B (7:48)

Solomon's Temple stood in Jerusalem for almost 400 years. It was the crown jewel of Jerusalem and the center of worship to the Lord. Almost half of the Old Testament writings took place during the time when Solomon's Temple was still standing. Understanding the significance of its location, history and design can greatly add to one's reverence for one of the most holy places in the world. The city of Jerusalem is located in an area of three major the Hinnomy, the central or Tyropean and The Kidron Valley. The mountain range between the Central and Kidron Valley is called Mount Moriah. The peak of the mountain is a large protruding flat rock which is now located under the Dome of the rock. According to Genesis 22:2, Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac in the region of Moriah, connecting the Temple Mount with this significant event. At the time of King David, the area of Jerusalem was controlled by the Jebusites, the city only occupying the southern part of the central ridge. When David captured the city in about 1000 B.C. he made Jerusalem his capital. David then moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and began preparations for building a permanent structure to replace the portable Tabernacle of Moses that had been used for over 400 years. With the ancient city of Jerusalem being fairly small, David purchased the threshing floor of Arona the Jebusite so he could expand the size of the city. Being higher than the city of David, the hilltop would make a beautiful place to build the Temple of the Lord. Under the reign of David's son, King Solomon, the temple construction began. After seven years of construction, in about 960 B.C. solomon finished building the temple, most likely built over this same protruding rock of Mount Moriah. Solomon also built himself a new palace just south of the Temple and expanded the walls of the city up towards the peak of Mount Moriah. The Temple of Solomon was modeled after the Tabernacle of Moses. Because of the many similarities between the Tabernacle and the Garden of Eden, many scholars believe that the Garden of Eden was the prototype for the Tabernacle and thus later temples. According to Jewish tradition, Eden was located on a hill with the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil at the center of the hill. The Bible teaches that when Adam and Eve transgressed and partook of the forbidden fruit, they were cast out towards the east. Cherubim and a flaming sword were then placed at the east entrance to prevent them from partaking of the Tree of Life as they would then live forever in their sin. In order to return back into the presence of God, Israel had to symbolically retrace the steps of Adam and Eve, passing the cherubim and re entering the garden in a westward direction. The Tabernacle was set up in this same east to west progression, seeming to replicate the Garden of Eden. The Tabernacle was divided into three main the outer Court, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The outer court represented the fallen world, while the inner courts represented a more sacred and holier way of life. In essence, as the priest who represented all of Israel progressed through the tabernacle or temple. He left the world to enter a more holy state and then was enabled to re enter the presence of the Lord, passing the angels or cherubim who were embroidered on the veil. Solomon's temple replicated the same three level progression, doubling the floor plan size of the tabernacle sanctuary for the temple structure. As one approached the Temple of Solomon, the first thing noticed was the Brazen Altar of Sacrifice. The altar was 20 cubits long and wide and 10 cubits high, a cubit being the length from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger, or about one and a half feet. On the four corners of the altar were four horns, horns often representing power. This is where the sacrificial animals were burned, representing the future sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ. On the southeast side of the temple was the molten or brazen sea, which rested on the backs of 12 oxen and three pointing in each of the cardinal directions. In ancient times, oxen represented strength and the number 12 often represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Water from the larger brazen sea was poured into 10 bronze water basins on both sides of the temple, which could then be wheeled around the outer court for various washing and cleansing rituals by the priests. Around the south, west and north sides of the temple were three floors of chambers or storage rooms. The the inside wall of the chambers was stepped so as to create a ledge where the timbers of the floors could rest. The storage rooms were accessed by a door on the south side of the temple with wooden ladders going up into each of the floors. At the front of the temple were two large bronze pillars that flanked the porch. The pillar on the left was named Boaz and the pillar on the right was named Yachin. The tops were decorated with lily flower petals and pomegranates. Pomegranates were a sign of prosperity and posterity because of their many seeds and were also found on the bottom hem of the clothing of the high priest. The main temple doors were made of two large bi folding doors covered in gold with cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. The Bible describes the doorframe as being a full fourth part of the wall, which most scholars believe means that the door had four stepped frames. The interior doorway of the Holy of Holies was similar, except having five frames instead of four. The priests who represented Israel were the only ones allowed into the inner temple. This means that Israel only could enter through being represented by the priests. Once you entered the main doors, you entered the holy place. A large room, 40 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall. The room was overlaid with gold and decorated with cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, possibly alluding to the beauty of the Garden of Eden. The room was lit by 10 large menorahs, five on each side of the room that were constantly burning, and narrow windows on each side of the top of the room. On the right side of the room was located the table of showbread, which had 12 large flat pita like loaves. The priests ate and then replaced the showbread every Sabbath, similar to our weekly partaking of the communion or sacramental bread. Breaking bread and sharing a meal with someone in ancient times represented that you were at peace with them and was a sign of brotherhood, love and forgiveness. Directly in front of the Holy of Holies was the altar of incense. The altar was similar to the altar of Sacrifice in that it had a square footprint and also had four horns, one on each of the corners. However, on the altar of Sacrifice was burned the flesh of animals, while upon the altar of incense burned a sweet combination of incenses. The incense burning before the veil of the temple represented the prayers of the saints ascending to God before the veil, a reminder that before we can enter God's presence, our lives, prayers and actions must become a sweet savor unto the Lord. Only the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies, and only on one day a year, the Day of Atonement. Before entering, the High Priest passed through a beautifully embroidered veil woven from purple, red, blue and white threads. The colors were the same as used in the Ephod and breastplate of the clothing of the High Priest, minus the gold thread embroidered on the veil were cherubim, who symbolically guarded the dwelling place of God. As the High Priest passed through the veil, he had to pass these angels who, like in the Garden of Eden, guarded the way back to the presence of the Lord. Upon entering the Holy of Holies, you would find that the room is in the shape of a perfect cube, being 20 cubits wide, long and tall. The walls were likewise overlaid with gold and decorated with cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. Two large cherubim flanked the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the center of the room, with their wings stretching from one side of the room to the other. This room is where the presence of the Lord would dwell and represented the final goal and destiny of all Israel. Solomon's Temple was not only a landmark for the city of Jerusalem, but more importantly, the dwelling place of the Lord. The layout represented Israel's progression back into God's presence and was designed to teach Israel that it was only through the infinite sacrifice of the sins of sinless Messiah that they could once again enjoy the presence of the Lord. A sacrifice that would be performed on a cross only a short distance from this holy mountain.

A (17:41)

So now you have this visual in your minds. Let's continue here in Second Chronicles 3. 3. This is the foundation which Solomon laid for building the house of God. The length was 60 cubits by cubits according to the former measure. Now, why does it say that? Because the Babylonians had a cubit measurement that was about 19 and a half inches. But the former measurement would be the way that the Israelites measured the cubit. Again, it was roughly from the elbow to the middle finger. The length was about 18 inches. So the cubit that is being used here is 18 inches. And the length, as it says, was 60 cubits, and the width was 20 cubits. And verse four says, and the vestibule that was in front of the sanctuary was 20 cubits long across the width of the house, and the height was 120. So the temple itself is about 90ft long, 30ft wide, 45ft high. You're going to read here that the manpower it took to build it over the course of seven years were 150,000 workers. The material that we're going to read about was white limestone with wood, also paneling the interior, which was cedar that was imported from Lebanon, olive wood, and cypress. Now, King James says fir instead of cypress, Niv says pine instead of cypress. And precious metal, a lot of gold was used to panel the interior. If you add up the value of the gold alone on this temple, as it describes, the weight, it comes to in Today's standard, about $400 billion. $400 billion. So verse five says, the larger room he paneled with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold. And he carved palm trees and chain work on it. Chain work is basically just decorative design. And he decorated the house with precious stones for beauty. And the gold was gold from Parveim. Now, this is the only time Parveim is mentioned. Scholars don't really know where that is. The best guess is that it has to do with the Arabian Peninsula. It's probably the same as what you read in the Bible as Ophir gold from Ophir. It's probably the Arabian Peninsula. Verse 7 says, he also overlaid the house, the beams and the doorposts, its walls and doors, with gold. And he carved cherubim on the walls. And he made the most Holy place. And now we've moved into the very inner sanctum, the most holy place. Its length was according to the width of the house, 20 cubits and its width 20 cubits. So that's 30 by 30. Like you saw in the video. It was a perfect cube, 30 by 30 by 30. And he overlaid it with 600 talents of fine gold. So again, the measurement of a talent is about 75 pounds. When you look at it took 600 talents, the going rate of gold today, just that interior holy of holies place, the value is about $3.2 billion. Verse 9. The weight of the nails was 50 shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper area with gold. In the most holy place, he made two cherubim, fashioned by carving and overlaid them with gold. Now you can circle the word Cherubim there, there in your Bibles, Cherubim are mentioned more than 90 times just in the Old Testament. And they are angelic creatures. They are of the angelic order, although they seem to be a specific type of angelic creature, much like in the book of Isaiah, it mentions seraphim. You have more references to cherubim. Now that's the plural. The singular is cherub. And again, these are of an angelic order. And they seem to most be seen in scripture as guardians, that they are guardian angels of some sort. They are always described in the Old Testament as having wings. And interestingly, they are seen as creatures with four faces. In the book of Ezekiel they are seen with a human face on one side, a lion's face on the other side, an ox face on one, and then an eagle on the fourth. So you have to picture like a square head with the picture of a man, the picture of an ox, the picture of an eagle, the picture of a lion, and again, they all have wings. We first see them mentioned in Genesis chapter three. They are guardian, as the video showed, they are guarding the way back into the garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve could not return and eat of the tree of life and then seal their sinful state forever. So they're posted there in Genesis 3. 