August, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
280
the tabernacle in the wilderness was set up and the ark placed therein (Ex. 40:34, 35). The meaning was that God was now accepting the temple, as it was offered to Him, and was filling it with His own presence. This temple is sometimes called Solomon’s, to distinguish it from other temples; but it was in reality God’s tem ple, given to Him, to be owned by Him, and to be used for Him. The “cloud” was really the glory of the Lord. God waits today for His people to dedi cate their lives unto Him so fully that He may fill them with Himself and use them for His glory. In the measure of our sur render to Him, He will come in with His glory and fill the life with His own joy and peace and power. Solomon was great because he thus sur rendered what he had and was unto the Lord, and in return the Lord made him the wisest o f men and the greatest of all philosophers, as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes reveal. But when Solomon turned to his own understanding, he made grievous mis takes and brought discredit upon his fame. Lesson Questions Vs. 1, 2. Where had the ark been (2 Sam. 6:17) ? Who assisted in its removal? When? Vs. 3-9. What was the ark sometimes called (Deut. 10:8; Ex. 25:22) ? Where is a description of it given (Ex. 25:10-22) ? What sacrifice did Solomon and the con gregation o f Israel make? What two ob jects covered the ark? What did they sig nify? What did the ark contain? What else did it later contain (Heb. 9 :4) ? Vs. 10,11. What evidence o f the Lord’s presence followed the setting of the ark in its appointed place in the temple? What effect did it have upon the priests? Dis cuss the ark as a type o f Christ. Golden Text Illustration “Nothing so pleases God in connection with our prayer as our praise,” once wrote the Rev. Henry Frost, director for North America of the China Inland Mission, “and nothing so blesses the man who prays as the praise he offers. I got a great blessing once in China in this connection. I had re ceived bad and sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed, but the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, but the dark ness only deepened. Just then I went to an inland station and saw on a wall o f the Mission home these words: ‘Try Thanks giving.’ I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return. Yes, the psalmist was right. ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.’ ”—W . J. F. In God’s House 1 K ings 8:1, 12-20 Memory Verse: “ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psa. 122:1). Approach: When David was king of Is rael, one of the things which he wanted to do was to build a church, or temple, where the people might come to worship
the construction of the temple. This great underground quarry is cut in limestone rock. The walls are so soft that they can be carved easily with a oocket-knife. Yet when the stone is left out in the weather for a year or two, it hardens and is excel lent for building. The marks o f the tools used by the ma sons in ancient times are still plainly vis ible. In the walls are small niches in which oil lamps were placed while the work men hewed out the stone. The wall above these niches is blackened with soot, and one can rub his finger on it, and have it very well smudged. It hardly seems possible that these marks and this soot could have been made almost three thousand years ago,, for they look so fresh. Yet we are quite sure that they have been preserved for centuries because they are out of the weather, down here in this dark cavern. It was in this underground quarry that such stones as were necessary in the building of the temple Were fashioned ready to be put into place. Thus it was possible to build the temple “without the sound of a .ham mer” as the Scriptures state. The word “then” with which this lesson opens takes us back to the previous history concerning the building of the house of the Lord, or, as it is called, Solomon’s temple. Seven years had been occupied with its erection, and now that it was completed, the “heads of the tribes, and the chief of the fathers,” representing the whole na tion, were gathered unto Solomon in Jeru salem to dedicate it unto their God. It was to be given wholly to God, to be owned by Him and used by Him. Thus it would become the meeting place for God and the people. Led by Solomon the king, these repre sentatives of the nation gathered to set apart the temple as “the house o f God” by bringing into it the ark of the covenant. This was the ark that Moses was com manded to build in the wilderness, the ark before which God had said He would meet with His people. It was the “meeting place.” The typical teaching is very full and very plain. It is one thing to be saved and thus become a child of God through sim ple faith in Jesus Christ. But it is quite another thing to so dedicate the new life unto God that a conscious experience of the presence o f the Lord will be the por tion of the believer. After one is saved, the life is then to be dedicated wholly unto the Lord in such a manner that God is recognized as the sole owner of that life which is henceforth to be used only for God’s purpose and glory. Only so will Christians enter into and experience that eternal life which is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent (John 17:3). II. T he A rk P laced in the T emple (3-9). The temple was built for the sole pur-' pose o f housing the ark. It was what the building was to contain and not the build ing itself which would represent God. The ark was the symbol which spoke o f the presence o f the Lord. Hence, wherever the ark was God was. He manifested His presence by the flame, the so-called She- kinah glory, which shone above the ark. Before it the high priest appeared once each year to make atonement for himself and for the people. He came with blood which was sprinkled before the ark and secured for the people protection from Outline and Exposition I. T he N ational M ovement (1, 2).
BLACKBOARD LESSON
judgment and forgiveness of their sins. It spoke o f the coming Lamb of God whose blood would secure eternal protection from judgment and full forgiveness of all sins. To approach the ark without blood meant certain death in those days. To at tempt to approach the holy God without the blood of Christ today means to deny God’s holiriiss and man’s sinfulness, and to court the judgment which must be ac corded to all sin and sinners. Solomon was careful to observe the in structions God gave concerning the proper handling of the ark. Because it was the symbol o f God Himself, it was a sacred object, even though to men’s eyes it was merely a wooden box. God had conse crated it, and what God consecrates is al ways sacred. Our lives are consecrated by Him and are sacred unto the Lord. They are thus to be treated with the same awe and care with which the priests and Le- vites treated the ark. We must never for get that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. The priests and Levites were appointed to carry the ark and the “holy vessels” used in connection with it. The king and all the congregation worshiped before it, as it was brought into the temple. Its place was in the “oracle” o f the temple under the wings o f the cherubim. It was the most holy place, and when the ark was placed there, it gave meaning to the whole temple and became the center o f all the worship o f the temple. The Christian today does not worship before any object made with hands, but before the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom alone the true and living God is found. Apart from the ark, God was hid den then; and apart from Christ, God re mains hidden today. Thus the person o f Christ is to occupy the most holy place in our lives, giving meaning to those lives and becoming the center of all our worship. The staves by which the ark was carried were left with it, drawn out so as to be seen in the holy pla.ce but not in the out side o f the temple. This action may signify that God had at last come to His resting place in the midst o f His people who were to be established in their land. Alas, we know those people lost the presence of the Lord in later days even though they re tained the ark. The contents o f the ark were the tyro tables of stone upon which the law was inscribed. The mercy seat covering the ark maintained those stones unbroken. All this proclaims the atoning and interces sory work of our Lord Jesus on our be half. (The golden pot containing the manna, and Aaron’s rod, spoken of in He brews 9 :4, were added at a later date, some time after the dedication which forms the lesson for today.) III. G od ’ s A cceptance of the T emple ( 10 , 1 1 ). “The cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to min ister.” This same thing happened when
God. For years they had worshiped in a tent. They had had no building because they had been trav eling t h r o ugh the wilderness. But now God h a d brought them safely to the promised land. They had homes of their own now, and David wanted to show how
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker