Thursday, April 2, 2015

Thursday Thought -- April 2, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

“The foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.” (1 Kings 6:37-38)

It took Solomon and the people of Israel seven years from the time they started work on the Temple to the time that it was completed. It was a grand structure and it was ready to dedicate to the Lord.

One of the questions that had to be on the minds of the people of Israel … and on Solomon’s mind, too … was “would God be pleased with the Temple they had built for His glory?”

Solomon sent the priests to bring the Ark of the Covenant … representing the presence of God … into the Temple. The priests brought the Ark in and then the scriptures record.

“When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. Then Solomon said, ‘The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.’” (1 Kings 8:10-12)

What a marvelous feeling it must have been for Solomon and the people to realize so clearly that God was pleased. The glory of God filled the Temple.

Do you know where the glory of God dwells now? Paul made it clear that God’s glory rests in two places … in Jesus Christ and in His church. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

God is pleased in Jesus and in His church!

His, by Grace,

Steve


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