Sacred Space, Pt 2

Stephen states that David found favor in God's sight. This does not mean that David earned God's approbation by something in David. It rather means that God chose David to be the king that Moses announced in Deuteronomy 12. David, in a sense, finished the conquest of Canaan by capturing Jerusalem from the Jebusites. David had a conviction that this was the place that God chose for His name to dwell; therefore, David planned to build Yahweh a house.

God responded by denying David his desire, but He commended the plan. Rather God informed David that He would build David a permanent house—the Davidic Covenant. He told him that his Son, Solomon, a man of peace, would build the temple. Yet, the Lord put a condition on Solomon's continuation of the David dynasty. He must remain in faithful obedience to God. Solomon failed and God divided the kingdom. How could God promise David a permanent house and place a condition on Solomon? The answer is that both David and Solomon are typical of David's greater Son, Jesus Christ. God built Jesus a permanent dynasty as King of Kings. It is Jesus who, in turn, builds the permanent Temple as the dwelling place of God—the church. Today, God is not worship exclusively in any one place (John 4:19-26). Neither is the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16) exclusively Jewish.

The failure of Israel to “keep the law” (see the law as God's means to govern and guide Israel in their relationship to God; see Galatians 4:1-6) resulted from their uncircumcised hearts and ears. They became a incorrigibly stubborn and rebellious nation (Hosea 11:1-4).