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Solomon's Temple and the Church
We find many Old Testament pictures of New Testament people, doctrine, events, and other type and anti type relationships. We can even learn in the Old Testament something about the Lord's church that is revealed in the New Testament more completely. Of course, these things show the inseparable tie that exists between the Old Testament and New Testament. This is important because modernists deny there is any real connection between them. For them to do that would demand they surrender their preconceived bias they have already declared how there can be no such thing as prophecy and its fulfillment for that demands the miraculous, which demands the existence of God and inspiration, something they abhor to consider.
Tabernacle and Temple
Moses built the tabernacle for the Israelites as God gave him the pattern when Israel was encamped around Sinai. Later, after Israel had taken Canaan, the period of Judges had passed, and Israel had become a kingdom, the tabernacle was replaced by the temple, which was called the "house of God" and where God did dwell in a very special and distinctive way. The Lord's church is now God's house (I Timothy 3:14,15), and its members are said to be the temple of God (I Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:16). Ephesians 2:19-22 also presents the church as a "building fitly framed together... unto a holy temple in the Lord."
What had the people in Corinth and Ephesus done that made them the temple of God? Acts 18:8, "And Crispus. the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house: and many of the Corinthians believed, and were baptized." Acts 19:1-5 we read where Paul baptized men of Ephesus in the name of Christ. These people had heard the gospel. believed in Christ. and obeyed the commands of the gospel, including being baptized.
God no longer dwells in a physical temple as He did in the tabernacle and temple of the Old Testament (Acts 7:48; 17:24). There were three physical temples in Israel's history. The first was built by Solomon some four hundred eighty years after Israel entered Canaan. It took seven years to build and was destroyed when the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. The second temple was the one built under the leadership of Zerubbabel after Judah returned from Babylonian captivity. This temple gradually fell into the state of disrepair. Herod's temple, the largest of the three and the one standing during the life of Jesus on earth, took forty six years to build. It too was destroyed when the Romans destroyed, Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The temple was first proposed by David. But permission was denied him to build the temple because he was a man of war and there was so much conflict around him during his reign (II Samuel 7:1-2; I Chronicles 28:3). But David was told that his son Solomon would build It and David was permitted to gather many of the materials that would he used in its construction (I Chronicles 28:6). There are a number of parallels between the temple and the church. At this point one should leave our remarks and familiarize himself with the record of First Kings 5: 1-11 concerning the building of Solomon's temple.
Solomon's Temple
The first temple was built by Solomon. The church was built by Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:16-18). Solomon was on the throne as king when the temple was built. Christ had already ascended into heaven to he at the right hand of God at the time the church came into existence on Pentecost (Acts 2:33,34). This was as Daniel had prophesied when he told of the Son of man going to the Ancient of Days (God. the Father) and being given a kingdom (Daniel 7:13, 14).
Adversaries had been defeated before the temple was built. The constant plague of enemies was one element in the denial to David's request to build the temple (I Kings 5:15). Christ did not build His church until He had conquered the great adversary, the devil. Hebrews 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is. the devil" Christ had said that even the gates of Hades would not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:20). This meant that nothing, not even His own death, would prevent the church from being established. Furthermore, Peter preached, Acts 2:25-27, "For David speaketh concerning him, Foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope; because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wt It thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption."
Material for the temple was brought out of another kingdom. Solomon got cedars from Lebanon (I Kings 5:8 10) with the cooperation of Hiram, king of Tyre. The material that enters Into the temple of God, His church, also comes from another kingdom. There are two spiritual kingdoms, one belonging to God, and the other to the devil. Those In the kingdom of God are those who have been delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into God's kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Every Christian was once In the kingdom of death, but now is a citizen in the kingdom of life.
Prepared Material
Material that went into Solomon's temple was prepared for the temple (I Kings 5:6). The timber was cut and the stones were hewed to precision to the extent that when these materials were put together they fit perfectly and the temple was erected without the sound of the hammer nor axe (I Kings 6:7). Those who enter the Lord s church are also prepared to enter. We are prepared by being taught and converted to Christ, our sins being washed away by His blood, and we are thereby made fit for the new temple of God.
The materials that went into Solomon's temple were paid for before they went into the temple (I Kings 5:11). Solomon gave Hiram the payment before they were placed Into the temple. A similar thing has taken place regarding those of us who make up the church, the temple of God. The blood of Christ was the price paid for the church (Acts 20:28). He shed His blood at Calvary while men were yet in their sins (Romans 5:8). If the price had not been paid there could not have been the temple.
The material was brought across the water before it was placed Into the temple (I Kings 5:9). After the cedars were cut they were conveyed to Israel by means of water. Similarly, one enter the temple of God, the church, by means of water, being baptized in water by the authority of Christ for the remission of sins. One Is baptized Into the body (I Corinthians 12:13) which is the church (Ephesians 1:22,23) which is also God's temple (Ephesians 2:19-22). Those who make up the church or temple have been born again, "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:3-5).
The Finished Product
When the temple was completed It was considered beautiful, holy, sacred, being filled with the glory of God. Isaiah said of the temple when bemoaning its destruction that was to come, he called It, "Our holy and beautiful house" (Isaiah 64:11). Similarly, Paul said of the church, Ephesians 5:27, "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such things: but that it should be holy and without blemish."
In the temple the priests of God offered their sacrifices. In the church, every Christian is a priest for we make up a holy priesthood (I Peter 2:5). There is no such thing as a clergy laity system in the Lord's church like you find in the denominations which are of human rather than divine origin. Service to God is to be done as one is a member of His church. It is in the church that we offer our sacrifices and do the work God has commanded of us.
Solomon's temple was a physical building. But the church, even though it is presented as a building, is not a physical house. Even some brethren must think the church building where we meet for worship is some sanctified and holy place because they disallow eating in the church building because to do so would be a sin against its holiness. Language is often loosely spoken by brethren that tends to reveal a misunderstanding of what the church is. I have a beautiful roll-top desk that I purchased from a good sister who had it in her garage. I thought she was going to sell it to somebody else who could pay more for it than I, but she graciously sold it to me with the explanation that she wanted to keep it in the church. I think I knew what she meant. I told her in jest that I did not know who baptized it, big as it is, but I am glad they did. You have to be baptized to be in the church. But the church is a spiritual house made up of people who have been spiritually redeemed by the blood of Christ. We are living stones. We are the temple of God.
A Significant Difference
We have noted several similarities between Solomon's temple and the Lord's church, Without doubt the temple was a part of the shadows of things to come, a type of the Lord's church. But we can also note one tremendous difference, Solomon's temple was destroyed. The Lord's church shall never be destroyed but shall last forever (Daniel 2:44). Death could not prevail against its beginning, nor shall anything prevail against its eternal glory. As we often sing, "It shall stand."
When you study the Scriptures you are impressed with the tie between the Old and New Testaments. You soon learn, even about the temple, that it was more than just a holy place of worship and service to God under the old law of Moses, with all of its compartments, courts, furnishings, and tapestries. It was really a type of that which was to come. We see In Scripture the gradual unfolding of God's place for redeeming man which He designed and determined before the foundation of the world. We read the prophecies, promises, and Old Testament pictures of the system of salvation through Christ. These things have been fulfilled in Christ and His church. Now God lives and dwells in and with His temple, the church. As people hear, believe, obey, and continue faithful to follow His Word, so Deity lives within them through that Word. We enter the temple by faith, repentance, confession of Christ, and baptism for the remission of sins. The Lord then adds us to His church (Acts 2:47), which means we become a part of His temple. Are you a "living stone" In the temple of God?