It has often been observed that the creation of the cosmos, the making of the tabernacle and the building of the temple are described in similar and sometimes identical language. In ancient Near Eastern stories the establishment of a temple marks the final victory over the forces of chaos. David wanted to build a temple when God had given him rest from all his enemies; he was not allowed. The initiative was to be God's. First he was going to build a house (dynasty) for David's son, then David's son would build a house (temple) for him.
Temple building is world building. (God famously made the world in seven days; Solomon took seven years for the temple which he then dedicated in the seventh month.) Israel's temple was a microcosm of the universe:
- the courtyard representing the lower and habitable part (note the large bronze basin called "the sea" on top of twelve bulls and the altar of earth and uncut stone),
- the holy place representing the visible heavens, i.e. the sky, with its lights, i.e. sun, moon, and stars (note the use of blue and purple colours and of precious stones),
- the holy of holies representing the invisible dimension (note the sculpted cherubim around the ark of the covenant and the figures of the cherubim woven into the curtains).
(This is not entirely uncontroversial but acknowledged by a good range of scholars. The evidence is gathered in G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission: A biblical theology of the dwelling place of God [NSBT 17; Leicester: Apollos, 2004].)
This microcosm speaks of the mission of God's people. The very first sanctuary was the garden of Eden. (My Doktorvater, Gordon Wenham, argued this in his 1986 essay "Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story" and it has since been widely accepted.) The first man and woman were set in a garden but their task was to rule over the earth as God's image-bearers. As Beale notes,
"it is plausible to suggest that they were to extend the geographical boundaries of the garden until Eden covered the whole earth. They were on the primeval hillock of hospitable Eden, outside of which lay the inhospitable land. They were to extend the smaller liveable area of the garden by transforming the outer chaotic region into a habitable territory...[putting] 'finishing touches' on the world God created in Genesis 1 by making it a liveable place for humans in order that they would achieve the grand aim of glorifying him." (p. 82)
The vocation of humanity as priest-kings consists of managing and caring for the earth, maintaining its order and guarding against corruption - 'gardening' in the widest possible sense. The ultimate goal is to fill the whole earth with God's glory.
As Adam's commission was passed on to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Israel small sanctuaries were built 'like planting a flag and claiming the land' for God and his people in the case of the patriarchs and claiming the people in the case of the tabernacle, all anticipating the larger-scale construction in Jerusalem where God's election of a land and people become focused in a city and dynasty.
The commission was not passed on unchanged. Because of Adam's sin, the commission demands additional work (subduing evil) and receives additional grace (a special relationship with God).
As Adam's commission was passed on to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Israel small sanctuaries were built 'like planting a flag and claiming the land' for God and his people in the case of the patriarchs and claiming the people in the case of the tabernacle, all anticipating the larger-scale construction in Jerusalem where God's election of a land and people become focused in a city and dynasty.
The commission was not passed on unchanged. Because of Adam's sin, the commission demands additional work (subduing evil) and receives additional grace (a special relationship with God).
"Abraham's descendants were to be a renewed humanity. They were to bear God's image and 'fill the earth' with children who also bore that image, being beacons of light to others living in spiritual darkness. They were to be God's instruments through whom God caused the light of his presence to shine in dark hearts of people in order that they too might become part of the increasing expansion of the temple's sacred space and of the kingdom. This is none other than performing the role of 'witness' to God throughout the earth." (Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, 117)
Solomon built the temple because God's purposes for the whole world were to be fulfilled through the agency of David's son. Fast forward to the end of the Bible, Revelation 21-22.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Ephesians 2:20-22
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
1 Peter 2:5
like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The microcosm that speaks of the mission of God's people also enables it by being a meeting place. The temple is a place of revelation and sacrifice, "the communications switchboard connecting heaven and earth" (Peter Leithart), the place where heaven touched earth.
There was only one such place to ensure the unity of God's people, enacted as they assembled for the major festivals, under one king who proclaims and enacts judgement from this place.
It was to be "a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah 56.7; cf. 1 Kings 8.41-43) which is why Jesus got so angry about the way in which praying was reserved for Jews with the court of the Gentiles being given over to commerce (Mark 11.15-17).
Everything of which Old Testament temples were typologically symbolic, a recapitulated and escalated Garden of Eden and whole cosmos, will have finally been materialized. The holy of holies stood for the invisible heavenly dimension of the cosmos where God dwelt; the holy place represented the visible heavens; the outer court symbolized the visible earth (land, sea, the place of human habitation). God's special presence that was formerly confined to the holy of holies, which was the essence of temple reality, will at last encompass the whole new earth and heaven because of the work of Christ. At the very end of time, the true temple will come down from heaven and fill the whole creation, as Revelation 21:1-3, 10 and 22 affirm." (Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, 369-70)This is why the new heaven and the new earth = the new creation = the new Jerusalem = the true temple,
"the two outer sections of the temple ... have fallen away like a cocoon from which God's holy of holies presence has emerged to dominate all creation" (372)This will have been accomplished by Christ in whom the church is the true end-time temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Ephesians 2:20-22
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
1 Peter 2:5
like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The microcosm that speaks of the mission of God's people also enables it by being a meeting place. The temple is a place of revelation and sacrifice, "the communications switchboard connecting heaven and earth" (Peter Leithart), the place where heaven touched earth.
There was only one such place to ensure the unity of God's people, enacted as they assembled for the major festivals, under one king who proclaims and enacts judgement from this place.
It was to be "a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah 56.7; cf. 1 Kings 8.41-43) which is why Jesus got so angry about the way in which praying was reserved for Jews with the court of the Gentiles being given over to commerce (Mark 11.15-17).
