This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Solomon builds the temple. It’s the 
highest point in Israel’s history because  

the temple is more than a place of worship.
It’s a model of the universe as it is meant to be.

Like Eden, it was a place where 
God and man could live together.

Moses was told that God’s tabernacle 
is actually a copy of the heavenly one.

The gold, the cedar, and the placement 
of the temple’s sacred decorations,  

all of them represent the way God
wants his universe to be ordered.

Like the garden, it’s lush with like 
gourds, and pomegranates, and lilies.

Every element is expertly
designed and engineered.

God’s throne and presence sit in the middle of this 
temple-universe and affect anyone who gets close.

The Presence is even guarded by two 
angels, like the two that guarded Eden.

And the temple is also full of water, just 
like each inch of the Garden was watered.

And there’s a giant bowl called the “Sea” and as you walk toward
God’s presence, you’re actually flanked by ten giant basins of water.

Like Israel went through the Red 
Sea to meet God at the mountain,  

God’s people will relive their salvation story as they
walk towards his presence. The whole temple
is a mini-model of the universe.

This is why Solomon’s own palace, along with 
his throne room, and Israel’s Supreme Court  

are all built nearby and with the 
same Edenic imagery as the temple.

Humanity was supposed to rule the earth with God,
so Solomon places his palace, throne,
and judgment seat right next to God.

And then, God warns Solomon
that he’s not confined to the temple.

And when Solomon dedicates the temple, 
he warns his people with that same truth.

God wasn’t waiting for a building 
before he could dwell with his people;  

he dwells with hearts that 
love and desire to obey him.

God didn’t need a temple, but 
his people needed a symbol  

to remind them that whoever stretches out their 
hand to Him will receive the riches of Eden.

This is the universe as it is meant to be.

[music]

The Apostle John tells us that Jesus understood his
death as a destruction of the old ways of worshiping God,  

and the beginning of the
reign of a new kind of temple.

Ultimately, Jesus is the temple and the model for
how the universe is meant to be.

When people stretched out their 
hands to him, they were healed.

When people asked to be forgiven 
(and even when they didn’t sometimes),  

Jesus approached them
and forgave their sins.

No longer would the people have to go up to the
temple and receive forgiveness of sins and healing.
In Jesus, the temple would come to them.

John says that Jesus “tabernacled” among us, although
your Bible probably translates that word as “dwelling”. 

Jesus’ life brought the garden of 
Eden near to all those who asked.

As the new center of the universe, he represents 
the way we approach God’s presence and power.

Just as Israel passed through the symbolic waters in
the temple, we pass through the blood of Jesus’ cross.

We are granted access that is not temporary, 
but instead assures us eternal life with God.

But we are also temples.

We are new and living models of a universe set right.
Like Solomon and like Adam and Eve, we rule 
alongside God as God rules inside of us.

Wherever we go we become outposts of 
a Kingdom and seedlings of the Garden.

Peter calls us living stones of a new temple.

Paul says we are God’s living 
building that, brick by brick,  

communicates the reality
and presence of God’s Kingdom.

And more beautiful than the temple, you have
been designed, like each part of God’s garden,

to be a part of his good
plan to remake the world.

So, I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your
eyes to see the God who lives in his temple.

And may you see Jesus as the one who makes us God’s
temple and partners with us in his good rule over the earth.