Opening the temple

[Brad Fox]

 

I was doing my regular Bible study today and as is my custom, I read a chapter in one of the books of the Old Testament.  This month I happen to be in 2^nd Chronicles reading about the fate of each of the kings of the southern kingdom after the nation of Israel split in two.  I was reading about King Hezekiah, generally considered to be one of the finest in a long line of kings.  Hezekiah had the unenviable task of succeeding King Ahaz, who was notoriously idolatrous and who led his kingdom into ruin and, to some extent, slavery to other nations.  It seems that as soon as Ahaz had taken the throne, he had his men close up the temple and he opened up street altars throughout Jerusalem and the surrounding areas for the worship of foreign idols.

 

I have to stretch to imagine what that boarded up magnificent building meant to the true followers of God.  Everywhere they walked in the city, they could see this majestic, yet sad centerpiece of their faith, sitting there locked up, gathering dust and tumbleweeds.  There is a saying about “not talking about the elephant in the room.”  It means something that is big and important, something that everyone knows about, but that we don’t want to talk about.  I think the temple must have been Jerusalem’s “elephant.”  It must have been the topic of many hushed conversations.  No doubt it caused a lot of consternation and pain to those who knew it to be God’s dwelling on earth.  But no one would dare protest for fear of offending the idolatrous Ahaz.

 

Along comes Hezekiah, and within the first month, he orders that the temple be opened, the temple workers be consecrated, and the restoration process begun.  What would it have been like to enter that temple after it had been closed for 16 years?  Can you imagine the decay and disorder?  Dirty linens thrown about; bronze utensils helped in a pile; leak damage from the roof; dust everywhere.  Like an abandoned storage unit, it must have been downright spooky walking in and realizing that this filthy building had once been the most holy place on earth.  I wonder how the workers felt about Hezekiah’s newfound resolve to set things right in the nation’s relationship with God.  How did they mentally get over the anger and disgust of the previous 16 years?  Exasperation would seem to fit best!

 

It was an important reading for me.  I had read this many times before, but somehow my mental pictures were more vibrant and alive now, my feelings more tuned to what the people must have felt at that time.  I love the Old Testament! It does such a great job of preparing my heart and mind for the grace and hope of the New.  I really “get” the brokenness and unfaithfulness of the people, and especially the unrequited love of God for them.  So many mistakes!  So much unnecessary pain!  Thank God He was faithful and merciful through all those millennia!

 

Later, I read a daily devotion from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest.  Oswald’s scripture for the day was Mark 4:34 “When they were alone, He explained all things to his disciples.”  One of his first comments was that

 

“Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time.  He explains things to us as we are able to understand them.  The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls…  We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own soul.  It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves.” 

 

This reminded me of a quote from St. Augustine:

 

“People go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

 

A closed temple.  An unexamined life.  Could Jesus be talking to me at the exact moment in time when I needed to hear both these messages?  An unwillingness to submit to God closed the temple; could Jesus be trying to speak to the condition of my own closed “temple”; my own unexamined life?