The Temple's Design (2 Chronicles 3:3-17)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.000 Let's turn our attention now, and if you can remain standing, please do 2 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:13.910 to second chronicles chapter three. In second chronicles chapter three and in the following 3 00:00:13.949 --> 00:00:22.379 chapter, Chapter Four, we have this description of God's Temple, This temple 4 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:27.579 that Solomon is going to build. He's accumulated all of this material, his 5 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:32.340 father has in pasted it down to him, there are workers, everyone is 6 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.770 ready, and now he builds it and we have this great description of it 7 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:44.570 in these two chapters. What I'm going to do for the sake of clarity, 8 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:51.159 is read verse three. We went. I'll read one through three and 9 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.560 then I'm going to skip to chapter four and read eleven to the end. 10 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:03.520 The rest of the material all read in the sermon itself. So you'll you'll 11 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:08.790 understand why in a moment. So second chronicles three, verse one here to 12 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:15.829 get US started. Let's hear God's word. Then Solomon began to build the 13 00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:21.099 House of Jehovah in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where Jehovah had a peer 14 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:23.819 at to David, his father, at the place that David had appointed on 15 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:27.739 the threshing floor of or an end, the Jebu site. He began to 16 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:33.489 build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. These are 17 00:01:33.530 --> 00:01:38.049 Solomon's measurements for the building, for building the House of God. The length 18 00:01:38.689 --> 00:01:44.329 in cubits of the old standard was sixty cubits and the breadth twenty cubits. 19 00:01:45.849 --> 00:01:49.439 From this point on in the text it goes on to describe more in detail 20 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.920 of the temple and then skipping to chapter four, verse eleven, we have 21 00:01:55.879 --> 00:02:00.400 a summary and a few other details on which I'll read now. For Chapter 22 00:02:00.469 --> 00:02:06.629 Eleven to the end of that chapter, Hiram also made the pots, the 23 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:09.750 shovels and the basins. So Hiram finish the work that he did for King 24 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:14.590 Solomon on the House of God, the two pillars, the bowls and the 25 00:02:14.710 --> 00:02:17.780 two capitals on the top of the pillars and the two lattice works to cover 26 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:22.939 the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars and 27 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:28.460 the four hundred pomegranates from the too lattice works, two rows of pomegranates for 28 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.569 each lattice work to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the 29 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:37.449 pillars. He made the stands also, and the basins on the sands and 30 00:02:37.650 --> 00:02:42.050 the one sea and the twelve oxen underneath it, the pots, the shovels, 31 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:46.639 the forks and all the equipment for these who, am Abbi, made 32 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.919 the burnished bronze for, I'm sorry, made of burnished bronze for King Solomon, 33 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.240 for the House of Jehovah in the plane of the Jordan. The king 34 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:00.469 asked them, in the clay ground between souk off and Zerada. Solom and 35 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:06.270 all the Solomon made all these things in great quantities, for the weight of 36 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:10.270 the bronze was not sought. So Solomon made all the vessels that were in 37 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:15.219 the House of God, the Golden Altar, the tables for the bread of 38 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:20.099 the presence, the lamb stands and their lamps of pure gold to burn before 39 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:23.460 the Inter Sanctuary, as prescribed, the flowers, the lamps and the tongues 40 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:29.849 of purest gold, the snuffers, basins, dishes for incense and fire pans 41 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:34.490 of pure gold, and the sockets of the temple, for the inner doors 42 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:38.729 to the most holy place and for the doors of the nave of the temple, 43 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:43.080 where gold. Thus all the work that Solomon did for the House of 44 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:47.000 Jehovah was finished, and Solomon brought in these things that David, his father, 45 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:53.000 had dedicated and stored the silver and the gold and all the vessels and 46 00:03:53.080 --> 00:04:03.150 the treasuries of the House of God. You may be seated. I once 47 00:04:03.189 --> 00:04:08.150 had the opportunity, playing the cello, to play a wedding at one of 48 00:04:09.509 --> 00:04:14.020 a home that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. This is a beautiful home on top 49 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:19.379 of Camelback Mountain and the Phoenix Mountain preserves. There's this long driveway going up 50 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:27.009 the sort of circular structure you you were you walk in the front and once 51 00:04:27.129 --> 00:04:30.329 you've got inside, the thing that impressed me the most was was, first 52 00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:33.490 the view. You're looking out over Phoenix from on top of this mountain. 53 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:40.240 Not exactly three hundred and sixty degrees, but pretty close. These huge windows 54 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:45.759 looking out this is gorgeous. The other thing that impressed me is the details. 55 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:51.240 Again, Frankloyd right, very famous architect, American architect, very famous 56 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.670 style. What impressed me about the details is how consistent at all was. 57 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:03.069 Every corner, every window, every pillar and even the furniture seemed to be 58 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:09.740 a custom designed to match the architecture of the House. It all fit together 59 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:18.540 in this really impressive way. People's homes and on the people that build them. 60 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:24.009 Either way you look at it. They tend to communicate something and all 61 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:29.129 kinds of different things. When you hear this, you might feel either proud 62 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:34.569 or ashamed of your own home. You there are books, toys, some 63 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:40.319 people have gardens, some people put up family pictures, others works of art. 64 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:46.240 Some there are big spaces for meeting together, others nooks and crannies to 65 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:53.350 hide in or do work. Their homes are a very personal thing and they 66 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:58.949 tell us something about the people that designed them, about the people that live 67 00:05:59.069 --> 00:06:03.149 in them. Well, the House of the Lord with the Temple of God, 68 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:11.259 we have both these things together. He is the designer and the dweller 69 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:19.009 he and in that he communicates very purposefully things about himself. It would be 70 00:06:19.089 --> 00:06:26.930 very easy to do a very long, long, months long survey of the 71 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:31.769 temple, going through each particular element there and talking about its meaning, it's 72 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:41.439 significance, the communicative power that each of these things has. But what I'd 73 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:45.199 like to do this evening, and I admit this is a little bit of 74 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:49.509 a challenge, but I'd like us all to put on our imagination hats, 75 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:55.829 whether you're five years old or eighty five years old, and we're all going 76 00:06:56.269 --> 00:07:00.980 to see if we can picture this house. It's a little bit hard to 77 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:05.060 picture, I think, when you just read straight through, and especially in 78 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:10.899 one reading. It helps to read it multiple times and think through it all 79 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:15.139 really carefully, and that's why I'm going to be breaking it up some and 80 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:20.689 reading as we go along. And I want us all to really be able 81 00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:28.290 to picture this house, to have in our mind's eye what this place looked 82 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:32.279 like, and we have a description of it to help us do that here 83 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:38.959 in second chronicles three and and more fully in Sec in First Kings Chapter Seven. 84 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:45.069 I'm going to stick primarily here to the description and second chronicles, but 85 00:07:45.470 --> 00:07:48.389 I do think I will probably slip in a few details here and there from 86 00:07:48.430 --> 00:07:57.589 kings. So let's start. The goal here is to be able to imagine 87 00:07:57.629 --> 00:08:01.899 this house so that we might understand what God is revealing to us, what 88 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:07.620 he's showing to us, what he's communicating about himself. Well, the first 89 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:11.939 thing you need to do is set in your mind's eye your cardinal directions, 90 00:08:11.019 --> 00:08:16.370 because we're going to be using these. So sort of face yourself north, 91 00:08:16.009 --> 00:08:22.490 okay, on your right is east, on your left is west and south 92 00:08:22.689 --> 00:08:30.120 is behind you. As you're facing north, you are going to turn, 93 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:35.200 and you're going to turn so that now you're kind of heading west, and 94 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:39.799 what you're going to do is you're going to come in through the eastern doors 95 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.789 of this house. The House, like a lot of well designed houses, 96 00:08:45.549 --> 00:08:50.669 runs along and east west access. So that means the law longest walls of 97 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:56.620 the temple are the northern wall and the southern wall. This all is has 98 00:08:56.700 --> 00:09:01.860 theological importance, but it's also good for just other design reasons. Anyway, 99 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:07.179 there you're standing the entrance to this house. Now, if you've ever been 100 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:13.129 in realty or looking for a house, you've probably heard this phrase. It's 101 00:09:13.169 --> 00:09:18.090 going to sound really silly in this context, but curb appeal. Right, 102 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:22.730 it's this phrase that indicates when you walk up to a house or when a 103 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:28.039 somebody drives by, what is that first impression they have? And realtors will 104 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:31.000 tell you if you're selling your house, you need a good first impression. 