2 Chronicles 4 -- Though Extravagant, This Cost Was Nothing

Reading of all the utensils and washing systems in the new Temple, it’s easy to get the idea that this beautiful building may have smelled and looked like a butcher shop made of gold.  The smell of fresh blood was surely inescapable and a constant reminder of the continuing commission of sins by every person.

This imagery drove Warren Wiersbe to write in my commentary, “Without clean hands and a pure heart, we can’t approach the Lord and expect Him to hear and answer our prayers.”  He also reflected, “How painful it is to realize that Solomon, the man who constructed the Temple, was the man who married a multitude of foreign wives and encouraged idolatry in Israel, the very sin that turned the nation away from God and brought upon them the fiery judgment of the Lord.”

Father, I must realize that my sin alone would have required every bit of this structure under the old law, and my sin alone necessitated the death of Your Son on the cross so that I might live with You.  That sacrifice makes the cost of this Temple pale in comparison to what it cost You to save me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford