"Sacred architecture is one of the Bible's chief idioms for revealing the character of the church...Few if any of Israel's sanctuaries could be constructed architecturally from the biblical record. But that is not the point. These biblical sanctuaries are all verbal sanctuaries, and these texts are given to the church not to enable it to rebuild a temple but to edify -[to] construct- the body of Christ." (54)
"In many respects, the temple and tabernacle all share the same multiple dimensions of meaning and symbolism, but the temple is no restoration of the tabernacle. It is a permanent building rather than a tent...far larger than the tabernacle...a significant upgrade...The tabernacle was glorious, but Solomon builds a more glorious house. With the building of the temple, Israel moves from glory to greater glory. In this way, Solomon's temple reaches towards the resurrection." (55)
Yahweh's house is not finished (7:51) until the palace and other public buildings are completed because it extends to these as well, "as later, after the exile, Yahweh's house expands to encompass the entire city of Jerusalem (Jer. 3:16-17; Ezek. 40-48)." (55)
What does the temple mean?
- God's palace, i.e. God dwelling among his people
- architectural recapitulation of the Garden of Eden, the "trysting place" for Yahweh and his bride, source of living water for the nations
- architectural "holy mountain" (NB: pyramid shape, 1 Kings 6:5-6)
- architectural "body" (face, 6:3; ribs, 6:5; shoulders, 7:39), bridal
- a "house with many utensils" (2 Tim. 2:20) of bronze and gold
"A temple ecclesiology is simultaneously an Eden ecclesiology, a holy mountain ecclesiology, a body and bride ecclesiology. The church is Eden because in Christ it is the place well watered with the Spirit poured from heaven at Pentecost, the source for living waters that flow to the corners of the earth (John 7:37). The church is the true holy mountain, where the Spirit is present in cloud and fire, where the living word of the Lord is heard in thunder, where we can draw near to stand face to face with the glory of the Lord and be transformed into an image of that glory, where we ascend to joy with the joyful assembly of saints and martyrs around the throne of God (Heb. 12:22-24). The church is the house/bride of Christ, in whom he dwells by his Spirit, and the church is the house/body of Jesus, who is the true temple of God, the diversely unified communion of saints." (58-59).
