By all historical and Biblical accounts, the temple King Solomon built for His God was the most spectacular edifice ever constructed.  As impressive as the temple was, equally impressive is HOW it was constructed.  “Fine print” seekers know that to look beyond the outward appearance and into the internal machinations of an entity is often as important than the entity itself.  Such is the case with Solomon’s Temple which He built in Jerusalem after the death of his father David.  The subject of this posting is the stones that will make up the spiritual Temple God is spiritually creating during this life.  Let us look at the method King Solomon used in constructing the physical Temple in Jerusalem.  This will give us an indication of how God is forming the “stones” that will become His spiritual Temple in His future kingdom.

In I Kings 5:13-18 we learn about the number of people Solomon employed and the type of skilled workmanship needed in order to build the edifice the way Solomon wanted it built.  He employed approximately 200,000 of the most skilled workers on earth to do that important work.  The number of workers it took to build one building alerts us to the status of the structure.

But there was another aspect of the building project that garners the attention of the seeker of God’s Truth–the work itself.  The Truth-seeker knows that the method used to construct the physical Temple in Jerusalem is the same method being used to construct the future spiritual Temple that will come into being in the same location as was the old Temple.  We will now examine that process which tells the “stones” that will be used in that edifice why certain things are happening in their lives today.

The size and weight of the individual stones used in the construction of the Temple was impressive.  These monstrous slabs of solid rock had to be hewn out of the sides of mountains, sawn into the shapes called for in the planning and chiseled to a level of perfection that would satisfy the God of the universe whose demands were, and are today, strictly enforced.  In order to meet God’s requirements the builders hewed, sawed and chipped the huge stones and wood supports to perfection so that they all fit together perfectly.

And where did they do the hard, dirty, noisy work of preparing those stones and timbers?  In I Kings 5:6:7 we learn an important fact about the process: “And the house, while it was being built, was built of stones made ready BEFORE  they were brought together, SO THAT THERE WAS NEITHER HAMMER NOR AXE NOR ANY TOOL OF IRON HEARD IN THE HOUSE WHILE IT WAS BEING PUT TOGETHER.”  Each stone was PRE-CUT BEFORE BEING BROUGHT TO THE BUILDING SITE.  No sound of a hammer, axe or iron tool was heard at the site which remained quiet and clean while the construction was being done.  In this Scriptural context the sounds of work were compared to religious noise and idle chatter that God nowhere approves.  He condemns “foolishness,” “jesting” and “idle talk” by placing such behavior in the same category as fornication, uncleanness, coveting and filthiness (Eph. 5:4).  Solomon would not allow any such sounds to be heard on the Lord’s holy ground.  Recall that God required Moses and Joshua to remove their shoes because the place where they met with Him was “holy ground” (Exo. 3:5/ Josh. 5:15).  God commands of His saints holiness in all areas of life (1 Pet. 1:15).

In Revelation 11:1,2 Jesus, in the vision, gave John a measuring rod and was told to spiritually “measure” those who were worshiping in the Temple in order to determine their spiritual condition.  Notice that not all worshipers were accepted because they did not spiritually “measure up,” as we say in today’s world.  God’s true saints do not need to be measured.  They repeatedly measure themselves by comparing their “walk” (thoughts, words and actions) to the Word of God.  Scripturally, this is called self-judgment which, as the Apostle Peter tells us, is ongoing in God’s church (1 Pet. 4:17,18).  But not all therein measure up.  He notes that only the righteous within the church will be saved (rise to meet Christ in the first resurrection).  They will have allowed the Lord to hew, saw and chisel them into saints who can be used to build His spiritual Temple in New Jerusalem following His Son’s return.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word–Three.

The New Testament apostles understood this process.  In 1 John 3:16 the apostle wrote to the church: “Know ye not that YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD (in the making) and that the Spirit of God dwells within you?”  God’s Holy Spirit will not remain in a sin-tainted believer–“a sinner saved by grace.”  The Lord’s true sons are led by the Holy Spirit from within (Rom. 8:14).  The Spirit does not lead one to sin, at all, ever, under any circumstance.  God’s true saints–His individual parts (stones) that will make up His spiritual temple in the center of His future kingdom on earth–are in this life being spiritually hewn, sawn and chipped unto perfection so that they will spiritually fit perfectly together as did the stones of Solomon’s Temple.

During this lifetime God’s spiritual temple is a work in progress.  The preparation process began on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D.  God’s Very Elect “stones” are precut and shaped in this life.  Because they are being spiritually prepared the world, including the church world, does not recognize them.  Instead, they are rejected by the false church and the world in which she fits so perfectly.  A day is coming, prophecy foretells, when the world will be shocked at the sight of a spiritual nation/temple that will appear to have been built “in a day” (Isa. 66:8).  The Apostle Paul prophesied about this temple: “Now therefore you are fellow citizens with the (other) saints–the household of God.  You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.  All the building will be fitly framed together and will be built into a HOLY TEMPLE in the Lord.  In Him (Jesus) you will be built and placed together to make a habitation for God (the Father) through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22).  Notice that God’s holy TEMPLE is being “fitly framed together” by the Lord through the teachings of the prophets and apostles who taught God’s Law, known as the Holy Bible which He condensed into the Ten Commandments.  Law always entails government.  God governs His Very Elect saints by His Law which, as Jesus declared, was not destroyed by nailing it to His cross.   What was destroyed was the sacrificial law–Moses’ “handwriting of ordinances.”

Those who totally submit to the Almighty’s “hammering and sawing” will be pillars in His spiritual temple (Rev. 3:12).  Those who overcome their self-will and Satan’s temptations will sit with Christ on His throne in the New Jerusalem Temple (Rev. 3:21).  He (Jesus) tells us that He had to qualify to join God on His throne by overcoming His human will and Satan’s temptations.  As a 100% human He had a normal human will.  Self-preservation is the most powerful part of the human will.  Recall Jesus saying to the Father concerning His coming crucifixion, “Not my (human) will, but thy (will) be done.”  That is the standard one must adhere to in order to qualify for eternal life in kingdom headquarters for eternity.  See The Kingdom of God.  Key word–Kingdom.  Those who have submitted to God’s sawing, hewing and chipping will rule the earth for 1000 years, then the entire universe forever.  Read God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe.  Key word–Caretakers.

The Lord’s “sawing, hewing and chiseling” is hard to endure, but in the end it will be worth it.  Compare the process to a new pencil.  It is useless until we destroy the unneeded part by “grinding” (sawing, hewing and chiseling) it down to a point.  Then, and only then, is it usable.  Let us be usable to the Lord now so that we can be part of His Holy Spiritual Temple throughout eternity.  L.J.