105 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.919 Right. So a front door that's really nice, really fancy, that's a 106 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:41.230 bonus, they'll tell you. That's a bonus for curb appeal. Well, 107 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:45.909 here you are, standing at the House of God and you have a description 108 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:52.710 of it in verse. For the vestibule, the kind of entrance which is 109 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:56.820 in front of the nave. All describe that in a moment of the house. 110 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:01.340 The vestibule was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the House, 111 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:05.419 and his height was a hundred and twenty cubits. He overlaid it on 112 00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:11.169 the inside with pure gold. So you're standing in this entrance way. There 113 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:16.889 is about thirty feet going across this. I did a rough measurement before we 114 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:22.080 started here. This chancel here is called is about twenty three feet. So, 115 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:26.080 madge, about seven more feet than that. You're standing in the entrance 116 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:33.360 of this thing and it's about that big, very tall, hundred fifty feet, 117 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.990 something like that tall, thirty feet wide. And they're in front of 118 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:43.190 you. Are Doors. All around you is gold, gold overlaid everywhere. 119 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:48.470 You see gold. Gold on the top, gold on the sides, gold 120 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:52.220 doors. You can't buy a gold door at home depot. You can get 121 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:56.379 fiberglass, you can get wood, but you cannot buy a gold door. 122 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:01.179 And this is what God has done. These wooden doors overlaid with golden. 123 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:09.850 These doors don't just have six panels and maybe a few windows. They have 124 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:20.159 designs all over them, some of which were described earlier, and so you're 125 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.799 standing there at this amazing entry way. Until your right and left are two 126 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.840 giant pillars, which will think about in a moment. But go ahead and 127 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:33.629 walk through that door. And now you're standing in the nave. The Nave 128 00:11:33.909 --> 00:11:39.110 is like this room, a sort of long, narrow room. It was 129 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:43.710 very tall to like this room, but instead of windows along the bottom like 130 00:11:43.870 --> 00:11:50.059 we have here, of the windows were up on top these kind of Celesterry, 131 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:52.259 I believe I'm pronouncing that right, windows in which you know, light 132 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:56.940 would would come in. You're standing in this nave and it's described here in 133 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.289 verse five. The Nave he lined with Cypress and covered it with fine gold. 134 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:09.929 You remember earlier that that Cypress was imported through a contract with a king. 135 00:12:09.809 --> 00:12:15.409 He covered it with fine gold and made palms and chains on it. 136 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:20.919 He adorned the House with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold of 137 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.639 Para Em. So he lined the house with gold, it's beams, it's 138 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:30.029 thresholds, its walls and its doors, and he carved chair a beam on 139 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:33.830 the walls. These various terms you may not be familiar with. If you're 140 00:12:35.070 --> 00:12:39.470 if you're a little threshold beams, doors the thing you want or remember is 141 00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:45.899 just everything's covered with gold. Everything's covered with gold. Just everywhere you look 142 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:50.340 is this rich, rich metal. Our homes are not covered with gold. 143 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:56.139 Just to keep the contrast clear in your mind, we use dry wall mostly. 144 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:01.289 Maybe you'll put some paneling up, wood paneling or fake wood paneling. 145 00:13:01.929 --> 00:13:07.490 Maybe you'll cover it with some kind of material or wall paper. Right, 146 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:11.769 you'll, you'll cover it with paper, but does anyone of us have any 147 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:18.960 place in our home that's overlaid with gold? Now imagine a room like this 148 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:26.039 covered, the walls covered, and not just gold paneling but intricate designs. 149 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.509 Chair a beam are angels, angels carved into the walls, pomegranates, palm 150 00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:39.750 trees. Essentially you're standing in something that is as close to heaven itself here 151 00:13:39.909 --> 00:13:48.139 on Earth. The fine metals, the precious jewels surrounded by angels everywhere that 152 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:52.259 you look. These windows would let in a certain amount of light. I 153 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:56.929 guess it would depend on what time of year how much light was let in. 154 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:00.570 If it was summertime, you'd have a fair amount of light coming in, 155 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:03.570 especially through the south. It would be lit up fairly brightly, but 156 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:09.769 still, I think, perhaps a little bit dark. Always the lights coming 157 00:14:09.809 --> 00:14:13.159 up and up from up above, but down below where you're walking through this 158 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:20.960 building. On your left you have five golden lamp stands. Those are described 159 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:26.309 in verse seven of Chapter Four. He made ten golden lamp stands, as 160 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:31.269 prescribed, and set them in the temple, five on the south side and 161 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:35.830 five on the north. Next to these lamp stands were tables. Chapter Four, 162 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:41.179 Verse Eight. He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, 163 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:45.220 five on the south side, five on the north. It also describes a 164 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:50.259 hundred basins of gold being made that would be used for the various tables and 165 00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:54.809 and things that were going on there. So you walk in and there are 166 00:14:54.970 --> 00:15:00.009 these tables in which the bread of presents would be set each day, the 167 00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:03.970 lamps lining the walls, five on one side, five on the other, 168 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:11.919 each with seven lights on it, seventy lights total, little candles lighting up 169 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.600 the bottom of this great hall, this this Nave, is a beautiful place 170 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:22.590 and as you moved further down and into the temple, you would come to 171 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:31.029 a very beautiful thing, a curtain, a veil that came down. The 172 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:35.259 holy place is described in versus eight through fourteen, or sorry, the most 173 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:39.139 holy place. So let's go ahead and keep reading. This is now chapter 174 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:45.340 three, verse eight. So you've moved through the nave and now you arrive 175 00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:50.169 at the most holy place. He made the most holy place. Its length, 176 00:15:50.330 --> 00:15:54.409 corresponding to the breadth of the House, was twenty cubits, which is 177 00:15:54.490 --> 00:15:58.850 to say it's the same size. The breath was twenty cubits. That makes 178 00:15:58.929 --> 00:16:03.360 this room a square. He covered it with six hundred talents of fine gold. 179 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:08.000 The weight of gold for the nails was fifty shekels, and he overlaid 180 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:12.879 the upper chambers with gold. In the most holy place in this room, 181 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:18.830 he made two Cherubeam of wood and overlaid them with gold. Now these two 182 00:16:19.389 --> 00:16:26.149 Cherubeam angels are big. You walk into the room and you see them looking 183 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:30.470 at you in the face. The wings of the Cherub beam together extended twenty 184 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:36.539 cubits. One wing of the one of five cubits, touched the wall of 185 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:40.620 the house and the other wing, of five cubits touched the wing of the 186 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:44.980 other Cherub. And of this Cherub, one wing of five cubits touched the 187 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:48.730 wall of the house and of the other wing, also five cubits, was 188 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:52.649 joined to the wing of the first Cherub the wings. This is the summary 189 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:57.690 here, explaining verse thirteen, the wings of this Cherubeam. Of these Cherubeam 190 00:16:57.730 --> 00:17:03.960 extended twenty cubits, the chairbeam stood, the on their feet facing the nave. 191 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:10.680 So you imagine here these two giant statues covered in gold, these two 192 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.750 angels looking out on you as you walk in. They're on their feet, 193 00:17:15.069 --> 00:17:21.869 they're poised, they're ready, they're protective and they're huge. This thirty foot 194 00:17:22.029 --> 00:17:27.230 long room has these two things, these two angels, one on one side 195 00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:30.940 with its wings spread out, one on the other side with its wings spread 196 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:33.980 out, and together these wings, you know, one, two, three, 197 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:38.779 four, encompass the whole thing. What we'll find out later is that 198 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:44.180 the arc of the Covenant is placed right under there, this place that we've 199 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:48.490 the ARC which we've described again and again in second chronicles, the footstool of 200 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:52.009 God, the Great Throne. There he is, just like in the visions 201 00:17:52.089 --> 00:17:55.930 that we have of the prophets or God is surrounded on his throne by these 202 00:17:56.009 --> 00:18:03.039 terrifying creatures. That's what's pictured here in the most holy place. But you 203 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:07.799 don't just walk into this room. In fact no one walks into this room 204 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:12.309 unless you happen to be a high priest, and even that just once a 205 00:18:12.349 --> 00:18:18.029 year. It was blocked by something, two things actually, a veil and 206 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:22.349 a set of doors. The veil is described in verse fourteen, and he 207 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:27.619 made the veil of blue and purple and Crimson Fabrics and fine linen and he 208 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:33.579 worked, you guessed, at Chery beam on it. So you imagine yourself. 