24. That's the first reference to cherubim in the Bible. The last reference is in the book of Revelation in chapter four. Although it doesn't specifically use the word cherubim, but by the way it describes it, it seems pretty clear that they are the cherubim. But they are seen in Scripture. And what is interesting is that Satan is noted in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 14 as being an anointed Cherub, he is of that order. Now, some translations, niv, I think ESV add guardian. So it says anointed guardian, cherub. But Satan was of the highest order. In fact, most Bible scholars believe that Satan was the chief angel among angels. But he is noted as a cherub. So he's part of this order. And what is interesting is that part of the description of the temple included these cherubim being engraved and being fashioned either by carving or being threaded as part of the veil all over. They adorn all of the interior and the doors of this temple. So they're very interesting creatures. You see them around the throne of God in Ezekiel chapter one. But they are interesting. And we don't understand exactly the order of cherubim versus seraphim, but they are distinct creatures among the angelic beings. And so it says here, verse 11, that the wings of the cherubim were 20 cubits in overall length. One wing of the one cherub was five cubits touching the wall of the room, and the other wing was five cubits touching the wing of the other cherub. One wing of the other cherub was five cubits touching the wall of the room, and the other wing also was five cubits touching the wing of the other cherub. Now you see why I showed you the video, right? All right. So the wings of these cherubim spanned 20 cubits overall. They stood on their feet and they faced inward. And he made the veil of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen and wove cherubim into it. Now, this veil would separate the most holy place, the ultimate interior room into which, by the way, only the high priest could go once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. So the most holy place is also called the holy of holies. And it would separate the holy place, the other part of the interior of the temple, with this veil. Now, you remember when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the Bible says in the New Testament that the veil of the temple was torn in two. And by the way, it specifically says it was torn in two from the top to the bottom so that it would be clear that man didn't come along from the bottom and tear it so that it ripped up. It ripped down because it was God's doing. And why did God rip the veil of the temple? Because he was letting everyone know that we now have access to the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, before Jesus dies. The only access people had to God was through the high priest. And then only once a year, when the high priest would Go behind the veil to sprinkle the blood on the ark of the covenant, to make atonement for the sins of the people. And. And by God ripping the veil from top to bottom, he was communicating to us that now everyone has free access, but you can only have access to the Father through the Son, through the sacrifice of Jesus. And just like they pointed out in the video, the crucifixion of Christ also happens there on Mount Moriah, just north of the old city. Still part of Mount Moriah is where Golgotha is located. And so all of this happens, the near sacrifice of Isaac at the hands of Abraham until God provides a ram instead of sacrificing his son. It was all a test of his faith. And then the temple is built there, and then Christ is sacrificed. So you. And by the way, the sacrifice of Isaac that Abraham was about to commit is all a picture of the sacrifice of Christ. So all of it happens there on Mount Moriah. This is sacred holy territory. We. Why do you think there is so much dispute over the sacred holy territory today? Because it has such profound redemptive quality. Because that's where the redemptive plan of God was unfolded on Mount Moriah, through the cross of Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed there. Of course, there's going to be all this turmoil and battle over this territory, over this piece of real estate. There's been war after war after war and people wanting to claim it, because of course, Satan doesn't like this is sacred holy ground. And Satan doesn't like that place. So of course he's going to stir up animosity among any people that he can to, you know, try to discredit or try to in any way come against this beautiful sacred land. But this is where the temple would be built, here, verse 15. And also he made in front of the temple two pillars 35 cubits high, and the capital that was on top of each of them was five cubits. And he made wreaths of chain work, as in the inner sanctuary, and put them on top of the pillars. And he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the wreaths of chainwork. And then he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left. And he called the name of the one on the right hand, Yachin, and the name on the one on the left, Boaz. And so they mention also in the video, what's interesting is Yachin in Hebrew means he will establish, and Boaz translates in strength. It's interesting when you put it all together, that it reads that these pillars read, he will establish in strength. It's this idea that as you come into the house of the Lord, and only the priests at this time could even go in that much into the house of the Lord, that it is a reminder that he will establish and strengthen the ones who enter in. And I pray that's always our disposition when we come into the house of the Lord. Here, that we remember as we come into the house of the Lord, as we come to church, we are coming into God's presence. He's not restricted to a temple, to a building, to a place, but it's still this concept that he will establish and strengthen us as we come into his presence. May God establish and strengthen well, chapter four says, moreover, he made a bronze altar. 