Reading this passage, what popped into my head was a scene from my early youth – in Sunday School (or was it VBS?). We were taught this little song:

Building up the Temple
Building up the temple,
Building up the temple.
Building up the temple of the Lord.
Brother, won’t you help me?
Sister, won’t you help me?
Building up the temple of the Lord.

We did it complete with hand gestures, of fist upon fist as building stones and then waving to “brothers and sisters” to come and help. It’s a sweet memory.

Now the artificial division between the end of 1 Kings 6 and the beginning of 7 tends to soften what is at first a jarring consideration. Solomon takes 7 years to build the Temple, but thirteen years to build his own palace? What’s going on here?

As for what the actual reasons are for the disparity – who knows? One commentator chalks it up to 2 factors; a. Solomon felt more urgency and importance in building the Lord’s House, thus finishing it first as a priority, and b., since the palace encompassed both Solomon’s residence and the complex for the seat of government – it was much larger and wasn’t as urgent.

Again – who knows? We’ll give Sol the benefit of the doubt.

But perhaps there is something of a type or shadow here too?

Creating the heavens and the earth was but a 6 day affair for our God; which contained the Garden, His first “Temple”.

Think then how long Christ has been about the work of building His own house through the making and assembling the living stones redeemed by His blood.

It is a much more monumental and glorious task to build His Church as His dwelling place than to create the cosmos.

What then is this “building” He is assembling to dwell in? And no wonder when Paul prays in Eph. 3:16-17 he notes that it requires nothing less than the glorious efforts of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith.

The unbearable weight of the glory of His presence must be supernaturally granted. We cannot stand it in ourselves. How much time, care and divine craftsmanship is being exercised in this great assemblage.

1 Peter 2:4-5 “As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

He is taking his time with us beloved. For the glory we are to so fully contain, is indeed, uncontainable – and beyond description. “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.” John 14:2-3

6 Days of creation, thousands of years for his house. And Christ is faithful as the son over God’s house – whose house we are if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast. He who began the good work in us – WILL complete it!