God in a Box
And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. 1 Kings 6:21-22
1 Kings 6:1 says, “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.” Solomon had been called by God to build a permanent Temple for Him. It would be the first time that the nation of Israel would have a permanent, centralized place of worship, a place to make their sacrifices, and a “house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:7).
1 Kings 6 and 7 describe the building of the Temple and the expense and design that went into the details. These chapters note the gold, the silver, the gems, and even the craftsmanship of the building. It was magnificent. Many details are given but not in a way that would allow us to follow the plan and rebuild the Temple. It would seem that the beauty was described in such detail so that the reader would see and understand the One whose glory it was trying to portray. This magnificence was to magnify the glory of God.
An expensive and magnificent building holding the “glory of the LORD”! I wonder how Christians today see this in their minds as they read it. Can we even imagine the glory of the Lord? I fear the walls and furniture overlaid with gold would get our attention first. The glory of the Lord is not something we hear or think about very often in our culture but it was so bright and wonderful that the priests had to back away from it.
The Ark of the Covenant had survived the 480 years and was moved into the Most Holy Place in the Temple. For the people of God this represented the presence of God. The Ark consisted of a large box which was where Israel stored the two tablets of the Ten Commandments placed there by Moses (1 Kings 8:9). There were two cherubim over that. 1 Samuel 4:4 says this is where God “who is enthroned on the cherubim” was present underneath the wings.
During the report of the dedication ceremony in 1 Kings 8 we learn that after the priests came out of the Holy Place in the new Temple God gave his approval by making His presence known. 1 Kings 8:10-11, “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, 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.”
King Solomon had a good concept of the character of God. In 1 Kings 8:12 – 13 he seemed to think that he could house God. We read this, “Then Solomon said, ‘The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.’” He had purposed to build a house for God that would be worthy of His Name.
In the same chapter after Solomon has prayed and praised God for keeping His promises to Israel, and to David (Solomon’s father) specifically, he comes back to housing the LORD.
1 Kings 8:27, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” Solomon, who has just prayed with outstretched arms and on his knees (1 Kings 8:54), acknowledging the faithfulness of God, now recognizes God’s condescension to consider those of the earth. He cannot be contained by heaven so Solomon seems to conclude, “Why would I think that He could be housed by this little thing I have built? Humbly pointing out how great God is and how lowly he is. He built the most magnificent “box” of his time for the Name of the Lord but knew that even it was not worthy of the actual presence of the LORD.
Many Christians, myself included, build boxes for God. Like Solomon, no matter how good the box looks, who works on it, how big it is, or what we make it from, it will not house our Most Holy God. We tend to put Him in a box of untrustworthiness or of weakness, or a box that requires human permission for Him to exit. Usually the boxes are built with manmade ideas, lacking the quality or craftsmanship that even Solomon used.
Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no box that could hold our God – He is uncontainable. There is nowhere we can go from His presence. Verses 8-12 say, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
God’s Word gives us the best picture of who He is and how much He loves us, how trustworthy He is, how loving – even in the conviction of sin or the justice He hands out regarding sin. Why would we ever want to try to put all of that character into a box – even a big, beautiful box? The Apostle Paul said that our God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). If we do not have a Biblical view of God’s power, wisdom, and love –we won’t be able to imagine what He could do and we won’t expect much from Him.
In James 4:2, he says that we do not have because we do not ask. His implication seems to be that we do not ask because we do not believe that God will or is able to deliver on His own promises. Our own understanding gets us into trouble because by failing to rely on God (because we have put Him in a box) we rely on our own capabilities and so we end up murdering, fighting, and quarreling to get what we want (James 4:2).
If Solomon’s temple didn’t house God our puny little mental effort is not going to hold him either. No, God is not in that box – we are. Open the box and imagine what God can do if we’ll only ask with a mustardseed worth of faith.