3,400 metric tons of gold[1] + 34,000 metric tons of silver[2] =£117 billion. Oh, and don’t forget bronze and iron beyond measure.[3] No, Nia and I haven’t suddenly become ridiculously wealthy, rather these were the sums set aside by King David to build the temple, a house worthy of God’s name.

His son Solomon allotted 30,000 laborers to bring cedar and cyprus wood more than 150 miles from Lebanon, 70,000 burden bearers and 80,000 stone cutters to prepare and deliver pre-cut stone from the hill country, all of these overseen by 3,300 officers.[4] Yet it would still take seven whole years to complete the undertaking. Finally, when this feat of extravagant and elaborate dedication was complete, Solomon concluded:

“Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?”[5]

When we stand outside of the vastness of Love, by default we will engage in a futile effort to bring God down to a level our intellect can contain. We will determine to confine him within the walls of our limited experience, reducing him to terms that we can define or formulas of ‘cause and effect,’ buying into the illusion that we might predict and ultimately control him. Yet even our grandest designs are but a speck in the face of his grandeur, our most elaborate predictions fall far short of his unfolding wisdom.

Even when God did confine himself to a human temple, the religious leaders of the day didn’t know what to do with him. Their many questions and manipulative tactics were all designed to put Jesus into a box that they could quantify, label and disqualify, all in the vain pursuit of retaining the helm of their religious supertanker. They couldn’t see that their grand ship was actually three planks and a couple of rusty 40-gallon oil barrels, loosely strapped together with some old rope and ultimately destined to join other Titanic self-efforts at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.

Yet still we continue with our futile temple building, asking him to fill and occupy our meagre endeavours. Solomon invested 7 years in his construction process, for me it’s been decades of attempting to prepare my very own grand temple worthy of God’s name; striving to establish title, appearance, methods and reputation, before he lovingly allows me to conclude:

“Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?”

David’s words bring home the revelational reality:

“Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.”[6]

Herein is the miracle. He has! It’s not a temple of bricks and mortar, of gold, silver, bronze, iron, cedar or cyprus. It’s not my temple of self-righteous achievements, of knowledge, ministry prowess or reputation. It’s the temple of the human heart, where the intimate native language is the manifest love of God. Solomon saw that all of his labour, creativity and wealth couldn’t even begin to contain the fullness of God, and yet he did recognise that such a container would need to be vast and exquisite – a vessel of unparalleled capacity and beauty. Without recognising the simple reality, Solomon foresees and paints a picture for us of the human heart.

The Apostle Paul realised that a human heart saturated with the reality of God’s love, becoming rooted and established in him, would be a vessel far exceeding Solomon’s limited temple, one with the capacity to carry and express all the “fullness of God.”[7] He unveils the deeper mystery of the human race as God’s desired dwelling place,[8] and as such, the lavish beauty of Solomon’s temple is merely a foreshadowing of the undefinable value, capacity and stunning beauty of the human heart. This has been God’s intention from the beginning. He has designed and built the most exquisite of homes,[9] a container of naked spirit to spirit communion.[10] Darryl Johnson writes:

“The main thing is the relationship at the centre of the universe. A relationship between a Father and a Son. A relationship so pulsating with Life that the relationship itself is a Breathing, a Spirit, a Person, the Holy Spirit. Out of that relationship we were made. For that relationship we were made. Long before we came on the scene, the relationship was there. The triune God was there. Infinitely happy being God. Not lonely, not needy. And one day – if we can say ‘day’ before time came into being – the Father says to the Son, ‘This is too good to keep to Ourselves. Let Us make creatures in Our image to enjoy what we enjoy.”[11]

The Trinity have always and eternally been living the ‘Christian Life.’[12] Living in a circle of self-deferring and self-emptying love, one to another. Christianity is their invitation for us to join their conversation, to join their circle of Life as beloved children grafted into the Eternal Son. [13] This conversation is one of heart to heart communion, where the native language is love, a language drawn from the deepest wells and with a vastly broader vocabulary than all earthly languages combined and multiplied.[14] Whilst the container is stunningly beautiful, its beauty simply draws the eye to the even greater delight of its contents. When we speak of ‘new wineskins’ for ‘new wine’, ultimately it is not about the container but its contents,[15] it’s not about the form but the substance – the new wine of unparalleled spirit to spirit communion.[16]

Over the course of the first 90% of the book of Job, Job is convinced that he knows God’s nature and ways. Finally, in chapter 38 he is confronted by God himself, who essentially says, ‘Whatever you think you know Job, you haven’t got a clue!’

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you will make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?… Have you commanded the morning since your days began?… Have you entered the springs of the sea?… Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?…”[17]

Job’s conclusion following this divine encounter? – Until now all I’ve had is second-hand head-knowledge that I’ve largely heard from other people, “but now my eye sees you.”[18] So much of what we think we know is simply a futile attempt to confine God within the narrow walls of our intellect, because we mistakenly believe that if we can define and master him intellectually, then we can predict what he will do and ultimately take control…. Ask Job how that worked out for him?!

There is no middle management required in the deep wells of communion,[19] only the grace to receive his free gift of intimate spirit to spirit relationship.[20] No-one can do your homework for you. Ultimately only your eye can see – if you will allow his glory to fill the temple and dwell there together with him.[21]

[1] Approx. 102 Billion Dollars at today’s prices – 75% of the US Gold Reserve at Fort Knox.
[2] Approx. 15 Billion Dollars at today’s prices.
[3] 1 Chronicles 22:14
[4] 1 Kings 5:13-16
[5] 1 Kings 8:27
[6] Psalm 127.1
[7] Ephesians 3:17-19 “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
[8] 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”, cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19.
[9] John 14:20 & 23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home within him.”
[10] Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
[11] Johnson, Darrell W., The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God’s Transformation of the World (Intervarsity Press, 2009), pages 263-264.
[12] Romans 13:8-10.
[13] John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
[14] Romans 8:26 “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
[15] 2 Cor 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay”
[16] 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
[17] Job 38:2-4, 12, 16, 22, 33f
[18] Job 42:5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but know my eye sees you.”
[19] Hebrews 8:11 “And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” cf. Jeremiah 31:34.
[20] John 4:23-24 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and reality, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and reality.”
[21] 1 Kings 8:11 “for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”