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There are those moments you come across a bible verse or text and it speaks to you in a profound way. Today was one of those days. I was reading 1 Kings about Solomon building the temple when I came across the verse that says that the stones used on the temple were to be hewn at the quarry; no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built ( 1 Kings 6:7).
I began to research on his peculiar verse and came across his wonderful article from the website Bibletools.org.
“Have you been to a construction site lately? Stop and listen. It is a noisy place. One will hear the banging of hammers, the rasping of saws, the blaring of radios, and the rumbling of truck engines. It is not a quiet and peaceful environment. A most fascinating aspect of Solomon’s Temple is that it rose in a peaceful, quiet environment: “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” (I Kings 6:7).
Josephus adds:
“Now the whole structure of the temple was made, with great skill, of polished stones, and those laid together so very harmoniously and smoothly, that there appeared to the spectators no sign of any hammer, or other instrument of architecture, but as if, without any use of them, the entire materials had naturally united themselves together, that the agreement of one part with another seemed rather to have been natural than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them. (ibid.)
What a beautiful picture! This is what will happen when God completes His Temple! Living stones will come from all around the world, from different “quarries.” God needs gems, stones and boulders of different shapes, sizes, materials and colours to finish His beautiful House. Thus, God is calling people from all personality types, backgrounds, races, and strengths so each can be the precise stone He needs in a specific place in His Temple.
He knows exactly what “stone” He wants and where He needs it. We are those stones, planned for a specific spot for which God is preparing us. Because of His grace, blessings and gifts, we will be fulfilling a precise role in His holy Temple.
The quarry is wherever we are now, where God is cutting, shaping, and polishing us to fit into the masterpiece He is building. We lose sight of this sometimes because we do not see the whole Temple coming together. How could we? We are still in the quarry where all we can see are a few other stones perhaps similar to ourselves. We cannot see the stones from the other quarries: first-century Christians, patriarchs, prophets, kings, true Christians throughout history, or even all the believers alive today. We do not see the whole picture yet—and will not—until all the stones arrive at the Temple Mount.”
Many valuable stones lose as much as sixty percent of their initial size and mass before they are considered finished as beautiful jewels. We must sacrifice significant parts of our lives, habits, cultures, reasoning, and values to be transformed into one of God’s jewels (Malachi 3:17), a gem fit for our Master, which is His will and desire for each of us (Romans 12:1-2). God is so sure He will finish this task that He talks about it as if it is already accomplished! Paul uses past tense verbs: God has “prepared [us] beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23.
What a glorious new Temple God is constructing! When we take our places in it, our lives will finally make sense, and we will be prepared exactly for our place. What a glorious time that will be!
Faith & Good Sense 