When He Sits on the Throne of His Glory May 15, 2010       “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love”  (Ephesians 4:16)       David, Who Prepared the Temple, and Solomon, Who Built the Temple     People have two eyes. But if you close one eye and stretch out the arm on the same side of your body, you will not be able to see that arm. If you look at an object through just one eye, your field of vision will be much narrower than it is when you look through two eyes.     God gave us two eyes in order that we might see clearly the things that we need to see. We may think that we can see just the same when we close our right eye and look and when we close our left eye and look. Nevertheless, we need to look through both eyes together if our field of vision is to be wider and the objects we are viewing are to be in focus and clear. When we do this, our brains are also able to make sharper judgments. It is the same when it comes to the words of the Bible. There may be times when the Bible seems to be repeating itself and you may find the content tedious, but when you approach the Bible, you must not look at it from one perspective alone. Even if the content of a passage seems to have been repeated, you need to pay close attention to both accounts. Only then can these words become a signpost to guide you along the right path. In Ephesians chapter 1, we have the following promise: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:18-19).     The accounts about Solomon that are to be found in First Kings are also recorded in Second Chronicles. The historical events that took place in Solomon’s time provide a very good example of the aforementioned difference between seeing with one eye and seeing with both eyes. It is true that Solomon built the temple in Israel, but he did not do it on his own. If it had not been for David, Solomon would not have been able to build the temple. We cannot say that one eye is more precious than the other. You may say, “My right hand is more necessary to me because I am right-handed,” but you still need your left hand.  In the same way, we refer to the temple as “Solomon’s temple,” but it was David who provided everything necessary for that temple to be built.     David was not able to build the temple himself, but he offered up the gold from his own coffers for the building of the temple. Then many priests and elders also gave their support to that matter when they saw what David had done, and so many materials were gathered for the construction that there was even a surplus leftover when the construction was complete. The Bible tells us that when all these donations were made, David’s heart overflowed with joy and gratitude to God (see 1 Chronicles 29). Nevertheless, God told David, “You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight” (1 Chronicles 22:8). Then God said, “You shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name” (1 Kings 8:19, 2 Chronicles 6:9).     In this account of events that happened three thousand years ago, we can see that God said something once and then He said it again. His decision was accomplished not in that generation but in the next. Here we can draw a comparison with the human body. The Bible says, “From whom [from Jesus Christ, who is the head] the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies” (Ephesians 4:16). Everything we do begins with the thoughts that take place in our heads, spreading out from there. Just as the blood vessels in our bodies branch out as either arteries or veins, the Bible, too, may be divided primarily, and broadly, into two streams: the Old Testament and the New Testament. David fought in battle all his life, but even though his life was surrounded by bloodshed, he still made all the preparations for the building of the temple. Then Solomon used everything that his father, David, had prepared for the construction, and built the temple that would glorify God.     First of all, we need to consider what these events have to do with us living in the this present age. The accounts contained in the Bible set the standard for us to be able to discern how we should think and act in our lives today.     The Plain Appearance of the Tabernacle and the Glorious Form of the Temple     The temple, which we find Solomon building in First Kings chapters 5 and 6, might be compared to the tabernacle that Moses constructed. We cannot say, however, that one is more precious than the other. Neither can we say that the temple is more precious because it was more costly to build.     The outermost layer of the tabernacle be covered with badger skins. The quality of the badger skins was such as to be able to protect the many vessels of pure gold inside the tabernacle against the sandy winds and arid climate of the wilderness. The tabernacle was dazzling on the inside, but, since its outer covering was made of animal skins, it was not much to look at. When you walk a lot in your shoes, don’t they wear out? The fact that your shoes become so worn shows how much your shoes protect your feet. Similarly, the badger skins protected the Ark of the Covenant that God had commanded Moses to build, the stone tablets on which were written God’s commandments, and the vessels inside the tabernacle. But this tabernacle, which the Israelites carried from place to place in the wilderness, was a shadow of Jesus in His suffering, who, after speaking to man over a long period of time, came to this world in the body of a man with nothing to admire about Him and no physical beauty from a human standpoint. The tabernacle in this form is referred to until the book of First Kings. The Bible says that when Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, the tabernacle of meeting that Moses had made was there (see 1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3). Of course, by that time the Ark of the Covenant had already been transported to Jerusalem.     