1 Kings 6:19-36

God put great care in the construction of the temple. He had given the plans to David who gave them to Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:19). At the entry to the outer sanctuary known as the Holy Place were doors made from olivewood and covered with gold. These would prevent unlawful entry. The outer sanctuary was made from cedar and cypress wood covered with gold. Only the priests could go into the Holy Place in the morning and evening to offer incense on the golden altar and to trim the lamps. Another wooden door covered with gold separated the outer sanctuary from the inner sanctuary known as the Most Holy Place. This room was also covered with gold. The Ark of the Covenant was placed inside with its two golden cherubim on the mercy seat (lid). Two fifteen-foot cherubim made from olivewood and covered with gold overshadowed the Ark with its mercy seat. If you could have seen all this, it would have been breathtaking. But only the high priest could see this once a year on the Day of Atonement.

All of this pictures the temple within us, for we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. As God valued the temple that Solomon built, so He values our temple. It is beautiful in His sight. In this temple, we offer our prayers as incense. The light of His Spirit burns within illuminating our darkness and showing us the way we should go. In our inner sanctuary is a mercy seat where God meets with us. But just as the LORD protected His earthly temple from unlawful entry, so He seeks to protect us from those things that would enter the heart to defile us. They could enter through the eye gate or the ear gate—something we’ve seen or something we’ve heard. But they can make our temple unclean.

God desires that we be a holy sanctuary—a habitation for the Holy Spirit. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and by the word He speaks to us. When we believe in Him the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. We then offer prayers in the Spirit that rise before the throne of grace. If Solomon took seven years to construct the earthy temple, wouldn’t it be fitting to take time to prepare our inner temples? Would we pray that God would cleanse us from anything that would defile the body or spirit? Would we pray that He would fill us with His Spirit? Then we can offer the LORD pleasing sacrifices, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.