(The Path of the Ark #6) the Glory of God — Ed Miller

The Ark as the Portable Throne of God

For the Holy Spirit who lives in us, to take the facts, to take the letter, to take these histories and to make them live with the person of our Lord Jesus. We pray as we look again into the Old Testament and the truth in picture form, that by your spirit our hearts will be quickened and made alive unto the person of the Lord Jesus.

Enable us to see beyond the sacred page and may we see the Lord. We thank you in advance that you are going to guide us and in a special way as we come to the end of this little series on the ark, we ask you to tie up all of the loose ends and enable us, Lord, to lay hold of your heart and the revelation of Christ.

We thank you that you are going to guide us and we would not even begin to think that you would minister to us because we deserved it in some way, but Lord, we claim it on the merits of our dear Lord Jesus and because he so richly deserves it.

Amen. I ask you to open to us to 1 Kings chapter 8 if you would. If you didn't get one of those sheets, there's some right around you somewhere. For those that came in a little later, one of the sheets, the one that has the testimony of Spurgeon on it, I found it in a book of sermons and it's by Spurgeon.

So it's his own testimony in his own words. You'll notice that in the first quarter of the page I messed up and I left a sentence out. I apologize for that, but I already had them read out before I noticed it, so you lose a sentence.

I didn't want to take more paper for that. So that has nothing to do with our study. I just thought you might enjoy reading his testimony from his own mouth. We've come to our final lesson in following the ark to the Holy Temple and its resting place.

Quite honestly, I don't want to take time this evening to review the five lessons that we've looked at so far because there's so much in this final lesson to look at. And I really think that it would detract a little bit.

Let me give you the heart of the series in a couple of sentences. And for those of you that haven't been here for all of the lessons and if you'd like all of them, then just check with Lillian and she'll make sure you get those.

But I think most of you at least know, you know enough to know what this is all about. The ark of the covenant in the Old Testament was actually the portable throne of God. It was in the shape of a throne and it symbolized the invisible presence of the king.

Where the ark was, the Lord was. Where the ark was, the king was. When the ark went ahead, the king went ahead. When the ark was in the middle, the king was in the middle. And all the way through, the king is pictured, or the ark pictures the Lord Jesus as king.

Now that throne, for about 500 years, was moved from place to place until at last it came to what we call his final resting place. And the final resting place was solid and simple. We've been trying to follow the last 100 years of the movement of the ark.

We've looked at its path, we've looked at its stops, and we've looked at its start. Where it went, how long it stayed, what it accomplished in that place, and so on. And we're trying, of course, to glean the spiritual principles that are underneath.

In other words, as the ark moved towards Solomon's temple, in order to rest, the Lord moved in our lives. He has a goal. He has a destination. He is heading for that place in our lives, the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where he can finally rest in us, reign in us, release his glory, and govern our lives by his own blood.

Now it would appear from the record that the ark could not finally rest until God's redeemed people had learned certain spiritual truths. We've tried to illustrate from the stories those precious truths.

I'm not going to retell the story, but let me give you the five truths. Until God's people have learned these five truths, the ark cannot rest. And we'll continue to strive until we learn it. Once we learn it, there is nothing to hinder God from resting then in our lives.

Hunger for Spiritual Life

Truth number one, the thing that got the ark moving in the first place, was hunger. Hunger, illustrated by Hannah's womb. Desire. Desire for life, for issue, for fruit. For living fruit that would come from God and be able to be returned unto God.

God Begins with the Inner Life

The second truth. We have to learn that God begins on the inside, not the outside. He begins with the corrupt priesthood in the heart, not with the Philistines. They got that all mixed up, and they tried to do the Philistines first.

God always deals with the inside first. Truth number three. They have to learn that God absolutely rejects what we've called the Philistine part of me. You can have any word or expression you want to express it.

The Rejection of the Flesh

We're just talking about the flesh. What I do on my own, that's the Philistine part. There's no way I can provide God a place where he'll be happy. And as we saw in the Philistine territory, every time they tried, they was out.

And God rejected all of the flesh. There was no way that he would settle down there. Now that's a hard lesson for the natural heart. And quite honestly, as we saw in the Bible, sometimes that takes hard times and a long time to fall in their lap.

