“Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David. Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the LORD put his foes under the soles of his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence.   And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.’ Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians. So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!   Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household. Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.   So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work.   And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.  (1 Kings 5:1-18) The Temple that Appears in the New TestamentYou may think, upon reading this chapter, that its content does not appear to have any great significance spiritually or theologically. Viewed simply, this is nothing more than one of the many events, both great and small, that occurred within the history of Israel after Solomon was made king. The history of Israel in the Old Testament covers a period of about two thousand years, beginning at the time of Abraham. Within that long history of great men, however, it was quietly recorded that the temple would be built in a place designated by God, and the quiet and peaceful communication which ensued during the process of preparation is revealed to us.   At the same time, this content implicitly reveals the many battles that occurred through the historical events of the Old Testament and along with accounts of the hardships suffered by the Israelites and the great many blessings they received. And above all else, we can also see that God is intent on showing us something precious through this incident.   We know a lot about the temple. King Solomon built the temple, and later that temple was destroyed. Then, as it says in the book of Ezra, the temple was later rebuilt, but in about A.D. 70 it was destroyed again. Even now, the Jews are in conflict with the Arabs over their attempts to rebuild the temple once more. When we examine events such as these, which took place within the history of a nation altogether different from our own that occurred about three thousand years ago, we need to consider what they have to do with us as we live in our present time.   What are passages like this and these historical events in the Old Testament telling us, as we believe in the Bible and acknowledge it as the guide to our lives? We need to think carefully about what it is that God, who had such events recorded in the Bible, is saying to us through these incidents. First, let’s examine the temple. The first part of John’s Gospel concentrates on how Jesus revealed the works in the temple that He carried out before men. “When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (John 2:15-16) When Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), He was not talking about Solomon’s temple that we read about in First Kings. We need to consider what thoughts Jesus had in mind when He spoke words such as these. As John wrote about this incident, he provided us with a clue, when he said, “But He was speaking of the temple of His body” (John 2:21). When Jesus said, “Destroy this temple,” He was saying that His flesh itself was the temple.   When we read the Bible, we tend to relate the events that are recorded there to our own lives or our own present situation, and we compare the people who appear in the Bible to the people around us. First, however, we must bear in mind that the many events in the Bible all point to, and focus on Jesus, and remember that everything can be understood and explained in Him. In First Kings chapter 5, King Solomon asks Hiram, King of Tyre, for cedars to be cut down and sent to him. When we read this, we tend to think no more than, “So, there must have been a lot of cedars in Lebanon.” We need to consider, however, why it was that the wood required to build the temple which would house the Ark of the Covenant did not come from the land of Israel where God’s chosen people lived, but was brought from a Gentile nation. This matter is related to the Church that appears in the New Testament. We should not consider this in the same light as importing wheat from another country when our own wheat production is low. So then why did King Solomon insist that cedars be brought from Lebanon? With this question in mind, let’s turn to the book of Acts. Following the epoch-making incident when the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, the Bible tells us, in Acts chapter 3, how Peter met a certain lame man in front of the temple.   “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, ‘Look at us.’ So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’   And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them ? walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”  (Acts 3:1-10)   The man who sat at the gate of the temple had been lame from birth. He can be seen as presenting an image of us, who have been sinners from birth. Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and he took the man’s hand and lifted him to his feet. It says that when Peter took the man by the right hand and lifted him up, his feet and ankle bones received strength. As we consider the image of this lame man, we can also think about our own bodies, which God created.   Peter just took the man by the right hand and lifted him up, and the man’s feet and ankles received strength. Through this man who had been lame since birth, we can see the blessing that human beings, who were originally sinners, can receive. What is this life that I have received through the cross of Jesus? There was a change deep in my heart, and this change did not merely end in my heart; it was expressed outwardly as well. Also, we have been promised that someday we, too, will dwell in bodies like that of Jesus: bodies that will be freed from all bonds, transcending time and space. As though to demonstrate this point in the times of the early Church, when Peter took the hand of the lame man and raised him up, the man’s feet and ankle bones received strength.   When the lame man received strength in his feet and ankles, the very first thing he did was, “he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them.” In certain respects, this could be seen as a story about a poor disabled person who came to walk again. Within the image of this one man, however, through God, who speaks through the words of the Bible, we can get a glimmer of an idea of the kind of healing we have received, the kind of blessing we have jumped into, and how we came to be living in the Church that is the body of Jesus Christ. This may only be a short passage, but it arouses a variety of mixed feelings and emotions. The lame man walked, leaped, and praised God. And then he entered the temple with the apostles. It is with an incident such as this that the window is opened onto the era of the Church. Then one day Peter had a dream. A sheet came down from above, and in it there were various kinds of animals. Then, he also heard a voice, which told him to kill and eat these animals. Peter answered that he had never eaten anything common or unclean, but the voice came a second time saying, “What God has cleansed you must not call common”. This was done three times, Peter went to Cornelius’ house and explained the gospel there. Accounts of how the gospel was spread to the Gentiles in this way are recorded in the book of Acts. (see Acts chapter 10) We can see, through the book of Acts, that the way was opened for the Gentiles who accepted the word of God proclaimed by the lips of Jews, so that they, too, might receive the same blessing as that received by the Jews. As this process was taking place, elsewhere, a young man who had been persecuting the Church was heading for Damascus with official papers that gave him authority to destroy the Church there, but on the way, he met Jesus. Later, he himself was severely persecuted by the Jews, and so he said, “From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). He then traveled to Asia Minor where many Gentiles lived and he spent his entire life establishing the Church. The Bible even says that this man said he was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles.   “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh ? who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands ? that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For

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