Everyone has dreams. David had a dream. He did not dream that dream alone; he shared his dream with the person in his life that he trusted more than any other–Nathan the prophet. This was the man who served as a moral compass in David’s life when David lost his. The dream was: let’s build a Temple! When Nathan heard the idea, he knew it was a good idea–even a great idea–and Nathan instantly responded, “Go do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”
But that night God spoke to Nathan. God said, “You and David have a good idea but it is not my idea!” The fact that something is good–and maybe even great–does not mean it’s the right dream. This Sunday we will open one of the most important passages of Scripture, 2 Samuel 7. It is often called God’s unconditional covenant with David, or the Davidic Covenant. But in reality, it is God’s promise to redeem creation!
This is one of those passages you need to mark in your Bible and know well. Sometimes God says no to a good idea–maybe even a great idea–but what God says is, “Let me handle this! You want to do something for me, but I’m going to do something for you beyond your dreams!”
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Notes Transcript Video Audio iTunesGrace Fellowship Church
Jon Stallsmith
Series: One Story: Digging Deeper
January 20, 2013
Father, Son, Temple
2 Samuel 7:1-6; 1 Kings 3:4-13; 1 Kings 8:1-11
How many of you guys actually had the internal struggle today, “Is it worth it to leave the game and come to the 5:15”? Anybody? I did. I had it deeply. Here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking about that, and that actually is a great illustration of what it means when the Bible says God is worthy. It means whenever we pause to turn our hearts toward him and his Word, it is worth it. We wonder, “Is it worth it to leave the game?” Yes, especially when you have TiVo, which is actually my, “God is worthy, and I’m going to watch the game later if nobody spoils it for me.”
Open your Bibles to 2 Samuel, chapter 7. There are a lot of great things going on around here. Next weekend coming up is “Jesus and the Qur’an” down in Midtown. We’ll be teaching that. Perspectives is kicking off tonight. They’re over in the 1123 House. Be praying for that group of folks who are going to be journeying through that Perspectives curriculum. We have all that stuff Dustin mentioned. I’m signed up for the men’s retreat, but I didn’t realize Passionate Intimacy was also happening the same weekend. I think if I had known I would not have chosen to sleep in a bunk in a room full of dudes. Family night…
All right, 2 Samuel, chapter 7. We’re picking up with the story of David. We’re in the One Story. We’re in that chapter of the One Story that really encompasses the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. It’s what we’re calling the famous kings. We have that crown as the little illustration there to help us remember that chapter of the famous kings. It has three prongs to help us remember who those famous kings are.
Who is the first famous king? Saul. Okay, kids, who’s the second? Who took Saul’s place? David. Excellent. Then who came after David? Solomon. Yeah, those are our three famous kings. We’re going to pick up David’s story tonight after he has been king for a little bit. He has ruled. He has conquered. Saul has died, and he’s now on the throne. He’s grown up. He has kids. He reaches this age where he’s a dad.
Second Samuel, chapter 7, verse 1: “Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.'” (2 Samuel 7:1-2) Is there a problem with that? David is living in this awesome place, and God’s presence embodied in the ark of the covenant is over there in a tent. David is going, “Hmm, something is wrong here.”
“And Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.'” (2 Samuel 7:3) Nathan says, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Do something cool for God.” David has this dream, and Nathan says, “Yeah, it’s a good dream,” but then that night God gives a word to Nathan. He says in verse 5, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.'” (2 Samuel 7:5-6)
He goes on to describe what he wants David to do. He says, “Listen, you don’t have to build me a house. I’m going to make your name great. I’m going to multiply you. I’m going to fulfill my covenant to you.” Later on we read in 1 Chronicles, chapter 22, that David is telling his son Solomon he will actually be the one to build the house, and David tells us why God does not want David to build the temple.
The reason is David had been in so many wars. God says, “You have a lot of blood on your hands.” He has killed a lot of people. He’s a mighty warrior. Remember they used to sing, “Saul killed his thousands; David his tens of thousands.” He has lived a pretty violent lifestyle. So here’s the thing. David is in this position where he wants to build a house for God, but God says, “No, you’re actually not going to get to see it all in your lifetime.”
That’s a question that is a good thing for us to think about. Do we have any dreams? Are there any things you really want to see happen? When I was even thinking about the imagery of building a house for God, building a temple, inviting the presence of God to an honored space in the midst of your community, I would say probably all of us would say that is true of our families or our friendships. We would love to make space where the presence of God is cherished in our midst, wouldn’t we? It’s not an easy thing to make happen, even in our own families.
Amy and I got this little dog, and we’ve been trying to think about, “How can the presence of God come and bring peace in the midst of our family?” because she’s going through her teenage years. I can only imagine what it’s like to have a human teenager, but when you have a canine teenager…Phew! So we have a dream to build a place for God in our midst. David had a dream to build a place for God, and God said, “No, you’re actually not going to be the one to fulfill this dream.” Interesting.
When you think about the stuff you’re dreaming about, the things you’d like to see happen down the road, stuff you just think, “Man, I would love for my family to be like this,” or “I would love to be able to serve God in this way.” We have these different dreams God gives us at various points in our lives. What would happen if you found out you might never get to see that dream come fully true in your own lifetime? Would you stop? Would you go, “Well, if I’m not going to see it, it’s not even worth pursuing”? Or would you do what David does?
It’s pretty amazing. David has this dream. God says, “No, you’re not going to get to do it in your lifetime.” David says, “Okay, well then how can I do everything I possibly can to set this thing up for success, so when I pass it on to the next generation, my son Solomon will be able to fulfill the dream fully?” That is a powerful attitude. As kingdom people, it’s something really worth emulating. “I have a dream. I don’t actually know if I’m going to see the benefits of this dream in my own lifetime, but what if we labor…?”
One of the things God has put on my heart is the Muslim world, overseeing the outreach and mission stuff. You look at the Muslim world today, and about one in four humans on the planet would consider himself or herself to be a Muslim. I have this crazy dream in my heart that God wants to draw those people to himself. We’ve seen little bits here and there, but honestly, I don’t know if that’s going to happen in my lifetime. But that’s okay. Let’s do everything we can to empower that next generation to be able to fulfill the dream. If not in our generation, then let it be the next generation.
David, as he’s sorting all this out, does a couple of things to steward or handle that dream pretty well. One of the things he does is he lets God speak into it. He has this dream on his heart and Nathan gets the word from the Lord and shares it with David and David receives the word. Sometimes we get a dream, and it’s really important to stick with God, let him keep helping us shape and direct and stay in that dreaming process with him.
Then the next thing he does is later in his life for this whole process of setting up his son to be able to build the temple, he goes… This is 2 Samuel 24, toward the end of his life. He has been king for a bit longer. He realizes he’s not going to get to build the temple. He actually gets in trouble with God because he tries to count the people, and it was really about trying to exalt his own name rather than God’s name.
So as part of restoring a right relationship with God, he realizes he needs to go and worship. He needs to sacrifice before God in that Old Testament pattern. He goes up to a threshing floor. If you guys don’t know what a threshing floor is… Not a lot of us are threshing in our spare time. A threshing floor is this big, smooth, hard space where they would take all of the grain and spread it out.
They’d smack the grain, smack the grain, smack the grain so all of the little tasty bits of the grain would fall out of the wheat, and all of the chaff, or the stuff that doesn’t really matter like the stalk and the little flaky bits that are around the grain and everything else, would eventually blow away.
A threshing floor typically was at the top of a hill, because that’s where the wind really blows a lot. So you could thresh everything out. You’d smack the grain, smack the grain, smack the grain. All the little bits would fall, and then as the wind blew by, all of the chaff and the lightweight stuff would flow away, and all you’d have left… You could just sweep up all the delicious grain and make some bread or waffles, whatever you wanted to do.