But that's the third truth. The fourth truth was the lesson of the preeminence of Christ. They had to learn that looking to Christ really meant nothing. If they didn't look away from idols on the cross.

The Preeminence of Christ and the Living Way

Now what did they do? It's literally a worry undue until Christ was finally the one and only. And that was the fifth lesson that they had to learn. When they learned that, to their surprise, God gave them victory over the Philistines while they worshipped.

They didn't even have to try. They just worshipped God and God gave them victory. The fifth lesson that we looked at last time is the final discovery that there is a living way to touch God and not die.

Remember the archistry, every time they seemed to touch him, the Lord answered in judgment. But then they discovered that there was a way to touch him and not die. And that was to touch him through the revelation of Christ, through the word of God.

And that became the secret that unlocked everything. And then they learned their fortunes. Only after God. God deals on the inside. God has rejected my flesh. Christ must be preeminent and I can touch him through the word.

When they learned those things, then that's when they began to sing and to dance and to jump before the ark and to praise God. Now, God was ready to come to rest. Now realize, if you haven't seen those principles illustrated through the stories, you might be a little puzzled.

But I really don't want to take the time to go over all of that again. Now that those five lessons have been learned, the ark will advance to its final resting place. Before we begin our new material, I want you to understand, and I think you do, but I want you to understand exactly what I'm saying.

When the ark finally came to rest in the temple, Solomon's temple, and filled that temple with his glory, remember, that's the truth we've been moving toward. That's where we're all heading. And it's a picture of you.

It's a picture of me. I'm Solomon's temple. You're Solomon's temple. And it's a picture of us corporately. We are Solomon's temple. And God wants to reign in us. God wants to fill us with his glory. God wants us to be governed by his glory and so on.

In reality, we're the temple. And it's a wonderful day for the temple and for the world. When we finally get to that place where God rests and we're filled with his glory. Now the temple, as you know, had a heart.

The heart of Holland. The glory of God didn't fill the temple when the ark came to the outer core. The glory of God didn't fill the temple when it went to the holy place. When it went by the table of shea blood or when it went by the seven-pronged candlestick of the ark of incense.

The ark, the glory of God only filled the temple when the ark came to rest in the holy of holies. As the temple had a heart, you have a heart. You have a holy of holies. And when God finally comes there, and Lord willing we'll see that tonight.

Then you'll also experience what they picture here in scene four. Now that God's redeemed people are moving by those principles. And once again, hunger, spiritual reality, rejection of the flesh, the preeminence of Christ and touching him through the earth.

There is nothing now to hinder God from resting in his temple. And so we're going to follow the ark on it's last leg to it's desired haven. To it's resting place. This is what is on God's heart all along and may God quicken us now to the truth.

Now let me explain how I'd like to develop this this evening. Obviously before we can enjoy spiritual principles, we always have to begin with the facts. Sometimes the facts can get you down. And you get lost in the facts and then you can't appreciate the principle.

The problem with this final lesson is that there are so many facts. And quite honestly if you go through it yourself, you'll see how many facts there are. Actually 1 Kings chapter 8 where I ask you to turn, if you just look at the last verse you'll see number 66.

So you know just in that one chapter there's 66 verses. And then it's in 2 Chronicles 5 and 2 Chronicles 6 and 2 Chronicles 7, 1 to 10. That's another 66 verses. So far 132 verses. Plus there are psalms written about this.

And so far there's much inspired speech given over to this final leg. Now I'd like to spend some time sort of in an overview. So that you're not lost in the facts but so that you get a feel for what is happening.

Somewhere along the line we better hone in on the identification of some facts. You know we're in the Old Testament so we talk about the glory crop. What does that mean, the glory crop? We'll be talking about the fire.

What does that mean? The birth offer. The blessing. The prayer of dedication. And so there's certain words we're going to use and somewhere along the line and I'll try to read it in. Rather than say hey we're going to do 6 definitions.

I'll try to read it in as we go along. And then finally Lord willing by His grace we can isolate, identify and apply some of the precious principles that are pictured here. Now again I'll tell you right at the start.