209 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:37.339 You open the doors. Let's say you're the high priest. It's time 210 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:41.529 to go. It's that one time of the year to go into the most 211 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:45.490 holy place. You Walk in, you open these doors and as you're walking 212 00:18:45.569 --> 00:18:51.210 along, these golden lampstands flickering in the light and their lights shining off this 213 00:18:51.329 --> 00:18:55.369 darkened curtain. It would look a little bit perhaps like a night sky, 214 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.240 and you would go through that curtain. You would go through another set of 215 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:03.680 doors, which were also intricately detailed, until you arrived in this room that 216 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:11.430 nobody goes in except you just once, and you better do it right, 217 00:19:11.430 --> 00:19:17.029 because they are standing in the face are these two giant angels and the presence 218 00:19:17.630 --> 00:19:23.740 of the Lord. That takes us through the temple. There in versus on 219 00:19:23.980 --> 00:19:30.700 three through fourteen. Then he describes also we thought about it a little bit 220 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:33.940 in chapter four, but some of the other elements surrounding. So I want 221 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:37.180 you to walk back out of the Temple, walk back through the Nave, 222 00:19:37.259 --> 00:19:41.569 back through the vestibule, and they'll look at the two pillars on either side 223 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:48.089 of you. They're described in verse fifteen and seventeen, sixteen seventeen and the 224 00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:53.000 front. He made two pillars thirty five cubits high. These is over fifty 225 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.480 feet, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. He 226 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:02.359 made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars and 227 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:06.319 he made a hundred promegrantants and put them on the chains. He set up 228 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.390 the pillars in the front of the temple, one on the south and the 229 00:20:08.470 --> 00:20:12.509 other on the north. That on the south he called Jay Chen, which 230 00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:18.549 means he establishes, and on the north, the northern pillar, which would 231 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:25.019 be on your left, he called it Bowas, which means in him his 232 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:32.420 strength. So when you walk in and out of this temple, he establishes 233 00:20:32.579 --> 00:20:37.450 and in his strength are the on either side of you, these two pillars 234 00:20:37.490 --> 00:20:42.730 which remind you everything's reminding you of the Covenant God has made with you and 235 00:20:42.930 --> 00:20:49.480 your people. It's a strong symbol, a powerful symbol. Everything here speaks 236 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:56.480 to the glory of the Heavenly God. But this place is not something that 237 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:00.400 you just walk in and out of casually. In fact, very few people 238 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.390 walk in and out. The builders were probably some of the last people that 239 00:21:03.509 --> 00:21:08.869 saw it before the except for the priests who had access to it. But 240 00:21:10.029 --> 00:21:14.829 nevertheless, on the outside you would see as a sort of every day Israelite 241 00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:18.660 things which told you how it is that you, as a people, had 242 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:22.420 access to the presence of God. As you walk out of that temple, 243 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:26.220 as you walk past those two pillars and into the courtyard, on your left 244 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:32.460 would be a giant altar, thirty feet by thirty feet up on a big 245 00:21:32.619 --> 00:21:40.890 raised platform. Imagine the biggest fire pits you've ever seen, huge and glorious 246 00:21:41.049 --> 00:21:45.730 made out of bronze, the smells of the animals being burned. there. 247 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:55.319 A requirement for holiness always was sacrifice. There was no way of accessing this 248 00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:59.519 temple, no way of enjoying the presence of God, of knowing him, 249 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:04.269 of dwelling him him, without this sacrifice. And there on your left is 250 00:22:04.349 --> 00:22:11.230 the altar. It's described in verse one of Chapter Four. He made an 251 00:22:11.269 --> 00:22:15.619 altar of bronze, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. 252 00:22:17.859 --> 00:22:19.980 On your right is something else. So on the north, on your 253 00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:26.339 left, is this great altar. On on your right is something I love 254 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:30.690 to imagine, this great pool of water that's so big it's described as a 255 00:22:32.410 --> 00:22:37.369 sea. Verse Two. Then he made the see of cast metal. It 256 00:22:37.569 --> 00:22:44.250 was round, ten cubits from Brim to Brim, five cubits high, and 257 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:49.839 a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. Under it were figures of Gourds 258 00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:55.880 for ten cubits compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows 259 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:00.910 cast with it when it was cast. And then this whole sea, this 260 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:06.029 giant basin, was placed on the back of these animals. It's described in 261 00:23:06.109 --> 00:23:11.910 verse four. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing 262 00:23:11.069 --> 00:23:17.299 west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea was on them 263 00:23:17.660 --> 00:23:22.380 and all their rear parts were inward. It's thickness was a handbreadth and it's 264 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:26.529 brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a 265 00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:32.569 lily. So, though huge, on the back of these giant oxen, 266 00:23:32.809 --> 00:23:38.809 and it has this kind of delicate and beautiful aspect to it. It held 267 00:23:40.130 --> 00:23:47.400 three thousand baths and he also made ten basins in wish to walk in, 268 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:51.000 which to wash and set, five on the south side and five on the 269 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:53.759 north side. So what this means is, as you walk out and you 270 00:23:53.880 --> 00:24:00.869 turn right and you look at this giant basin, sort of going back with 271 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:04.670 it, heading back behind you are these various basins, and those, likewise, 272 00:24:04.710 --> 00:24:11.460 are elaborate. There are these squares that held this big amount of water, 273 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:14.460 I think it was something like a hundred and twenty, two hundred and 274 00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:18.460 forty gallons, where you would wash your various parts of the sacrifice in, 275 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:23.059 five on the north, five on the south. You can imagine various priests 276 00:24:23.059 --> 00:24:29.089 swirling around all the various implements being used described there at the end of second 277 00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:33.809 chronicles, for the sniffers and the bowls and the tongues. There's a lot 278 00:24:33.890 --> 00:24:37.289 of work involved here. And you know what all those are made of? 279 00:24:37.210 --> 00:24:48.519 You guessed it gold. This place is amazing, it's it's impressive. It's 280 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.910 magnificent every point, every aspect, every way you look at it, whether 281 00:24:52.950 --> 00:24:55.990 you look at it from the big picture or you get down on your hands 282 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:00.430 and knees, and look at the fine craftsmanship that Hiram did on a very 283 00:25:00.509 --> 00:25:07.180 particular or pomegranate. Everything would speak of the glory and beauty of God. 284 00:25:07.619 --> 00:25:14.539 All of it, however, requiring a great sacrifice, many sacrifices, thousands 285 00:25:14.619 --> 00:25:21.730 and thousands and thousands over the years, of sacrifices that people might dwell with 286 00:25:21.930 --> 00:25:27.089 God. Well, as amazing is this temple is, we've pointed out various 287 00:25:27.089 --> 00:25:34.920 times in second chronicles, the Bible tells us it's just a shadow, just 288 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:41.440 a shadow, of the reality of the temple that God places in heaven. 289 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.440 We read this last time I was with you, and revelation twenty one, 290 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:52.789 these big gates made out of Pearls, fine jewels and embedded in creating the 291 00:25:52.869 --> 00:25:56.470 walls. Everywhere you look, gold, purest gold. Even the streets of 292 00:25:56.670 --> 00:26:03.660 this city of God, the new Jerusalem, were paved in gold. The 293 00:26:03.819 --> 00:26:08.339 temple here on Earth, another words, speaks of the heavenly dwelling place of 294 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:15.539 God. It tells us what it is we have to anticipate. But there 295 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:22.930 are important differences between these things. For one, the temple that's described in 296 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:26.410 revelation twenty one isn't really described as a temple or it's not called that. 297 00:26:27.490 --> 00:26:30.650 It has all of the aspects of a temple. It sounds very much like 298 00:26:30.809 --> 00:26:37.000 what we have here in second chronicles, except it's called a city and Verse 299 00:26:37.079 --> 00:26:41.680 Twenty Two of Revelation Twenty one even says that there is no temple. John 300 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:45.920 Notices this. He looks around, when he sees all these temple elements and 301 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:53.390 yet no temple, it explains that the temple is God himself. In fact, 302 00:26:53.509 --> 00:26:59.150 he sees that God is not dwelling in this particular place around which the 303 00:26:59.309 --> 00:27:04.500 city lives and around which the people live. The whole thing kind of merges 304 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:08.660 together in John's vision, this vision that God gives him to him of the 305 00:27:08.779 --> 00:27:14.460 new Jerusalem. You could think of it as the temple kind of expanding out, 306 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:18.849 becoming not just this place, this symbolic place where God dwells with his 307 00:27:19.049 --> 00:27:27.849 people, but everywhere present. It might help you to think of what happened 308 00:27:27.930 --> 00:27:33.160 when Jesus died. You remember there was something that happened in the Temple of 309 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.920 God at the Crucifixion. Do you remember what it was? Had to do 310 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.559 with the veil, right, it ripped into it, tore into this separation 311 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:48.269 between the nave, that holy place and the most holy place separated. All 312 00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:53.549 of a sudden there was access in Jesus's death that