Solomon's Temple, Forever, and Sacramentology

“What about the ‘forever’ promises in the Old Testament? At the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, the LORD says, ‘I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever [1 Kings 9:3].’ God knew that Temple would be destroyed, so what did He mean? Is it using ‘forever’ in a different way than we do?”

This is the question I get from a church member at the door as I’m shaking hands and hugging necks after the service. I love stuff like this, so sorry to all you folks who walked by without my acknowledgement – you could probably tell I was excited about something, I’m sure! I gave the inquiring church member an answer, and thought I’d jot it down here.

In this case, it isn’t that we need to redefine “forever.” Instead, we need to let the whole counsel of the Bible inform us about the idea of “temple.” The duration of “forever” doesn’t change, but by the time we come to the new covenant Scripture (the New Testament), the dwelling place of God with man comes into its fullness. I’ll give you a quicker version of the quick answer I gave her, and then expand it a little to explain how I got there: Solomon’s Temple is sacramental for Jesus Christ, Who is the true and eternal Temple (along with His “Body,” the Church – those united to Him by faith). The “forever” promise given concerning Solomon’s Temple (a building to be destroyed in just over 300 years) applies to the Person signified (Jesus Christ) through the sign itself (Solomon’s Temple).

Let me tell you where I got the language I quickly pulled out of my theological toolbox Sunday morning.

The Second London Confession (1689) describes the elements of old covenant worship as “those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein [Jesus] was revealed” (8.6). Further, the S.L.C. confesses that the “covenant of grace…is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament” (7.2,3). The Old Testament is a movement from the announcement of the covenant of grace (Genesis 3:15) to its fullness in the first advent of Jesus Christ and His continuing work for His people. Every element and theme in the O.T. leads us to Jesus.[1] The LORD pronounces one of “those promises…wherein [Jesus] was revealed” over Solomon’s Temple, which was one of the “farther steps” in revealing the “covenant of grace.” The Temple was not the point, but it served as a symbol and sign, and, in its old covenant time, communicated the grace of Christ to those worshipers who came to the Temple as commanded and by faith – it both pointed forward to Christ but also brought Christ to those who gathered to worship at the Temple.[2]

There’s a helpful word not used in the S.L.C. to describe this: sacrament.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1644) describes sacraments as “holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and His benefits” (27.1). The W.C.F. also says “there is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified” (27.2). While the Particular Baptists omitted this language in the S.L.C., they had no problem using the word “sacrament” in other places.[3] I like the word, so I invoked it last Lord’s Day.

I would say that Solomon’s Temple was sacramental – that is, it represented in a real and beneficial (to those in the old covenant) way the fullness of both God-with-us (Immanuel, Jesus Christ), but also us-with-God in faith-union with Jesus Christ, and therefore brought them into the union between Father and Son, even though Christ’s earthly work had not yet occurred.[4]

When we hold up the bread and repeat the words, “this is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24), we do not consider the bread to have the promises of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Those promises come to us in Christ alone. The bread represents that, and we are drawn to Christ through obedience to His command to partake of the Supper. We are, by the Spirit, connected to His body on the cross (Galatians 2:20), and we are, by the Spirit, connected to the “Lamb standing, as if slain” (Revelation 5:6) in heaven. Christ’s Presence and benefits are ours through faith-union with Him (now and forever), a union sealed and made real by the heaven-sent Holy Spirit, Who works in us through the ordinary means of grace in the Church. This is displayed in the parallelism we see on the day of Pentecost:

• “Repent, and each other you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

• “…those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (2:41,42).

