In 1 Kings 8 – Just as relevant today as it was then…
The Temple has been built and King Solomon gives a prayer….
22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:
30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
Yes, God will forgive us. However, now Jesus has come and we do not need to pray “towards” the Temple as Christ is with us.
Solomon speaks of the troubles we may face that we will need to Pray:
31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:
We’ve got a lot of trespass going on today…Time to pray
32 Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
We’ve got a lot of wickedness going on today…Time to pray
33 When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:
Our country is being attacked by an enemy that is sinning against God…Time to pray
34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
Our country is has sinned… Time to pray
35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
Our land is a mess because people have sinned…Time to pray and confess thy name, turn from our sin as we have been afflicted.
36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
Our country does not teach Gods way and knows not the way they should walk… Time to pray
37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
We are seeing a famine in our land of abandonment of Gods Word which has lead to a deficit of Truth, now we believe lies as truth…Time to pray
38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
Every man has a plague of his own heart in rebellion against God…Time to pray
39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
Every man shall be judged according to his ways… Time to pray
40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
We lack the fear of the Lord which we have lost… Time to pray
53 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance…
We have been separated from the other people as ONE BODY in Christ. Not by race, Not by earthly position, Not be education, but by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. Heading for our inheritance that is waiting in Heaven, there will be no inheritance on earth that can be taken into eternity.
Time to pray:
57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.
60 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.
61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
AMEN
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Exodus 30
We can see in the last few Chapters that God is bridging the gap between Him and His people. This is temporary and a training ground (for submission to Him) for what is to come, the permanent bridge (built with the blood of Jesus) Christ Jesus will come and build the final church and be the head of it.
He continues this in Exodus 30
First we see, altar of incense to be able to create an environment for prayers and atonements to rise in its smoke to God.
Second, ransom money for our sins to build the tabernacle to be able to have a way to commune with God and for forgiveness. I note that everyone pays equal as we are all equal sinners, rich or poor. Now tis built on Christ as the cornerstone and by Christ. We know that Christ paid our ransom and purchased us with His Blood.
Third, the laver of brass (brass for judgement) for priests to wash in before being able to do the work of God to offer sacrifices for Gods peoples sins. We need to be cleansed. Now after Christ HE has cleansed us.
Fourth, anointing oil and instructions to use it. anointing oil was to sanctify, to set the anointed person or object apart as “holy”, at least temporarily. Anointing oil itself without instructions would be pretty worthless so God being a good father gives instructions.
Fifth, incense and perfume. Perfume makes us smell better as we are sinners and even wearing a covering or sacrifices don’t make us smell better so the perfume is a covering of our smell so we can be pleasing and it is even temporary and wears off. perfume with incense causes it to rise to the heavens.
There was nothing with lasting holiness on earth until Christ comes. Nothing sinless on earth until Christ comes. No permanent payment, satisfaction or sacrifice on earth until Christ comes. Everything we are reading about in these chapters are temporary as God makes a way that qualified and chosen men (as temporary intermediaries) have to clean themselves up to be holy every time there is a sacrifice for themselves or others.
We see here they actually have to pay to build the church and for the sacraments as the Savior has not come yet to tear the vail between the temporary provision and the permanent provision with no need for a place to sacrifice or priests to sanctify us, as Christ took care of the atonement for our sins, built the church through His sacrifice.
“every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord”
We had had to pay the ransom for our souls, until Christ did it. An impossible job through the law, which is still God’s point! Trying to work and pay for our payment for sins would never have ended with out the provision in Christ that we were given.
Brought to my attention in this book was that the punishments are of an (early) physical death in the old testament to illustrate there SURELY IS a death for sin, God instructed us to actually have to do with our own hands the punishments on perhaps even our own friends, and in the new testament we see a focus on a spiritual death from birth until we are born again in Christ. Perhaps because there was no way for a spiritual life with God until Christ came into our lives with payment in full. There was no way in the old testament to be born again, people could get a temporary sacrifice with the blood of an animal. kind of like paying a toll on the toll road in the freeway of life and after Christ the tolls have been paid as long as we stay with Christ. “GO SUNPASS” The toll roads say in Florida. For the Christian it is GO SON PASS. AMEN. As Christ has paid the passage for us, if we choose to follow His Way, His Truth, and His Life.
In verse 18 we seen an important foundation – communication written by the finger of God:
18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Read it and ask the Lord to show you what all this means for your walk with Him.
Imagination… and Gods Word
King David reminds us of the truth…
Learn from Jesus and His answers to the devils temptations
Matthew 3:7-4:11 “Brood of vipers!”
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