WEBVTT 00:00:04.689 --> 00:00:15.852 I have to say, having been studying Chronicles for the past several weeks, maybe a couple months or so, chronicles has become my favorite book in the Bible, right now at least. 00:00:15.852 --> 00:00:30.721 And I've enjoyed Matthew, as we've been going through Matthew in our morning services as well, in our morning services as well. 00:00:30.721 --> 00:00:35.250 So we continue today on our journey along Route 66, the 66 books of the Bible, and last Sunday we began our drive through Chronicles. 00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:46.069 I introduced last Sunday that there are two major themes in the book of Chronicles, and when I say book of Chronicles, I am referring to 1 and 2 Chronicles. 00:00:46.069 --> 00:00:54.506 We have two books, but the original text in Hebrew was really one scroll Chronicles. 00:00:54.506 --> 00:01:06.444 The first major theme which we covered last Sunday is God's commitment to the house of David, and the second major theme which we'll cover today is God's commitment to the house of David. 00:01:06.444 --> 00:01:11.051 And the second major theme which we'll cover today is God's temple and his presence in the worship of his people. 00:01:11.051 --> 00:01:14.468 Both of these themes are derived from the Davidic covenant. 00:01:14.468 --> 00:01:23.153 So let's take a turn to 1 Chronicles 17 as our starting point this evening. 00:01:23.153 --> 00:01:33.271 Okay, turn to 1 Chronicles 17, and I'll read from beginning the second part of verse 10. 00:01:33.271 --> 00:01:43.063 Furthermore, I declare to you that the Lord in prayer and I will establish his throne forever. 00:01:43.063 --> 00:02:08.162 Let's go to the Lord in prayer. 00:02:08.162 --> 00:02:18.314 Father, help us understand the deep significance of the Davidic covenant in our lives and to live in accordance to its truth. 00:02:18.314 --> 00:02:19.479 Amen. 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:28.052 God spoke to David through the prophet Nathan. 00:02:28.052 --> 00:02:35.757 In that passage, david expressed his desire to build a house for Yahweh. 00:02:35.757 --> 00:02:42.413 Yahweh turned it around and he promised to build the house of David. 00:02:44.262 --> 00:02:57.092 The book of Chronicles centers on these two houses the house of David, the dynasty of David, and the house of the Lord, the temple. 00:02:57.092 --> 00:03:09.587 Last week we examined these two major themes God's commitment to the house of David and we looked at that in three points. 00:03:09.587 --> 00:03:27.793 We looked at God's commitment to the house of David by placing David on the throne, by promising that David would have an everlasting dynasty, and, thirdly, that God will be preserving David's dynasty. 00:03:27.793 --> 00:03:40.733 God's covenant, faithfulness to David and his royal line points forward to and is ultimately fulfilled by the greatest son of David, the Messianic King, our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:40.733 --> 00:03:44.686 And our Lord Jesus Christ sits on that throne forever. 00:03:44.686 --> 00:04:13.643 So today we'll spend our time examining the second major theme God's temple and God's presence in the people's worship and, by the way, throughout Chronicles, and I mean 1 and 2 Chronicles. 00:04:13.643 --> 00:04:24.107 Okay, so Solomon's temple is given a lot of prominence in Chronicles, much more than in Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. 00:04:24.107 --> 00:04:33.041 The emphases in Chronicles, taken as the whole book, can be seen in the overall structure of the book, and I touched on this last week. 00:04:33.041 --> 00:04:34.144 But I'll review briefly. 00:04:34.805 --> 00:04:38.521 The first nine chapters of Chronicles are genealogies. 00:04:38.521 --> 00:04:44.567 They're lists of people, father to son to son to son to son to son. 00:04:44.567 --> 00:05:05.858 These genealogies not only highlighted the Lion of David, the Davidic kings, but also gave a great prominence to the Lion of Aaron and the Levitical order. 00:05:05.858 --> 00:05:11.639 These are the individuals who would serve the tabernacle and the temple. 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:17.480 The next 29 chapters in Chronicles reports on the reigns of both David and his son, solomon. 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:31.730 These cover 73 years of rulership, 33 for David, because this is recording when David was in Jerusalem, not the earlier seven years of Hebron, and then the 40 years of Solomon in Jerusalem. 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:41.571 And of these 29 chapters, 18 of them cover the planning and the building of the temple. 00:05:41.571 --> 00:06:12.370 And the last 27 chapters of Chronicles Survey the 345 years Of the line of Davidic kings, the kings of Judah After David and Solomon, and it particularly paid attention to how they treated the temple as a direct measure Of their relationship with Yahweh, and we'll get into more of that in this time together. 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:18.132 So the chronicler's interest in the temple is not really the building. 00:06:18.132 --> 00:06:31.144 The chronicler's interest in recording in the book of Chronicles is really the fact that Yahweh moved into the temple to dwell among his people. 00:06:31.144 --> 00:06:43.266 So to seek the temple in the eyes of the chronicler really meant seeking the Lord, seeking God, seeking after Yahweh. 00:06:43.266 --> 00:06:48.634 The temple was a sign of God's very presence with his people on earth. 00:06:48.634 --> 00:06:52.588 This is where the northern tribes got it wrong. 00:06:52.588 --> 00:06:57.730 They built other worship centers, not in Jerusalem. 00:06:57.730 --> 00:07:00.947 So they violated this principle. 00:07:00.947 --> 00:07:04.185 They did not seek the temple of Yahweh. 00:07:04.185 --> 00:07:10.951 God punished them and they went off into captivity as Assyrians took them away. 00:07:10.951 --> 00:07:16.947 So instead, those who sought the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem were filled with joy. 00:07:18.721 --> 00:07:30.706 So let's examine tonight Yahweh's temple, the place where Yahweh dwelt with his people and the place where his people sought the Lord and worshipped him. 00:07:30.706 --> 00:07:39.103 We'll look at Yahweh's temple by way of three points First, yahweh's plan for the temple. 00:07:39.103 --> 00:07:43.209 Secondly, yahweh's presence in the temple. 00:07:43.209 --> 00:07:48.355 And thirdly, yahweh's people in the temple. 00:07:48.355 --> 00:08:02.439 And as we go through these three points, I want you to imagine yourself in the year 424 BC In the shoes of one of those people living in the post-exilic community. 00:08:02.439 --> 00:08:23.870 You are the grandson or you're the granddaughter of one who served in rebuilding the temple under Zerubbabel, because he or she came back from Babylon, back to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel in that first return of exiles. 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:32.970 And now you're reading this book of Chronicles, the first point, yahweh's plan for the temple. 00:08:32.970 --> 00:08:37.149 We'll look at the preparations and then we'll look at the construction. 00:08:38.461 --> 00:08:42.052 I mentioned last week that David's reign occupied 19 chapters in 1 Chronicles. 00:08:42.052 --> 00:08:49.203 David's reign in Chronicles is taking up mostly with the preparations for building the temple. 00:08:49.203 --> 00:08:53.693 Yahweh had been orchestrating this groundwork for decades. 00:08:53.693 --> 00:09:07.095 So first this preparation included transferring the Ark of the Covenant to the city of David. 00:09:07.095 --> 00:09:12.091 This happened very early during David's reign in Jerusalem. 00:09:12.091 --> 00:09:17.231 It happened not too long after actually, david conquered the Jebusites. 00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:19.628 The Jebusites were the ones who inhabited. 00:09:19.628 --> 00:09:24.585 They were Canaanites who inhabited Jerusalem and David had to conquer it. 00:09:24.585 --> 00:09:25.785 And when he did I. 00:09:25.785 --> 00:09:27.268 David had to conquer it, and when he did. 00:09:27.268 --> 00:09:30.530 I won't get into it now, but it's very interesting how he did that. 00:09:30.530 --> 00:09:42.160 It happens to Pat and I when we visited Israel we walked through Hezekiah's tunnel and there's a waterway that Hezekiah's tunnel. 00:09:42.160 --> 00:09:46.083 I'm going off on a tangent, but it channeled the Gihon Springs, which is the main water source of Jerusalem, to. 00:09:46.083 --> 00:09:56.159 It was located outside the city, but it was channeled into the city so that Hezekiah would have a water supply and that the Assyrians would not cut him off. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.735 But anyway, in that tunnel there was a shaft. 00:09:59.735 --> 00:10:06.298 David was smart enough to see that the Jebusites needed to go and get water from the Gihon Springs. 00:10:06.298 --> 00:10:07.649 They used that shaft. 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:11.573 Well, david knew that he can climb up that shaft and get into the city. 00:10:11.573 --> 00:10:13.006 That's a whole other story. 00:10:13.006 --> 00:10:16.418 I didn't mean to go into that, but it just triggered the thought. 00:10:16.418 --> 00:10:23.873 David conquered the Jebusites and turned Jebus into the city of David. 00:10:26.076 --> 00:10:31.793 But don't you remember how painful it was for David to transfer the ark back to Jerusalem? 00:10:31.793 --> 00:10:34.057 It took him two times right. 00:10:34.057 --> 00:10:46.192 The first time, an individual called Uzzah walked alongside the cart and saw that the oxen were stumbling and he put his hand to stabilize the Ark of the Covenant. 00:10:46.192 --> 00:10:47.634 He was struck dead. 00:10:47.634 --> 00:10:49.283 Why he was struck dead? 00:10:49.283 --> 00:11:05.364 Why David encountered the problem where he ordered the ark's transfer but ignored the proper instructions from the law of Moses. 00:11:05.364 --> 00:11:12.164 How the ark was treated was equated to how God was being treated. 00:11:12.164 --> 00:11:19.331 This demonstrated a lack of reverence for the sacred object of God's presence and for the law of Moses. 00:11:19.331 --> 00:11:26.010 David and the Levites studied the Mosaic law and got it right the second time because God worked on David's heart. 00:11:26.010 --> 00:11:43.469 David's instruction to the priests and the Levites to consecrate themselves was not only for ritualistic purposes, but it was also, and even more so, for internal attitude change, their internal attitude in how they handled holy things. 00:11:45.952 --> 00:11:55.754 The second thing in terms of preparation we see in David's time is God worked on David's heart to appoint the Levites to a new ministry of music and praise. 00:11:55.754 --> 00:12:05.024 This is what he conducted in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant as it was successfully transported to Jerusalem. 00:12:05.024 --> 00:12:09.417 This was a whole new function for the Levites and the priests. 00:12:09.417 --> 00:12:14.053 This was the prelude to temple worship. 00:12:14.053 --> 00:12:21.750 Solomon also continued this same practice in organizing the Levites for temple worship, and that's in 2 Chronicles 8. 00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:28.618 David and his singers wrote psalms for temple worship. 00:12:28.618 --> 00:12:36.739 They actually prefigure Christ in leading the people in singing praise to Yahweh. 00:12:36.739 --> 00:12:46.907 The Levites were also assigned other temple duties, including being gatekeepers, treasurers, and this is all recorded. 00:12:46.907 --> 00:12:59.129 David expanded the roles of the Levites and the priests to prepare them for a greater role for worship and leading the people to worship. 00:13:00.072 --> 00:13:13.865 A third piece of evidence of preparation, of God working on David's heart, is actually, through David, he secured all the borders around Israel, around the nation of Israel, during the time of David. 00:13:13.865 --> 00:13:19.174 Now you would think, how does that prepare for temple construction? 00:13:19.174 --> 00:13:40.456 Well, the Davidic wars as you will see in 1 Chronicles 8, chapters 18 to 20, allowed David and Solomon to focus on the task that God gave them to build the temple. 00:13:40.456 --> 00:13:42.725 They weren't distracted to fight a war with the Ammonites. 00:13:42.725 --> 00:13:45.431 They weren't distracted to fight with the Moabites. 00:13:45.431 --> 00:13:46.833 That was all done. 00:13:46.833 --> 00:13:48.037 They had peace. 00:13:48.037 --> 00:14:00.559 A fourth supporting piece of evidence in preparation for the construction of the temple is recorded in 1 Chronicles 21. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.407 Do you remember David? 00:14:03.648 --> 00:14:28.884 After he had victory over the Philistines in a battle, a big battle, in a battle, a big battle, he asked Joab, his key commander, and his commanders, to take a census, a military census, a census of all the men of military age. 00:14:28.884 --> 00:14:36.488 David took this census, in spite of a recent victory. 00:14:36.488 --> 00:14:38.413 Usually you do a census to draft more men if you find that you have not enough fighting men. 00:14:38.413 --> 00:14:40.919 Or you do a census because you want to levy taxes. 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:50.239 The writer of Samuel actually portrayed this as a sin of David's faithlessness, lack of faith. 00:14:50.239 --> 00:14:55.056 Right, because he did this in spite of having a victory against the Philistines. 00:14:55.056 --> 00:14:58.152 But you know the writer of Chronicles. 00:14:58.211 --> 00:15:11.400 I mentioned to you last week that Chronicles is not just a reporting of the facts or the events that are happening. 00:15:11.400 --> 00:15:15.285 Chronicles is a divine commentary on what has happened. 00:15:15.285 --> 00:15:22.359 So the writer of Chronicles, in this instance, used this story to show God's mercy. 00:15:22.359 --> 00:15:23.986 How is that? 00:15:23.986 --> 00:15:31.876 Well, as you know, because of David's sin of faithlessness, god did punish him. 00:15:31.876 --> 00:15:35.640 God saw his faithlessness and punished him. 00:15:35.640 --> 00:15:41.576 And remember, david said I'd rather fall into the hands of a merciful God than men. 00:15:41.576 --> 00:15:59.279 So God put a plague and killed 70,000 people in Jerusalem, and then God told him to build an altar and make sacrifices. 00:16:02.229 --> 00:16:13.032 Where David was told to do that happened to be on a threshing floor, a place where, in fact, arona is his name and he's also called Nankam. 00:16:13.032 --> 00:16:18.576 His threshing floor was used as an altar. 00:16:18.576 --> 00:16:31.256 David purchased that land to be an altar, to be made an altar because the angel of the Lord stopped over that threshing floor. 00:16:31.256 --> 00:16:32.933 Turn with me to 1 Chronicles 21. 00:16:32.933 --> 00:16:33.553 I'd like to recount that story in the words of the Lord stopped over that threshing floor. 00:16:33.553 --> 00:16:33.764 Turn with me to 1 Chronicles 21. 00:16:33.764 --> 00:16:39.212 I'd like to recount that story in the words of the chronicler 1 Chronicles, chapter 21. 00:16:39.212 --> 00:16:42.532 Go down to verse 27. 00:16:42.532 --> 00:16:43.313 I'll read from there. 00:16:43.313 --> 00:16:51.336 Then the Lord spoke to the angel and he put his sword back into its sheath. 00:16:51.336 --> 00:16:56.547 At that time David offered sacrifices there. 00:16:56.547 --> 00:16:58.230 When he saw that the Lord answered him. 00:16:58.530 --> 00:17:10.089 At the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon. 00:17:10.089 --> 00:17:18.836 But David could not go before it to inquire of God because he was terrified of the sword of the Lord's angel. 00:17:18.836 --> 00:17:19.878 You picture this. 00:17:19.878 --> 00:17:21.929 The angel of the Lord is right above him. 00:17:21.929 --> 00:17:24.836 He is standing right at the threshing floor. 00:17:24.836 --> 00:17:31.958 And the Lord told the angel who has a sword out there, to stop slaying people. 00:17:31.958 --> 00:17:33.270 The angel who has a sword out there to stop slaying people. 00:17:33.270 --> 00:17:34.174 David was terrified. 00:17:34.174 --> 00:17:37.295 He wouldn't go any further. 00:17:37.295 --> 00:17:42.664 Now, chapter 22, verse 1. 00:17:42.664 --> 00:17:53.520 Then David said this is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel, of burnt offering for Israel. 00:17:53.520 --> 00:18:02.494 David declared that this place was to be the house of the Lord God, the threshing floor and the altar of burnt offering for Israel. 00:18:02.494 --> 00:18:07.234 And now turn with me to 2 Chronicles 3. 00:18:07.234 --> 00:18:12.109 2 Chronicles 3. 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:15.376 Verse 1. 00:18:21.045 --> 00:18:27.404 Then Solomon began to build the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father, david, at the site David had prepared. 00:18:27.404 --> 00:18:37.045 On the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 00:18:37.045 --> 00:18:55.971 Solomon's temple was to be erected, right at that site of the threshing floor, the place where God showed mercy, and this is going to be a place where God will continually pour out his mercy on his people the temple, pour out his mercy on his people, the temple. 00:18:55.971 --> 00:19:09.138 These events, these collected events before the transporting of the Ark to the city of David, the expansion of the duties of the Levites and the priests to include worship, music and praise. 00:19:09.138 --> 00:19:13.695 And thirdly, the Davidic wars which gave peace to Israel. 00:19:13.695 --> 00:19:25.713 And then this fourth one that I mentioned, the identification of the location where the temple was to be built, a place where God showed his mercy. 00:19:25.713 --> 00:19:38.756 All of these events taken together paved the way for building the temple which would house the ark, the symbol of God's presence with his people. 00:19:39.664 --> 00:19:45.258 Yahweh was David's motivation to build a glorious temple, and David began preparations during his reign. 00:19:45.258 --> 00:19:49.454 Those four events were during David's reign. 00:19:49.454 --> 00:19:59.109 It indirectly and directly involved him, but David himself here is putting into the preparation. 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:15.881 David collected construction materials, boundless metals, woods, jewelry, gold, tons of gold His own personal as well as the national account of gold and silver and bronze. 00:20:15.881 --> 00:20:27.976 He created the temple staff I mentioned to you the Levites right, the priests, the musicians, the gatekeepers, the treasurers and other officials, and these are recorded in 1 Chronicles 23-26. 00:20:27.976 --> 00:20:45.299 David also gave Solomon, his son, when he commissioned him, the actual blueprints for the temple and for the vessels that needed to be housed in the temple, as well as its staff. 00:20:45.299 --> 00:20:56.107 It echoes back to Moses and the instructions Moses received from God in building the tabernacle in Exodus. 00:20:56.107 --> 00:21:02.086 These all tell of God's sovereign work in David's life to make preparations for building the temple. 00:21:02.086 --> 00:21:04.010 And these are preparations. 00:21:05.273 --> 00:21:11.192 The construction of the temple was left to his son, solomon, but David's influence on the construction was very significant. 00:21:11.192 --> 00:21:21.217 Not only did David give the detailed plans from God and pass them on to Solomon, david gave Solomon a strong charge. 00:21:21.217 --> 00:21:28.752 He charged Solomon to follow after and obey the Lord. 00:21:28.752 --> 00:21:33.220 Simple command, very hard to do, wasn't it? 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:36.384 Follow after and obey the Lord. 00:21:36.384 --> 00:21:45.380 And with this David reinforced the link between obedience and temple blessing. 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:54.278 The link also was between disobedience and being forsaken. 00:21:54.278 --> 00:22:05.059 This is 1 Chronicles 28, verses 9 and 10, when David is commissioning Solomon to build the temple. 00:22:06.806 --> 00:22:22.008 If we move to a couple of chapters later in 2 Chronicles, we see that the first nine chapters in 2 Chronicles record Solomon's reign and this is taken up mostly by the building and the dedication of the temple. 00:22:22.008 --> 00:22:32.068 God provided Solomon with the wealth, the materials and the workers, the materials and the workers to build the temple. 00:22:32.068 --> 00:22:44.317 And not only do we see Yahweh's divine plan for the temple being revealed over the four decades David reigned in Jerusalem, but really, arguably over millennia, because this all started with Adam. 00:22:44.317 --> 00:22:49.554 The planning of all of this, we saw that in the genealogies. 00:22:49.554 --> 00:22:56.892 Well, let's now examine Yahweh's presence in the temple, god's presence in the temple. 00:22:56.892 --> 00:22:58.451 This was a high point. 00:22:58.451 --> 00:23:09.057 The high point of Chronicles is actually the dedication of the temple, the dedication ceremony of the temple, which we can see in 2 Chronicles 5-6. 00:23:09.057 --> 00:23:17.967 2 Chronicles, chapters 5 and 6. 00:23:17.967 --> 00:23:23.077 The ark, which represents God's presence, entered the most holy place in the temple, called the Holy of Holies and placed under the wings of the cherubim. 00:23:23.077 --> 00:23:27.855 This was a grand finale of the whole construction process. 00:23:27.855 --> 00:23:40.144 No-transcript. 00:23:40.144 --> 00:23:45.333 As Yahweh dwelt in the temple and dwelt among his people. 00:23:45.333 --> 00:23:50.071 This initiated the temple as the center of worship for all of Israel. 00:23:51.760 --> 00:23:59.207 Turn with me now to 2 Chronicles 5, and let's look at this text 2 Chronicles 5. 00:23:59.207 --> 00:24:09.792 This is on the dedication ceremony of the temple, starting at verse 2. 00:24:09.792 --> 00:24:12.226 Chapter 5, verse 2. 00:24:12.226 --> 00:24:26.862 At that time, solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites, in order to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord up from the city of David, that is, zion. 00:24:26.862 --> 00:24:31.772 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the king's presence at the festival. 00:24:32.760 --> 00:24:34.222 This was in the seventh month. 00:24:34.222 --> 00:24:40.413 All the elders of Israel came and the Levites picked up the ark. 00:24:40.413 --> 00:24:45.632 They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting and the holy utensils that were in the tent. 00:24:45.632 --> 00:24:49.609 The priests and the Levites brought them up. 00:24:49.609 --> 00:25:03.365 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him, were in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep, goats and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many. 00:25:03.365 --> 00:25:19.612 The priests brought the ark of the Lord's Covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. 00:25:19.612 --> 00:25:22.300 Now skip down to verse 10. 00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:22.981 Verse 10. 00:25:22.981 --> 00:25:24.002 Now skip down to verse 10. 00:25:24.002 --> 00:25:24.784 Verse 10. 00:25:24.784 --> 00:25:35.556 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. 00:25:35.556 --> 00:25:47.403 Now, all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions, when the priests came out of the holy place, regardless of their divisions. 00:25:47.423 --> 00:25:55.329 When the priests came out of the holy place, the Levitical singers, dressed in fine linen and carrying cymbals, harps and lyres, were standing east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing the trumpets. 00:25:55.329 --> 00:26:02.905 The Levitical singers were descendants of Asaph, heman and Juduthun and their sons and relatives. 00:26:02.905 --> 00:26:09.576 The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. 00:26:09.576 --> 00:26:18.381 They raised their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, and this is what they sang For. 00:26:18.381 --> 00:26:19.586 He is good. 00:26:19.586 --> 00:26:23.099 His faithful love endures forever. 00:26:23.099 --> 00:26:27.759 His faithful love endures forever. 00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:42.285 The temple, the Lord's temple, was filled with a cloud, and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled God's temple. 00:26:42.285 --> 00:26:46.633 Wow, there was a great celebration at the dedication of this temple. 00:26:46.633 --> 00:26:58.828 Celebration with music, lots of sacrifices, too many to be counted, but more importantly, did you note God's word, those two tablets in the ark? 00:26:58.828 --> 00:27:04.776 God's word finds the central location in the most holy place in the temple. 00:27:04.776 --> 00:27:15.775 God's word was placed in the most central place of the most holy part of the temple. 00:27:15.775 --> 00:27:23.452 What does this tell us about where God's word should sit in our own lives? 00:27:23.452 --> 00:27:31.925 The Psalms tell us Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. 00:27:31.925 --> 00:27:34.647 That's Psalm 119, verse 11. 00:27:34.647 --> 00:27:43.286 And then this one I've learned since childhood Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 00:27:43.286 --> 00:27:46.515 That's Psalm 119, verse 105. 00:27:46.515 --> 00:27:54.344 But what is your attitude toward the word of God From that text? 00:27:54.364 --> 00:27:55.969 There's another observation to make here. 00:27:55.969 --> 00:28:02.472 There is a direct connection between God's presence and God's glory. 00:28:02.472 --> 00:28:12.348 The presence of Yahweh was so strong that the priests were not even able to stand because the glory of the Lord filled God's temple. 00:28:12.348 --> 00:28:14.733 That's 2 Chronicles 5, verse 14. 00:28:14.733 --> 00:28:19.685 We just read when God is present, there too is his glory. 00:28:19.685 --> 00:28:35.673 This reflects back to exodus 40 and verses 34 and 35 regarding the cloud covering the tent of meeting, and the glory of the lord filled it so much that moses could not enter it. 00:28:38.383 --> 00:28:48.721 Yahweh's special dwelling place, his presence among his people at this stage in history was particularly in the physical temple. 00:28:48.721 --> 00:28:53.849 The temple was the center of Jewish life and worship. 00:28:53.849 --> 00:29:00.865 Well, when the people returned from exile back to Jerusalem, they rebuilt the temple. 00:29:00.865 --> 00:29:08.895 But this temple was no comparison to the glorious temple that Solomon built in his day. 00:29:08.895 --> 00:29:14.932 The physical appearance was far less glorious. 00:29:14.932 --> 00:29:23.029 Also, the manifestation of God's dwelling place, manifestation of God dwelling there, was very different. 00:29:23.029 --> 00:29:35.190 In fact, in the last kings of Judah, just before the exile, god departed from the temple. 00:29:35.190 --> 00:29:36.192 He left the temple. 00:29:36.192 --> 00:29:51.251 So Israel had many failures, failures in obeying God's commands and to keep his covenant. 00:29:54.020 --> 00:30:02.335 Many prophecies about this, about the temple, did not really refer to Solomon's temple or the post-exilic temple. 00:30:02.335 --> 00:30:11.573 Instead, they referred to a future temple to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the church, and fully in the new heaven and new earth. 00:30:11.573 --> 00:30:31.109 When you example the temple theme in Chronicles, we had just reviewed God's plan for building the temple, god's presence in the temple, and now we want to consider God's people and the temple. 00:30:31.109 --> 00:30:33.340 So God's people, how? 00:30:33.340 --> 00:30:39.334 God's people revered or did not revere Yahweh? 00:30:39.334 --> 00:30:53.932 The writer of Chronicles addressed these questions regarding the identity of Israel and tried to renew their hope and confidence because they'd just returned from a 70-year captivity. 00:30:54.859 --> 00:31:10.371 The genealogies of Israel that we see starting this book trace the people's ancestry back to Adam, and this is to remind them that Israel has always been at the center of God's focus from the very beginning of creation. 00:31:10.371 --> 00:31:28.451 But in spite of being only a remnant and a small outpost on the fringes of a very large empire, israel needed to remember that its security and destiny rested entirely with their covenant-keeping God. 00:31:28.451 --> 00:31:36.660 This is the God who rules over all nations and has given the land to Abraham's descendants forever. 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:47.796 But, being a sinful people living before a holy God, they had to pay special attention to personal purity and holiness. 00:31:47.796 --> 00:31:58.234 First thing, god demanded that only one tribe, levi, be the ones to serve him at the altar. 00:31:58.234 --> 00:32:15.095 Major reason for this, as we see in the genealogies that the chronicler presented it, was to show which Israelites were allowed to serve the priestly duties. 00:32:17.781 --> 00:32:27.510 You recall when Uzziah, one of the Davidic kings, entered the holy place, he quickly was rebuked by the litical priests. 00:32:27.510 --> 00:32:33.432 They said to him Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the Lord. 00:32:33.432 --> 00:32:40.074 Only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense. 00:32:40.074 --> 00:32:43.747 Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully. 00:32:43.747 --> 00:32:46.240 You will not receive honor from the Lord God. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:47.984 This is 2 Chronicles 26. 00:32:47.984 --> 00:33:10.221 And the next verse says that the Lord struck him with leprosy because he violated the laws of purity and took the presence of God without reverence, reverence, without reverence. 00:33:10.261 --> 00:33:16.153 Secondly, the kings of Judah allowed showed much, how much they treasured and revered God by how well they maintained the temple. 00:33:16.153 --> 00:33:25.252 The hearts of the kings of Judah was measured by how well they treated and maintained the temple. 00:33:25.252 --> 00:33:33.148 King Ahaz, for example, in 2 Chronicles 28, gathered up the utensils of God's temple. 00:33:33.148 --> 00:33:40.500 He cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the Lord's temple and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem. 00:33:40.500 --> 00:33:53.222 And he anchored the Lord in Jerusalem and he angered the Lord. 00:33:53.222 --> 00:34:04.445 Now, ahaz's grandson, manasseh, really the most wicked king of Judah in that line of David, in 2 Chronicles 33, manasseh built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord's temple. 00:34:04.445 --> 00:34:08.862 He passed his sons through the fire in Banhinom Valley. 00:34:08.862 --> 00:34:11.690 He sacrificed his sons. 00:34:11.690 --> 00:34:18.445 He practiced witchcraft, he practiced divination and sorcery and consulted mediums and spiritists. 00:34:18.445 --> 00:34:29.400 He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord's sight, amount of evil in the Lord's sight. 00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:31.744 Angering him For his sin, god sent an army of Assyrian soldiers from the king of Assyria. 00:34:31.744 --> 00:34:39.903 They captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with shackles and took him to Babylon. 00:34:43.429 --> 00:34:52.864 Thirdly, in contrast to these wicked kings of judah, the godly kings consistently devoted themselves to the temple. 00:34:52.864 --> 00:34:56.213 They opened its doors and purified its courts. 00:34:56.213 --> 00:34:59.961 They resumed its sacrifices and repaired its structures. 00:34:59.961 --> 00:35:08.822 Joash, in his early years, when he was under the influence of Jehoiada the priest, is an example of this. 00:35:08.822 --> 00:35:19.628 If you remember Joash, hezekiah is another godly king who exemplified this, and Josiah later on also exemplified this behavior. 00:35:21.052 --> 00:35:23.586 Fourthly, when the people now we're talking about the people, not the kings. 00:35:23.586 --> 00:35:25.161 Now, when the people now we're talking about the people, not the kings. 00:35:25.161 --> 00:35:29.552 Now, when the people obeyed god, the temple was a great place of joy and blessing. 00:35:29.552 --> 00:35:35.905 Um, after solomon dedicated the temple, he sent the people home. 00:35:35.905 --> 00:35:37.369 What were they doing? 00:35:37.369 --> 00:35:48.010 They were rejoicing with happy hearts for the goodness the lord had done for david and for solomon and for his people, israel. 00:35:48.010 --> 00:35:52.655 That was the people's response after the dedication of the temple. 