The visible and physical act of baptism showed forth the faith that brings one into union with Christ. That union is sealed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, Whose Presence unites us with Christ – that union is manifested by corporate devotion “to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The actions are not the union, but are a God-commanded means by which God the Holy Spirit manifests that union for our benefit.[5]

Just as “this is My body” is pronounced over bread, and just as “baptism now saves you,” the worship at Solomon’s Temple (the fellowship of God and His covenant people through sacrifice-mediation) and “forever” promises that attended that worship rested not on a building, but on the coming Christ and His work as the “one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Reading the temple “forever” promise as stand-alone is an incomplete (and, therefore, erroneous) hermeneutic. We have a whole Book in our hands. Where does the temple lead? What’s the point of the whole story, and how does the temple connect us to that point? Here’s a vital, indispensable point for interpreting your Bible: what comes later is key to what comes earlier.[6] Jesus saw His resurrection as the building of the true temple (John 2:19-22; see also Mark 14:58; 15:29). Similarly, Jesus is described as the “cornerstone” (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10-12; Luke 20:17,18; Acts 4:11; Romans 9:32,33) of the true Temple, which is the Church (the people of God, not a building, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Peter 2:5). In union with the resurrected Christ, the true and eternal Temple (locus of fellowship with God), the covenant people of God become part of that Temple, and receive the promises symbolically given to Solomon’s Temple in their fullness forever.

Solomon’s Temple, and the promises proclaimed at its dedication, was symbol/type of the coming Christ, but also sacramental in that those worshipers benefited from the future work of Christ on behalf of His people through the Temple worship by faith.

If your understanding of any Old Testament promise, commandment, God-action, or God-statement doesn’t take you to Jesus, read the whole Book.

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[1] A more current Baptist confession, one I appreciate and ascribe to in my fellowship and service in the Southern Baptist Convention, says, “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, Who is Himself the focus of divine revelation” (Baptist Faith & Message [2000], I).

[2] “Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages, successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein He was revealed, and signified to be the Seed which should bruise the serpent’s head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday, and today and forever” (Second London Confession, 8.6).

[3] For example, Nehemiah Coxe (d. 1688) says, “Unto the public work and charge of a bishop or elder belongs also the administration of the sacraments, or ordinances of positive institution in the church, as baptism and the Lord’s Supper” (Biblical Elders and Deacons). When Hercules Collins (d. 1702) adapted the Heidelberg Catechism for his Baptist Congregation’s use, he retained the original language concerning sacraments: “Q.65 What are the sacraments? A. They are sacred signs and seals set before our eyes and ordained of God for this purpose, that He may declare and confirm by them the promise of His gospel unto us, to this, that He gives freely remission of sins and life everlasting to everyone in particular who believes in the sacrifice of Christ which He accomplished once for all upon the cross.” I give these two examples just to show that Particular Baptists, while not using the word “sacrament” in the Second London Confession, still used it without reservation in other places.

[4] It was going to occur – God had promised it in the Garden (Genesis 3:15). It was going to occur – God purposed it before the first pages of the Bible (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9).

[5] This is the only way you will understand Peter’s words rightly: “…baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven” (1 Peter 3:21,22). Baptism is a real and indispensable (I know I’ve used that word in this post already) part of the “appeal to God for a good conscience – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” A Zwinglian view of the ordinance as “mere symbol” doesn’t adequately explain Peter’s strong language “baptism now saves you.” As Baptists (and I suspect we’re not alone among Protestants), our weak doctrine of sacramentology has hobbled our understanding of the ordinances, the role of biblical Christian practice, our union with Christ, and our fellowship with the Trinity here on earth.

[6] “…the final authoritative interpreter of a specific Scripture is the rest of Scripture…the NT finally clarifies and authoritatively interprets previous OT type and shadows…there must be a final dependence upon the NT revelation to determine how the OT is fulfilled in it…the NT claims priority to teach how the Old is fulfilled in it as the inspired commentary on the OT…the priority of the NT for interpreting how the OT if fulfilled in it is fundamental to consistent biblical and systematic theology.” Frank A. Malone, “Biblical Hermeneutics and Covenant Theology,” in Covenant Theology: A Baptist Distinctive, ed. Earl M. Blackburn (Birmingham, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2013), 67-76. Or, as Calvin succinctly says it, “the apostles are better interpreters” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.13.7).

