THE TEMPLE OF TIME part 1
We took a look at some of the structure of Genesis one in a previous post, seeing the pattern of separation and greater unity. Of course there are even other patterns in that section of scripture, but for this post I want to take a look at the overall timeline structure as it relates to temple symbolism. Later on in your bible reading, we come across temples, buildings specially designed with God or gods in mind, to in a sense, “house” or “embody” them. They are often specially built with symbols, explicit and implicit, that tell about the character, will, history and other “features” and stories relating to the deity in question. In the biblical story, special attention is paid to temple symbolisms, in the proto temple (called the tabernacle) and the various temples built in Israel’s long history. This is strange to us modern readers, and baffled me so much, because we often don’t know the purpose of temples beyond it being a place of worship, our views on architecture for living is informed by the modernity. We have a view on the world that treats symbols as things that represent usually abstract or non-practical ideas, when the biblical meaning is far richer. The Jewish temples were masterpieces of art, architecture and even the science of the time. The instructions on how and what to build it with were given by God himself, meaning it is even more packed with meaning than if it was just human genius. But God didn’t just invent the symbolism manifest in the temple, it is a small model, a microcosm, of God’s presence and acts all through time, past, present, future. They didn’t fully understand it, even we don’t fully understand it, but their tabernacle and subsequent temples gave a glimpse of what their and our destiny as God’s people would be like.
Solomon’s Temple
When I say the temple is a microcosm of God’s presence and acts in history, I mean in history, both time and space, often simultaneously on several levels. Just like the world of Genesis has three horizontal levels (Sea, Land, Garden) in order of the proximity to God’s manifest presence, it also has a simultaneously vertical levels denoting the same thing: Sea/abyss (deep), Land (which is usually higher than the sea, peaking at the high places and mountains), and heaven, the abode of God’s intense presence. This is the same three level structure of the Jewish temple (Outer court, Holy place, Most Holy place). We will treat these in detail in a later post, and we have even covered it in another form in the post mentioned previously. For this post however, we want to see how this structure is also present in the timeline of God’s plan for creation and Humanity.
Biblical cosmology If you notice the sequence of the seven day creation cycle, you’ll see the world becoming more ordered and beautiful as the days go by, God himself unveils His presence in a new and fuller and more complete way as the days roll on, culminating and climaxing on the Seventh day, when God comes in His fullness, where He rests and fills the whole of creation. This is similar to when Solomon completes and dedicates the newly built temple in 1Kings 8. The temple was completed in seven years, and was dedicated in the seventh month of that seventh year, Sabbath on two levels. During the dedication on this Sabbath of Sabbaths, this happened: 1Kings 8: 10-11 “And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. (NKJV) Just as God rested and filled creation in Genesis, so He fills and rests in His temple, which is microcosm, a small model, of creation, it shows forth His purpose for the world: To fill it with His glory, embodied in Jesus Christ, the true temple. In the next few posts of this series, we will look at the way this is represented in the timeline of the Genesis creation story and its relevance for us today. Feel free to ask questions or comment below. Thanks for reading, Peace to you all.