20 cubits was its length, 20 cubits its width, and 10 cubits its height. So this is 30 square, 30ft by 30ft. This is where they would sacrifice the animals. It was 10ft high. So they show steps there. Although the Bible doesn't talk about steps steps, but it's inferred. And then he made the sea of cast bronze, 10 cubits from one brim to the other. It was completely round. So this was this large basin of water. So it's 15ft in diameter. I'm helping you with the cubit measurements here. It's 15ft in diameter. It's 45ft in circumference. It's seven and a half feet high. And remember, it rests on these 12 oxen. It tells us this in the rest of the passage here. It says its height was 5 cubits. And a line of 30 cubits measured its circumference. And under it was the likeness of oxen encircling it all around, 10 to a cubit, all the way around the sea. The oxen were cast in two rows when it was cast, and it stood on 12 oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, three looking toward the east. The sea was set up upon them and all their back parts pointed inward. It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. And it contained 3,000 baths. Now, again, this is ancient measurement. A bath is basically six gallons. So this big tub contained about 18,000 gallons of water. Now it's going to tell us the purpose for it. Verse 6. He also made ten lavers and put five on the right side and five on the left. This was the Little tiny basins to wash in them. Such things as they offered for the burnt offering, they would wash in them. But the sea was for the priests to wash in. Okay? So the priests had to go through this ceremonial cleansing. And part of their ritual cleansing was they bathed in this big, what was called the sea. It was this big, Brazen, huge Jacuzzi. 18,000 gallons. It's kind of like a small swimming pool, to be honest with you. I think a Jacuzzi is like, I don't know, 100 gallons of water, but this is like 18,000 gallons of water. So it's like a small swimming pool. And again, it's seven and a half feet off the ground, so they don't show it. But there had to have been some kind of steps to climb over the oxen to get up into this, into this, the sea in which they would bathe. It was part of their ceremonial cleansing. And then they had these smaller basins, you remember, five on each side, five on north, five on the south. And they had. So they had 10. Because the priests would wash the animals as part of the preparation for sacrificing these animals on the larger altar. So all of this was prescribed by God. Why these 12 oxen and why facing in different directions? As the video pointed out, oxen were a picture of strength. You read some commentaries, and some say, well, the 12 oxen is a prefigure. It's a pre picture of the 12 disciples and they would eventually carry living water into the world. I think more likely it represents the 12 tribes of Israel. Because when you look in the Old Testament and you saw the configuration of how the tribes encamped when they were making their pilgrimage from slavery in Egypt to the promised land, they would have three tribes situated on the north, three on the south, three on the east, and three on the west. So it seems to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And it's on the back of the oxen because it pictures the strength of the nation. And so the rest of this says in verse seven, and he made the ten lampstands of gold according to their design and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. So these are called menorahs. And this was the only light within the temple. Now, they did have the upper windows, but at any other time, the menorahs would be lit. Ten of them in all, five on each side. And this was the only source of light. It's interesting, too, because they even had prescription about keeping the wicks trimmed. And the reason is because if you don't trim the wicks. It gets all smoky inside. So the priests had this regular regiment where they had to put out the showbread every day and then they would consume it and they had to trim the wicks every day to make sure that there wasn't smoke inside the temple. It was all very meticulous, very prescribed, very detailed by the Lord. Verse 8 says that he also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made 100 bowls of gold. And furthermore, he made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court. And he overlaid these doors with bronze. And he set the sea on the right side toward the southeast. And then it talks here about Huram. Circle his name in your Bibles. You might remember him from chapter two if you were here a couple weeks ago. In chapter two, verses 13 and 14, he's mentioned there. This is a guy from Lebanon. He comes from Tyre because Solomon has hired him. He is a master craftsman. He is a metal worker. He knows how to fashion things out of precious metals, bronze, gold and silver. And so they hire Huram and he comes from Tyre. Now, back in chapter two, it tells us that Hurram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father. So for all intents and purposes, it made him Jewish. They would count the Jewish lineage through the mother because often men would die in battle. So they had to still know, who does this kid belong to? And so the lineage was usually passed down through the mother. And so this guy's really Jewish, even though he has a gentile father. And Solomon hires him to fashion the pillars, the pomegranates, and all these various meticulous designs within the temple, which we will discuss in more detail next week. Okay. Because it's already. Our time has already escaped us. So this is the introduction of this beautiful temple here that Solomon is assigned by God to build, and build it he does. It's very elaborate. It's very beautiful. It's very ornate. It's very expensive. But it is a picture of what is really a temple in heaven. And we'll talk more about it next week. Let's have a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you tonight for your word, for this reminder that you are not restricted to temples or buildings, and that when Christ died, that veil was torn in two. No longer this separation, we can approach the throne of grace directly through the sacrifice of Jesus. So thank you, Father, that you are accessible, that you are personable, that we can even call you our Father and we just love you Lord. Thank you for Jesus that you sent to save us from our sins. Thank you for this time in your word. Tonight we give you praise and glory in Jesus name, Amen and amen.