Surveying the Boundaries

“You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess...cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen’...do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set” (Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17; Proverbs 22:28).

I am meditating this morning on the boundary lines of the inheritance given us in Christ from the Father:

• The Father causes “us to be born again” in Christ so that we will “obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
• “God has granted [this inheritance] to Abraham by means of a promise...if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:18,29).
• In Christ “we have obtained an inheritance,” and are “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:11-18).
• We give “thanks to the Father, Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 3:12-14).
• The King gives the inheritance of His Father to those who care for His “brothers” (the covenant family of God in Christ) in this world (Matthew 25:34-40).
• We have been commended “to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

It is good.

“The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me” (Psalm 16:5,6).

Faith-Filled Daughters

“Then came the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying: ‘Our father died in the wilderness; but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord, in company with Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.’ So Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: “If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.”’ And it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, just as the Lord commanded Moses” (Numbers 27:1-11, N.K.J.V.).

I had the opportunity to teach this passage last night after our Sunday evening time of prayer. As with so many obscure stories in the Bible, this is one that wouldn’t normally give us pause or make it into those children’s Bible story books that summarize the Scripture by highlighting major stories. But this is a great story, and if repetition says anything (which I think it does), the Holy Spirit Himself regards it as important. Aside from this passage, the four daughters of Zelophehad are mentioned three more times in Scripture (Numbers 26:33; 36:1-12; Joshua 17:3-6).

Is this merely Ancient Near Eastern case law, good for nothing except sleep aid to those of us 21st century members of the new covenant in Christ? No! We see some important principles in this passage that assure us of God’s immutability and the uniformity of the Bible as a whole.

First, there is a matter of faith. I will never tire of battling the caricature that the Old Testament is law-keeping and the New Testament is faith. The greatest verses in the Bible on justification by faith don’t originate in the New Testament, but the Old (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4b)! Chapter 26 in Numbers is a long census (one of several – this is how the book gets its name). Why another census, since the book begins with a lengthy and detailed one? Because the Exodus generation showed itself to be unbelieving. Not disobedient to the Law (though that certainly was a fruit of unbelief), but lacking faith in the Word of God and the God of the Word. After the spies had returned from scouting out the Promised Land, the people put more faith in the fearful report of the majority of the spies than in the Promise of God that He was going to give them the land. Faithlessness merits wrath, judgment, and death, for faithlessness is sin.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection. I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die”’” (14:26-35).

A lack of faith in the Word of God is complaint against God, a despising of His promises, infidelity, evil, and a burden for the next generation of the Church.

It’s about faith, not Law-keeping.

“For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 3:16-4:2).

Zelophehad (along with most of the rest of the Exodus generation, counted in the early chapters of Numbers) died outside of the Promised Land because he did not have faith in the “gospel” (Hebrews 4:2) which was preached to him. The following generation, the Deuteronomy generation (whose census is found in Numbers 26) rises up. They have carried the burden of their parents’ faithlessness for forty years in the desert. Did this burden lead them to an even more bitter faithlessness, or something else? The remarkable four daughters of Zelophehad show us that, for some of them, forty years in the desert was an exceedingly fruitful garden of faith.

They come to Moses, and want the land. This isn’t some embarrassing, selfish sort of quibbling over inheritance that we see all-to-often among siblings with the death of a parent. They are showing faith. Zelophehad, a member of the tribe of Manasseh, was promised a certain section of the Promised Land. He died. His daughters (Zelophehad had no son) come forth to claim it. This challenges the cultural trend of that day, not just among the Israelites, but all of the Ancient Near East. There was no law against what they were requesting, but it certainly challenged the traditions of the day.

Here’s what makes this about faith: they’re not in the Promised Land yet. Their father was promised a share in the Land, but he listened to cowardly, faithless spies and shared their faithlessness. He forfeited his own right to the Promised Land by not believing the promise. His daughters, however, come forward – by faith – to claim a part of the Promised Land. A land that is currently inhabited by giants (Numbers 13:33). A land yet to be conquered. This is faith. These four daughters are heroes of faith, which is why this story is repeated several times in Numbers, and why four verses in Joshua are given to telling us that those women stood on the land they believed God would one day provide.

