Word of Encouragement (01/28/2025)
“And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. 42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.” (2 Chron. 6:41-42)
As Solomon finishes his prayer of dedication, he asks the LORD to take His dwelling in the temple. He recognizes that the temple, as magnificent as it may be architecturally, is only an empty structure without much benefit for the people of God unless the LORD settles in it. Maybe he remembers the story of the dedication of the tabernacle at Mount Sinai. When God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle, He said, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex. 25:8). When Moses made and erected it according to the pattern God had shown, the glory cloud descended on it and filled it with the glory of the LORD so much that even Moses could not enter it (Ex. 40:35). Having finished the temple to replace the tabernacle, Solomon is daringly asking the LORD to approve his work and bless it by settling in it. What is the point of having all the people admiring the temple if God does not dwell in it?
Here, Solomon refers to the temple as “your resting place.” He seems to view it as an earthly replica of heaven, where God dwells. He may be thinking of the creation account, at the end of which we read, “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Gen. 2:2). Of course, this didn’t mean that God no longer worked. No sooner did He finish the work of creation than He began the work of providence, maintaining and ruling over His creation. After the fall of Adam and Eve, the LORD had to begin His work of redemption as well. By referring to the temple as God’s resting place, Solomon may be acknowledging that God has fulfilled His promise to give the land of Canaan to His people and bless them with the rich produce of the land. He is also asking the LORD to continue to bless His people and take rest in the temple after working His blessings and redemption for them.
In asking the Lord to enter the temple as His resting place, Solomon mentions the ark of the covenant—“you and the ark of your might.” He rightly sees the ark of the covenant as God’s earthly throne. As you know, on the cover of the ark were two golden cherubim with their wings spread over the ark. The space between the wings of the cherubim was called the mercy seat. This was an earthly replication of God’s heavenly throne, which is surrounded by the angels who praise and serve God constantly. Solomon refers to the ark of the covenant appropriately as “the ark of your might.” God is almighty in power. God’s throne, on which He sits and rules, embodies strength and might.
We are told that Jesus Christ is the true temple (John 2:21). As members of His body, we are God’s temple: “…in whom [i.e., Jesus Christ] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22). What does it profit us to be accomplished, rich, and beautiful if God does not dwell in us? And if the Spirit of God dwells in us through faith in Jesus Christ, what shall we desire more than being built into His glorious temple where He dwells and works out His blessings and redemption?