Would you build a house for someone who doesn’t need it? That’s basically what Solomon did when he built the Temple of God. And he admitted this was the case in the prayer he offered when he was dedicating the newly completed structure: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built” (I Kings 8:27).

Yes, over and over throughout the prayer, Solomon repeats that God is “in heaven,” and that heaven is God’s “dwelling place.” But at the same time, all the people had just witnessed the ceremonial transportation of the Ark of the Covenant into the most holy place of the Temple (I Kings 8:1-9). And once the Ark was positioned behind the veil, “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (I Kings 8:11). So, there was a sense in which God did dwell among His people in that special place.

Solomon thus asks God to hear the prayers of His people when they are offered in the Temple, or when they are directed toward the Temple. Solomon thus understood the Temple to be some sort of a link between God and man, the place on earth where God promised to be with His people.

And what kinds of prayers did Solomon expect God to answer when they were directed toward the Temple? Prayers for justice (I Kings 8:31-32), prayers for forgiveness (I Kings 8:33-36), prayers for deliverance from suffering (I Kings 8:37-40), and prayers for success in battle (I Kings 8:44-45). Solomon even asked God to hear the prayers of His people if they were to be carried away from the Temple into exile in a foreign land (I Kings 8:46-49).

But that leads us to our current problem, doesn’t it? For Solomon’s Temple was torn down by the Babylonians, who probably also carried off the Ark of the Covenant at that time. And although another Temple was built on the same site when the people returned from their Babylonian captivity, that building was also eventually destroyed, by the Romans around A.D. 70. Today, there is no Temple in Jerusalem, so there are no sacrifices being offered according to the Law of Moses.

So, what’s the link between God and His people today? How does God still dwell among us? Peter explains in his first epistle: “And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:4-5).

Yes, the good news is that because Jesus is the One through Whom God fully reveals His glory (John 1:14), all those who have the Spirit of Christ within us are the new Temple of God. That means that wherever we are, we can be sure that God is with us. Moreover, we can be sure that God will hear all the prayers that are offered, not in the Temple, but in the name of Jesus Christ. So, let us pray….

I Kings 8:10-13 (NASB)

10 And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
11 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.
12 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
13 “I have surely built Thee a lofty house, A place for Thy dwelling forever.”