The building of the Temple in Jerusalem has been completed and it has been furnished with the various articles necessary to fulfill the requirements of worship according to the ritual laws of Israel. The House of the Lord is now ready to receive the Lord of the House. And this reception is described in this section before us this evening as the Ark of the Covenant is set beneath the cherubim in the most holy place. There are a number of things that I'd like us to think about this evening. I want us to think about the people and the place of God. I'd like us to think about the word and the works of God, and then to think about the person and the presence of God. So firstly then, as we consider these verses that I read to you from 1 Kings 8, verses 1-21, to think about the people and the place of God. This passage opens up with Solomon's call to the heads of the families, the heads of the tribes of all Israel, to gather together before him in Jerusalem. And we're given that the time of this assembly was to be in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. memorized the Hebrew calendar and the various names by which the months are given, that probably doesn't mean very much to you at all. But we are given a little clue that this month has significance because there is a mention that there is a feast in the month, Ethanim, in the seventh month. And so that would indicate to us that this is one of the key rituals in the Israelite calendar in this particular month. The feast in question is the Feast of Booths. and that Feast of Booths was given by Moses to the people of Israel as a celebration of God's provision and of his faithfulness to them. It was one of three feasts in the year that the representatives of the tribes and of the families in the tribes were to gather together to celebrate God's word and works for them. There was of course the Feast of Passover, a very significant feast in the history of Israel. And then not long after that the Feast of Weeks, what we know more familiarly as Pentecost. And then there was this feast of booths which is later in the year and has kind of dropped off our reckoning. We don't particularly think about the feast of booths. We remember Passover, we remember Pentecost, but what is it about these booths? Well, let's turn back to the Old Testament. Let's turn earlier in the history of Israel to the book of Deuteronomy in the first instance and to the 16th chapter. where Moses gives instructions to the second generation of Israelites before they enter into the promised land and there you will see a section in the 16th chapter dealing with this feast of booths and it begins in verse 13 where Moses said to the people, you shall keep the feast of booths seven days when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you will all be altogether joyful." So they were to gather together and to remember God's provision for them, the wonderful way that he had supplied their needs particularly focusing upon the harvest. So there was a feast at the beginning of the harvest time and then there was this feast at the end of the harvest time. There was the feast of first fruits and then there was the the feast of booths. But then that idea of booths, what have booths got to do with the in-gathering of a harvest? Why should that be significant for them? Well, we'll see that it wasn't just to celebrate the in-gathering of the harvest. but they had wandered in the wilderness for a number of years as God had brought them out of Egypt, initially intending that they should travel directly by way of Sinai to the promised land and inhabit it, but because of their rebellion and their refusal to enter, they had ended up for almost 40 years wandering in the wilderness. They had lived in tents. They had lived in booths. And so it was that they were to remember that fact. If we turn back a little further to the book of Leviticus and to the 23rd chapter of that book, In verses 42 and 43 we read, you shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So this Feast of Booths was not only a celebration of the Lord's provision in the full ingathering of the harvest, but it was also a remembrance of God's dealings with them in calling them out of Egypt, calling them to live in booths, in tents for a while during their years of wandering. Now, those years of wandering have come to an end. now they have rest, but they are, when they enter into the promised land, to remember those years of wandering, to remember God bringing them out of Egypt and bringing them to their own land, to a resting place. And so Solomon has chosen this particular month and we can tell that he's chosen it specifically because in fact 11 months have passed since he had completed the temple building. We were told earlier that it was in the 8th month that he had completed the building of the temple and now we're in the 7th month. Now we haven't time-travelled back We've actually gone through almost a whole year before the completed temple is actually ready to be dedicated and to receive its host. And so there's something specific going on here in the choice of this month, in the choice of this feast to be the one in which the temple is dedicated. Part of that reason is because not only have they found rest in the land, but now there is a permanent resting place for God. So far, even though he's been with them in the territory of Israel, among the tribes of Israel, he has continued to live in a tent. This was part of the rationale for David desiring to build a temple. David was living in a palace. Should the Ark of the Covenant of God, symbolizing the presence of God, still be in a temporary dwelling, in a tent? And so the choice of this feast in which the celebration of their rest in remembering those years of wandering is a particular choice because now God has his own home among them, a permanent resting place as it were. But there's something else, there's something even more significant perhaps than that, that Solomon may be homing in on in terms of the choice of this month and this feast to dedicate the temple. Because at the Feast of Booths something significant happened once every seven years. Once every seven years When the representatives of the tribes and the families gathered together to celebrate the Feast of Booths, the covenant was renewed. In Deuteronomy chapter 31, And in verses 10 through 13, Moses gives further instruction to the Israelites. Moses commanded them, at the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known it may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God. as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. So the law of God given through Moses was to be read to the people there at the feast but it seems from that passage not only there at the feast but throughout the territories of Israel the people were to gather together even the women and the children who were not required to go to the central place of worship at these feasts Their men folk represented them there, but they too were to hear this word. No doubt it was the