Blessing of Those who Builds God’s Temple
Today, we will look at the history of temple construction and find out what blessings God intended to give to His people through the temple construction.
- Conditions for temple construction
There are three temples recorded in the Bible, and the first temple is Solomon’s Temple, built during the reign of King Solomon.
In 1050, God appointed Saul as the first king of Israel. However, King Saul did not obey God’s word (the Bible expresses this as abandoning the word), and after 40 years, He dethroned the first king and established the second king, King David (1 Sam 15:23).
David was the eighth son of Jesse, and he was the least among them. Prophet Samuel went to meet Jesse’s family to anoint the next king, but God said that none of the seven were chosen by God. So, the youngest son who was tending the sheep in the field was called, and God was very pleased and said, “Anoint him quickly, I will accomplish all my will through him” (Acts 13:22)
This is how David became the second king of Israel. He was a soldier, politician, musician, and strategist. However, David’s lifelong wish was to build a temple, a house of worship where God dwells and all the people are blessed. So, he prepared the materials, silver and gold treasures. He also created a plan to mobilize many people. However, when he prayed to God, God told him that David could not build the temple because he had shed a lot of blood, and that his son Solomon would build the temple of God (1 Chro 22:7-8).
What we can know from this is that building a temple is not done by preparing a lot of materials. Just because we have money doesn’t mean we can build a temple, we must first get God’s permission. Bible teaches us that God’s permission comes first when it comes to building the church.
Who is David? He is a man after God’s heart, and he is a man whom God said he would fulfill all of God’s will. Such a person prays to God, “I want to build a temple for You, God. I already prepared all the money needed.” Shouldn’t God have said “That’s a great idea. Please, go ahead,” right? However, God said, “I am so happy, but I can’t let you do it.” (1 Kings 8:17-19)
Dear believers, we have been carrying out repair work on the church for about 3 weeks. So, did we proceed with the construction of this temple because we had money? Without God’s permission, the temple construction would not have been possible no matter how much money was available. Therefore, we ask that our members be sincerely grateful to God for allowing the repair work at The Lord’s Covenant Church.
- Restoration of God’s presence
Does temple construction end with raising and repairing the visible building? Solomon proceeded with the construction of the temple clearly in accordance with God’s will and plan. However, after all construction was completed, Solomon earnestly prayed for God to be present in this temple (1 Kings 8:27-29).
Solomon built the temple for 7 years. About 40 years ago, the founding pastor preached that the amount spent on building Solomon’s Temple was approximately 2.4 billion dollars. That’s a lot of money now. Thus, we could think that since we finally completed the construction of the temple spending so much money time, and effort; God should have come and reside there by default. But that was not the case.
God appeared to Solomon and did not say, “I will stay in the temple because the construction of the temple is finished.” Instead, He said, “because I have heard your prayer, I will set my eyes and heart there” (1 Kings 9:1-3)
No matter how carefully we build the church or decorate it with a lot of golds and diamonds, no human-built building is perfect. The only way for God to be present in this imperfect building is when God’s people earnestly desire and pray.
Dear believers, are we now in the final stages before the construction work is over? No, hence we earnestly hope, desire, and pray that God’s presence will overflow into our church and sanctuary. I ask you to become a praying saint.
Conclusion:
Blessings of the temple where God is present
1 Kings 9:3 said that the eyes and heart of God rest in the temple where God is present. Having God’s eyes and heart means God sees us and listens to our prayers.
1 Kings 8 records Solomon’s prayer. He prayed that when they come to the temple to pray in the time of trouble, may God hear the prayer and answer. Not only this, he prayed even that when they are taken to another country because of their sins, if they pray in the direction of the temple, may God hear our prayer and answer (1 Kings 8:46-49). Isn’t this amazing?
The founding pastor summarized the blessings of the temple where God is present as follows:
- Enjoying peace and quietness in all matters of eating and living
- Protect us from being invaded by the enemy
- Allowing the unification of faith and the unification of the nation and people
- Forgiving our sins
Dear all, is there trouble in your family?
Then you must pay attention to the church to solve the problem. Is your business having problem? When you take care of the church, the problem will be solved. What attacks are you exposed to? When you take care of the church, the problem will be solved.
God had given us a beautiful sanctuary. I believe that now is the time for our faith to be changed beautifully.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 