1 Chronicles 29
If you had to choose for the rest world one event that defines America history which would you choose? Would it be the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the storming of the beaches of Normandy, or might it be landing a man on the moon? This is the same question posed by the writer of Chronicles. For him, there was only one clear choice: The Temple.
For five hundred years from 1000BCE-500BCE, the Temple in the City of David made the Jewish people unique in their eyes and in the eyes of God. After its destruction, our writer is living as an exile in a foreign country, present-day Iraq. The founding of first Temple and our writer are actually separated by 500 years. Did you catch that? He is describing in great detail speeches uttered and resources gathered all the while being removed from the event by half a millennium and over 650 miles, in a world lit by animal dung! This is like a 2020 Catholic in the Bronx raving about the party thrown at the St. Peter’s Basilica groundbreaking.
We can look at Chronicles in one of two major ways. One, we can see it as something so huge and impactful that 500 years after the fact, the people are still talking about it. This certainly could be the case. After all we believe this is the first time in human history the true living God actually had a temple built by man. Or two, we can take it to mean something more. It is a beacon calling the Jewish people to God. He is writing to Jews all over the ancient world, who have forgotten what it means to be Jewish. A nation set aside for God. A nation with an identity different from the pagan culture surrounding it.
The Temple is like a lighthouse to a ship on dark night. It does not tell you where to go, but it keeps you from crashing into the land. As Christians, we can do well to respect this and look to Jesus the same way. He does not always tell you where to go or show the path is in front of you. But, when you are lost out at sea, the light house is a beacon of hope. It functions as guidance only to the extent that it shows the boundary of land. The Temple and Jesus remind us that we are different from the rest of the world, we are God’s people.
All of America will die away someday. The cities and towns we love will change and might be gone. The first temple lasted a staggering 500 years, but even it was eventually destroyed. If the writer of Chronicles is so passionate about this event, how much more should we be, having Christ as a living temple, that will never be lost.
Dad Devotional 