The Building of the Temple Part 2 — Chuck Smith

Welcome to the Word for Today, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of the Word for Today, we'll be continuing our look at the building of the temple, as we pick up in 1 Kings 6, verse 1. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Solomon Begins Building the Temple

Now, it came to pass in the 480th year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. So, in those days, to date a thing, they would date from some specific point of their history. And their coming out of Egypt was really the birth of the nation.

So 480 years after the nation was birthed, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziph, which is the second month, that he began to build this temple, or house of the Lord. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length of it was three score cubits.

A cubit is about 18 inches, so you have 90 feet long. And as you look at the dimensions of the temple that he built, you'll find it's just about twice the size of the Ark of the Covenant that was built.

As far as the length and all, it's just about twice the size, all the way around, of the Ark of the Covenant. The height of it was 45 feet, and the width of it was 30 feet. And then it describes the porches that were around it, and this is where we need an architect to draw it up for us, to give you the idea of what it looked like.

These porches were probably two-thirds of the way up, and came off of the main building, which stood 45 feet high, 90 feet long, 30 feet wide. Of course, the Holy of Holies within it was a cube of, what is it, 20 cubits or something in here?

Above where the porch came off, they had narrow little windows for light within the temple. There of course was no light within the Holy of Holies. That was as in the tabernacle lit by the Shekinah of God.

And he built these little chambers or rooms around the temple, around the oracle, and the oracle here is the Holy of Holies, the place where God would speak to them. And so it describes these various little chambers and rooms and all around it.

The Temple’s Precisely Prepared Stonework

The house, when it was building, was built of stone that was made ready before it was brought there, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.

These people were tremendous stonemasons, and it was set out in a very brilliant way. They designed the size of each stone, and at the quarries away from the site, they did all of the chiseling, all of the carving of the stones, and then they would number the stones and send them to the builders who were putting the stones together.

They were so perfectly carved, so perfectly chiseled, so flat, and they were interlocking that they did not need to use any mortar. And so at the very site of the building itself, there was no sound of hammer, tools of any sort, iron or whatever.

You didn't hear the striking of the iron tools and all, because the thing was all fit to interlock together and to be put up as one would put up a prefab kind of a building. The work was all done in the factory, and all they did was assemble it when it came to the building site.

The Rejected Stone Becomes the Chief Cornerstone

Now, when they were building the temple, according to the story, the history, a stone came from the quarry, and the builders who were erecting the building couldn't find figure out where it went. And so they just sort of tossed the thing aside.

And they came to the completion of the temple, and the chief cornerstone was missing. And according to the quarry, they sent the message, we're ready, you know, to finish the thing. We need the chief cornerstone.

And the message came back, it's already been sent. And so finally some fellow discovered over in the bush this stone that the builders had set aside, not realizing it was the chief cornerstone. And so in the prophecy, Psalm 118 concerning Jesus Christ, that deals with that particular incident, it said, the chief cornerstone which was set of not by the builders, the same has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord's work. It is marvelous in our eyes. And in the New Testament, Peter picks that up and says that was a reference to Jesus Christ. He is the chief cornerstone, but was set of not by the Jews, by the builders.

They didn't recognize him. They cast him aside, but God has ordained that he should be the chief cornerstone. So, talks about the quarrying of the stone, putting it together without any tools of iron while the thing was being built, being heard around the house.

The Temple’s Chambers and Winding Stairways

The door for the middle chamber was on the right side of the house. And they went up winding stairs. And so there's a winding stairway. And if you go to Jerusalem today, you can go under the Damascus gate and into the guardhouse.

And in the guardhouse there's an interesting winding stair which was used by the guards in Jesus' day as they guarded the gate of Damascus. But it gives you an idea of the winding stairways and how they built them in just sort of a square area, probably eight feet, and how that they just wind on up and around.

And it gives you the idea there in the Damascus gate, you can see it today. Then they built the chambers and all, and it describes all of these. And the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, verse 11, now verse 12, concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and if you will execute my judgments.

Obedience to God’s Statutes and Judgments

Now again we mention that the judgments of God were God's declaring what kind of judgment should be made in particular situations and circumstances. The judgments did not deal with the ordinary people.

They dealt with leadership. You that are in the position of authority and leadership, when you have a case where this happens and this happens, this is what you are to do. This is the judgment that is to be executed.

And so God says, if you will keep my judgment. You see, God is a God of justice. And one of the times of Israel's weakness, when Israel fell before their enemies, God declared one of the reasons for their fall was their failure to execute his judgments.

They were livid. They were letting people get by with crimes without any kind of punishment. They had developed a plea bargaining situation. And judgment, the Lord said, is not forthcoming. And because of that there came a weakness within the nation, a moral and spiritual weakness, because people were getting by with evil things.

And it created that weakness that brought the fall of the nation. And I worry today when I see so many times people getting by in the court system with evil things. Judgment is not forthcoming. But the Lord said, if you will walk in my statutes, if you will execute my judgments and keep all of my commandments, to walk in them, then I will perform my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.

You keep my word, Solomon, and I will keep my word. I'll keep my promises. But you have to keep my word. And the same is true for us today. If you keep God's word, God will keep his word. God will be faithful to his promises unto us.

God’s Presence Among His Faithful People

And God said, I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel. Later on in Chronicles we read concerning Asa after he came back from the victory over the Ethiopians and the Nubians, the Lord said unto him, the Lord is with you while you will be with him.

And if you seek him, he will be found of you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Forsake the ways of the Lord, God will forsake you. Keep the ways of the Lord, God will keep you. The Lord is with you while you'll be with him.

If you seek the Lord, you can find him. I'll dwell, the Lord said, among the children of Israel. God's presence among his people is always a glorious desired thing. So Solomon built the house, it says, and finished it.

