Readings: 1 Kings 3:5-28; 6:1, 11-14; Ephesians 2:19-22; John 2:18-22
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Newly crowned 12 year old Solomon went to Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:4) To a place where the Lord had not promised to be. He went outside of God’s order. His father David had only sacrificed at the Tent of Meeting where the Lord promised to be. (1 Kings 3:3) But not Solomon. He spread it around. Yet God is gracious. He chooses us not because of our merit or worthiness, but because of His grace and favour found in Jesus Christ. So He appeared to Solomon at Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:5)
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Newly crowned 12 year old Solomon went to Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:4) To a place where the Lord had not promised to be. He went outside of God’s order. His father David had only sacrificed at the Tent of Meeting where the Lord promised to be. (1 Kings 3:3) But not Solomon. He spread it around. Yet God is gracious. He chooses us not because of our merit or worthiness, but because of His grace and favour found in Jesus Christ. So He appeared to Solomon at Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:5)
Before taking on flesh, Jesus appeared to Solomon, in human form, to bless him. “Ask whatever you want of Me.” (1 Kings 3:5) He asks for discernment. (1 Kings 3:9) Wisdom. To know what is right and what is wrong in the twists and turns of life; when things seem crooked, not straight; when governing God’s people is hard; when tough choices are required. He asked to know what is evil and what is good. He asked for wisdom. Which means, he asked for the Lord. For the Lord Jesus is the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. 1:18-24) Thus, the Lord who gives more than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20) not only gave Himself—Wisdom—but much more besides.
And what’s the first thing Solomon does after receiving this heavenly wisdom? He goes back to Jerusalem and sacrifices at the Tabernacle, where the Lord promised to be. (1 Kings 3:15) He seeks the Lord, in the way the Lord desired. For this is what faith does. It delights in all the Lord commands and promises. (Psalm 1) Now Solomon had a discerning spirit. The spirit of faith. Trust in He who is the wisdom of God. So Solomon now does what Lord the commands.
Then immediately he has his first test, the classic example of his wisdom. (1 Kings 3:16-28) Two prostitutes. Both have kids. One was born three days after the first. But the second baby was killed by his mother in the night. At least that’s what the first mother says. It’s a classic she-said, she-said. What to do? Well, true to His promise the Lord gave Solomon a discerning heart. He took the measure of the women. He knew one was calloused, the other heart broken. There was no proof to corroborate what either said. So Solomon needs more evidence. He knows how to uncover it. A sword. “Cut the baby in half,” he says. “Give each of them half of the baby.” The true mother bursts into tears. She pleads for her child’s life. “Just give her the child. I don’t care, as long my boy lives.” The mother who by tragic accident smothered her own child and stole the other baby says, “Sounds good to me.” And so by a sword their hearts were revealed. The intents of their hearts became clear. (Heb. 4:12) The love of the true mother showed clearly. For Solomon had been given the wisdom of God. He knew what was in a man. (John 2:24-25) For the word of Jesus is a sword that discerns the heart and mind. (Heb. 4:12) It discerns the living from the dead, the faithful heart from the unbelieving heart. For Jesus came to deal with sinners. To grant peace to a world of sin. Thus, the Church, though she plays the prostitute and is tainted by Her sin, like the faithful mother, desires for the life of her children born at the font of Baptism, nourished from Her own breast with the milk of Christ’s Word—Jesus, the wisdom of God—which discerns those who are His own by the faith He gives them.
And what’s the first thing Solomon does after receiving this heavenly wisdom? He goes back to Jerusalem and sacrifices at the Tabernacle, where the Lord promised to be. (1 Kings 3:15) He seeks the Lord, in the way the Lord desired. For this is what faith does. It delights in all the Lord commands and promises. (Psalm 1) Now Solomon had a discerning spirit. The spirit of faith. Trust in He who is the wisdom of God. So Solomon now does what Lord the commands.
Then immediately he has his first test, the classic example of his wisdom. (1 Kings 3:16-28) Two prostitutes. Both have kids. One was born three days after the first. But the second baby was killed by his mother in the night. At least that’s what the first mother says. It’s a classic she-said, she-said. What to do? Well, true to His promise the Lord gave Solomon a discerning heart. He took the measure of the women. He knew one was calloused, the other heart broken. There was no proof to corroborate what either said. So Solomon needs more evidence. He knows how to uncover it. A sword. “Cut the baby in half,” he says. “Give each of them half of the baby.” The true mother bursts into tears. She pleads for her child’s life. “Just give her the child. I don’t care, as long my boy lives.” The mother who by tragic accident smothered her own child and stole the other baby says, “Sounds good to me.” And so by a sword their hearts were revealed. The intents of their hearts became clear. (Heb. 4:12) The love of the true mother showed clearly. For Solomon had been given the wisdom of God. He knew what was in a man. (John 2:24-25) For the word of Jesus is a sword that discerns the heart and mind. (Heb. 4:12) It discerns the living from the dead, the faithful heart from the unbelieving heart. For Jesus came to deal with sinners. To grant peace to a world of sin. Thus, the Church, though she plays the prostitute and is tainted by Her sin, like the faithful mother, desires for the life of her children born at the font of Baptism, nourished from Her own breast with the milk of Christ’s Word—Jesus, the wisdom of God—which discerns those who are His own by the faith He gives them.
