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The Temple - God's Plan of Salvation

2Chronicles 3-4

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The Temple is at the focus on much of Israel's history. Ezra in penning Chronicles, focuses on the creation of the temple and the placing of the Ark of the Covenant as a way to encourage the returning Jews from Babylon to rebuild the temple. But the temple (and the Tabernacle) are merely pictures, object lessons of God's plan of salvation.

Ever since Genesis 3:15 God began talking about a rescuer who would come an undo our rebellion and sin against God in the Garden of Eden. How the rescue would occur is prefigured by the temple and its implements.

Col 2:16-18 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Heb 8:5-7 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

So the temple served to picture salvation through Jesus, and it served not to cleanse but to "cover" (Hebrew kophar - atonement, Exodus 30:10).

Heb 9:11-14 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Heb 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Heb 10:12-14 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

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Notice that Solomon was following the exact command of God given to David in placing the temple in Jerusalem. This was not Solomon's choice, but God's. In the same way, it is God's way of salvation, that the temple foreshadows, not man's.

Mt Moriah was the same place that Abraham was told to go by God and sacrifice his son, Isaac in Genesis 22:2. It was also the place of sacrifice to quell the wrath of God for the sin of David (1 Chronicles 21).

The temple, as we will see, pictures beautifully, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and his making a way for us to fellowship with God in His presence forever.

Ornan, or Arauna in Kings, was a Jebusite who appears to love God and wants to give the land to David, but David will not worship God without cost, just as we must give our lives as the cost of our salvation-not that we earn it, but that he takes us and we die on the cross with Christ and then belong to God. (1 Cor 6:20, Romans 6:5-6).

Solomon started the temple in the spring of 966 B.C.

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A cubit is about 18", but the old standard was about 3" wider, which would make the temple 105 x 35 feet, double the dimensions of the Tabernacle. A 15 foot porch (vestibule) ran along the entire front of the temple. The side walls rose 30 feet. The "main hall" "nave" or "larger room" was Holy Place of the temple proper. Parvaim may have been a place in southeastern Arabia, or may be a variant of Ophir (1 Chronicles 29:4).

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45,000 pounds of gold. That seems like a lot, and very expensive. But if you think about the fact that gold represents the righteousness of God, just how valuable is God's holiness? It is pure good, something we in this fallen world are simply not aware of. Gold is not manufactured; it is created from hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, when stars become supernovas in a process known as nucleogenesis. In the entire world, all the gold ever mined amounts to a cube 20 meters to a side-roughly 158,000 tons. It's rarity on earth makes it valuable-God picked among the rarest most sought after metals to represent his character-sought after, yet hard to find (impossible with fallen humans).

The temple was covered in gold because as we draw nearer to God we realize that we too must be "made" of righteousness-something that is hinted at through the sacrifices, but ultimately only obtained by THE sacrifice of Jesus so that "though him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21).

The Holy of Holies was a cube about 30 feet in size. Even the nails were pure gold.

The cherubim represent the presence of God. Psalm 80 describes God as "enthroned upon the cherubim." Psalm 18 describes God as riding on a cherub. Lucifer is described as a guardian cherub. The prophet Ezekiel saw cherubim in his vision of God (Ezekiel 10), and cherubim guarded the way to the Garden of Eden.

These two giant cherubim face out from the Ark of the Covenant, not to be confused with the two gold cherubim whose wings cover the mercy seat. Quite imposing.

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The pillars were actually 27 feet high-thirty five cubits seems to be a copyist error. Pomegranates were a sign of fertility. Recently a an ivory scepter top was found with the inscription "belonging to the temple of the Lord." Jakin means "he establishes. Boaz means "in Him is strength". They symbolized that God had established His house and would maintain it forever.

Chapter 4:1

The altar represents judgment, bronze being the metal of judgment in Scripture. It is the place where sin is judged by the shedding of blood and prefigures the cross.

It was 30 feet square and 15 feet high and was the first thing a person saw as they entered the Holy Place-signifying that in order to approach God, you must first have your sins dealt with.

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The basin. It represents the need for purity and was used for the priests to wash themselves. The large "sea" held either two or three thousand baths (Kings has a different number). A bath is six gallons so that would make the large basins 18,000 gallons, and the smaller basins 1,500 gallons each. We are washed in the blood of Jesus (Rev 7:14), represented by the washing of baptism.

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Golden lampstands. The lampstands represent shining the light of the gospel, powered by the anointing of the Holy Spirit (the oil) (Rev 1:20). The tables (only one used at a time) held the bread of the presence, representing our renewed fellowship with God and the abiding of His presence. The sprinkling bowls were used to collect the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it about the altar, even as Christ's blood was spilled at the cross and applied to the heavenly mercy seat.

Notice the doors are of bronze-you cannot enter into God's presence without dealing with the judgment against sin. The tabernacle had only one court, but the temple had an elevated "inner court" where the priests could be seen performing their duties. The court of women came about later - but this points out that until Jesus opened the way, there was a separation between people and their God and only priests could minister closer to the Lord (Hebrews 9:12).

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Hiram is actually Huram-abi ("Huram my administrator").

Conclusions

What is really cool about the temple (and the tabernacle as well) is the picture of salvation. Jesus Himself entered the heavenly temple.

He was washed as a priest, preparing for mediation in the sea at baptism, then his body was washed by Mary and later by the women after his death just as the sacrifices were washed in the basins.

Just as the priests would slit the throat of an innocent lamb, Jesus' side was pierced and His blood shed. Then He placed Himself on the bronze altar, where His sacrifice for our sins was accomplished.

He entered the doors of bronze, knowing that he would suffer the judgment of God for the sins of humanity.

Because of His innocence, He could enter the Holy Place, into God's righteousness, past the menorah and the bread of the presence and the incense altar and right into the Holy of Holies, where His blood applied to the mercy seat bought our renewed fellowship with God.

He then tore the curtain in two from top to bottom, signifying that our way to God had been secured so that now through Him we have communion with God, the Holy Spirit, and are the light shining back out to the world of salvation through Jesus Christ.

For a great cutaway image of Solomon's temple, go to:

http://www.esvstudybible.org/images/illust-sample.jpg

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2Chronicles 3:1-4:22 (ESV)

Solomon Builds the Temple

3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord [1] had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3 These are Solomon's measurements [2] for building the house of God: the length, in cubits [3] of the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, [4] and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. 5 The nave he lined with cypress and covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 6 He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 So he lined the house with gold—its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors—and he carved cherubim on the walls.

8 And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length, corresponding to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth was twenty cubits. He overlaid it with 600 talents [5] of fine gold. 9 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels. [6] And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10 In the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of wood [7] and overlaid [8] them with gold. 11 The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub; 12 and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. The cherubim [9] stood on their feet, facing the nave. 14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and he worked cherubim on it.

15 In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. 16 He made chains like a necklace [10] and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz.

The Temple's Furnishings

4:1 He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits [11] long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. 2 Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. 3 Under it were figures of gourds, [12] for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. 4 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. 5 Its thickness was a handbreadth. [13] And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths. [14] 6 He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7 And he made ten golden lampstands as prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. 8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. And he made a hundred basins of gold. 9 He made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze. 10 And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.

11 Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God: 12 the two pillars, the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 13 and the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. 14 He made the stands also, and the basins on the stands, 15 and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. 16 The pots, the shovels, the forks, and all the equipment for these Huram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord. 17 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. [15] 18 Solomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze was not sought.

19 So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the tables for the bread of the Presence, 20 the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold to burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed; 21 the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; 22 the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold, and the sockets [16] of the temple, for the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and for the doors of the nave of the temple were of gold. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 3:1 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks the Lord
[2] 3:3 Syriac; Hebrew foundations
[3] 3:3 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[4] 3:4 Compare 1 Kings 6:3; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[5] 3:8 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
[6] 3:9 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[7] 3:10 Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[8] 3:10 Hebrew they overlaid
[9] 3:13 Hebrew they
[10] 3:16 Hebrew chains in the inner sanctuary
[11] 4:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[12] 4:3 Compare 1 Kings 7:24; Hebrew oxen; twice in this verse
[13] 4:5 A handbreadth was about 3 inches or 7.5 centimeters
[14] 4:5 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters
[15] 4:17 Spelled Zarethan in 1 Kings 7:46
[16] 4:22 Compare 1 Kings 7:50; Hebrew the entrance of the house

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