Notice (back in Numbers 27:5) that Moses takes the daughters’ case to the LORD. The LORD is living and active among His people, still their King and Law-giver. He honors the faith of the daughters and makes them co-inheritors of the Land of Promise along with all the firstborn sons and tribal name-bearers. This is exactly what we should expect. It may not have been the culturally traditional way things were done then, but our God doesn’t take His cues from the mores of the culture. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He is the One Who tells believing husbands that their believing wives are “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7).

He is the One Who so paradoxically and beautifully says that women of faith are “sons of Abraham” if their faith is in Jesus Christ: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).

Only the ignorant say that the Bible puts women down. The God of the Old and New Testament gives a verdict in this civil rights case that is thousands of years before its time, and sets whole-Bible Christianity apart from countless other religions. Our society speaks of equality and twists common sense until it is unrecognizable, attempting to achieve parity through strange experiments and communication-frustrating, liberty-destroying politically-correct speech. All the while, there is in the heavenly, eternal Promised Land before the throne of God a great multitude purchased by the blood of the Lamb from every “tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9) – and from both God-created genders (both of which together reflect His image, Genesis 1:27). They are not segregated or put on different levels. They stand equal on a “sea of glass, like crystal” (Revelation 4:6).

The daughters of Zelophehad teach us a lesson about God. His righteous wrath against unbelieving Zelophehad was not as final as His mercy and grace toward Zelophehad’s faith-filled daughters. The LORD did not prefer the faith-filled sons of Adam to the faith-filled daughters of Eve, but treasured them all and eternally delights “in the ages to come [to] show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward [sons and daughters of faith] in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).

It is also a Gospel message. It is not Law-keeping that gains the Promised Land, for as Paul says three different times in one verse, “a man [or woman] is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16; cf. 3:11; Romans 3:20,28; Philippians 3:9). We, along with the daughters of Zelophehad, will find ourselves standing in the Land by faith in the promises of God, which are all finally and eternally fulfilled in His Son Jesus Christ.

“We who have believed do enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:3). I hope to see you there.

Art by Iris Vexler Tamir

Jeremiah's Turning #7: His Promise to the Gathering

Following the word “turn” (שוב) through Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“‘It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘they will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem “The Throne of the LORD,” and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. Then I said, “How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!” And I said, “You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn [שוב] away from following Me”’” (Jeremiah 3:16-19).

What promises to the gathering Church!

The place of God’s presence with His people is where God reigns over all as King! “And Jesus came up and spoke to them,saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth...I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18,20).

The place of God’s presence with His people is where the elect from all the nations is gathered! “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:9,10).

The place of God’s presence with His people is where all God’s people will eventually be counted – not one will be forgotten or lost! “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day...My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand...of those whom You have given Me I lost not one” (John 6:39; 10:27-29; 18:9).

The place of God’s presence with His people is where God’s people enjoy the privilege and right of adoption by His great grace! “...as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God...He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (John 1:12,13; Ephesians 1:5,6).

The place of God’s presence with His people is where God’s people are assured preservation unto perseverance for eternal salvation! “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29,30).

Where is the place of God’s presence with His people? The old covenant shadow, earthly Jerusalem, passed away with that covenant: “...believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (John 4:21; cf. Galatians 4:22-26). The place of God’s presence with His people is in Christ alone! The fullness to Whom the old covenant shadows and types pointed is here! This is the age of His Gospel, the age of the new covenant sealed in His blood!

“...My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him...if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him...abide in Me, and I in you” (John 6:55,56; 14:23; 15:4).

Expounding the Law

“...Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them...across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying, ‘The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them”’” (Deuteronomy 1:3,5-8).

The Law points to the Promise: “But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:22-24).