Supposedly this is the most exciting study of all. Now I may not be able to get that across. But we're now talking about being filled with the glory of God. We're talking about God listening in with people.

Now what a shame it would be in a section filled with facts to lose that message because of so many facts. And I need you to remember the facts. But let me just advise you. If you start getting lost in the facts I'm giving, shut me off.

And just look away Jesus and don't worry about all of this and you'll be doing fine. Because I don't want to lose you in the facts or you'll miss them all. The glory of this lesson is God will lessen His temper and fill His temper with His glory.

The facts illustrate that and I pray God will help us to see it. Now I've prayed much about how to do this. Again without overwhelming you with the details. And so I'm not going to begin with step 1 and then go to step 2 and step 3.

And say look at what happened first. Then look at what happened second. Then look at what happened third. So why don't you do it that way? Well because I put it all together and there are 17 facts. And it will take us all night just to lay out the chronology.

This happened and then that and then that. Now you have the 17 things together. Now let's go back and see what they mean. It's too much. But of course I felt that I had to see that. But I don't want to bore you with that.

So we're going to stand back and look at the period as a whole. We're not going to look at everybody marching in it. We're just going to see the big sections. There was the band and there was this. And you see the big things.

I think that will be enough to take you into these precious principles. With that in mind. When we left off in 2 Samuel chapter 6. David was king. And when we left him he was leaping and dancing and shouting.

In fact he was transformed. He had nothing but his king's garments. He had become a priest in that moment. Rejoicing before God. Leaping and dancing before the ark. And then he was the reality king. In his heart he was a king.

He saw only one king. And he danced before the throne of God. Saying in effect, I'm so glad I'm not king. I'm glad he's king. And I'm his priest. And you remember his wife when she saw that. She got so angry at him.

Because she was still outside the camp. Or he was outside the camp. And she was still in the Philistine mentality. And she just wanted human praise and glory and so on. But when we left off. David was king.

And he had discovered the living way to touch God and not die. That was such a big thing for him. Because every time they tried it. He would blow up. And this one time at last they learned to touch God through the word.

And call attention to that. Because where we're going to begin tonight. Is many years later. In fact, it's about 40 years later. 40 years have gone by. David is now in heaven with the Lord. And I suppose he's still dancing before the ark up there.

Still rejoicing. Now turn to 1 Kings chapter 7 please. Verse 51. When we left off last time. There wasn't even a temple around. And now in verse 51 we read. Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished.

Solomon brought in the friends. Dedicated by his father David. The servants had gone to the utensils. And they put them into the treasuries of the house of the Lord. And now the house of the Lord is finished.

David's in heaven. Solomon is king. The house of the Lord is finished. Now it's not important to nail down exactly what's meant by that. The house of the Lord is finished. And you'd be amazed how the commentators go at this.

You know according to 1 Kings chapter 6. It took seven and a half years to build the temple. To complete the temple. And then someone looks at 1 Kings 9 verse 10. And they say alright not seven and a half years.

It took 20 years for the finishing touches. To complete the temple. And then someone calls attention to chapter 8 verse 2. And you notice our story begins in the seventh month. The seventh month they gather now.

They're going to dedicate the temple. And that puzzles some people. Because if you'll notice 1 Kings chapter 6 verse 38. It says the house was finished in the eighth month. They say alright wait a minute.

How can you dedicate it in the seventh month when it's finished. When the bible says it's not even finished till the eighth month. And someone says well they dedicated it a month early. Because it was good as finished.

Like the Lord Jesus in John 17 verse 3. He praised his father. I finished the work. God has given me to do it. He had me mended the cross. How could he say he finished the work. And the answer is it's his good he's done.

And so some say they dedicated the temple one month early. Because it was his good he's done. And they say no in a month early. They waited another year. After the seventh month until the eighth month.

Or the seventh month of the following year. Some say no. You can see they waited until all the finishing touches. They waited 20 years. Until all the finishing touches were put on the temple and so on.

I don't think it's a waste of time arguing about those things. I only call your attention to them in case somebody brings them up. The point that we want to see is this. The temple is finished. It's ready.

That's what finished means. For our purposes. The temple is ready. And the ark is brought there to rest. I don't care if it's been seven and a half years. Or the 13 years. Or the 20 years. Or four years added on.

Because Solomon was four years. Deacon being laid. Whether it was a month early. Or a year after. Or 20 years. It doesn't matter. The point is the temple is now ready. The ark is going to be brought to the readied temple.

And maybe someday. Another day. Another time. Another series. We can look at Solomon's temple. Picture of the Christian. Glorious study. But for now. Pretend you already knew that. And the temple is ready.

You are the temple. Now. 40 years have gone by. David's in heaven. The temple is ready. Elaborate plans are now made in the seventh month. That's important. Because Solomon tended to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles.

And so there's going to be 14 days. Seven days of dedication. Seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. 14 days of celebration. I'm going to ask you to glance just for a moment at that handout sheet. That I gave you.

There's a comparison there between Solomon's temple and the Tabernacle. It's just lines and words. It's not very graphic. But I want you to notice a couple of differences. Because you'll appreciate it as we get into this study.

Actually the temple wasn't very big. It was about twice the dimensions of the Tabernacle. That's all. As far as the big rooms are concerned. The outer court. The holy place. And the holy of holies. The chief difference between the Tabernacle and the temple.

Was that truckloads of love were dumped into Solomon's temple. Now I don't know if you trust Davis' Dictionary of the Bible. I think it's pretty accurate across the board. And here's what Davis says in his Dictionary of the Bible.

The value of the temple was $4 ,900 ,000 ,000. We're talking almost $5 ,000 ,000 ,000 in a building that small. And you know Solomon actually had trouble. He couldn't make it any richer. He had promised his daddy that everything he had laid aside he'd use in the temple.

He couldn't embellish anything anymore. It was gold on everything. Everything was already buried. And he had a pile of gold. And he had promised God that he would use it for the temple. And so what he did was he made a treasure house in the temple.

And he just took everything that was there. Made them the gods. And just threw it into the treasure house. So you got this wealthy temple. $5 ,000 ,000 ,000 worth of a little house. A small little house.

$5 ,000 ,000 ,000. You don't see anything like that on Beverly Avenue. We're talking wealth. Now that only becomes precious to you when you realize that's picturing you folks. That's me. I'm selling this temple.

And that value is put in there on purpose. Because God was going to show how valuable we are. You notice that the labor of cleansing in the tabernacle is now replaced by the bronze sea. You see Solomon gets very loud in here.

And the capacity of this sea is now 17 ,000 gallons of water. Things are certainly changing. Instead of one lamp stand, there's now 10. Instead of one table of sure blood, there's now 10. And on the courtyard there you see those stands with basins.

That's nothing more than a poor bird in it to run wheels. They were able to move right around the courtyard. And they could help and slew the animals on that. And they brought them over to the blazing altar in order to be offered as a sacrifice.

You'll notice in the temple that in the front there were two great bronze pillars. They have names. Jacob and Boaz. The establishers and the Lord of Strength. And those great big pillars, 27 feet high.

And if you count the capitals on top of them, about 34 feet high. Those great pillars supported nothing. They were connected. They were only for the eye. They were only for beauty. And then they got these tremendous pillars at 27 feet high, 18 feet in circumference.

And the only thing they did was they would just use the ornament. That's all. So remember that when God says if you were to come you would be a pillar in the house of your God. You would support nothing.

And God hadn't called us to be pillars. No, to support something. But just to shine. And just to radiate. Anyway, it was into this temple. And now you can throw the shoes away. It was into this temple that the ark was brought with great pomp and great ceremony.

Commentators generally refer to the section we're going to look at as the dedication of Solomon's temple. And I want to call attention to this. That's part of it. We're going to end up with the dedication of Solomon's temple.

But that throws you off. If you look at these scriptures and say, now we're going to study the dedication of Solomon's temple. You're going to miss a part of it. You see, we've got to keep it in the history of the ark coming to rest in the temple.

The ark did not rest in the temple because it was dedicated. The temple was dedicated because the ark rested in it. The dedication followed the resting. They weren't planning at that point to dedicate the temple.

They were planning to bring the ark to rest there. And they were looking for that fear of surprises. So they ended up dedicating the temple. But that wasn't the original plan. They hadn't started off to dedicate the temple.