He goes up. He knows he needs to make a sacrifice there, because this is kind of the key point where the angel of the Lord is, and all of the rest. So he goes up and talks to the guy who owns this threshing floor. He says to him, “Hey, I would really like to buy this threshing floor.” The guy goes, “Well hey, you’re the king. Take it, man. It’s just a gift. Have it.”
Here’s what David says. He goes, “Listen, I am not going to offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing. I will not worship God with that which cost me nothing.” He says, “I’m not going to take it for free. I know in this place of worship it’s going to be costly. In this place of actually setting up the next generation to fulfill the dreams God has put in my heart, it’s going to cost me something.”
Maybe you guys as parents know that already. As we think about setting up the next generation, raising our kids, it’s costly. I remember talking to Matt Reynolds (he’s the pastor down at Midtown). They were praying about having a baby. They just now have their little 1-year-old ,Jude. Before, we were talking about having kids, and as young married couples without kids, this is a normal conversation. We kind of wonder as dads. We’re kind of like, “Hey, how much does a baby cost?” Like to raise, you know.
We’re talking back and forth. Matt asked that question to his brother-in-law who has several children. His brother-in-law looked at him and said, “You want to know how much a baby costs? Everything you have.” To Matt’s credit he moved forward. Amy and I are still saving. But we know this is true. It’s not just financial. It’s emotional. It’s spiritual. It’s our time. It’s our lives. When we are committed to setting up that second generation, those next-generation leaders for success and godliness, it’s costly.
Yet we have to remember it’s worship. It’s deeply pleasing to God. That’s what David is modeling for us here. What happens (it’s interesting) is he quite literally… This is as far as he can get. He buys this piece of land, this threshing floor, and this is kind of his ceiling. It’s as high as he can go, as close as he can get to building the temple. “Boom. I have the threshing floor.” But his ceiling becomes Solomon’s foundation. Does that make sense?
As we’re raising kids and pouring into the next generation, this should be our hearts too. As we’re sacrificing, investing in, let it be that our ceiling, as far as we’ve gotten and as high as we’ve gone and as deep as we’ve gone with the Lord and everything else, would be their foundation, that they could build from that place even farther, so that from generation to generation it’s not like we’re just stuck in the same territory, but that inheritance of spiritual substance is passing deeper and deeper and greater and greater so that our great, great grandkids are like spiritual giants. Wouldn’t that be amazing? That’s what David is modeling for us here.
Kids, I just want to remind all of us, because especially when I was growing up, I did not recognize the sacrifices my parents made to help raise me well and to be with me. It’s like sometimes you take your parents for granted. You’re like, “Oh yeah, they’re just around.” Here’s a sacrifice. I used to miss the bus. Has anybody ever missed the bus? No kids who miss the bus? Really? I missed the bus. I was a late sleeper. I liked to play it right down to the wire. Sometimes I’d miss the bus.
Those mornings when I missed the bus, I’d have to go back. My dad was already gone, so I’d knock on the door. My mom was still snoozing. “Hey Mom, I missed the bus. Can you give me a ride?” She would just get up and give me a ride, just like that. That’s what parents do. It’s amazing. I was just like, “Yeah, my mom is great; she gave me a ride,” but I never recognized the sacrifice I was forcing her to make. That’s a tiny example. There are way bigger examples.
Kids, just remember your parents pray for you. They work so you can eat well. They love you. They want you to grow up well. Just remember, guys, our parents sacrifice enormous amounts for us to walk in godliness. So that’s David’s dream, and God is directing it, and David is not going to live to see the fulfillment, but investing in that next generation requires the sacrifice and the inheritance getting passed along.
Solomon, who’s David’s son, picks up the dream, and he’s going to be the next king. There’s a little bit of intrigue at David’s death. “Who’s going to be the next king?” David says it has to be Solomon. He’s the one. So Solomon comes into this position where he’s the king over this whole big country. I don’t know about your positions of leadership, whether you’re like a manager at your work, or sometimes you’re just the head of the line at school in your class.
