2Chronicles 2:4

Sunday Morning Bible Study

November 10, 2002

Perhaps it is because I was raised by an engineer. You know what an engineer is …

Illustration

YOU MAY BE AN ENGINEER IF...

If you have used coat hangers and duct tape for something other than hanging coats and taping ducts

If you own one or more white short-sleeve dress shirts

If your idea of good interpersonal communication means getting the decimal point in the right place

If the microphone or visual aids at a meeting don't work and you rush up to the front to fix it

If you can remember 7 computer passwords but not your anniversary

If you thought the real heroes of "Apollo 13" were the mission controllers

If you know what http:/ stands for

If you can't remember where you parked your car for the 3rd time this week

Actually, I was raised to think about how things are designed, what purpose they serve. An engineer is someone who designs something for a purpose.

When Solomon finally began the work of building the Temple, he had a design. He had reasons. He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it.

We see the Purposes for the Temple in a letter he writes to Huram, king of Tyre.

Temple Purpose

:4 Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him,

Lesson

Purposes for life.

Solomon knew why he was building the Temple.

For each of us, our body is a Temple.

(1 Cor 6:19 KJV) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

For us as a church, as we are gathered together, we are a type of “Temple” of the Lord.

(1 Cor 3:16 KJV) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

We too have a design, a purpose for our lives. But sometimes I wonder if we even begin to touch some of the things that God would have for us.

Illustration

It’s a little like owning an F116 fighter plane, but keeping it in your garage just to show off to your friends. What a waste! Get it out and fly it!

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The story of Eric Liddell was told in the movie Chariots of Fire. He had felt the call of God to go to China as a missionary with his sister. There is a gripping scene in the movie, when he told his sister that he was going to delay going to the mission field so that he could continue training for the Olympics. She was crestfallen. He sought to help her to understand by saying, “Jenny, Jenny. I know God created me for his service, but he also made me fast! When I run, I feel God’s pleasure!”

Eric went on to compete in the Olympics. He refused to run on a Sunday, but ended up winning a gold medal turned out to be a witness for Christ to the whole world. After winning the gold medal, he went on to be a missionary in China.

He knew God had a purpose for his life. He saw God use all that he had.

God has a purpose for your life as well.

(Eph 2:10 KJV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

(Jer 29:11 NASB) 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Sometimes things don’t seem to operate like they’re supposed to.

I bought a new cell phone a few months ago, and it’s kind of driving me crazy. It is supposed to be able to take all my appointments off of my computer and keep a calendar, but the problem is that my phone now rings for every appointment, including ringing at midnight before a holiday starts. The company tells me that there’s nothing wrong with the phone.

Bad design.

Do you have a purpose in your life?

Is it just to find pleasure? To escape another day of pain?

Do you know what you’re doing and why?

:4 and to burn before him sweet incense,

First purpose: The Temple was to be a place where incense was burned.

Incense is supposed to be a picture of prayer.

We see this in heaven:

(Rev 8:3-4 KJV) And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. {4} And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

In practice, the burning of incense in the Temple was always connected with prayer.

The incense was burned on a small altar of gold in front of the veil before the Holy of Holies.

The smoke of the incense would go through the veil into the Holy of Holies just as prayer rises before the throne of God in heaven.

(Exo 30:7-8 KJV) And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. {8} And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

Prayer should be a regular part of our day.

(Exo 30:34-38 KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

Make it according to the recipe

Balance in your prayer life – balance between adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and requests

{35} And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:

Prayer is a pleasing thing to God. A sweet perfume

{36} And thou shalt beat some of it very small,

Prayer comes from things that are crushed.

and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

Prayer is where we meet with God.

{37} And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. {38} Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

Don’t pray just to make your self smell good (or look good).

(Mat 6:5-6 KJV) And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. {6} But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Lesson

A place of prayer

A Temple is a place where you talk with God.

God designed you to talk with Him. All the time.

God’s given you a phone. It’s already installed. Unlimited minutes. We just need to pick up the phone and call.

