Honor and Respect For the Holiness of God

I Kings 6.7

In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

Solomon's understanding of God and the temple.

II Chronicles 2:4-6 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God and to dedicate it to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for setting out the consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the LORD our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.  The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for Him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him? 

Reverence for the sanctity of the place and of the building going up on the site was shown in that no unnecessary work or noise was made there.

The tabernacle was still there as the Temple was being built. Worship continued in it for the seven years the temple was built. The Passover, Feast of Pentecost, Succoth were all carried out in the tabernacle as the temple was built. Daily sacrifices continued.

It bothers me to hear lawn mowers start up on the LORD's Day in our neighborhood. It is an unholy distraction that troubles me. I am getting old. I remember the Sundays when you could hear a pin drop in the neighborhood. It is reflective of a nation once under God that is becoming more secular and devoid of Him than we can even imagine.

Noise was held to a minimum as the temple rose. It was a time of excitement, a time of renewal. I was involved in one church building project when I pastored in upstate New York. We obtained more property and enlarged the parking area and put an addition onto the sanctuary. It was an exciting time to witness this. I remember a pastor who had come to plant a church in the community stopping by  when the work began. He said, "It does my heart good to see a church expanding." Visitors came regularly. People sent money.

I was n Bible College when our facility here was completed, but I have heard the stories of workdays on Saturday morning with Pastor Rapalje, the women cooking BBQs and fish fries for lunch. I have seen pictures of the progress and the dedication service.

Worshippers coming to Jerusalem go to witness the construction. Residents of Jerusalem watched the daily progress. New buildings, especially ones for worship of the LORD generate excitement among God's people.

The Building of the Temple spoke of a number of things.

1.  It was peace time in Israel. There were no wars being fought.

2. King Solomon was keeping the desire of his father, David, in building a house for the LORD.

3.The tabernacle had served its purpose. No longer was the nation wandering. It had been settled in the land.

4. The temple was a testimony to God's Promise to Israel of bringing them into the land, His fulfilling of the promise made to Abraham and Joseph's faith being made real.

The quietness, the lack of tools that would make noise, only the necessary work being done on site pointed to the Holiness of God, reverence and respect of Who He is.

1. The LORD God is Holy.

Leviticus 19:1-2 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy."

Holy= sacred, set apart, dedicated

He is pure. No sin in Him. 

There is no shadow of turning with Him.

He is Light.

In Him there is no darkness at all.

When we look to Him we are looking at the Holy One.

His Holiness means He is truthful with us:

Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness–and I will not lie to David– 

Psalm 89:35

John 17:17 Sanctify  them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth.

Hebrews 6:18  it is impossible for God to lie

He lives in unapproachable light, He is a consuming fire, yet He calls us to live lives that reflect his Holiness.

2. We are called to be Holy.

Leviticus 19.1-2

We all have sinned.

What are we to do?

Isaiah 6

Recognize our condition.

Call upon Him.

Receive the cleansing.

Isaiah 32:17 The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. 

Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 

Positive thinking

Possibility thinking

Please, please be so careful what you read and listen to! Errors abound today. Read the Word of God. Test everything by it.

I have heard one of the leading television personalities  say, "I rebuke you, Satan." 

Jude 1:9-10 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. 

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,who leave the straight pathsto walk in dark ways,who delight in doing wrongand rejoice in the perverseness of evil,whose paths are crookedand who are devious in their ways. Proverbs 2.12-15

Now we are the body of Christ, the temple of the LORD.

1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

3. Respect For God, His Name, His Word and His Spirit.

Quiet, reverence, holiness

Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the LORD.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 

*Honoring Him.

*Listening to Him. (We are poor at this)

How often do we practice the discipline of silence? We should be still before the LORD from time to time.

*Waiting for Him.

They had to wait for the new king (Solomon) to have the temple built.

After he began it took seven years of construction.

Lamentations 3:25-26 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him,to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Being still - we must work at this.

No hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was used. The construction site was as still as it could be with the necessary work being done. Compare that to a Construction Site today. We are unique people special, holy, different.

But I, by Your great mercy, will come into Your house; in reverence will I bow down toward Your holy temple. Psalm 5.7

The building of the temple is to be like our lives-working yet reverently, quietly.

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."

Psalm 118 the stone the builders rejected.

They were precut to fit.

1 Peter 2:6-7 For in Scripture it says:“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this Stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 

Honor and Respect for the Holiness of God results in our pursuit of it in our lives.

1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 

I have one deep, supreme desire,

that I may be like Jesus.

To this I fervently aspire,

that I may be like Jesus.

I want my heart His throne to be,

so that a watching world may see

His likeness shining forth in me.

I want to be like Jesus.