Now instead of moving on every step, I want to stand back and view this final journey. And I think it will help you to realize that the journey took place in two parts. It's important to realize there were two fillings of the temple with the glory of God.

Not one. The first filling happened when the ark was put into the holy of holies. When the ark finally came to its resting place. And the people began to praise God. 2 Chronicles 5 I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles now.

And let me just point this out while you're doing that. 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5 -7 cover the same ground. Same period. Same story. 2 Chronicles mentions five things that Kings doesn't mention. Later if you want those five things, I'll give them to you.

I don't want to take time to do that now. And if you want that, remind me it's on page 31 in my notes. And then I'll be able to dig it up for you. So Chronicles gives you five things Kings leaves out.

Kings only mentions one thing that Chronicles leaves out. That's chapter 8, 54 to 61. The blessing Solomon gives the people after his long-carved dedication. With that in mind, I'll stay with the Chronicle record.

Since I don't want you to miss anything. The full record is in Chronicles. So we'll stay now for the rest of our time. With one little exception and we'll go to one song in Chronicles. Alright, 2 Chronicles 5 -7.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place. To the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the chardin. And again, that's not the wings that were on the ark.

These are special chardin that were in the temple. And they were just in the back of the holy of holies. Verse 13b, at the bottom please. It says, Then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud.

For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. That's the first filling. When the ark came to rest, the people praised God. There was a filling. The glory filled the house. After Solomon's long prayer, his prayer of dedication, there was a second filling.

Turn to chapter 7, beginning at verse 1. Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

That's the second filling. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because of the glory of the Lord filled the house. And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their fences to the ground, they worshipped, they gave praise to the Lord saying, Truly He's good, truly His loving kindness is everlasting.

The second filling was different because it was accompanied by fire. Fire on the outside, glory on the inside. I'll show you later what I think that means. But right now, that's the difference. The first one was just the glory of the Lord.

The second filling was fire and glory. Fire on the outside and glory in the middle. Now, think of the ceremony then in two parts. That which led up to the first filling and that which led up to and followed the second filling.

And you're pretty much out of the facts. Let's look at the first half then. What led up to the first filling? We call that principle then we read it. And I suggest chapter 5 if you would. Verses 2 and 3.

Solomon had gathered the elders, the tribal fathers, all Israel in the seventh month. And now he's about to make the journey. We've been talking about the ark and the path of the ark. But the ark is not the only thing that's going to come to rest this day.

There's something else that was about to be laid to rest. It was the tabernacle. And there for 500 years they carried that house of skin around with them. And evidently by now it was pretty worn. Perhaps you never thought of this but when they moved into the temple, what did they do with the tabernacle?

Did they throw it away? Did they burn it? Did they sell it? What did they do with the tabernacle? If you'll notice please that 2nd Chronicles 5 .5 And they brought up the ark and the temple meal. And all the holy utensils which were in the tent.

The Levitical priests brought them all. The tabernacle was laid to rest inside the temple. They actually brought the tabernacle inside the temple. Sort of a picture of maturity I think. And when the bull becomes a man, you don't throw the bull away.

Anybody knows a man knows the bull is still there. The bull is in there, somewhere. And that's what you have here. You're moving now into temple truth. You don't get rid of tabernacle truth. It's still there.

But now it's swallowed up in the temple. And so the tabernacle is also laid to rest in the temple. In this first part of the march, two things that Holy Spirit underscores. Before the first thing, there were these two things.

The Blood of the Substitute

Number one. Oceans of animal blood. Oceans of animal blood. And look at verse 6 please. Chapter 5 verse 6. Can you all see in there? It looks so dark in there. I'm going to turn the light on. Verse 6.

And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Later you're going to read about a specific number of sacrifices.

Don't confuse it. Don't confuse it. On this wonderful day, there were actually three different groups of sacrifices. The first group was right here on the rear rock. Unnumbered sheep and unnumbered oxen.

The second group, when they arrived in the courtyard on the altar, they were sacrificing. That's when the fire came down in control. And then after that there was a whole bunch more offered as peace offerings after the whole thing was over.

But this first group is unbelievable. Now you've got to remember, we just sort of read this la la la and this is some parade. All the elders, all the chiefs, all the tribes and all the people that could set themselves free.