However, the scale alone of the temple that Solomon built was four times that of the tabernacle: it was twice as long and twice as wide. The temple was also three times the height of the tabernacle, and the materials used were not animal skins; cedars were felled in Lebanon and brought to the construction site, and the stones were also quarried elsewhere. The temple was constructed quietly, unaccompanied by the sounds of the clanging of tools. The temple was the place where God dwelt, a magnificent place that took seven years to complete and that housed the Ark of the Covenant.     This temple is a shadow of Jesus who suffered in accordance with the words of the Scriptures, whom God raised from the dead, and who is now seated at the right hand of God, bearing witness to God the Father of everything He accomplished while He was in the world. Just as the temple was established in glory, when Jesus returns to this world, He will come in His glory.     From a historical point of view, two shadows of Jesus who have suffered and be glorified are presented to us through the tabernacle and the temple, but also through the two individuals, David and Solomon. All of this was accomplished through the body of the one Man, Jesus. So in Colossians, it says, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (2:9), and in John’s Gospel it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). We who live in this present age have never met Jesus in His suffering two thousand years ago, His body torn and beaten, and neither can we meet Him in such a form. We can only meet him through the words of the Bible. Some day in the future, however, He will return in His glory, just as the temple was raised in glory, and we will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air.     The Era in which the Whole Building, Being Fitted Together, Grows into a Dwelling Place of God     We are, at present, living in the age of the Church. In the letter to the Ephesians it says, “In whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). It also says, “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Bible expresses the Church as one new man and as the whole building being fitted together.     We need to consider what the significance is for us in the fact that Solomon built the temple, having been given wisdom from God and the ability to discern good from evil. Such is the time of the Church in which we are living, as described in the New Testament in the letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians. Within the image of Solomon building the temple with the materials that his father, David, had prepared, God was already looking ahead to the time of the Church in which we, too, would make every effort to spread the gospel, and bring others to the experience of receiving new life, until Jesus returns to this world. Such was the secret of the Church which had already been determined and yet remained hidden within the history of Israel.     Let’s think about this from a slightly different perspective. In John’s Gospel it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14). Also, as had been promised in the Old Testament, when Jesus was crucified, not one of His bones was broken (see John 19:36). The apostle Paul, as though reminding us of these words, made the amazing statement, “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).     When passages such as these are open before me, I wonder what else there is that needs to be explained other than the truth that Jesus accomplished on the cross. “It is finished!” (John 19:30) were the final words of the One who accomplished all things to perfection. This is the answer. In reference to Jesus, who fulfilled all things with His flesh, the Bible says that the Word became flesh.     When we read the Bible, we find that it, too, has joints. The individual parts of our flesh are also connected by joints. In my body, there are arteries and there are veins; I have a right hand and a left hand; and I have a right eye and a left eye. Similarly, in the Bible, there is the Old Testament and the New Testament. In Moses’ Law, too, it says, “Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud?that you may eat” (Leviticus 11:3). In Ephesians it says, “But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head?Christ?from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (4:15-16) Everything originates from the head.     The Lord of Creation?God the Son?created this world long before Moses wrote, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God completed the creation in six days and, on the seventh day, He rested. The account of these seven days is precisely the schedule of the history presented throughout the entire Bible. The history of this world does not deviate from the order of those seven days. Just as all the planets orbit the sun at fixed distances and speeds, the things that the Creator saw and experienced do not deviate from that order either. History also repeats itself in a si

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