2 Chronicles 2:1

We find everything here reported, but not in a way that shows his faults. We know very well that these horses, and above all the multiplying of his wives, became a great snare to Solomon. But the aim of Chronicles is not so much to record the king's responsibility and the ways he broke down. Its aim is to bear witness that he was the witness of God's purpose. In Kings, as I have already shown, the question is responsibility. In Chronicles, it is divine counsel. That is the difference between the two books… David was kept back from the desire of his heart to build a temple, which was reserved for Solomon. So the Spirit of God soon lets us know that the great point for which Solomon reigns was the building of the LORD's house.

The Lord had foretold this to David. He worked on Solomon's heart to make him determine to build both a temple for the Lord and a royal house for himself. David is also a picture of Christ. But God did not let him build the temple, because David pictures Christ as a Man of war, bringing the world into subjection to Him during the Tribulation. The temple belongs to Christ's reign of peace; therefore Solomon was its builder.

Solomon tells Hiram of his plans, plans that were in no way the fruit of his own will. He had resolved to build the house of the Lord because God had decreed it, telling David His will beforehand. Such is the true character of the decision of faith. Faith decides because God has determined. Often we know the will of God beforehand. Instead of saying "I have determined" to do it, we look for excuses and good reasons to avoid it. Or at least we avoid putting our whole heart into it. At other times our resolutions have no motive except our own self-will. They lead us to bitter disappointments.

It had taken Solomon seven years to build the house of the Lord. We see in this his promptness at the work. It took Herod forty-six years to build his temple. At the beginning of his career, the service of the Lord came before everything else in the king's heart. His own house, certainly less important than the temple, cost him thirteen years of labour.

To my mind it is rather the house of Solomon that pictures the church in connection with Christ. The temple pictures the Father's house on high, where we are brought to dwell.

Here Solomon explains to Huram the meaning of building the temple. He does it in a different way than the book of Kings does… The temple is the place where people come to God in worship. It is open not only to Israel, but also to the nations whom Huram represents. In Solomon's mind the temple is so much the place of worship that he mentions only burnt offerings here, and says nothing of sin offerings. Sweet incense of fragrant spices, the symbol of praise, comes first.

I know many dear children of God think it is for the glory of God to have grand and imposing architecture, and music of the finest quality to please the ear, and everything to match. But this is really the Jewish way of honouring God, not the Christian one. What belongs to us instead is prayer and singing in the Spirit and in the understanding. Whatever the Holy Spirit does not mark, and does not take up directly to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ — whatever is not of faith now — is a total failure.