There are a lot of different levels of leadership, but Solomon’s level of responsibility and leadership is enormous. He’s a young man, and he’s going, “Man, how am I going to rule this country? How am I going to be the king? I have to make decisions that are going to impact hundreds of thousands of people. How do I do this?” In 1 Kings, chapter 3 (you guys know this story), God came to Solomon and asked him a really beautiful question.
He came to him in 1 Kings, chapter 3, verse 4. It says, “And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place [where people went to worship God]. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.” Can you imagine a thousand? “At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ‘Ask what I shall give you.'” (1 Kings 3:4-5)
If you know the outcome of this story you know what he asked for. Don’t answer the question, but let’s just imagine God came to you and said, “Hey, ask whatever you want. I’ll give it to you.” What would you ask for? Let me hear a couple of kids. If God came to you and said, “Hey, ask for whatever you want…” Now if you know the story and you know what Solomon asked for and you know the right answer, don’t give it just yet.
If you don’t know the story and God said, “Whatever you want,” what would it be? Anybody? Infinity wishes. Yes. That’s smart. That’s wise in its way. Yes? Amazing free-running skills. That would be pretty awesome. You mean like where you run and you can jump off of…? Oh yeah, you would dominate some playgrounds if you had amazing free-running skills.
Yes sir, in the back row, hand held high? Ice cream. Whatever you want. “Well Lord, ice cream. Not the fluffy stuff.” Actually, if you really like bargaining with God, you could be like, “God, could I have the ice cream with one-third of the fat but it still tastes like the regular stuff?” That would be the miracle there. Yes? A lot of Legos. Infinity Legos, exactly. Oh, a couple more? Yeah, let’s do two more. That’s great. A Ferrari? Yes, as you near the age of 16. Yes sir? No school for the rest of your life. Yeah, I remember praying for that a few times.
God comes to Solomon, the young king, and says, “Ask whatever you want,” and Solomon says, “Give me a heart of wisdom.” I’ll read it to you from 1 Kings 3, verse 6. “Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. You have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.
And now, O Lord, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
And God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies [or a Ferrari or ice cream or infinite Legos or amazing free-running skills], but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor [and ice cream], so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.'” (1 Kings 3:6-13)
It’s amazing. Solomon asks for wisdom. Now here’s the question I’m kind of digging around with as I’m reading this story. It’s great that he asked for wisdom. How did Solomon know the value of wisdom? Did you ever think about that? Erin Burchik is sitting over here. Just a few weeks ago we were in the airport in Istanbul with Erin and Brian and Amyra their little 4-year-old daughter. Amy was with us. We were all on this team doing this Samaritan’s Purse shoebox project in Kosovo, and we had this layover in Istanbul.
We were sitting in the airport waiting for our next flight, and they have all the duty-free stores. If you guys have been in those international… Duty-free is like this big deal. I guess it’s cheaper, but it doesn’t ever seem cheaper to me. In Turkey in the duty-free stores they sell a hundred different kinds of Turkish delight. How many of you guys have had Turkish delight? Okay. A few of you, but not everybody. Maybe you remember Turkish delight from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
It’s a delightful little bit of candy. They make different flavors. Some of it tastes like rose water, which is kind of weird, but the other stuff is really good. They put pistachios on it and everything else. In the duty-free store they have trays set out everywhere of little samples so you can walk around and be like, “Mm, that’s delightful, but not delightful enough.” Then you try that one and it’s like, “Hmm, very Turkish, but eh…” Then you try that one and you’re like, “That’s the one I want,” and you buy the $60 box of the Turkish delight. It’s a veritable buffet of Turkish delight.
So we’re sitting there having a cup of coffee, and I came back and told Brian, Amyra’s dad. I was like, “Hey, you should go take Amyra to eat a bunch of Turkish delight.” So Brian looks at Amyra and goes, “Hey Amyra, do you want to go get some Turkish delight?” She goes, “What?” because she doesn’t know what it is. She doesn’t know how good it is. She has no experience with eating Turkish delight. Brian is like, “Here, come on. Let me show you.” He went around and showed her. She ate it and came back, and she liked it, as most people do.
I was thinking about just that little story in relationship to Solomon’s request for wisdom. How does Solomon know what wisdom is? His parents must have introduced him to it. They must have taught him the value of wisdom. It wasn’t like God said, “Ask whatever you want,” and Solomon goes, “Well…” No, he knows exactly what’s valuable. He knows exactly what he needs, because he has tasted it. He has had a little bit of that wisdom flavor in his life. He’s like, “Yes, I need wisdom right now.”
Again, we see that pattern of parents, David and Bathsheba, Solomon’s mom, teaching their son the value and the necessity of wisdom. When I was growing up, my parents taught me about wisdom. I remember I made a little poster. It was a really weird poster. We got graded on penmanship. How many of you guys get graded on penmanship in second grade, third grade, fourth grade? That was my worst subject. I always got like Cs and Ds in penmanship.
I had this little poster board, and I ended up writing a little poster from Proverbs 3 about how wisdom is more valuable than silver and more precious than choice rubies, and to gain understanding… I mean, just quoting right out of the writings of Solomon the value of wisdom. I hung it on my wall, and as I grew up, pretty much every day I saw it, and I was like, “My penmanship is terrible, but I have to get wisdom.” It’s a big deal.
How are we learning the value of wisdom? God gives Solomon incredible wisdom. If you read the stories of Solomon’s wisdom, he wasn’t just wise as a king, but he cultivated these amazing gardens. He was an incredible architect. He built all of these amazing palaces. He knew how to deal with people. He knew how to govern. He knew how to do war. He knew how to negotiate. He was really wise.
As his life went on he drifted away from God, and that wisdom, as he became separated from God, led him in some wrong directions, but here’s the thing about wisdom. This is why it’s so valuable. Wisdom, when you read about it in the Bible, is the best way forward in every situation. We have choices we have to make every single day, choices about how we treat our family members, choices about work, choices about honesty, choices about everything.
Wisdom is the best way forward in every situation. You come to this choice and you can go this way, this way, or this way. Wisdom is knowing from God, “Ah yes, this direction is the one he wants me to head in.” That’s why it’s so valuable. That’s what Solomon needed, and he knew, he had tasted, how powerful, how good it was. It wasn’t foreign to him. He needed wisdom.
So God gave him wisdom. As he grew up, he began this project of building the temple, a place for God in the midst of Israel. First Kings 5-7 describe the process Solomon went through as he built the temple for God. If you read 1 Chronicles 21 and 22, it says actually they built the temple on that same threshing floor David bought near the end of his life. David’s ceiling became Solomon’s foundation. He’s just going to build right on top of it.
We hear all of the amazing stuff Solomon does to help this temple be an amazing structure. He talks to this king from Lebanon named Hiram who had all the cedars of Lebanon. He was like, “Hey man, I need a bunch of cedars, because this is a precious wood, and we’re going to have an awesome cedar lining all around the inside of this temple.”
Then he got all of these people, 30,000 people, to go into the mountains and chisel out big huge stones (much bigger than this, but you’re going to have to scale it up a little bit in your mind). They would chisel them. It says Solomon actually didn’t have any of the rock cutting or the chiseling done at the threshing floor. They had to do it out here in the quarry. They did that so when they got here to the site of the temple there wouldn’t be this loud noise, or lots of people hammering hammers, or anything like that.
So here they are, they’re measuring, they’re getting them all perfect over here, crafted and shaped, and then the people would carry these heavy stones and put them in place, and they started building this temple to God. It was a simple structure, actually. When you read about the dimensions of the temple in the passage it’s not… The house Solomon built for God would have fit inside this room. Is that crazy? You wouldn’t expect that.
