MOUNT MORIAH: The place where Abraham showed his faith
in God by being willing to offer his son: cp Gen 22:6-14. Abraham was so
faithful that he knew that God would provide an offering (v 8), and sure
enough... God came through! Abraham looked up, and SAW HIS SALVATION in a ram
caught in a thicket (v 13; cp Joh 8:56). He memorialized this event by calling
the name of that place by a name that has alternatively been translated as
"Yahweh sees" or "Yahweh provides" (cp Rom 8:31,32). So the juxtaposition
between God seeing our needs, and providing for them, and that provision being
both effective and visible. It's something we can see. It's something
real.
THE THRESHING FLOOR OF ARAUNAH: Cp 1Ch 21:13-18; this
shows the quandary David was placed in, and the awesome responsibility to choose
between three different punishments to come on Israel. After choosing a plague,
and this plague decimating the people, David looks up and SEES the angel of
Yahweh standing over the city of Jerusalem, with a sword drawn over it! What
else was there to do but to throw themselves on the mercy of God? They do this,
and He repents of the evil he planned on the city; and so they witness, visibly,
both amazingly and yet in such a terrifying way, both the goodness and the
severity of God.
"So we have this temple, being assembled by Solomon. A place
where so visibly God's power and mercy had been seen. A place where God's desire
to repent of evil had been carried out before. A place where salvation could be
had.
"Does this interesting set of links end there? No... because
now we jump forward to the time when another son was born, but one that was oh
so much more precious and special. The Lord, OUR Lord -- Jesus Christ. The time
came for him to be presented before the Lord, at His special place, the temple.
The same place, the same location as Abraham, David and Solomon. What do we
find? 'Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and
devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was
upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die
before he HAD SEEN THE LORD'S CHRIST. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the
temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what
the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God,
saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in
peace. FOR MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOUR SALVATION, which you have prepared in the
sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to
your people Israel' " (Luk 2:25-32). Again, amazingly, at this place, we see a
link to seeing the Salvation of God!
"This is what the Jews missed. They saw the stones, the
ornamentation, the architecture, the beautiful temple. What they should have
been seeing was God, and the salvation He provides. They concentrated on the
temporary, and couldn't see the eternal. How often do we do this?
"Do we see the stones, and miss the salvation? Do we see our
brothers and sisters, with all their potential flaws... and even sometimes the
great talents that all of us have in different areas... and miss the important
thing... the salvation of God manifested in each and every one of us?
"Do we see the bread and the wine on a Sunday morning as a
snack to tide over our hunger for lunch? A way to get rid of the annoying tickle
we've had in our throats all morning? Or even just a chance to... feel better
about ourselves?
"Or do we see the salvation of God?
"So Mount Moriah was all about reminding people that even
though we get all caught up in temporary things, there are eternal things, an
eternal hope, which we can see, and can draw hope from. It can be as solid a
rock and foundation to us as the physical Mount Moriah is.
"Perhaps to us we should use the bread and the wine, the
brothers and sisters around us, this place at this moment in time, as our own
private Mount Moriah... a place of power and hope... a place to see through the
veil of mortality to the plane of reality and immortality, where life isn't
distorted, and things can be seen clearly?" (MMc).
2Ch 3:14
PURPLE: Scarlet, sig death and sacrifice (Num 19:6n),
which gives way to....
CRIMSON: Heb "carmel" = fruitful (Isa 32:15; 35:2).
Christ has suffered and realized the fruit of his labors: Isa 53:11.
2Ch 3:15
KJV has: "thirty and five cubits high", but this is wrong: the
pillars were 18 cubits high (1Ki 7:15). The 35 cubits ref distance between
pillars, or their distance from temple.
2Ch 3:16
A HUNDRED POMEGRANATES: 100 pomegranates on each row.
Each capital had two rows; thus 200 pomegranates on each pillar: 1Ki 7:20. With
2 pillars, there would be 400 in all: 1Ki 7:42.