2 Chronicles 2:9

Solomon told Hiram the temple will be great because the God of Israel is greater than all the false gods of the nations (v. 5). He also realized that he was not worthy to build a temple for One so great, whom even the highest heaven cannot contain. So the temple could not be a representation of Him. The only true representation of God is the Lord Jesus. Solomon was building the temple only as a place of sacrifice to God (v. 6).

As we read such Scriptures we are led to exclaim with David — "Great is the Lord (Jehovah) and greatly to be praised" (1 Chronicles 16:25). "He also is to be feared above all gods." Such holy sentiments engaged also the heart of Solomon his son as he started to build the House of God — "The house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods" (2 Chronicles 2:5).

Solomon also asked Hiram for cedar, cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, since he knew that Hiram's servants had great skill with timber. He would also have his own servants join Hiram's servants in this work. That is another picture of the friendship between Jews and Gentiles in the millennium (vv. 8-9).

The Gentile has the privilege of a small share in the building of that house. He does not have the readiness and free giving of an Israelite. Yet he has a place there, and we may say a blessed place. And a more blessed place is yet to come. For that house is to be a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17)... The Gentile's place was subordinate, but participating in Israel's blessedness.

First, look at the materials of the temple. Great stones and tall trees. In this way God chooses to picture the two conditions of those whom He brings, and builds, in Christ the heavenly temple. Man is a great sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and yet he is a towering pharisee.

So there was only one way for every tree used in building the temple. The axe, the axe; stroke after stroke, until the tall tree lies flat and dead, cut off from every root of nature. And then down, down, down the slopes of Lebanon, right down into the water. It must go into the water at the foot of Lebanon, and come out of the water at Joppa, before anyone can carry it up to Jerusalem's temple. There was no overland route for a single tree.

Saul of Tarsus was not only a great sinner — he calls himself "the foremost of sinners" — he was also the most towering pharisee who ever raised his head on the moral Lebanon of man. He was a cedar tree of the cedar trees; a fir tree of the fir trees; "a Hebrew of Hebrews"... But the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. When it entered his soul — when Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" — the tall cedar fell flat on the ground. Then he found that even his religious zeal was his greatest wickedness. The trees went into the water at the foot of Lebanon and came out at Joppa. In the same way Saul was buried with Christ in death, and the new man Paul was raised out of death, holding new life, one with the risen Christ.

Believers "are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." (Eph. 2:20-22.) What a building! and what a builder! "You are God's building."