We're talking about millions. Millions of people are marching now up toward Jerusalem and they're all offering animal sacrifices. Sheep and oxen that can't be numbered. And whatever else was pictured by these oceans of blood, blood of sheep and blood of oxen, certainly it was a recognition.

And we're able to move. We're able to advance. Judgment's not coming down. We're not experiencing what the Medevashimash experienced. We're not experiencing what Yusef experienced when he reached out and touched the ark.

We're not dying. And we're not dying because the substitute is dying. And all along the way, they sacrificed these animals. And it was just the substitute in the place of them. Because of the animals, they're not consumed.

And so those oceans of blood, I have no doubt, picture the ocean thinness of the blood of our Lord Jesus. Now don't detach this story from all that's gone before. And the many times God's fire fell down on them because they had never even touched the ark.

Now don't appreciate this fluency. The first thing was prepared by a path of blood all the way to the temple. There's blood, blood, blood, oceans of animal blood. The second thing notable about this journey was praising the Lord.

Praise and the First Filling

Especially when the ark came to rest. In fact, you cannot read about the full unless you connect it with the praising. God puts that together. The full and the praising go together. And look at chapter 5, verse 11.

And then read to 14. And when the priest came forth from the holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to divisions, and all the levitical singers, Asaph, Enoch, Judicom, their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals and harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them a hundred twenty priests blowing trumpets.

In unison, when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice. When you talk about body of truth, folks, here you have it. One voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice, accompanied by trumpets and cymbals, instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord, saying, He indeed is good, His living kindness is everlasting.

Then, don't disconnect the praise with the full of After that praise, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the blood of the Lord filled the house.

Then appreciate this first form. There are oceans of blood, and the praising of the Lord. Oceans of blood, praising God, then the house was filled. And all of that because the ark came to rest. Now, hold on a moment.

Let me show you the events that led up to the second form, and the events that followed. Two things led up to it. Two things followed. The first thing that took place after the first form, and that would lead up to the second, I really don't know how to call this, because Solomon calls it something it's not.

At first, I was just going to say, Solomon blessed the people, but that's not really true. And let's just call it, a rejoicing in the faithfulness of the Lord. And I'll show you why there's a little problem here.

The record is in chapter 6, 1 -11. And look at verse 3. The king faced the battle, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. So you get this idea that Solomon is going to bless the people.

And he stands up to bless the people this form, and he says, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, and for the rest of the people, bless him well. So, if you call it Solomon blesses the people, that's a strange blessing, because he's not.

He's blessing the Lord. And what is happening, this little outpour on the king, is a response to the first filling. Now, try to remember this. Again, we just want to read these things. The filling was a surprise.

The second filling was a surprise. They were not expecting that this day. This was the unprogrammed part of the service. By the way, that's really the best part of the service. The unprogrammed part. See, it's wonderful when the Lord surprises us, and especially it's wonderful when the Lord surprises us with the filling of His glory, and the filling of His presence.

They planned the white robe priests. They planned the special music, the 120 trumpeters. That was all planned. They planned to offer the sacrifices. They didn't plan to pray. In fact, later we talk about a special plaque family built for their purpose, so that they could pray publicly.

They planned on everything. That service was a real prayer. The Baptist service. And it was all packed. This will have this, then we'll have this, then we'll have this, then we'll have the other thing.

Then all of a sudden, God surprised everybody. They weren't expecting this. And the glory of the Lord just filled the temple. That was the unprogrammed part. I don't know, I can't prove it, but I have an idea.

A lot of people for the first time were coming to this $5 billion temple because it was open house, and they were going to see what they had heard about. See, Hiram had a big mouth. And Hiram was telling all over the countryside how much he had donated, and how much this temple was, and so on.

And now they were coming for the first time, and they were going to see the glory of the temple. And I have an idea when they left, nobody was talking about Boaz, that great big pillar outside, at 27 or 34 feet high, if you count the capital.

They weren't talking about the 17 ,000 gallon capacity blazing sea. They weren't talking about the 10 big candlesticks, or the 10 tables of showbread. When everybody left, the glory of God had stolen the show.