00:35:52.655 --> 00:35:57.128 Another example of this is Hezekiah. 00:35:57.128 --> 00:35:59.903 Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29,. 00:35:59.903 --> 00:36:12.793 In the very first year of his reign, opened the doors of the temple, repaired them and had the Levites cleanse it of all impurities and consecrate it. 00:36:12.793 --> 00:36:14.985 He restored the temple worship. 00:36:14.985 --> 00:36:22.420 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over how God had prepared the people, for it had come about suddenly. 00:36:22.420 --> 00:36:27.320 For it had come about suddenly. 00:36:29.579 --> 00:36:35.545 Fifth, when the sinful pride of people distort their understanding of God's covenant blessings, they suffer God's curse. 00:36:35.545 --> 00:36:44.806 Let me repeat that when the sinful pride of people distort their understanding of God's covenant blessings, they suffer God's curse. 00:36:44.806 --> 00:36:52.860 And this is what the chronicler wanted the post-exilic community to avoid happening again. 00:36:52.860 --> 00:36:57.911 This led them to be taken to exile into Babylon. 00:36:57.911 --> 00:37:21.802 In the first place, disobedient Judah had sought for anything that could give them a sense of security, and this gave rise to a very popular belief that the temple provided some sort of guarantee of God's protection and presence, as if God was bound to do that, even in spite of their disobedience and corruption. 00:37:21.802 --> 00:37:26.032 The temple was a false reassurance of God's protection. 00:37:26.032 --> 00:37:28.623 It was a good luck charm. 00:37:28.623 --> 00:37:30.547 That's how they took it. 00:37:30.547 --> 00:37:34.074 They trusted in a temple rather than God. 00:37:34.074 --> 00:37:39.313 So God sent Jeremiah to give a message to correct this wrong thinking. 00:37:39.313 --> 00:37:42.081 That's recorded in Jeremiah, chapter 7. 00:37:42.081 --> 00:37:46.231 So the temple polarized God's covenant people. 00:37:46.231 --> 00:37:51.351 Obedience and humility and worship brought covenant blessings. 00:37:51.351 --> 00:37:57.132 Disobedience and arrogance brought covenant curses. 00:38:00.141 --> 00:38:06.465 So, in summary, the major themes in Chronicles are derived from the Davidic covenant, david asked to build God a house, a temple. 00:38:06.465 --> 00:38:08.467 So, in summary, the major themes in Chronicles are derived from the Davidic covenant. 00:38:08.467 --> 00:38:13.773 David asked to build God a house, a temple, but Yahweh responded saying that he would build David a house, a dynasty. 00:38:13.773 --> 00:38:35.041 Chronicles has been about these two houses how God raised up the Davidic dynasty as a promise of hope and, secondly, how David's royal house was constructed and maintained, maintaining Yahweh's temple. 00:38:35.041 --> 00:38:39.150 These two institutions, the monarchy and the temple, are really integrally connected with each other. 00:38:40.592 --> 00:38:42.862 Last Sunday, we looked at God's commitment to the house of David. 00:38:42.862 --> 00:38:57.373 Today we examined God's temple and its presence and its people, and we reviewed Yahweh's temple by way of the three points God's plan for the temple, god's presence in the temple and God's people and the temple. 00:38:57.373 --> 00:39:08.514 The event of the ark coming to rest in the Holy of Holies is given a fair amount of space, indicating its importance. 00:39:08.514 --> 00:39:18.574 A cloud filled the temple and showed that Yahweh visibly took up residence with his people in the temple. 00:39:18.574 --> 00:39:25.253 Today, the glory of God dwells in his people by the Holy Spirit. 00:39:27.081 --> 00:39:30.711 As we conclude, I want to leave you with two questions. 00:39:30.711 --> 00:39:40.793 The first question to reflect on is how can you celebrate this important blessing that God has given us today? 00:39:40.793 --> 00:39:55.590 And secondly, why is it better for us to have the glory of God dwelling in us by the Spirit than to have it outside us in a visible cloud? 00:39:55.590 --> 00:40:06.891 I'll repeat that question again why is it better for us to have the glory of God dwelling in us by the Spirit than to have it outside us in a visible cloud? 00:40:06.891 --> 00:40:10.264 Let's pray, father. 00:40:10.264 --> 00:40:15.960 Thank you that Solomon's temple was a symbol of your everlasting presence among your people. 00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:35.865 Today, we no longer need the temple, because you dwell in and among your people by your spirit, because your spirit dwells in us, produce in us the fruit of the spirit and impart in us an atmosphere of joy as we serve you and your people. 00:40:35.865 --> 00:40:37.050 Amen.