Solomon’s Temple and the Presence of God
As mentioned before, King David did not build the Temple, although he did provide gold for its construction (1 Chron 29:2). King Solomon, David’s son was commissioned with the task to build the Temple. It took him 7 years to complete it and what a magnificent sight it was. It was the talk of the then world! The Bible records how the Queen of Sheba came with copious amount of gifts for Solomon after hearing about the great work he had done. She saw the grandness of his work and even went to the Temple with him, watching him present his offerings and worship to God (1 Kings 10:5).
After King Solomon had completed building the Temple, he preached a sermon to the people of Israel that had gathered at the Temple. He reminded the people of the word God gave to his father,
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The word ‘dwelt’ in this scripture is the Greek word ‘skenoo’, which means ‘to tabernacle’ or ‘to dwell’. It is the equivalent to the Hebrew word ‘mishkan’. The Bible tells us in Exodus 25:22 that God’s very presence overshadows the two cherubim above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. It is the place where He will meet with man. The New Testament confirms this by saying the glory (the presence of God) was above the mercy seat in the Tabernacle (Hebrews 9:5).
From the very offset, John tells us of the deity of Christ, and I believe that Jesus, the Word of God that tabernacles with us was, and remains to be, the glory that was seen in the Tabernacle and the Temple. This Jesus Christ, who dwelt with the people of the New Testament, is the same God of the Old Testament. Furthermore, Jesus still dwells with us today in the person of the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:23; Matt 28:20; 1 Jn 4:13) and lives amongst and within us. No wonder Paul says, let us come boldly before the throne of grace where we can obtain mercy (Heb