responsibility of the Levites who were scattered through all the tribes. It was their responsibility to bring this word to them. And so on this occasion, perhaps this particular year happens to be the seventh year. And Solomon chooses this occasion to dedicate the house of the Lord and to remind the people of God, of the law of God, and his word and promises to them. You see, obviously, that as Solomon was thinking about the right time and the right way to dedicate this temple to God that he had built, The Lord was the focal point. He was to be at the center of the lives and at the center of the hearts of the people of Israel. His Word was to dwell in their minds and in their hearts and to govern their lives. His presence was to be known by them, assuring them of His provision and of His blessing upon them if they would listen to Him, if they would hearken to His Word. These were the people of God and God was in their midst in a very real and tangible way. And all of the rituals of Israel pointed to that fact. All of their feasts and all of their sacrifices pointed to that fact. And here as the temple is about to be dedicated, it is God who is front and centre of their attention on this occasion. One commentator pointed out that we often, when we have opening ceremonies for new buildings and so on, even new churches, thanks are given to this one and thanks are given to that one and thanks are given to another for their contribution and what they have done and how they have achieved various aspects of this building. But none of that is here. All of the attention is upon God. All of the attention is given to Him and what He has done. Is the Triune God central to your life? Is He the focus of your existence? Does your life revolve around this God? Or do you expect this God to revolve around you and serve you? It's a matter of focus, it's a matter of priority, it's a matter of understanding who we are in relation to God. God has his place, but he is not the servant. He is the Master and Lord of all, and we are to serve Him and give Him all the glory. And that leads us into the second point I want to make, that we should think about the word and works of God. After the furniture from the tabernacle has been taken out and the tabernacle itself has all been folded up and has been brought from Gilead to Jerusalem, no doubt it was all stored away in one of those rooms that were attached to the external walls of the new temple. They were no longer needed anymore. There was a new dwelling place for God and there was new furniture that had been made for that temple and its worship. The Levites and the priests have brought the tabernacle and its furniture there and they have brought the Ark of the Covenant. Now that doesn't have a replacement. That was the symbol of God's presence among them. That was placed in its holy place, most holy place, in the inner sanctuary of the new temple. And then Solomon addresses the people that are gathered there before him. And he speaks about the Lord and the God of Israel and what he has done. It is his work that has accomplished his word. When God speaks, God acts, and so God with his mouth has spoken, and God with his hand has fulfilled what he spoke. God had come to David, who had desired to build him a house, Solomon tells the people. And this desire was a good desire, it was a proper desire, it wasn't misplaced, but David was not the one to build the house. A son would be born. a son who would be given that right and that privilege to build the house of the Lord. And so this word is spoken, these promises are made, two promises in fact Solomon refers to, the giving of a son, the raising up of a son to sit upon the throne of David his father, and the privilege of building the house for the Lord, that that son would fulfil. A promised sun to reign and a promised house for the Lord's name. And God has done this. Solomon says on this occasion they're marking the opening as it were of this house of the Lord and his entry into the house that was made for him. It is a mark of the faithfulness of God to his people. The faithfulness of God that had continued to his people even though they had been faithless towards him. Now admittedly Solomon specifically has in mind the promises that God had made to David and that wasn't all that long ago and Israel has been settled in the land during that period of time but the words that Solomon speaks and the repetition of the deliverance from the land of Egypt that he refers to in this passage encompasses a far greater period of time and incorporates the promises of God to Israel even before Israel existed as a nation when he promised this land to Abraham. and he promised them this territory as their own inheritance and that they would be the people of God and that he would be among them. And God now has fulfilled those promises and he has blessed them greatly above all the peoples of the world. This is the word of God that he has spoken, this is what his hand has fulfilled. Even when Israel grumbled and complained, when life wasn't exactly the way that they expected it to be immediately on their release from Egypt, when they would have preferred to have gone back to their captivity and slavery in Egypt, when they questioned Moses' leadership of them, when they refused to enter into the land of promise When having, years later, gone in with Joshua at their head, they refused to dedicate the peoples of that nation to destruction as the Lord had commanded them. When they made treaties that they shouldn't have made, and they accepted as neighbours those they should not have accepted. when they continued to turn away from the Lord over and over and over again to worship false gods, idols of the peoples of the land that they should have rid themselves of. was dissatisfied with the lordship of God over them and they demanded that they have a king like the nations round about them and they were given Saul as their leader. In all of these instances of their unfaithfulness God remained faithful to his promises to them And here it is on this day as Solomon dedicates this temple to the Lord as his dwelling place among them. God has been faithful despite their faithlessness. And the reason that he has been faithful to them is not so that they can have this glorious temple lined with gold. It's not so that they may have the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place. His faithfulness to them goes far beyond those material things and it is so that he would be able to fulfill his word and promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that a seed of the woman would arise. who would crush the head of the serpent so that in due time a heavenly son would be born into this world who would build a spiritual temple for the glory of God as his dwelling place. And this is the Word, and these are the works of God that we are to celebrate in our lives. That God has been faithful to His Word, and He has accomplished His works despite the unfaithfulness of this world towards Him. and despite our own sin he has shown us mercy