This post is written by Jeremy Writebol and is published as a companion to Unit 12, Session 2 of The Gospel Project for Adults Vol. 4 (Summer 2022): From Unity to Division.
It had to be an incredible day. It was one you would talk about to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There would be a kind of understanding among those of you who were there and those who were not. You would be hard pressed to find words to describe the pillar-cloud coming down from heaven and enclosing the temple in glory, “When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple, and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (1 Kings 8:10-11).You could recite Solomon’s declaration of God’s promises even imitating his voice, intonation, and cadence. You’d think about the prayer for forgiveness and the thousands and thousands of animals sacrificed before the Lord on the altar. There would never be another day like it. I must admit I wish I was there. I bet you wish you were too.
Worshiping at the Temple
Maybe I could speculate so far as to venture that you and I are just a bit jealous of Israel and Solomon from that day. What could be better than seeing the presence of God? How much help would our lives have if we were reminded of God’s faithful promises? Maybe the actions of petition for forgiveness in prayer and sacrifice would help us walk faithfully before the Lord in everything. I’m willing to bet you’d be interested in that kind of worship service.
But would that really be better?
Worshiping a Better Way
I would not be surprised if many of us would prefer that worship experience with Solomon and the temple rather than our own modern worship gatherings. Yet, I’m also convinced that we have a far greater reality today in our worship than Solomon did. It’s better for us that we don’t have to turn to a physical location to pray or make a pilgrimage to a city in the Middle East to see the presence of God and have our sins atoned for.
How do I work this “it’s better now” frame of mind out? It comes from the truth that what Solomon built, and the experience Israel had on that dedication day, was all a shadow and foretelling of the greater realities to come to God’s people in Jesus Christ.
Instead of having a temple to visit in order to see the presence of God, Jesus Himself is “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). He has promised to be with us always (Matt. 28:20). He has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell every believer (Rom. 5:5; 1 Cor. 3:16). We don’t have to travel to Jerusalem to be near God’s presence. He is with us. Even more, as the church gathers together in His name, He is present. The weekly worship gathering of your local church is where God shows up.
What about the reminder of God’s faithfulness to His promises? Without a temple we don’t have an actual monument that reminds us He keeps His promises. No, instead we have something far greater. We have His inspired Word, the Bible, that declares to us every promise of God and calls us to remember Him. When the church gathers together, we should hear the Word of God and be reminded of His great and precious promises upon which we can stand. His Word is our reminder of His promises.
Worshiping Because of Christ
If we could have seen the sacrifices and hear the prayers of Solomon’s day, we might think we would be more faithful. However, the good news is that Christ is our one-time-for-all sacrifice. His death on the cross is the ultimate and final sacrifice to pardon and forgive our sins (Heb. 10:10). There is no more need for the blood of bulls and goats. So as we gather together to worship in the local church, we have symbols of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf through the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We, thus remember Christ and His salvific work and seek forgiveness and pardon for our sins based on that work. We remember and remind ourselves through the ordinances that this work has been accomplished through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice.
What we may long to see and experience from Solomon’s day is merely a shadow of the greater worship and experience we share today. Because Christ’s blood atones for us, we are brought into the Lord’s presence, individually and corporately. Through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the forgiveness Jesus has purchased for us. We pray “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us” (Luke 11:4) and we seek to walk in unity together until Jesus comes again. Christ in us, for us, and with us surpasses any pillar of cloud any day.
Jeremy Writebol is the Lead Campus Pastor at Woodside Bible Church in Plymouth, Michigan. He is also the Executive Director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship (GCD). He has served in pastoral ministry full- time for over twenty years and is the author of several books. He is married to Stephanie and is the father of Allison and Ethan.