Wed.’s Devo - The Presence of God Fills the Temple

Read: 1 Kings 8:1-66; Acts 7:51-8:13; Psalm 129:1-8; Proverbs 17:1 After Solomon built the Temple, he called all the elders and leaders of Israel together at the Feast of Tabernacles to bring the Ark from the tent to the Temple. They sacrificed so many animals they lost count. *** The priest carried the Ark into the Holy of Holies and placed it beneath the wings of the golden cherubim Solomon had had made. Inside the Ark were the two stone tablets God had written and given to Moses. Once the priest left the Holy Place, the cloud of God’s glory filled the Temple. *** Solomon blessed the Lord, then addressed the people. He explained how his father David had wanted to build this Temple to the Lord, but the Lord said he was not the one to build it - one of his sons would. Now they were witnessing the fulfillment of David’s desire. *** Solomon kneeled on the ground in front of the altar and prayed so the people could hear him. He praised God and thanked him for his promises. He prayed that the promise to let one of David’s sons sit on the throne would be fulfilled. He also prayed that every prayer prayed from this temple would be heard and answered. He gave five different scenarios: attack from enemies, drought, famine, the influx of foreigners, and when going out to war. In each case, he prayed that when they repented and prayed from this Temple that God would hear their prayer and forgive them and teach them to fear Him and walk in his path. He prayed that if they found themselves captive to any enemy, that their captors would be merciful to them. *** When he finished his prayer, he stood up and blessed the congregation and prayed that God would always be with them and give them the desire to obey his laws. He prayed for justice to the people and that they would be a witness to the people of the earth to who God is. *** Solomon offered more sacrifices and dedicated the Temple to the Lord. The celebration continued for 14 days and when it was over, the people blessed the king who sent them home joyful and glad because of God’s goodness and kindness to David and to them. *** In Acts, Stephen was at the end of his speech and everything had crescendoed to these last statements. He called them stubborn, heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. He asked them if they were going to forever resist the Holy Spirit. Their ancestors had persecuted every prophet that told of the Messiah, who they now murdered. *** Needless to say, the Jewish leaders were not pleased with Stephen’s accusations and they shook their fists at him. Stephen gazed into the heavens and saw the glory of God with Jesus standing at his right hand. He told them what he was seeing and they closed their ears with their hands and dragged him out of the city and stoned him. They laid their coats at the feet of Saul who was a young man then. *** Saul witnessed the stoning of Stephen in full agreement. Then persecution swept over the church in Jerusalem scattering the believers for their lives. Saul went from house to house throwing all believers in prison. Those who fled, preached the truth wherever they went. Those who heard believed and were saved. Signs and wonders, miracles and healings followed the believers. One man who witnessed all the miracles was Simon, the sorcerer. People had followed him because he worked magic, but he had not seen these kind of miracles before. He was baptized along with many people and began following Philip amazed at the miracles he saw. *** Lord, thank you that whenever we need you we can pray from the Temple in our hearts and you come to rescue us. Thank you for your desire to bless us and fill our temple with your presence. May we be your witnesses to the world and to all we meet. May signs and miracles follow us to reveal your glory.