PRAYER - "Bring Your Gifts To The Altar"

Solomon wrote, "A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men," Proverb 18:16. Before Solomon dedicated the temple in prayer, he was careful to present all the gifts that had been dedicated by his father, David, into the treasury of the house of the LORD. Before you make your prayers and requests, give your all to God.

1 Kings 7:51 - "Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

PRINCIPALS - "The Cherubims"

Two golden cherubims spread their wings across the Mercy Seat covering the Ark of the Covenant. Cherubims decorated all the tabernacle curtains. Inside the Holy of Holies of Solomon's temple, two gigantic cherubims (about twenty feet tall) stood side by side, each made of olive wood overlaid with gold. The wings between them touched. Their outer wings touched the walls. All were constant reminders that God dwells between the heavenly cherubims.

1 Kings 6:29 - "He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without."

PRINCIPLES - "The Two Pillars"

Hiram placed two enormous, free-standing bronze pillars in front of the temple entrance. Each was about 27 feet tall, 6 feet across, with huge ornamental caps, about seven and a half feet high. The ornaments were seven rows of chains and two rows of pomegranates, capped again with ornamental lilies. The south pillar was called "Jachin," meaning "established." The north pillar was called "Boaz," meaning "strength." Everyone who enters the house of God can plainly see the "established strength" of Jehovah.

1 Kings 7:21 - "He set up the pillars in the porch of the temple.


PROPHECIES - "Solomon's Temple"

King David wanted to build a glorious Temple, a permanent structure to replace the tent-like tabernacle. God refused to give David permission, because he had been such a bloody man of war, but He prophesied to David that his son would build the Temple. Solomon fulfilled that prophecy.

1 Kings 5:5 - "And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name."