:4 and for the continual showbread,

continual – tamiyd – continuity, perpetuity, to stretch

showbread – ma‘areketh – row, line

In the Tabernacle and the Temple, there was to be a special table with bread on it. The Jews who are preparing to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem have pictures of the table, and it has a system of racks attached to it, two columns of racks each holding six trays where the bread is kept.

(Exo 25:30 KJV) And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway.

(Exo 25:30 NASB) "And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.

or, “the bread of My Face”

(Exo 25:30 ICB) On this table put the bread that shows you are in my presence. It must always be there in front of me.

There are different ways of looking at this table of bread.

I see it as a picture of our fellowship with God.

The Jews had the idea that if you ate bread with someone, you were kind of becoming “one” with them.

Sitting down and breaking bread with another person was all about relationship, all about enjoying another person’s presence.

(Lev 24:5-9 KJV) And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. {6} And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. {7} And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. {8} Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. {9} And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.

:5 bake twelve cakes

There would be twelve loaves of bread placed fresh on the table each week. As the old ones got stale, they were replaced with fresh bread. The priests then ate the week old bread.

There's one loaf for each tribe, the picture is that there's food for everyone.

:5 two-tenths of an ephah

About six pounds of flour per loaf, about 72 pounds of bread altogether! A whole lot of eaten’! It was “fine flour”, meaning, wheat, not barley.

:6 in two rows

Probably more correctly, in two stacks.

:7 pure frankincense...memorial

This incense was to represent God's portion of this bread, and each week, when the loaves were changed, the old frankincense was burned on the altar of incense, allowing the perfume to rise before the throne of God.

In our communion with God, it’s our prayers, our “incense” that blesses God.

:8 Every Sabbath day...

The point is that the bread was always fresh.

There should never be any “staleness” in our relationship with Jesus, but it should be always “fresh”.

:9 it shall be Aaron's

The priests would eat the old showbread.

Even though this is God’s Table, we as priests are the ones that are truly being “fed” with His presence.

Lesson

Enjoying the Lord

God designed you to enjoy Him.

God invites you to His table.

We’ll share in communion today, where we will enjoy the Lord.

God wants to “do lunch” with you. He wants you to “have coffee” with Him.

Jesus said,

(Rev 3:20 KJV) Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

:4 and for the burnt offerings

The burnt offering was one of several types of sacrifices in the Old Testament.

(Lev 1:3-9 KJV) If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

I like that the King James version say “he shall offer it of his own voluntary will”. The burnt offering was something done “willingly”.

{4} And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

The act of putting your hand on the animal’s head meant that the animal was taking your place on the altar. We call this “substitutionary sacrifice”. The animal is taking your place. Jesus took your place.

{5} And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

The blood represented the animal’s life. The sprinkling of the blood on the altar was a picture of the life being poured out to pay for sin.

{6} And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. {7} And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: {8} And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: {9} But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

With some of the other offerings, only part of the animal was burned up on the altar. With some of the other offerings, some of the meat might be boiled or given to either the priest or the worshipper to be eaten.

But with the burnt offering, the entire animal was to be burnt in the fire. The entire animal was being given to God.

It was a picture of you being completely given to the Lord.

Lesson

Complete commitment

A Temple is a place for complete commitment.

A New Testament version of the “burnt offering” is found in:

(Rom 12:1-2 KJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. {2} And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

How much of you do you give to the Lord?

Illustration

When you look at a plate of ham and eggs, you could say that the chicken was “involved” with the breakfast, but the pig was “committed”.

This is what the Temple is for.

This is what you were designed for – total commitment to God.

:4 morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.

Lesson

Daily commitment

Just as we are to daily learn to present ourselves to God in dedication, the burnt offerings were done twice a day, as well as once a week, as well as once a month, as well as for special holidays.

For some folks, it’s a little backwards. Their commitment to the Lord might be just for a couple of holidays. Others will come once a month. Others will come once a week.