It was a little place, and it was really just kind of a rectangle, but the quality of the materials… They had to build all of the furniture, and they had to put the roof on it, and everything like that. So they had this amazing temple they had built for God. I don’t know if that really does it justice. Let’s show them the picture, Jeremy. Okay, that’s a sort of cutaway view. You can see the inside is all lined with gold.
Imagine what it looked like from the outside with the two pillars out in front. They have the big, brazen altar where they burn the sacrifices. They have what was called the sea, that big basin of water. It was a giant sea on top of 12 oxen where they would wash the sacrifices, and everything like that. So they have this amazing temple. It’s kind of like this. But it was just a pile of expensive stuff until something really important happened.
First Kings, chapter 8. They finished building. It says, “Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.” (1 Kings 8:1) They’re going to carry it from where it had been up to this place at the threshing floor where the temple was being built.
“And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.” A cherubim is a kind of angel, and they made those figures. “And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:2-11)
Solomon put all this work, all this effort, all this design… Thousands of people were involved, chiseling, carving, crafting, smelting, sculpting, and it’s just an expensive house until the ark of the covenant, which was the symbol of God’s manifest presence on the earth, came to rest inside the house. Suddenly, when that happened, the cloud of God’s glory, his presence, filled it up.
It says the priests couldn’t even do ministry in there because God’s presence was there. Heaven invaded the earthly realm right at this place, and it transformed just a pile of stuff into the singular place on the planet that for 2,500 years was the gathering point, the place to meet with God. Solomon prays a prayer of dedication about the temple, and the things he asks God that it would be are just amazing.
He says, “Let this temple with your presence be a place where prayers are answered. When people do sins against each other and they have problems, let this be a place where there is justice and mercy found. When there are people who are broken and are getting kicked out, let it be a place where they find relief. When there’s a time of famine and desert land, let this be a place that when they turn toward this temple and turn their hearts toward you, let it be a place where their needs are met.
When there’s sickness and siege, Lord, as they turn to you, would you please relieve them? When the foreigner comes, people from other nations, all of the other people around, let them come and know you are the true God of the universe. Let this be a place where prayers for victory are answered.” As you go through the list of Solomon’s requests as he prays to dedicate the temple… It’s not that it’s the building; it’s the presence of God represented inside that place. Solomon is saying, “God, we need you and your presence to be the answer to all of these things, all of these needs.”
There are two things I think about a lot when I read this story. The first is about the stuff in our lives we put a lot of effort into. We build things. We craft them. We make plans. We execute the plans. I sometimes can’t help wondering, even the stuff I’m working on, is it just a pile of stuff, or is the presence of God really bringing life into it? Do you know what I mean?
The way we raise our kids. We can put tons of effort into that, and we do. Most of us really do. Is the presence of God resident in that, bringing the full power of the kingdom, heaven and earth coming together? That’s what we really need. In ministry, work, our marriages, our dog raising… It’s just a pile of stuff until the presence of God is there, doing what the presence of God does.
The second thing I think about as I think about that story of the temple is in the New Testament, multiple times, it talks about us as believers who walk with Jesus as the temple. All of those prayers Solomon prays, I think, “Wow, how could we be the people who help lead those in need, in sickness, in famine, in defeat, in conflict, and the foreigner, and everything else… How could we be like a temple? When they come toward us, we could direct them straight to God’s presence where they find the answers to those needs.” It’s powerful.
So this is what we have. We talked about the dad and his dream. That’s David. We talked about the son, Solomon, and his wisdom. Then we talked about the temple, a place where heaven and earth intersected, the manifest presence of God on the earth. We have three big pieces here. If you go forward… We’re talking about the famous kings, and David and Solomon are two of the most famous kings.
