Preparations for the Building of the Sanctuary Type and Anti-Type

One of the principles of this series of studies is to see the connections between events in the story of Solomon, the son of David, and the repetition and enlargement of these events in the story of Jesus, the son of David. This concept of repeating and enlarging is applicable in both the positive and negative components of Solomon’s story. In this chapter the focus will be on David’s preparation for the building of the temple, the second coronation of Solomon, and how these two processes reveal events in the story of Jesus the true King of Israel.

In I Chronicles 22 God shares with us about David’s encouragement of Solomon. David assures Solomon that God has called him to do this great work and calls for Solomon to "be strong, and of good courage, dread not, nor be dismayed." I Chronicles 22:13. When God has called He will supply all things to accomplish His great work. Jesus gives a brief list of the supplies that David has gathered for the building of the Temple to the Lord, many and wonderful things. I Chronicles 22:14-16.

In I Chronicles 23 David initiates another task to prepare for the building of the Temple of the Lord. David recognized that the temple was more than a building, as important as the building was. David recognized that the Temple, and its services, was to involve the whole nation, and that the nation must have a goal. That goal was to present the gospel message to the whole world. David recognized that for that goal to be accomplished the Levites would play a central role in the functioning of the temple, the teaching of the temple and the teaching and training of the people. Before his soon death David wanted all things in order so that Solomon would be ready to build that which he, David, had prepared.

David also recognized that for the sanctuary to be the central part of the nation the nation itself must be organized, as was the sanctuary service. David had received direct counsel from Jesus as to how to build the sanctuary itself:
"Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat." All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern." I Chronicles 28:12,19.

He had also received the counsel that Jesus had given in the organization of Israel in the wilderness wanderings in Numbers 2. David recognized that God wanted His people involved as He had in the temple setup in the wilderness. In the wilderness model Moses set the temple up in the middle of the nation and then had the tents of Moses and the Levites surround the temple. Around the Levites the various tribes set up their tents, and then the mixed multitude set up their tents around the 12 tribes. All was decency and order and totally organized to accomplish the tasks of the nation. David wanted to prepare his people so that the principles of this organization could be enlarged in his kingdom.

In I Chronicles 23 David organizes the Levites to play their roles in the Sanctuary dominated kingdom. In I Chronicles 24 David organizes the sons of Aaron into 24 divisions to be able to take care of the various tasks that they were assigned to do in the kingdom which will have the Temple of the Lord as its center. In I Chronicles 25 David organizes the sons of Asaph the singers. David also recognized the role of the musicians as an essential part of the Temple service and made appropriate arrangements. Then in I Chronicles 26 David organizes the porters and treasurers. In I Chronicles 27 David organizes the people who will run the practical part of the nation to be sure that it runs effectively and accomplishes the various tasks of a bureaucracy dividing the duties up by group and by month.

When David completes these preparations he calls all of Israel together, as well as all of its leaders. David repeats the history of his desire to build the Temple and of how Jesus had told him that he was not to be the one to build the Temple of the Lord, but that his son would do this for God. David tells Solomon, in the presence of the all of the people that God has called him and that God would grant abundant blessings if Solomon would "serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind." I Chronicles 28:9 David again encourages Solomon to trust in God and that God would not fail him but would aide him in all ways to accomplish this wonderful task.

After David encourages Solomon in the presence of the people and restates all of his efforts to bless the work that Solomon, his son, was to complete. David then offers the princes an opportunity to participate in the preparation for the Temple construction and in the Spirit of the moment they accept the offer and give abundantly of their possessions. I Chronicles 29:5-9 This temple preparation activity is of the same nature of the willing offerings of the people in the time of Moses as described in Exodus 35 and shows that the same Spirit of devotion was present in the two building projects.

After receiving all of these gifts David blesses the Lord Jesus again and asks that Jesus will give "…Solomon a perfect heart to keep all thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all thee things, and to build the placed, for the which I have made provision." I Chronicles 29:19. When David and the people had finished making all of these arrangements, "…they made Solomon the son of David king the second time…Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him…And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel." I Chronicles 29:22-25. Thus David does all that he can to prepare the way for the building of the literal temple on earth and the stage is set for Solomon to actually complete this project for the glory of God.

In the Anti-type there are many lessons in all of these stories. All of these preparations are types of what God is trying to do for Jesus and through Jesus. God is developing His people to perform the various functions of His Kingdom. God has called various people to fulfill their various roles. Each person will have their specific tasks and will be trained and blessed with resources to develop the character and skills necessary to fulfill our various tasks in the kingdom of God. God will someday call us all together to bless us and assign us our specific roles.

God’s original plan was for His temple to reveal who Jesus was. Exodus 25:8 "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." This was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, literally coming in the temple of a body dedicated to serve the Father. John 1:14 Jesus also wanted a people who would make up His temple and reveal His character to the world. Ezekiel 36; I Peter 2:1-10. God wanted His temple to be so powerful that it would be the center of the capital city of the world. "Jesus raised His hand,--that had so often blessed the sick and suffering,--and waving it toward the doomed city, in broken utterances of grief exclaimed: "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!--" Here the Saviour paused, and left unsaid what might have been the condition of Jerusalem had she accepted the help that God desired to give her,--the gift of His beloved Son. If Jerusalem had known what it was her privilege to know, and had heeded the light which Heaven had sent her, she might have stood forth in the pride of prosperity, the queen of kingdoms, free in the strength of her God-given power. There would have been no armed soldiers standing at her gates, no Roman banners waving from her walls. The glorious destiny that might have blessed Jerusalem had she accepted her Redeemer rose before the Son of God. He saw that she might through Him have been healed of her grievous malady, liberated from bondage, and established as the mighty metropolis of the earth. From her walls the dove of peace would have gone forth to all nations. She would have been the world's diadem of glory." DA 576-577

God made glorious preparation, as did David. But David was not allowed to build the temple. David’s son was to do the building. So in the Anti-type David’s son, Jesus of Nazareth, was to do the building. As David prepared materials so Jesus is preparing people to accomplish His holy will.

In addition we read above of the culmination of the preparation Solomon, the master builder was dedicated and made king the second time. Thus in the anti-type we should see a similar concept. We saw that Solomon was made king the first time in I Kings 1:32-40 and the earth was rent with the sound. So in the anti-type Jesus was made king at Calvary John 19:1-19 and the earth was rent with the sound of his cry. Matthew 27:51. Then Solomon was crowned king again after the people were prepared and had offered themselves willingly for service to Solomon. So in the anti-type Jesus is coronated the second time. This final coronation is described in Great Controversy 665-669.

In conclusion we see that God has revealed His thoughts through His sons Solomon and David. He allowed many things to happen that reveal the history of how man acts and how God has chosen to act. The type reveals how David, his heart full of love for God and his people, prepares for the building of the Temple of God. He prepares for the building, the materials necessary for the building, and the organization of the people needed for the Temple to function in accordance with the gospel plans of Jesus. We see how these activities were a type of how God was going to take this story and amplify it to His glory and the revealing of how He was going to save the world. Today, we have the opportunity of participating in these final preparations and we can choose to respond to His holy message and be a part of His great temple service.