wasn't there before. Revelation 313 00:27:53.710 --> 00:28:00.099 twenty one says that it's even bigger than that, that the whole temple becomes 314 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:03.900 the dwelling place of God. And you know what else the New Testament says? 315 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:08.059 It says we are that temple, that the spirit of God dwells in 316 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:14.329 us, just as he dwelled in that temple. In this kind of mind 317 00:28:14.890 --> 00:28:18.970 boggling way, revelation twenty one says that not only is this the city, 318 00:28:19.130 --> 00:28:26.609 but this is the people, the bride of Christ. What this means is 319 00:28:26.730 --> 00:28:30.559 that when we consider Solomon's Temple, when we consider how amazing it was, 320 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:36.640 how beautiful it was, what we're really getting a picture of is the new 321 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:40.960 heavens in the new earth and our place in it. We're getting a picture 322 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:49.670 of ourselves and God who dwells with us. This is what Jesus does when 323 00:28:49.710 --> 00:28:56.740 he comes as the new David, as David's great son, as the better 324 00:28:56.900 --> 00:29:00.900 Solomon, and everyone's expecting him to go into the temple and clear it out, 325 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:06.779 which he does, but when he starts saying things like I'm going, 326 00:29:07.180 --> 00:29:10.930 this temple will be destroyed and in three days it will all raise it again, 327 00:29:11.650 --> 00:29:15.490 and one saying, what are you talking about? This thing is massive, 328 00:29:15.650 --> 00:29:19.529 it's huge, it's beautiful. How can you destroy it in three days 329 00:29:19.569 --> 00:29:25.200 when it's taken all these years to build? How will you raise it up 330 00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:29.079 again in three days? Of course, as the Bible says, he was 331 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:33.920 talking about his body, he was talking about something greater. God came to 332 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:41.869 dwell among us, and not in a physical building, but in his son 333 00:29:41.109 --> 00:29:52.109 and in him. We also dwell to understand some of the implications of that. 334 00:29:52.150 --> 00:29:55.059 I like you to turn in your hymnals to three hundred and forty five 335 00:29:55.140 --> 00:30:00.740 him, three hundred forty five, which will sing as we conclude here. 336 00:30:02.380 --> 00:30:04.819 This is somewhat of a complicated him, a very wonderful hymn, but a 337 00:30:06.019 --> 00:30:10.210 complicated one, which I want to do a quick, if you'll forgive me 338 00:30:11.210 --> 00:30:15.289 more, exposition of, because I want you to see the connection between these 339 00:30:15.809 --> 00:30:22.960 two things and what it means when we sing these kinds of things. Versus 340 00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:29.799 one through three in this hymn, speak to the temple. Now that might 341 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:33.359 sound kind of weird. Why would we talk to an object. Well, 342 00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:38.150 you do this. Let's say you get a new chair, new desk chair. 343 00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:42.670 Your old one's been hurt in your back and it's torn and it's ripped 344 00:30:42.670 --> 00:30:45.630 up. You're tired of it. You get a new chair, you go 345 00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:47.670 you buy a new one, you put in your desk, you sit down 346 00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:49.819 it and you go, I love you, chair. You know. Yeah, 347 00:30:49.859 --> 00:30:52.740 it's a way. You're not talking to the chair, but you're expressing, 348 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:59.099 perhaps even to God himself, your thankfulness for the things that he's given 349 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:03.740 you. It's in a similar way here that we when we sing this, 350 00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:08.329 we speak to the city of God, the city that's described in revelation twenty 351 00:31:08.450 --> 00:31:14.289 one. It's not directly to the city, but it's indirectly speaking to God. 352 00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:18.359 So what it? What is it? We say? Glorious things of 353 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:23.519 thee are spoken. Zion, city of our God. He whose word cannot 354 00:31:23.559 --> 00:31:27.960 be broken, formed thee for his own abode. This is exactly what we've 355 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:33.109 been talking about right. Abode, kids, is a place of dwelling, 356 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:37.589 a home. God has formed this place, Zion, the new Jerusalem, 357 00:31:38.269 --> 00:31:45.230 for him to live in. Then it describes how it's founded on the rock 358 00:31:45.349 --> 00:31:48.740 of ages. It's a name for Jesus founded. What can shake thy sure 359 00:31:48.900 --> 00:31:55.859 repose? With Salvation's wall surroundest, Thou mayst smilest at all THY foes. 360 00:31:56.140 --> 00:32:00.609 It's saying that this city is established not on weak and shifting sand, but 361 00:32:00.730 --> 00:32:05.289 on a rock, on something strong. Who is this rock? His name 362 00:32:05.410 --> 00:32:08.849 is Jesus. He's called the cornerstone of the temple. He's the one on 363 00:32:08.930 --> 00:32:13.930 whom the city of God has founded, the one in whom we dwell and 364 00:32:14.089 --> 00:32:20.240 live. WHO CAN SHAKE THY sure repose? A repose kids is resting. 365 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:24.519 You repose yourself on a couch, you put your head, or you repose 366 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:30.269 on a on a cushion or a pillow. This city is at peace, 367 00:32:30.950 --> 00:32:32.869 it's resting. It's like waking up and lying down on a couch. It's 368 00:32:32.910 --> 00:32:37.349 comfortable. You're not worried about things, you're not fraid for your life, 369 00:32:37.630 --> 00:32:43.509 and that comes up in the last sentence. Here, with salvation's walls surrounded, 370 00:32:43.950 --> 00:32:47.059 thou may smilest at all, thy foes, you kind of look how 371 00:32:47.099 --> 00:32:52.380 you go. You guys aren't bothering me. I'm safe, I'm secure. 