Tues.’s Devo - The Temple is Completed

Read: 2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11; Romans 7:1-13; Psalm 17:1-15; Proverbs 19:22-23

Solomon made all the vessels for the Temple according to what David had prescribed. Hiram did all the metal work and the carpentry. It was all brought into the Temple along with all the things David had given to go into the treasury. 

Solomon assembled all the elders and leaders in Israel to come to bring up the ark out of the tabernacle and into the Temple. They met during the feast of Tabernacles which celebrates that God dwells with his people. So many sheep and oxen were sacrificed that they couldn’t be counted. The ark was brought into the Most Holy Place and the cherubim covered it. Their wings spread from one end of the room to the other. This was the mercy seat where God’s presence dwelt.

Inside the ark were the two tablets that Moses had been given at Horeb. As the priests and singers and musicians came into the Temple singing that the Lord was good and his steadfast love endures forever, the house filled with a cloud of God’s presence. It was so thick the priests could’t stand to minister because God’s presence filled the Temple.

Solomon blessed the Lord aloud to the people. He explained how God chose Jerusalem to be his city and David to be their king and now has fulfilled David’s dream to build a house for the Lord where his name would be praised. 

In Romans, Paul continues explaining the difference between the law and grace. We were once bound like a marriage contract to the law, but when Christ died, who was the Word, the contract was nullified. Now, we are free to walk in grace instead. Under grace we can bear fruit for God because we are no longer slaves to sin. We can now serve the Lord in Spirit. 

The purpose of the law was to point out what sin was. The penalty for sin was death so all died under the law. But when the law died, we were set free to live. The law is not evil but good, but having to uphold it was death because no one could do it. 

Lord, thank you that we are free from the power of sin and condemnation and are free to worship you out of love for you. We choose to honor and adore you and walk with you. Thank you for your presence that lives in us.