The temple built; kingly power and government on earth- the millennium
This book presents us also with kingly power in connection with the earth and the government of the people on the earth. Glory and riches are added to that which Solomon requests. Neither enemies nor the energy of faith is in question. The king’s position is the result of the victory which that faith had obtained. He reigns, and is established in glory and in riches. He begins to build the house. Hiram acknowledges Jehovah as the Creator of heaven and earth, and the strangers who dwell in Israel are the king’s servants to do his work. In the temple the cherubim have their faces towards the house, that is, outwards.1 The attributes of God do not now look only at the covenant to maintain it in spite of everything, but they also look outwards in order to bless. It is the time of the millennium; but the veil is here found again in the temple. Whatever may be the blessing of the true Solomon’s reign, Israel and the earth have not immediate and direct access to Him who is hidden in the heavens. That is our portion, even to enter boldly now through the veil, and to find no veil in heaven: blessed be God! There is no temple there. Jehovah God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The stability of a divine government is granted to the earth,2 and the blessing of a God whose face is turned towards it; but those who are blessed do not behold that face, do not draw nigh unto it. There is also an altar adapted for worship in a time of such blessing. The altar and the veil are not mentioned in the Book of Kings, where the structure of the temple is the figure of things not seen, and where, as a whole, it is presented to us as the dwelling-place and manifestation of God. We are told of a golden door, opening with two leaves, before the oracle, and nothing is said about the altar.
(1. In the Authorized Version it is inwards. It is literally towards the house, which, generally, would mean inwards; but, as the cherubim were at the very bottom of the house, looking towards the house was really outwards. The French translation is literal.)
(2. This stability consists, apparently, in two things-God shall establish it, and then in Him is strength. These are the two sources of the stability of Christ’s kingdom. This is the meaning of the words “Jachin” and “Boaz,” the names of the pillars before the temple.)
The state of Christ’s glorious kingdom
In Chronicles the order is arranged also according to the state of things which this book sets before us, that is to say, according to the state of Christ’s glorious kingdom. There is a court for the priests, and the large outer court with doors. All was arranged (ch. 4:9) for the relationship of which we speak.
God’s connection with Israel in the last days; mercy celebrated
So also, as to the manifestation of the glory, nothing is said in the Book of Kings of the public acceptance of the sacrifice; but it is simply stated that when the ark had been carried into the holy place, and the priests were gone out, and the staves of the ark had been drawn out, so that the dwelling of Jehovah was definitively established there, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. It is God’s habitation, a figure of the heavenly dwelling-place which awaits us, our Father’s house. On the other hand, that which is set before us in the Book of Chronicles is God’s connection with His people Israel in the last days, prefigured by that which happened to Solomon. It was when the trumpeters and singers lifted up their voices with one accord to praise Jehovah, saying, “His mercy endureth forever,” that the house was filled with a cloud. As we have seen, when all shall be accomplished for Israel, these words will celebrate the untiring mercy of which Israel’s blessing will be the proof in that day. It is the deliverance and blessing of that people which demonstrate the truth of those words.
We have seen that there was a second part of grace, the acceptance of Israel as worshippers after their sin-not only the ark on Mount Zion, but the sacrifice and pardon and consequent worship of Mount Moriah, the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple; God’s public acceptance of the sacrifice
Thus Solomon having prayed, and entreated Jehovah that His eyes should be open, and His ears attentive to the prayers that should be offered to Him in that place (quoting David’s petition in Psalm 132, and using His mercies to David as a plea), the fire comes down and consumes the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah fills the house. And now, it is not only that the priests cannot enter, but the children of Israel behold the glory which rests upon the house; they fall upon their faces and worship. It is the public acceptance of the sacrifice which sets the people in public connection with God, and makes them confess that “Jehovah is good, and that his mercy endureth forever” (compare Leviticus 9:2424And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:24)). Only in this last passage the acknowledgment of God’s unwearied mercy was not the point.