There were many features about the temple that caused men to marvel. The imposing beauty of its symmetrical design, the grandeur of its interior loveliness, the entire walls covered with carved cedar and overlaid with pure gold, studded with all kinds of precious stones, was dazzling to the eyes.
The significant furnishings, the exquisite veil, the cherubim of the ark, the ten lavers of brass and ten lampstands of gold, together with the brazen sea resting on twelve oxen, were unique. Also the two massive pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which stood as sentinels of stateliness at the main entrance, lent their peculiar charm to the majestic workmanship. Then to crown the whole, the supreme wonder was the shekinah glory that filled the sanctuary with the effulgence of God.
Each of these features is ablaze with Christ, who in beauty of form stands without a peer. His internal motives and external ministries were alike perfect. The jewels of His excellencies of character cannot be produced by the lapidary. Heads of the diamond exchange are not qualified to estimate the value of His virtues.
The veil likewise displayed Him in yet another aspect of His magnificence. The two pillars by their very names, which signify ”strength” and “Redeemer” recall the words of David who addressed the Lord as “my strength and my Redeemer,” or again, “Unto Thee, O strength, will I sing, for God is my defence and the God of my mercy.” Boaz, the Redeemer of Ruth, is spoken of as “a mighty man of wealth” and both his resource and resoluteness form a fitting illustration of our Redeemer.
In manifestation He came as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; He was the effulgence of His glory and the express image of His person.
In addition to all these things so inadequately considered, we must recall the Queen of Sheba’s wonder as she gazed on the splendor of Solomon’s surroundings. Standing out beyond all other impressions made on this royal character during her visit to Jerusalem, was the colossal grandeur of the way of ascent by which Solomon went up into the House of the Lord. Professor Robinson, upon discovering the spring of a great arch at the base of the Temple platform, dug a trench from this spot in a direct line to Mount Zion. In Solomon’s day, there was a deep valley of over 125 feet between the two mountains. The king constructed a great causeway which rested for support on seven massive pillars, the stones of which were enormous. When the Queen of Sheba saw this great viaduct leading from Mount Zion to Mount Moriah there was no strength left in her.
If this was so unutterably grand, what are we to say of Christ’s ascent, by means of which He ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high, far above all heavens that He might fill all things?
The populace wondered at His ministry (Lk. 4:18). They wondered at His power when He rebuked the wind and waves, in the hour of raging storm (Lk. 8:24). The same wondering admiration attended the discovery of the empty tomb and His activities after the resurrection (Lk. 24:12) but the pre-eminent wonder occurred at the time of His ascension. This is the most reassuring fact of the New Testament to all who believe.
The sum of these combined events interprets the competence of His unlimited spiritual powers, in comparison with which the stellar spaces where planets swing and the magnitude of starry constellations that we speak of as infinite, are unworthy of place.
We are not dealing with invention, but revelation which transfigures conduct, regenerates nature, and disciplines faculties under the mastery of a renewed mind.
The technical objections to these truths emanating from speculative unbelief have long ago lost their flavor of originality. Their producers are sceptical rather than logical.
We may marvel at the thought that any man should have essayed to destroy so remarkable a structure as the temple, which so easily excelled in beauty every other building of its kind.
More especially is this the case when we consider that Nebuchadnezzar, under whose authority the sacred edifice was burned, had received such deep impressions about the true and living God from the captive Daniel, nearly a score of years prior to his sacking Jerusalem. But this is not the most inscrutable mystery that confronts us in studying this subject.
When the Messiah stood before the rulers of the nation of Israel, He made His irrefutable claim: that He was “greater than the temple.” Yes, He who was the manifestation of Deity, the glory of the Father, the beauty of holiness, the personification of Truth, the embodiment of Love, the incarnation of Light, the source of Life, the Sun of righteousness, the Root of David, the Armory of peace, the faithful Witness, the stalwart Friend, the unparalleled Teacher, the compassionate Healer, the gracious Servant, the wise Counsellor, the inerrant Guide, the sympathetic Priest, was nevertheless betrayed and killed by man.
Indeed, though He surpassed all others in beauty of character, words of authority, range of vision, power of control, dignity of nature, meekness of heart, and majestic honor, nevertheless the fourth of the great Gentile powers that arose delivered Him up to be crucified. In so doing, man destroyed the most costly and precious gift that was ever imparted by the Omnipotent hands of infinite generosity.
Christ was able to quench the thirst of longing souls, in a way that the drink offering of the temple courts could never do.
He quelled the storms of passionate sin, and quickened men into new life. No such sympathetic companion and absolute conqueror had ever before been revealed to man.
He transcended and transplaced the temple, for it was designed as a center where all nations could resort for prayer. He was the true Meeting-place, as the one Mediator between God and man.
In Luke’s Gospel, where Christ’s character as Priest-King is disclosed, He said to the Pharisees on one occasion, “They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves shall be shut out.” This statement is substantiated by the prophets. “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder” (Isa. 29:14). And again, “Behold ye among the nations and regard and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you” (Hab. 1:5). See also Acts 13:41.
A glance at the map with Luke’s Gentile references in mind, reveals that the Ninevites came from the east, the centurion from the west, the widow of Zarephath from the north, and the Queen of Sheba from the south, which expresses vividly the teaching Christ gave.
When the sons of Abraham approached, they found in Him the ratifier of the promises made to the fathers. The Greeks found in Him the perfection of life, while the Romans found in Him the command of supreme authority.
His purpose of universal blessing is again vividly set forth in the representatives of the three original races that occupy Acts chapters 8 to 10. The Ethiopian eunuch of Africa, of the race of Ham, believed; Saul of Tarsus, the Jew of the race of Shem, comes next; and thirdly, Cornelius, the Roman of the race of Japheth, believed with all his house.
When the third of these representative characters was admitted to the Christian faith, Peter exclaimed: “He is Lord of all,” which implies that Christ is Lord of all racially, and Lord of all redemptively. Peter at this stage was brought to recognize the universality of the divine purpose.
Paul likewise comprehended this when he saw the solution of the great world problems of nation, race, class, creed, and sex, which he deals with under the terms of Jew and Greek, barbarian and Scythian, bond and free, circumcision and uncircumcision, male and female (Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28).
The specific wonder of the temple lay in the fact that it provided a common meeting ground for all, irrespective of caste or community, and in like manner, God has made known to us the mystery of His will, that in the order of the fulness of times He will gather together in one all things in Christ.