This wise son of David in his 4th year (the number of the 4 Gospels) began to build the temple. (1 Kings 6:1) His father David had laid aside much of wealth needed for the temple during his own reign. (1 Chron. 22:2-4; 29:1-9) He was not allowed by the Lord to build the Temple for he was man of blood. (1 Chron. 22:8) But having put the nation at rest from her enemies, his son Solomon was a king of peace. (1 Chron. 22:9) He built the Temple on the spot where his father David had sacrificed stopping the plague that David’s sin had brought on Jerusalem. (1 Chron. 21:18-22:1) So at the Lord’s command Solomon built a permanent Temple. A place where the Lord promised to reside. A place where the Lord’s grace and mercy rang forth in prayer and song. Where the blood of forgiveness flowed. Where the holiness of the Lord went forth from the Temp literally as food. For the purpose of sacrificial lambs was for families who brought them for their sins, to eat of that lamb and be forgiven. God’s holiness was imparted to them by that lamb whose blood had been poured out before the Lord. So that this nation, in which God dwelt visibly in the holy of holies of this Temple, was holy as God was holy, innocent, righteous, blessed. By grace. Through the blood of the covenant that flowed from those lambs in this Temple.
And so Solomon brought all of the stones to the site already prepared. There was no loud noise heard there. (1 Kings 6:7) No sounds of the hammer of God’s Law which breaks rocks in pieces. (Jer. 23:29) No hammer cracking sin-hardened hearts wide open. Only the dulcet tones of the Gospel proclaiming the full forgiveness of sins by the Lord who dwelt in that Temple.
For the Law—which is good and wise, which guides us in how we should live, which our hearts delight in when in faith the Gospel pierces our hearts and creates everlasting life in us—however, does not make a saint. Only the Lord who lived in Temple—who took on our flesh, and resides in your flesh by being eaten and drunk into you with your mouth—only His presence makes you holy. Purifies you. Imparts His loving forgiveness, declaring your soiled flesh righteous, your broken heart whole, putting to death your sinful desire and raising up in you a new man of faith who lives before God in righteousness and purity forever.
And so Solomon brought all of the stones to the site already prepared. There was no loud noise heard there. (1 Kings 6:7) No sounds of the hammer of God’s Law which breaks rocks in pieces. (Jer. 23:29) No hammer cracking sin-hardened hearts wide open. Only the dulcet tones of the Gospel proclaiming the full forgiveness of sins by the Lord who dwelt in that Temple.
For the Law—which is good and wise, which guides us in how we should live, which our hearts delight in when in faith the Gospel pierces our hearts and creates everlasting life in us—however, does not make a saint. Only the Lord who lived in Temple—who took on our flesh, and resides in your flesh by being eaten and drunk into you with your mouth—only His presence makes you holy. Purifies you. Imparts His loving forgiveness, declaring your soiled flesh righteous, your broken heart whole, putting to death your sinful desire and raising up in you a new man of faith who lives before God in righteousness and purity forever.
Thus, these men of faith who planned for and built the physical Temple have by that faith become building blocks of the true temple of Christ. (Eph. 2:19-22) The Temple of the Church in which the Holy Spirit lives. Built on Jesus who is the chief cornerstone of that house. He is the great high priest who serves in the Temple of God. He sacrificed self as the Lamb of God which takes away sin of world creating of you and me priests in His household who serve the Lord by offering prayer and praise unto Him throughout our daily lives and especially when we gather together in Divine Service. (1 Pet. 2:5, 10; Rom. 12:1) We priests of the Lord also serve the world on His behalf as we pray for this world. This is our job—to be priests. His priests. Whose job is bringing His world before Him in prayer.
Temples are supposed to be places where you meet with a god. Jesus’ own flesh is where we meet with Him. We didn’t live in His day, so He gives us Himself here in the Divine Service where we hear Him, eat Him, and receive His blessings. And in turn He uses us to bring the world to Himself and Himself to the world as He opens your mouth to speak of His glorious grace (1 Pet. 2:10) and pray for your children and those the Lord has placed in your life.
He has appeared to you Epiphany, here, in His Supper. For you. Giving you His wisdom.
In +Jesus’ name, Amen.
—Pastor David Haberstock
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Thunder Bay, ON
Temples are supposed to be places where you meet with a god. Jesus’ own flesh is where we meet with Him. We didn’t live in His day, so He gives us Himself here in the Divine Service where we hear Him, eat Him, and receive His blessings. And in turn He uses us to bring the world to Himself and Himself to the world as He opens your mouth to speak of His glorious grace (1 Pet. 2:10) and pray for your children and those the Lord has placed in your life.
He has appeared to you Epiphany, here, in His Supper. For you. Giving you His wisdom.
In +Jesus’ name, Amen.
—Pastor David Haberstock
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Thunder Bay, ON
RSS Feed