08.17.2025 | Solomon Built the Temple
1 Kings 6-8
Do you get excited when your grandparents or another relative is coming to visit? To get ready for their visit, the whole family begins cleaning the house, preparing special meals, and making special plans to entertain them. You pull out all the stops to welcome them and spend quality time with them while they’re staying with you.
When Solomon became king, the people of Israel spent seven years building a temple for God. The temple had cedar panels with ornamental flowers. The furniture and equipment were made of bronze, and everything inside the temple was covered in pure gold!
Every detail of the temple was special. The people worked hard to prepare a place for God to come and dwell with them. It was worth their effort to have a place where they could spend time with God and know that He was with them!
The first chapter of John describes Jesus like this: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We no longer need to go to a temple to visit God because He came to us! All who believe in Jesus and trust in Him receive eternal life, which means we will dwell with Him forever and ever!
Solomon built the temple, but he knew that the fullness of God did not live there. Jesus is the fullness of God, and He came to dwell on earth (John 1:14). Only those who trust in Him will be forgiven of their sin and live with God forever.
