The Beautiful Temple

I have been reading the Bible chronologically this year, and have recently been in the book of 1 Kings. I have been awed by the process of the temple being built. It is something I honestly never paid the closest attention to, but a trip to Israel in August (that was cancelled by Corona) has made me more in tune with locations of actual events and buildings.

Today I was reading 1Kings 5-6 in which Solomon is building the temple. The temple is to be the first permanent home of the Lord. 

What I am struck by is how the actual temple was built in comparisson to how we, the new temple are built. It is so similar and so beautiful. The temple location was a place where David came face to face with the reality and gravity of his sin. The temple location was bought because it was the threshing floor where the angel of the Lord was exacting the penalty of his sin; conducting a census. David chose the plague as punishment, but God met him here and agreed to end it. He had to buy this place and God told him it would be the location of the temple. 

The symbolism of a threshing floor is so perfect. A place where wheat (us) is tossed into the air so the usable part falls, and the rest blows away. It is the truth of us coming face to face with our sin, and choosing God.  It is the first step. Are we the wheat or the chaff?

At this location where we have been threshed, God builds his temple. It was not just enough to admit and repent our sin, but then there comes a building and refining process. 

Solomon builds a magnificent temple in this place. He uses materials David had saved as well as wood from Tyre and the workmanship of a skilled craftsmen. This is what is so true of the new temple being built. He builds on our foundation from the time we are accepted on the threshing floor into something beautiful. As the walls are coated in gold, a refining process is occuring on site within is. Removing the dross is part of the beautiful process that is being performed. 

And when Solomon finished... And the old temple was built, it was something magnificent to behold. That is what is happening in us through our lives. You are being transformed into a beautiful temple.