Worship worthy of God
Worship worthy of a Great God
Read 2 Chronicles 2: 1-9
“The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods.”
For a small nation, the extravagance of the Temple Solomon was building seemed opulent and excessive. To develop his Temple, he conscripted 153,600 workers. The estimated cost of the Temple would be equivalent to 3-6 billion dollars in today’s money. Besides all the wood and materials, the construction required 3,000 tons of gold and 30,000 tons of silver (1 Chron. 22:14). The Temple consisted of a central building 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with its interior complexly overlaid with gold. All the furnishings in the Temple were either made of solid gold or gold overlaid. If it existed today, it would be one of the world's great architectural wonders. The first seven chapters of 2 Chronicles highlight its magnificence, describing the wonder of its construction and its wealth and beauty.
However, in 2 Chronicles 2: 5-6, we find a remarkable statement that motivates Solomon’s ambitious dream for the Temple. Solomon desired to build a temple worthy of the God of the universe. He desired a temple that would manifest God's unparalleled and unequaled glory. Solomon built the Temple to affirm the transcendence of God. But even as he built the Temple, he recognized that it could not contain God. While the pagan religions surrounding Israel built temples for their gods to dwell, Solomon acknowledges that it was folly to think that the God who measures the universe in the palm of his hand could be contained in a man-made building. Instead of it being God’s dwelling place, it was a place where the people could perform their sacrifices before God. Since the highest heavens cannot contain him, neither could a temple contain him. Therefore it is a place for the people to come and worship him.
We have sometimes lost this sense of wonder and amazement in our worship today. We bring God down to our level by humanizing him. In our worship, we often treat God as common rather than unique. We devalue God by making him unimportant in our lives. While we affirm God’s existence, we disregard his word and live with little thought of him. We fail to see the transcendent glory of God that elevates him above all other gods. The God of the Bible is both transcendent and unique. He is holy and set apart from all other religions.
To truly grasp the wonder of his grace and his invitation to enjoy a personal relationship with him, we must start with an awareness of his transcendence. When we begin with the greatness of God, then the invitation to join him in fellowship becomes all the more astonishing. The God of the universe invites us into a personal relationship with him in which we have the same standing as Christ. He can now call him our Father. While this gives us a sense of joy and comfort, it should never lead to a sense of commonplace where we view God with indifference and irrelevance. We should never bring God down to our level.
For the worshippers who entered the Temple, there must have been a sense of wonderment and awe as they were overwhelmed by its beauty. But Temple was only a reflection and reminder of God’s glory. Every time we come to worship God, we should do so with a sense of amazement and reverence that we are coming into the presence of God, the creator of the universe. While we enjoy a personal relationship with him, we should never take that relationship for granted. Instead, we should hunger to know him more, strive to obey him more faithfully, and worship him in awe and wonder. We must adorn our life with his character, for this is the only act of worship worthy of God.
Read 2 Chronicles 2: 1-9
“The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods.”
For a small nation, the extravagance of the Temple Solomon was building seemed opulent and excessive. To develop his Temple, he conscripted 153,600 workers. The estimated cost of the Temple would be equivalent to 3-6 billion dollars in today’s money. Besides all the wood and materials, the construction required 3,000 tons of gold and 30,000 tons of silver (1 Chron. 22:14). The Temple consisted of a central building 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with its interior complexly overlaid with gold. All the furnishings in the Temple were either made of solid gold or gold overlaid. If it existed today, it would be one of the world's great architectural wonders. The first seven chapters of 2 Chronicles highlight its magnificence, describing the wonder of its construction and its wealth and beauty.
However, in 2 Chronicles 2: 5-6, we find a remarkable statement that motivates Solomon’s ambitious dream for the Temple. Solomon desired to build a temple worthy of the God of the universe. He desired a temple that would manifest God's unparalleled and unequaled glory. Solomon built the Temple to affirm the transcendence of God. But even as he built the Temple, he recognized that it could not contain God. While the pagan religions surrounding Israel built temples for their gods to dwell, Solomon acknowledges that it was folly to think that the God who measures the universe in the palm of his hand could be contained in a man-made building. Instead of it being God’s dwelling place, it was a place where the people could perform their sacrifices before God. Since the highest heavens cannot contain him, neither could a temple contain him. Therefore it is a place for the people to come and worship him.
We have sometimes lost this sense of wonder and amazement in our worship today. We bring God down to our level by humanizing him. In our worship, we often treat God as common rather than unique. We devalue God by making him unimportant in our lives. While we affirm God’s existence, we disregard his word and live with little thought of him. We fail to see the transcendent glory of God that elevates him above all other gods. The God of the Bible is both transcendent and unique. He is holy and set apart from all other religions.
To truly grasp the wonder of his grace and his invitation to enjoy a personal relationship with him, we must start with an awareness of his transcendence. When we begin with the greatness of God, then the invitation to join him in fellowship becomes all the more astonishing. The God of the universe invites us into a personal relationship with him in which we have the same standing as Christ. He can now call him our Father. While this gives us a sense of joy and comfort, it should never lead to a sense of commonplace where we view God with indifference and irrelevance. We should never bring God down to our level.
For the worshippers who entered the Temple, there must have been a sense of wonderment and awe as they were overwhelmed by its beauty. But Temple was only a reflection and reminder of God’s glory. Every time we come to worship God, we should do so with a sense of amazement and reverence that we are coming into the presence of God, the creator of the universe. While we enjoy a personal relationship with him, we should never take that relationship for granted. Instead, we should hunger to know him more, strive to obey him more faithfully, and worship him in awe and wonder. We must adorn our life with his character, for this is the only act of worship worthy of God.
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