“Shhh … did you hear that?”
“I didn’t hear a thing!” That’s because there was nothing to hear. We read in 1 Kings6:7, “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” What a remarkable feat! Just imagine, building a stone structure as large as the Jewish temple was, without the sound of a stone working tool!
This process required minute accuracy. Each stone had to be precisely cut to fit in place. It took skill, perfect measurements and a lot of sweat before each stone was ready to bring into the city and fitted in just the right place. My mind can’t begin to comprehend what it took to accomplish that feat. But they did it.
Of course, we know today that most of the Old Testament can be used as examples of our spiritual experience. Paul said so in 1 Corinthians 10:11. It reads, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” He was specifically speaking about the wandering experiences of the people of Israel. But it can also apply to nearly everything we read in the Old Testament.
Even the temple and everything about it becomes examples of our Christian experience in Christ Jesus. After all, we are the living temple of God. Paul wrote about it in two of his epistles. First in 1 Corinthians 6:16, which says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Then again in 2 Corinthians 6:16 which says, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’” So it’s pretty clear that after we have committed our lives to Christ, He lives in us by way of the Holy Spirit and so we become His temple.
That being said, we need to look at how the temple was to be reverenced and take that as an example for our Christian experience. Just anyone couldn’t come into parts of the temple. The people were allowed in the outer court, but to enter the holy place or the holy of holies was reserved for the priests only.
In reading the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah, we find that some of them placed things in the temple that were very irreverent and unholy. We can use that as an example to be cautious as to what we put in the temples of our bodies. Now, I’m not going to insist that certain things are right or wrong. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of Christians and ministers who say we can’t watch this or that, and we shouldn’t be reading anything that isn’t Christian, so on and so forth. In fact, I think it goes much deeper than that. I believe that we filter everything we watch, read, experience or do with the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean that we have to retire to a monastery and abandon ourselves from the world. In fact, Jesus prayed, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” (John 17: 14- 15).
But back to the silent building … just as the stones were made outside the city and not one sound of iron tools was heard inside Jerusalem while the stones were being placed, so is the example of our own spiritual building. While there was a lot of noise going on in the quarries where the stones were being cut, so life gets really noisy as we are being prepared to become the temple of God. You can’t cut stone without noise. In fact, cutting, chiseling and grinding makes a lot of noise.
However, when God has hammered out the imperfections of the stones of our building, they are placed without a sound. You see, growing in grace, subjecting ourselves to the LORD, and becoming what God wants us to be hurts. We may cry out in pain sometimes. We may kick and scream because we see some other Christian who is allowed to do a certain thing, and we think we should be allowed too. But we aren’t. That’s what Paul was talking about when he wrote to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ( see Philippians 2:12). Because of our own personalities, weaknesses and fears, what one Christian can do may not be good for us. Each of our experiences with Christ are unique and tailormade. So the journey may get noisy.
But as we are finished and perfected in Christ, things quiet down. I’m not saying that we will one day be perfect here on Earth, but I am suggesting that the temple begins fitting together seamlessly, without sound. Over time we learn to trust God more, because we’ve learned through experience. So while the stones of our building may be made with a lot of clang and clatter, when it is over, it is placed in silence. That silence is the calm with which the LORD has instilled within us as we grow in Him.
Right now, your life may be extremely noisy. When you think of the stones of life being placed in silence, it may seem impossible with your current experiences. But the calm of maturity in Christ will come. And all will be quiet again.
— Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread. com to download these.