and despite our own waywardness he has continually again and again and again born with us and restored us to himself. And all of this is possible because he is God and not a man. He is not like us. and his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. And that leads me then into the third thing that I want us to think about this evening, the person and the presence of God. As the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple and set in its place in the most holy place with those great cherubim and their wings spanning across the Ark of the Covenant, When the priests withdrew from that holy place, the Lord entered into it, visibly coming in a cloud that 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. Here is the transcendent God. and yet he is the imminent God, he is so far above all created things and yet here he is among and in the midst of this created world, he has come to them in this visible form, in this cloud, this glory. The language obviously doesn't convey what was going on here in a way that we can really imagine or fathom. It is mysterious. But there is this cloud, a cloud similar to that cloud that had covered the tabernacle when it was first built, when it was first dedicated, the cloud perhaps that hung around Mount Sinai when the voice of the Lord spoke the law of the Lord to the people of the Lord in that place. It is glorious. but it's mysterious as well. The priests are not, they're not able to penetrate this cloud. They're not able to enter into this temple. They're not able to minister in the holy place while this cloud is there. It is more than they can do to grasp this God, you see. A cloud engulfing the temple. inhabiting the most holy place. And Solomon responds, 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. And the Lord has come to this house. One commentator points out that in the most holy place there were no windows. And so there was no light. You imagine that as the high priest on that famous day of atonement each year brought the blood of the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people into the most holy place as he parted the veil and he entered into darkness to sprinkle that blood upon the mercy seat. perhaps it was just a shaft of light through the gap in the curtain or as in Solomon's temple they were bifold doors that were opened and through that light from the holy place where there were windows would have faintly shown him the way to that ark but it was all very much in shadow, this transcendent God. who had in grace and mercy come among his people, was yet mysterious, the unfathomable one, who cannot be fully understood or comprehended by the mind of man. He is greater than anything that we can grasp. We cannot fully understand him. He is, he is God. and he came to this temple, he came to this holy place, he came to this Ark of the Covenant, this Ark that contained the Law of God written on tablets of stone. At one time this Ark had also contained a jar full of manna and it had contained Aaron's Neither of those things are there anymore. Somewhere through the centuries they have been lost. But the law is still there. It is there in that box. It is there covered by a lid with two gold cherubim upon it. And that lid and that box, as The priests placed it there in the midst of the cherubim in the most holy place. We know it was gold, but it wouldn't shine like gold. It wouldn't reflect the light like gold as it was carried into that most holy place. That lid and box was dark. darkened with years and years and years of the blood of goats that had been sprinkled upon it. That Ark of the Covenant was covered with a lid that was called the Mercy Seat. A Mercy Seat stained with blood. When we read the book of Hebrews, which has a lot to say about the Old Testament and its rituals and the tabernacle and its furniture, in Hebrews chapter 9 and in verse 5, describing the inner sanctuary, describing the Ark of the Covenant, we are told that above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now that word there, mercy seat, it's one word in the Greek and that Greek word means literally place of propitiation. It was the place of propitiation. If we turn back in the New Testament to Paul's letter to the church in Rome, in Romans chapter 3 and in verse 5. Sorry, chapter three and verse 25. Well, let me read from verse 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. That word there that we have translated as a propitiation by his blood, literally it's exactly the same Greek word that is used in Hebrews. He is the place of propitiation. It's a word that in the Greek Old Testament is used to translate the Hebrew mercy seat. It is the place of propitiation. There upon the Ark of the Covenant, where the law of God stands to condemn sinners, there is a place of propitiation. There is a place where the wrath of God is turned away. There is a place where there is reconciliation of a sinner to his holy creator. The law covered with mercy, provided by the blood of atonement. And this blood of atonement wasn't the blood of goats. Ultimately, it was the blood of God's own son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a propitiation for our sins, to turn away God's wrath from us, to take it upon himself, to bear the judgment that we deserve, that we might be reconciled to God. Here is glory. And here is mystery. But the transcendent God of creation should be incarnated, made flesh to tabernacle amongst us. And he came full of grace and truth in order to be the propitiation for sinners, to reconcile sinners to God. that they might be freed from his wrath and judgement and that they might be made into a temple, a living temple, the holy and eternal dwelling place for the living God. This is mystery and here is glory. Oh, if we could have been there with the Israelites on the day when Solomon dedicated the temple. If we could have been there to see that thick cloud enter into that temple and fill the darkness of the most holy place, if we could have been there to observe those great things, how awed we would have been. But when we come to the cross of Jesus Christ, and when we see the Holy Son of God making propitiation for us, we cast ourselves prostrate before so glorious a God who has shown us so much love and compassion. Have you come to this mercy seat? Have you seen Jesus in all of his glory making atonement for sin? Have you been awed by the majesty of this God? Christ came because God had spoken. and he fulfilled the promise. And today that promise is to you. Come to me, Jesus says. Come to me, come to me at the cross. Believe in me, Jesus says, and you will be saved. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. And we pray, Almighty God, that as we see you in your word, we would be awed by your majesty and by your mercy. We pray, Almighty God, that you would enable us to see the glory of Jesus Christ's propitiation for sinners, and that we would be privileged and awed to come before him and to worship him because of what he has done for us. We ask in his precious name. Amen.