the Son of David (Mt 1:1) and the Son of God charged to build and oversee the very “house” of God (Heb 3:6). God continues to build his “house,” the church, through the Son of David–a spiritual house that will prevail against the opposition of hell itself (Mt 16:18; Eph 2:21; 1 Pt 2:5)! (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 245)
Prophets like Isaiah made it very clear that, in spite of the failure of the descendants of David, God’s promise would still be fulfilled in the son of David who was to come: “And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore” (9:6). (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 49-50)
The memorable prayer of 17:16-27 is the effect a repeating back to God of what God has said to him, and the core of it is 17:23b: “Do as thou hast spoken.” In that brief phrase lies a profound truth about the believer’s practical devotional life. Prayer is never more effective than when it claims from God what he has said he will do in any case. The winds of emotion can easily drive the ship off course, but provided the rudder and sails are properly set it is those very winds which will drive it in the right direction. So God’s revealed words correct and actually harness the impulses of the heart, and the wise believer will bring emotion and revelation together as he comes before God: “Thou, my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build a house for him; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray before thee” (17:25). (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chr, 89-90)
Prayer is always at its best when it is an earnest seeking of the will of God. And we can never be more certain that we are truly seeking God’s will than when we deal with God on the basis of his own promise to us. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 198)
This event in divine revelation was a shining moment in the spiritual history of the people of God. It dealt with themes which in a more advanced form are precious to God’s present people. It represented a milestone in God’s revelation of His will. From a NT perspective it pointed forward to Jesus, Son of David, and in nature as well as in function Son of God, and to His fresh establishment of the kingdom of God in fact and in hope. He has provided a temple for us, giving us access to God, so that we may “come boldly to the throne of grace” with our prayers and “by Him offer the sacrifice of praise” to God (Heb 4:16; 13:15). Despite all the ups and downs of human experience we are in the process of receiving “a kingdom which cannot be shaken” (Heb 12:28). (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 125-26)
Worship point: Jesus is the Promised One who would be the “Yes” to all of God’s promises. When Christ builds . . . “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Mt 16:18)
The Chronicler repeated the promise made to David, not to remind his people of glories forever gone, but to restore their hope in the majestic future God had in mind for them. God had said that one of David’s descendants would rule over the kingdom of God forever. God had promised that one of David’s descendants would build him a house. God had said that this son of David would also be his son. The Chronicler’s point to his people, “Wait for the Lord, therefore, and in his words and promises put your hope!” (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 192)
The Chronicler drew a close connection between the human throne of Israel and God’s throne because the sons of David ruled as God’s vice-regents. In an ultimate sense the kingdom did not belong to David but to God. This aspect of the Chronicler’s viewpoint on David’s throne provides an essential background for understanding the NT teaching on the Kingdom of God (Heaven). With the re-establishment of the Davidic throne in Christ, the reign (Kingdom) of God was re-established (see Mt 12:22-28; Acts 2:22-36; 7:45-50). (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 154)
The significance of this message for biblical thought, Judaism, and Christianity can hardly be overestimated. From this time forward it will be impossible for the Messiah to be considered anything less than David’s descendant, and when messianic thoughts are expressed, it will be most commonly in terms related to David and his family (cf. Isa 11:1-5; Jer 17:24-27; Ezek 34:20-24; Amos 9:11-12; Micah 5:2-4, etc.). it is in that light that the NT pictures Jesus as the son of David (cf. Mt 1:1) and relates his birth in Bethlehem (Mt 1:6). It is in that faith too that the Church celebrates the rule of Jesus the Christ, whose kingdom will have no end. (Roddy Braun, Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Chr, 200)
While God did not here employ the term covenant, what he revealed was one; and it is so designated subsequently (2 Sm 23:5; Ps 89:3, 34; 132:11-12). This Davidic covenant was the sixth, and last, to be established in OT times. God’s plan had moved onward from the Edenic (Gn 3:15), Noachian (9:9), Abrahamic (15:18), AND Sinaitic covenants (Ex 19:5-6), through the Levitical (Num 25:12-13), down to this revelation; and it involves three stages.
