The Ark Brought into the Temple

 May 3, 2021

 

1 Kings 8:1-11

 

The Ark Brought into the Temple

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.   And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month 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.   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.

 

In Solomon's time or today, I cannot think of a greater honor than for God to choose a person and give them the wisdom to build a place for Him.  How I have a lack of understanding about many things when it comes to God, but I’m not alone so do you, and if you thank not, you need to start over in Genesis and read about a big God who is not like you and me.  In that God is all-knowing, He ever-present, and we in the church often use words like, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience, and yet most do not give honor to the God they say they know, and some even believe they are wise and know what His actions will be.  Omnipotence, God is Infinite, Isaiah 43:13,  “Yes, and from ancient days I am he.  No one can deliver out of my hand.  When I act, who can reverse it?”  

 

Omnipresence, God is all ways presence, Acts 17:24-28,  ^“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.   From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, “though he is not far from any one of us.   ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.”

 

The omniscience of God, Hebrews 4:13, gives this insight; "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."  Psalm 147:5, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.”  And what about, 1 John 3:20,  ^“for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”

 

From The Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice