“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ““He is good; his love endures forever.”” Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud.”
~ 2 Chronicles 5:13
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever been to the dedication service of a new church building? A church building is thought of as being a house of God. The most awe-inspiring and glorious dedication of a house of God took place soon after the temple of God was completed in the city of Jerusalem. The festivities surrounding the temple of God’s dedication took place in September-October of 959 B.C. The completion of the temple of God brought God’s specially chosen guys and gals together in the city of Jerusalem for a massive celebration. The chronicler reports in 2 Chronicles 5 that more sheep and cattle than could be counted were sacrificed to God during the dedication of the temple of God that was built in the city of Jerusalem. 120 priests who were trumpeters along with the priests who played cymbals, harps and lyres participated in this very momentous, God-glorifying dedication service. A choir accompanied the trumpeters during the dedication service. The song that was sung by the temple choir during the dedication service for the house of God that was located in the city in Jerusalem is in verse 13, “The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ““He is good; his love endures forever.”” Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud.” Your grandpaa thinks that this glorious, majestic service that was put together by Solomon for the dedication of the house of God in the city of Jerusalem was one of the most solemn and glad occasions that will ever take place anyplace on planet Earth. The thick cloud that filled the temple of God in the city of Jerusalem during the dedication service was God’s glory. God’s glory cloud was so dense the temple priests could not do their tasks – such as sacrificing to God sheep and cattle on altars, in the temple of God.
The building of the temple of God in the city Jerusalem was a colossal construction project that took years to complete and which involved an enormous financial investment. Time and costs should never be a criterion for doing and giving for God. God is the designer and owner of time. God is the creator and controller of all things. God was Who essentially built His own temple in which His specially chosen guys and gals could worship His presence on planet Earth. The city of David – which is the city of Jerusalem, received the honor of hosting God’s presence here on planet Earth. God saw to it that His house on planet Earth in the city of Jerusalem was furnished with gold and silver articles that He had David amass and dedicate for His house on planet Earth. Guys and gals throughout the known settled land on planet Earth would travel to the city of Jerusalem and look with awe and amazement at God’s house or the temple of God that was located in the city. God’s house on planet Earth would be pillaged and razed by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army 373 years after this sacred dedication service.
Where is your dad and ma taking you to to worship God? What does the church building look like that your dad and ma take you to on Sundays for you to sit through a church service? Is going to God’s house something that you really like doing? Do you think that there are certain things that should be seen in every church that is built on planet Earth? Do you think that every church that is built on planet Earth for the purpose of worshipping God should have a spire or steeple on top of the church? Do you think that every church that is built on planet Earth for the purpose of worshipping God should have a cross at the front of and/or in the front of the church? Do you think that every church that is built on planet Earth for the purpose of worshipping God should have stained glass windows? When your grandmaa and grandpaa went to Bolivia in August of 1978, your grandmaa and grandpaa joined a church planting team that was embedded in the South America Mission Bolivia field missionary team. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were asked to join a small group of Christ-followers who were meeting weekly in the patio of a house that was located in a barrio called Pari. After the group had grown to over twenty regular adult attendees, this group of Christ-followers decided to build a church on the property that was owned by Jesús y Josefina García. The house that Jesús y Josefina García owned was across the street from where the weekly ‘church services’ were being held. The Christ-followers who lived in the Pari barrio area by this time were meeting twice every Sundays and every Tuesday and Thursday nights. The Pari barrio Christ-followers used for the walls of the church structure that they built in front of the house that Jesús y Josefina García owned trim that had been cut off logs, the ground for the floor and boards that were laid on sawed off tree stumps for benches. Your grandmaa and grandpaa spent over three years alongside the Pari Christ-follower community’s guys, gals and kids. Your grandmaa and grandpaa sensed that God’s presence was in the Pari Church. Three of the couples – Jesús and Josefina García, Zacarías and Justina Choque and Julio and Sonia Vaca, who helped jumpstart the Pari Christ-follower community of guys, gals and kids, would spend two years living and studying at the rural resident Bible learning center that is in Concepción, Nuflo de Chávez. Zacarías and Justina would become the catalysts for starting up a Christ-follower community of guys, gals and kids that would start up another Christ-follower community of guys, gals and kids that would in turn start up still another Christ-follower community of guys, gals and kids. It was very important to Solomon that the presence of God had the most sanctified and splendid place on planet Earth as His residence. God makes his residence as God the Spirit today in the hearts of His specially elected, adopted guys, gals and kids and not in magnificent church constructions.
2 Chronicles 5 (551)