First, God promised David a successor, the “one who will build” the temple, viz., Solomon, an identification confirmed by God’s words that Ezra included in v. 11 (though they are not preserved in 2 Sm 7:10): “one of your own sons.” Second, God promised to “establish his throne,” as a continuing dynasty. Third, it would be established “forever,” a feature made possible by Jesus Christ, who, as God’s Son (next verse), is the only one to possess a rule that is endless (Lk 1:32-33); and in this lay David’s own salvation (2 Sm 23:5). As Messiah he would set up his kingdom, in men’s hearts, at his first coming (Dn 2:44a; Lk 17:21), though its external realization, over the world, awaits his second coming (Dn 2:44b; Lk 17:24). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 396)
To talk like this does more than simply add a bit of drama to shock the readers. The intention is that Jesus be seen as the new–and improved–tabernacle/temple. This is not to reject the OT versions of the temple as merely ritualistic and now, thankfully, done away with. It is, rather, to understand the reality to which the OT structures pointed, a reality that reaches its climax in Christ. Hence, John continues in Jn 1:14: “We have seen his glory.” The glory that resided above the ark in the Most Holy Place, to which the high priest alone had access once a year, is now walking the streets of Jerusalem for all to see, a truly “portable” tabernacle!
The coming of Christ is not a dulling of the majesty of the OT tabernacle but a heightening of what it stood for. True, the ornate decorations and furnishings are not here, but something far better is. Inasmuch as the tabernacle was an earthly representation of a heavenly reality, how much more so is Christ, who–to continue John’s words in 1:14–“came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Christ fulfills the purpose for which the tabernacle was built. (Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus, 555)
The tabernacle was but a copy of the heavenly sanctuary (Heb 8:5; 9:24; cf. Also Acts 7:44; Rev 15:5) and was designed to foreshadow things to come (10:1). Its regulations were temporary (9:10), its sacrifices imperfect (9:9; 10:1-4), and the access it afforded to the divine presence very limited (9:7f.). But Christ has offered Himself as a perfect, once-for-all sacrifice (9:12-14, 26). He has entered the heavenly sanctuary not made with human hands (8:2; 9:11), thereby opening a “new and living way” into God’s presence for all believers (10:19-22; cf. 6:19). Believers can therefore approach the “throne of grace” (i.e., the heavenly counterpart of the tabernacle “mercy seat”) with the confidence that they will obtain the mercy and grace that they need (4:16). (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Vol. 4, 705)
In the NT epistles we meet the conviction that the individual Christian (1 Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16?) or the Church of Christ as a whole (1 Cor 3:16f.; Eph 2:19-22; 1 Pt 2:5; cf. Mt 16:18; Rev 3:12) represents the “temple of God,” because here God’s Spirit has taken up residence. Curiously, this conviction, which represents the culmination of a great biblical theme–the dwelling of God in the midst of His people–is never itself the subject of discussion but is merely the assumed common ground on which further argumentation is based: that the one who disrupts the unity of the Church will be punished as a destroyer of God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16f., in the context of 1:10-3:23); that the “temple of the Holy Spirit” must not be used for immorality (1 Cor 6:12-20) or brought into compromising links with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14-7:1); that the temple of God is made up of Gentiles as well as Jews (Eph 2:11-22); that it is the “spiritual sacrifices” offered in the “spiritual house” made up of believers that are acceptable to God (1 Pt 2:5). Yet if a measure of obscurity surrounds the origin of this conviction, the OT roots are nonetheless clear (cf. Ex 11:19; 36:26f.; 37:26f.; Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16), and the identification of the Church of Christ with God’s temple is in fact not a great leap from basic Christian positions; that the OT sacrificial system (and with it the temple in which it was carried on) is done away by the perfect sacrifice of Christ; that the gift of God’s indwelling Spirit to each believer is a mark of the new age; that God is living and active in the midst of the community of His redeemed people. (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Vol. Four, 775-76)
God no longer lives in a tent or tabernacle built by human hands. God’s glorious manifest presence is not to be found in an ornate temple of marble, gold, and precious stones, but rather in Jesus. Jesus is the glory of God in human flesh, the one in whom God has finally and fully pitched his tent.