You move forward into the New Testament, and you start reading. Jesus is performing miracles and casting out demons. As the people come along and say to Jesus, “You know, Jesus,” (this is in Luke 11) “we’re pretty sure you’re casting out demons by the power of demons,” Jesus is like, “You’re totally missing the point.” He says, “People came from all around. Even the Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon’s glory, but I tell you one greater than Solomon is right here.” Jesus said, “I’m greater than Solomon.”
Later in Jesus’ life he is in Jerusalem. He’s having conversation with the Pharisees, and they’re trying to trap him. So finally he comes back with the ultimate question. He quotes from Psalm 110, where David calls the Messiah, the Anointed One, his Lord. Jesus is saying, “I am the Messiah. I am that Lord. I am greater than David.”
Later he’s looking at the temple in his life and they’re talking to him, and he says, “Guys, one greater than the temple, this building, is here.” All three times Jesus says, “I’m greater than David. I’m greater than Solomon. I’m greater than the temple. Do you want to know how to lay down your life as a foundation for others to walk on? I can show you how to do that. That’s what I did for you.
Do you want to know how to walk in wisdom as you need to grow up and govern and lead and rule and everything else? I’m actually wiser than Solomon. Every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden in me. Do you need to know how to turn the pile of stuff, the stuff you’re laboring at, into the very intersection of heaven and earth? I’m greater than the temple. I can lead you in that.”
We look at these Old Testament stories and we see how they come together. It really is one story, and it is converging on Jesus, the greater-than-David, the greater-than-Solomon, the greater-than-the-temple. So tonight as we close, we’re just going to worship a little bit, but I want us to think about how we can come to Jesus, the most famous King. Yeah, Saul, David, Solomon, they’re famous, but Jesus is the most famous King, the very image of God on the earth.
How we can come to him… Maybe some of us are in that place. We have a dream. We don’t know how it’s going to be completed. We’re caring about the next generation. “How, Lord, can you teach us to lay down our lives like you laid down your life?” Some of us are in situations where we feel young and a little bit overwhelmed, ill-equipped for the responsibility we have. We need wisdom.
Remember, Jesus basically re-tweeted what God said to Solomon. God said to Solomon, “Ask whatever you want.” Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name will be given to you.” Come to Jesus, the greater-than-Solomon, as the source of wisdom. Come to Jesus, the One who is the intersection of heaven and earth, man and God in the flesh yet fully divine, that mystery.
We have Communion. Every week we have Communion up here at the front. We’re together. It’s kind of sweet. Some of us may even want to take Communion with our families. As you do that, I want us to have in mind that Jesus… As we take the bread and the cup, a reminder that he broke his body for us, that he poured out his blood for us that we might be forgiven and honored and brought into the kingdom and made citizens…
As we do that, he is the same One we look to not just for forgiveness, but also for guidance and dreams and wisdom and the presence of God breathing fresh life into all we do, just like the presence of God crashed into the temple and nobody could do any ministry because it was just God transforming the place into something profoundly meaningful.
If you don’t really understand that yet, you don’t follow Jesus and in your heart you haven’t yet embraced him as Lord and Savior, I would encourage you. Here’s what he says. “Come to me if you’re weary. Come to me if you’re burdened. I will give you rest. Let me pay your sins. Let me give you new life.” It’s a good night to come to faith if you’ve been teetering on the edge. He’s greater than David. He’s greater than Solomon. He’s greater even than the temple. He is Jesus Christ the Lord. Let’s pray.
God, thanks for this story out of the Scripture that is true. Thanks for the things we can learn from David and from Solomon and from the temple and from you. Lord, tonight as we worship and listen to you working in our hearts by your Spirit, as we come to your Table to remember the cross, Lord, I pray you would meet us in your grace. I pray you would revive dreams. I pray you would renew our strength as we look to the next generation.
I pray you would inspire us with your wisdom, the wisdom from above. Lord, most of all, I just pray that your presence would be manifest within us to the point where we don’t feel the labor of ministry anymore, but we are just walking, living, breathing temples displaying the glory of your Spirit within us. Lord, come and meet us. In Jesus’ name, amen.