June 28, 2024 | Be God's Light
Solomon Brings the Ark
to the Temple
Scripture: 1 Kings 8:1-21(NIV)
1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. 8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 15 Then he said:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
17 “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. 19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’
20 “The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Devotional
The Ark of the Covenant embodied the presence of God. It was a gold-covered box that contained a jar of manna, Aaron’s staff, and the stone tablets of the ten commandments. It was a reminder that God had provided for the people in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage into Promised Land freedom.
Solomon had the ark brought into the newly constructed temple. It was placed in the Most Holy Place. A massive curtain secured the Most Holy Place from wandering eyes. Only the high priest was allowed in the room where the ark was placed. And he could only go there once a year to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people with the blood of goats and calves. This had to be repeated every year.
When Jesus died on a cross a thousand years later, the Bible says, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38). Here is how the New Testament book of Hebrews describes what Jesus did: “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12).
Did you catch that? When Jesus died for our sins, he opened access to God’s Most Holy Place, providing forgiveness of sins for all eternity through his blood. You and I don’t have to wait for a high priest to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the ark of the covenant. Jesus IS our High Priest. Jesus IS the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus IS the blood of the covenant. Praise be to Jesus!
Make a prayer of thanksgiving from the Christ Hymn, found in Philippians 2:5-11.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Poem
The Ark Of The Covenant
The Holy of Holies, God’s presence abiding
The High Priest appointed in raiment, residing
The Blood of the sacrifice offering there
Atonement for sin, Wrath’s great crevice repair
A great Hallelujah released from my breast
As all of my turmoil is now put to rest
The Ark of the Covenant, mysteries save,
Bursts opens releasing God’s Word from the grave!