The Temple’s Gold, Cherubim, and Holy of Holies

Now it goes on to describe some of these boards of cedar that they covered over the stones. They sort of built it with stones and then they covered over the stones with these boards of cedars. And on these boards there were beautiful carvings of different cherubim and pomegranates and flowers and all.

And then they overlaid all of that with gold. So the whole thing must have been magnificent to look at, just looking at this beautiful gold with the carvings of the various things upon it. And of course these two cherubim that were inside of the Holy of Holies, and the whole thing is described here.

The oracle, verse 19, the Holy of Holies, he prepared in the house to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And the oracle was 20 cubits in length, 20 cubits in breadth, 20 cubits in height, or 30 feet cubed.

And it is interesting, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was cubed, 15 feet. This is cubed, 30 feet, which you remember we are told in Hebrews these things were all a pattern of heavenly things, and the heavenly city itself is a cube.

What is it, some 1 ,200 furlongs the scripture says? This cube of heaven. And it's as tall, as wide, as thick. And he overlaid it with pure gold. And so he covered the altar that was of cedar with gold.

Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He made a partition of the chains of gold before the Holy of Holies and overlaid it with gold. And the whole house he overlaid with gold until he had finished all of the house, also the whole altar that was by the Holy of Holies he overlaid with gold.

And within the Holy of Holies he made two cherubims out of olive wood. And then each one were 15 feet high. They had wings that were 7 1⁄2 feet each. And so you had a 15-foot wingspan on the cherubim.

And they were so placed that their wings touched each other and touched the walls. So here were these two cherubim carved out of olive wood with these huge wings going out, touching each other, and stretching from wall to wall within the Holy of Holies.

And he overlaid those with gold. So the thing must have been fabulous to look at, but the only thing was only the priest saw it. You see, when you read the dimensions of the temple, you think, well, man, that's small, you know.

Only 90 feet long and all. It seems awfully small. Well, they didn't meet. The we gather and meet here in the church. They would gather in the courtyard outside. Only the priest would go into the temple.

Only the priest were there worshiping within the temple itself, and only the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies within the temple. The temple wasn't a place for the people to congregate before the Lord.

That they did outside in the temple area around the temple, but the priest would go in, and it was just the place for them to go in, offering the sacrifices and doing the service of God within the temple.

The Temple’s Ornamental Doors and Gold Decoration

And so he describes the doors that went into the Holy of Holies. They also were made out of olive wood. And the lintels and the side posts, verse 31, the two doors were of olive wood. He carved upon them the carvings of cherubim, palm trees, open flowers, and then he overlaid them with gold.

So you had these beautiful gold-overlaid doors. Man, would they be fabulous today with all of these carvings upon them. And it goes on and describes for you the fancy gold ornamentation of the temple that he built.

And as I said, the ornaments the estimated amount of gold to do all of this work was 75 ,000 pounds. So in chapter 7, we now deal with the building of Solomon's Palace. And it seems like the palace was made up of several different areas.

Solomon’s Palace and the House of the Forest of Lebanon

Some of it was, of course, just for the entertaining. There were the living quarters. There was the porch for judgment. And then, of course, the house that he built for Pharaoh's daughter, one of his wives.

Solomon was building his own house 13 years, and he finished all of his house. Probably the buildings were started simultaneously, and the temple was finished in seven years, 13 years for the building of Solomon's house.

He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon. And the length of it was 150 feet. The breadth of it was 75 feet. So a good-sized main house, 75 feet by 150 feet, that's a good-sized mansion. The height thereof was 45 feet.

Some believe that it was three stories high, which 45 feet would give you ample room for three stories. It would be 15 feet per floor. So it is quite possible that it was a three-storied house, which means that you then have around 25 ,000 square feet within the house, which isn't a bad-sized home.

But, of course, you look at the palace in England and stuff like that, you know, it's for kings. That's not shabby, but it speaks about the beams covered above of the cedar beams, 45 pillars, 15 in a row.

And so it goes on and on and on. It goes on and gives the details, which can get rather laborious. It talks about the windows and the doors and the porch of the pillars, and then the porch for his judgment, verse 7, and then where he dwelt, his own living quarters.

There was another court. The big main palace was probably for affairs of state that were carried on there. He had his own living quarters, which were sort of separate. And then the place that he built, verse 8, for Pharaoh's daughter, who he had taken as his wife.

It was likened to his own living quarters. And these were all of costly stones, according to the measures of the huge, the huge stones. They were sawed with saws, with and without. And they were on the outside toward the great court.

These stones were 15 feet, some of them, and some of them 12 feet, not as big as some of the stones that were in his temple, which some of them were as large as 18 feet. And above were costly stones and so forth, the great court round with the three rows of the huge stones.

As I say, it gets laborious. It's hard to really picture it too well in your mind, but it talks about his own living quarters.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 Kings in our next lesson, as we continue with The Construction of Solomon's House. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing prayer.

Prayer for Faithfulness and Obedience

Father, we thank You again for the privilege of gathering together, studying Your Word. And Lord, we pray that as we deal with some of these issues, that You will deal with the issues in our own lives.

And Father, that we might do our best for You. And whatever we do in word or deed, we do all to the glory of God. And Father, we thank You for the glory of Your kingdom, for that glory that we shall share with You when You come to receive us unto Yourself, that glory that is promised to us throughout eternity.

Keep now, Lord, our hearts faithful and true to Your Word. May we walk in Your ways. May we keep Your commandments. Lord, may we be faithful and obedient unto You, that You might, O Lord, keep Your Word to us, and that we might see, O God, the fulfillment of the promises.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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