Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “A Place For the Ark” and is found in 1 Kings 8:1-13. Today’s lesson is an account of the Ark of the Covenant being move from its temporary tent to the temple Solomon built for the Lord.
The temple was first proposed by David, but he was not allowed to build it. Instead God built him a house that would serve His eternal purposes for mankind and David in the meantime began to collect and gather materials for the building and furnishing of the temple.
When the temple was finally complete, Solomon made a great deal of moving the Ark from the tabernacle to the completed temple. He assembled the elders, heads of families and priest and Levites and all Israel together to witness the move and to execute the move according to the Law of Moses.
The Ark was placed in the innermost sanctuary of the temple. A multitude of sacrifices and offerings were made in connection with placing the Ark in the temple. Along with the Ark was placed all the valuable holy and sacred furnishings for the temple.
The Ark was a symbolic presence of the Lord. But upon the placing of the Ark, a physical presence of the Lord took place when a cloud filled the temple. By this, God gave His approval and established His presence in the temple. After the Ark was put in its place and these things had taken place, Solomon proceeded with the dedication of the temple.
The importance of doing things deceit and in order should be something we take away from this lesson today. Moreover, we should not take shortcuts when it comes to sacrificing for the Lord. Often church members give God what they don’t want or have left over instead of giving Him their best and the first of what they have.
This is a big part of the reason many church members and churches go lacking because of how we give to God. We want God’s best, but don’t have faith to give Him our best. We don’t give our best in respect to how we live day in and day out, in respect to our giving by withholding the tithes, in respect to our attendance by coming late to church and dragging into service or not coming at all, in respect to our study by not attending Sunday School, bible study, BTU or any other training being offered by the church, in respect to our gifts and talents by not serving in areas we are capable of giving of ourselves to help others.
As a result it is as Jesus said, be it unto us according to our faith. Our lives suffer, children and family suffer, homes suffer, health suffer, finances suffer and our communities suffer because of our refusal to give God our best because of our lack of faith. This is not to criticize, but to challenge us to better and more godly living that will result in better outcomes for us all.
Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