God has now chosen to dwell with his people in a yet more personal way, in the Word who became flesh: in Jesus! The Word, Jesus of Nazareth, is the true and ultimate glory of God, the complete and perfect manifestation of the presence of God among his people. The place of God’s glorious dwelling is the flesh of his Son! The glory which once shined in the tent/tabernacle/temple of old, veiled in the mysterious cloud, was simply, if you will, of that exceedingly excelling glory now embodied in the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ (cf. Col. 1:19).
To meet God, to talk with God, to worship God, you no longer come to a building or a tent or a structure made with human hands. You come to Jesus! Jesus is the Temple of God!
But the story doesn’t end there, and therefore constitute the temple in which God is pleased to dwell. The shekinah of Yahweh now abides permanently and powerfully in us through the Holy Spirit.
The point is that the temple of the Old Covenant was a type or foreshadowing of the glory of Christ. It was the place where the Law of Moses was preserved, of which Jesus is now the fulfillment. It was the place of revelation and relationship, where God met and spoke to his people. Now we hear God and see God and meet God in Jesus. It was the place of sacrifice, where forgiveness of sins was obtained. For that, we now go to Jesus. Israel worshipped and celebrated in the temple in Jerusalem. We now worship in spirit and truth, regardless of geographical locale (cf. Jn 4:20-26). www.wordpress.com
Spiritual Challenge: You must be willing to trust God to cover for you if you happen to be wrong like Nathan or unqualified like David as you attempt to do what you believe God desires for you to do. Cheer up! When God builds the house the furtherance of the Kingdom of God doesn’t hinge on you!
It is reassuring to us lesser mortals that even a prophet apprehended God’s will in stages. Nathan’s general apprehension that the temple should be built was correct, but the how and when had yet to be revealed. Nathan jumped to a natural but wrong conclusion. There is a maturing gradualness in the discovery of the divine will. God’s servants in every age have known this experience of moving slowly forward in the direction of God’s will, as they understand it, and the necessity to push hard on this door and that as they come to them, to see which will open, and sometimes mistaking His will before they eventually see it fulfilled in their lives. Such is the path of faith toward spiritual maturity. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 122-23)
The main things to note in the cases of guidance here in Chronicles and also in Acts 16 are a sincere desire to be guided by God and a moving forward in the general direction of God’s will, as it is apprehended. In spite of our best intentions we can be mistaken in our perception of what God really wants us to do. If we sit around waiting until we are 100 percent sure, we will not do anything: there will usually be some degree of uncertainty and a call for faith. We have boldly to act in accord with what we believe to be His will, putting that belief to the test even as we await confirmation. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 123)
Do you remember the heartbreak of God when He was rejected by Israel and they desired to have a human king reign over them instead? Through the line of David in which God promises that He will establish the throne of one to rule over the kingdom forever; God will not only rule through the One established, but the reality is that God will be him. For the reign and rule that will never depart is both from the line of David and God. He is the God/man even Jesus.
Chronicler to his audience: “You must wait for the right “son of David” to come to build the house God desires. . . . even Jesus”
Quotes to Note:
Few and brief may be our opportunities of leisure. All the more reason that they should be for our highest refreshing and renewing by being dedicated to God. How a man spends his leisure will tell much of the man. David’s employment of his speaks well for him. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 5)
But how can the words in 2 Sm 7:14 be consistently applied to Christ? “When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with flogging inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him” (7:14-15). A critical study of this passage has furnished the answer and shown that it may be correctly translated, “If iniquity be imputed to him,” and we know that iniquity was imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ, for “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21), and when so imputed to Him He was “punish[ed] with the rod of men and with floggings inflicted by men,” for “it was the LORD’s will to crush him” *Isa 53:10), “and by his wounds we are healed” (53:5). (A.B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 360)
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1
Christ:
The Temple
Builder Built
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