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"When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. Then Solomon said, 'The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.'"
(1 Kings 8:10-13)
When I was growing up, my grandparents had an RV. We would drive all around in it and go camping with it. I have the most wonderful memories of going on adventures with my grandparents in their RV decked out in dolphin-themed decor. As a child, I thought it was so cool that they basically had another home that they could take anywhere! But still, there was no place like Grandma and Grandpa's house.
The tabernacle was mobile. Israel took it with them as they wandered and traveled. When the temple was built, however, the presence of God was now in a "brick and mortar" location, a permanent one. That is, until it was destroyed, of course.
The Temple is the next chapter in this story which we will study in our journey tracing God's desire to dwell with His people. King Solomon eventually built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem. It essentially had the same purpose as the tabernacle and even had many similarities in its construction.
In 1 Kings 8, where today's focal passage comes from, the priests bring the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies within the temple. Then the glory of the Lord fills the Temple. This is the place where God will now dwell. He has led His people to Jerusalem, and a Temple is now built there for anyone to come and worship the Lord. Yet in both the tabernacle and the temple, the way that God dwells with His people is very different from what we saw in Eden. In Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve. In the tabernacle and later the temple, God's dwelling place is within an extremely exclusive room, the innermost part called the Holy of Holies.
The temple had various sections, and the closer you got to the Holy of Holies, fewer and fewer people were permitted. This most sacred place was a room where the presence of God dwelt. This room was veiled, and ordinarily, no one was to enter it, because a sinful man in the presence of a holy God would surely result in death. However, the Holy of Holies was accessible to the high priest of Israel one day per year when he would atone for the sins of the people. He had to go through much ceremonial cleansing to make himself "clean" so that he would not die when entering the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.
This emphasizes to us that while God still desired to dwell among His people, all that was lost in Eden had not yet been restored. God dwelt among His people in Jerusalem within the Holy of Holies, but there was still a veil to separate people from the deep intimacy that was present in God's design. This should lead us to marvel at the incredible holiness of the Lord. However, it should also lead the reader of the Scriptures to long for fuller restoration of the relationship between God and man. As New Testament believers, we know that this is coming later in the story! We will turn to the New Testament tomorrow. For now, take a moment to consider how this tension and this longing would feel before Christ came. It actually helps us to long for the full restoration still ahead of us at His second coming!
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