372 00:32:52.940 --> 00:33:00.609 I'm going to bed see verse, to see the streams of living water springing 373 00:33:00.690 --> 00:33:04.450 from eternal love, when you think about the temple as we described it in 374 00:33:04.490 --> 00:33:07.529 second chronicles three, there's a lot of water involved there, with the size 375 00:33:07.609 --> 00:33:12.210 of that basin and all those baths. Again, the people of the city 376 00:33:12.369 --> 00:33:15.319 needed to be fed water. We live in a desert. We know what 377 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:21.200 this is about water. It's important. Well, here it's described in this 378 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:29.910 way. See the streams of living waters springing from eternal love. That's the 379 00:33:30.069 --> 00:33:34.150 source of our strength, that's the thing that keeps us alive, the thing 380 00:33:34.230 --> 00:33:37.670 that we need every day. Drink eight glasses of water and drink from the 381 00:33:37.710 --> 00:33:43.779 springs of God's love. Well, supply thy sons and daughters and all the 382 00:33:44.059 --> 00:33:51.819 fear of want. Remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows? 383 00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:59.289 Their thirst a swage. A swage means quench. You're not thirsty anymore. 384 00:34:00.450 --> 00:34:05.650 Grace which, like the Lord the Giver, Never Fails From Age to 385 00:34:05.769 --> 00:34:09.239 age. There's no drafts in heaven, no waiting, no wondering, God's 386 00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:15.800 love always, ever, supplying our every need. Now remember we're not just 387 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:19.360 talking about a temple anymore. We're talking about a city. So you have 388 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:23.670 to imagine these various dwelling places. I can't say exactly what will be white. 389 00:34:23.710 --> 00:34:29.710 But Jesus says something, and John About going to I'm leaving you to 390 00:34:29.869 --> 00:34:37.510 prepare a place for you. Verse Three, round each habitation, hovering, 391 00:34:37.389 --> 00:34:44.139 see the clouder cloud and fire appear, that glory cloud which descends on the 392 00:34:44.260 --> 00:34:47.539 temple, the glory cloud which leads the people of Israel through the Wilderness here 393 00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:53.289 pictured in heaven. See The cloud and fire appear for a glory and a 394 00:34:53.369 --> 00:35:00.849 covering showing that the Lord is near, thus deriving from their banner light by 395 00:35:00.849 --> 00:35:07.480 night and Shade by day. Safe they feed upon the Manna which he gives 396 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:14.760 them when they pray here. John Newton. Now the rider conjures up all 397 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:19.840 this wilderness imagery that we have in the Old Testament, but he says we're 398 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:22.510 not in the wilderness anymore. In the new heavens and the new earth and 399 00:35:22.590 --> 00:35:29.309 the new Jerusalem, were totally supplied everything we could ever want and need. 400 00:35:29.429 --> 00:35:34.230 And now, in verse four, instead of speaking indirectly to God, we 401 00:35:34.429 --> 00:35:39.860 speak directly to him. Savior, if of Zion City I, through grace, 402 00:35:40.219 --> 00:35:46.340 a member am let the world deride or pity, I will glory in 403 00:35:46.500 --> 00:35:51.889 Thy name. It's that smiling at all the foes. It's saying, you 404 00:35:52.010 --> 00:35:55.809 know what, world, knowing who I am and knowing the city, the 405 00:35:55.929 --> 00:36:00.849 place in which God has placed me, the one in whom I dwell, 406 00:36:01.090 --> 00:36:04.800 you can laugh at me, you can mock me, you can deride me, 407 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:07.639 or you can pity me and say, Oh, what a poor person 408 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:15.239 he is living in the new Jerusalem. Whatever right, let the world deride 409 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:22.429 our pity. I Will Glory in Thy name, because fading is the worldlings 410 00:36:22.550 --> 00:36:30.869 pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show, solid choice and lasting treasure. 411 00:36:30.789 --> 00:36:38.820 None but Zion's children know there is a Great Division that happens in Zion, 412 00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:44.980 a great division that happens with those who dwell with God. There are those 413 00:36:45.019 --> 00:36:50.369 who are safe and secure, those who participate and enjoy his glory, who 414 00:36:50.369 --> 00:36:54.489 are glorified by him and redound that glory back to him, and there are 415 00:36:54.530 --> 00:37:00.730 those who don't. They mock, they deride, they laugh, but there 416 00:37:00.769 --> 00:37:05.320 are on a fool's errand and in the day all the boasted pomp and show 417 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:10.280 fades away, the houses that they built, with all their gardens and toys 418 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:16.670 and books, it all goes away. But they are those who belong to 419 00:37:16.750 --> 00:37:22.670 Zion, and we do even now. If we belong to Jesus Christ. 420 00:37:22.670 --> 00:37:28.349 We don't need to worry, because we belong to him. We're founded on 421 00:37:28.429 --> 00:37:34.460 the rock of ages, we belong to the city of our God. So 422 00:37:34.579 --> 00:37:38.739 when we think of Solomon's Temple and we picture ourselves walking through it, pass 423 00:37:38.900 --> 00:37:43.659 the pillars, through the doors, into the nave, even to that most 424 00:37:43.699 --> 00:37:50.570 holy place, let your eyes lift up to something even greater, the heavenly 425 00:37:50.610 --> 00:37:54.409 dwelling place of God, where you, if you believe in the one on 426 00:37:54.530 --> 00:37:59.880 whom this place is founded, the one who gave his life as a sacrifice 427 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:06.920 for your sin, where you will live forever and ever and ever, living 428 00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:14.190 off of God's love and His grace. Let's pray