Tag: Temple

Sermon Extra: Giving Away What Was Never Ours

When King David launches a capital campaign to raise funds for a new temple, the haul is enormous. David himself makes the lead gift:

“In my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?”

Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. (1 Chronicles 29:3–7)

As I explained in my message on Sunday, using today’s metal prices, David gives and collects nearly $40 billion—and this is for a temple he will not even build! God has already told David that his son Solomon will be the one to build the temple:

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Sermon Extra: When Judah Came Near

This past Sunday, we kicked off a summer-long series at Zion on the book of Numbers. The book opens with the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, where they have been camped for almost a year while Moses has been meeting with God and receiving His commands, including the famed Ten Commandments. 

Now it is time for Israel to continue their trek through the Sinai wilderness. Before Israel breaks camp, however, God commands Moses to conduct a census. In Numbers 1, we get a list of tribes and clans, along with the number of men of fighting age in each tribe. In Numbers 2, we get instructions for how these tribes are to be arranged around the tabernacle—the place where God graciously promised to dwell among His people.

The picture above is my favorite depiction of the tribal arrangement from Numbers 2. To be clear, we don’t know exactly what this arrangement would have looked like. Numbers 2 does not say that the tribes were arranged in rectangles that fanned out perpendicular to the tabernacle. Still, the visual of the arrangement forming a cross is at least fascinating and fun to imagine.

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When the Heavens Open

Credit: Min An / Pexels.com

The prophet Isaiah requests of the Lord:

Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down. (Isaiah 64:1)

As Isaiah makes his request, he is remembering when God met with Moses on Mount Sinai, giving him His law, and the mountain trembled in fire and smoke:

When You did awesome things that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled before You. (Isaiah 64:3)

Though the people trembled when God gave His law, they did not obey His law, and so God has hidden Himself from people:

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on Your name or strives to lay hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have given us over to our sins. (Isaiah 64:6-7)

Because of Israel’s sin, rather than rending open the heavens and coming down, God has closed up the heavens and gone home. So, Isaiah ruefully asks:

How then can we be saved? (Isaiah 64:5)

Around 730 years after Isaiah mourns God’s hiddenness in heaven, the Gospel writer Mark records:

Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11)

In Christ, the heavens are torn open once again as God returns to His people once again. But that is not all that is torn.

When Christ dies on a cross, Mark recounts this scene:

The curtain of the temple was torn open in two from top to bottom. (Mark 15:38)

The curtain in question is the curtain that guarded the Holy of Holies – the place where the ancient Israelites believed God dwelled. When Christ died, it was torn open so God’s inner sanctum could be seen by all and any.

It turns out that God does eventually answer Isaiah’s prayer. But He answers the prophet’s prayer in a greater way than he could have ever imagined. Not only does God tear open the heavens and come down, as is revealed when Jesus is baptized, He also tears open the curtain to His own inner sanctum so that we may go in, as is revealed at Jesus’ death. Because of the cross, we can walk right into the place of salvation.

The heavens that once separated us and God separate us no more. God is with us – and, one day, we will be with Him.