August 14, 2022
This week we read 1 Kings 1-10. King David died and his son Solomon became the king. Solomon asked for wisdom and received it from God. Because he did not ask for riches or long life, God gave him riches. During his reign he built a permanent temple for God.
After Solomon built the temple, 1 Kings 8:6-7 says, 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. I think this is a beautiful picture of the LORD’s presence.
There is a new temple now that Christ has come. Once we give our lives to Christ, we become God’s temple and God lives in us. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
John 14:16-17 says, “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you.”
Today, if we are Christian, we have God’s presence in us. My question is this, “Does the glory of the LORD fill our temples? Do people see God through our lives?
What would someone look if God’s glory shone through them? John 15:8 says, “8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Galatians 5:22-26 says, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Is the glory of the LORD shining through your temple?
Next week we will finish 1 Kings and read Chapters 11-22.
Diving into the Bible 