Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 375
2 Chronicles 5:13,14.
“Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from Heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’Shouse. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good. For His mercy endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:1,2,3.
IN the wilderness God showed His glorious Presence in the midst of the camp of Israel. To show His secret indwelling in His Church—in the innermost chamber of the sacred tent, there perpetually beamed the bright and ineffable light of the Shekinah; and to manifest His visible Presence to protect and guide His flock, a pillar of cloud covered the people by day, screening them from the burning heat of the sun, so that in that extremely hot and terrible region they were delivered from excessive heat; and at night lest they should feel forsaken in the midst of the desolate darkness of the desert, this pillar of cloud became a pillar of fire. There was light throughout all their dwellings, for I suppose that this pillar of fire, like a luminous atmosphere, covered the entire camp. They had thus a sun and a shield. They had light in darkness, and salvation from the heat, their shelter was God’s wing, their light gleamed from His eyes. Now the thought had fallen into the heart of David to build for God a house instead of the tent in which He was willing to dwell, which, by reason of years, had no doubt grown old and somewhat shorn of its glories. He purposed to build a permanent structure. Solomon, his son, carried out the purpose of David. The Temple was built. We have no precise idea of the architecture and appearance of this glorious edifice. The two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, are thought by some to have been vast castings of brass, set up in front rather for ornament than service, like the enormous obelisks in the gateways of the Egyptian temples; while others conceive that these renowned columns supported the entablature of the portico; in either case they were stupendous in size, and beautified in the most elaborate manner. The building itself was not large, but exceedingly magnificent. We make a great mistake when we think of Solomon’s Temple as being famous for size; it was scarcely half as long, and barely half as wide as this present house, or that the area was not one fourth of this which is now crowded with immortal souls. It was 60 cubits long in the clear, which with the most liberal calculation which can be given for the cubit, is but 100 feet, while if the cubit is half- a-yard, the breadth was but 30 feet. There are hundreds of Christian Churches which excel that marvelous building in mere size. Its chief fame lay in the countless treasures lavished upon it. One of the most reasonable calculations of the expense of that gorgeous structure is 120 million pounds, while other estimates arrive at the inconceivable sum of one billion! The wonder is how they could have used such an amount as even the smaller sum. Whatever it might have been, it would have been a vain-glorious work, unless in that temple There had been the same manifestation of the Divine Presence as had been given in the Tabernacle.
Now these were two, the cloudand the fire. The two passages of Scripture which I have read to you give you two pictures. In the first you have the cloud, in the second you have the fire; and in these two together you have the sacred mystic symbols of the Presence of the Eternal God in the midst of His people. Oh, that now, tonight, though no visible cloud shall be seen, though no fire shall burn the bullock and the ram, yet may faith discern the cloud, and may experience in the heart perceive the fire, and may each of us say, “God was with us of a Truth;” and add, “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he spoke with us by the way?”
I. The first passage of Scripture, which I read in your hearing, affords me the first head of my discourse. You will perceive that the people were gathered together to praise God. Then THE CLOUD appeared; the priests were no longer able to minister, for God had claimed the great house as being exclusively His own!
Let us note the occupation in which they were engaged. They were praising God. Let us mark how they performed this work. You will perceive that they did it unanimously “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord.” What a joyous thing it is to hear the thousands praise God at once; every man contributing to the song; the poor coarse voice belonging to some of us who never can learn music, let us try as much as we will; the flute-like voices of our sisters, the deep resounding mellow bass of the full-developed man; all the different tones, and notes, and voices, perhaps expressive of our different degrees and growths in Grace, of our different trials, and our different temperaments, all join to swell one common hymn which rolls upward to the Throne of God! Every man who refuses to praise God mars the song. Every dumb lip spoils the music. Every silent tongue has a disastrous effect upon the unanimity and oneness of the choir. Let us all praise the Lord! Let all creatures that have breath praise Him! Let the Heaven of heavens extol Him! We can never expect to have God in this house, or in our own houses, or in our own hearts until we begin to praise Him! Unless as a people we unanimously, with one heart, though with many tongues, extol the King of kings, farewell to the hope that He will give us His Presence in the future! Oh, my dear Brothers and Sisters, let us look back upon the past! Who among us is not a debtor to mercy? “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God,” and never tasted of His Grace! Be silent, O tongue, if you have never tasted of the goodness of the Lord! Breath, be wasted on the air, if your mouth has never been satisfied with good things! But, my Soul, if your life is His gift, and your joy His mercy, let no wicked silence bury His praise! He has been so good, so kind, so generous to all of us without exception, that we can and must, each one of us, according to our ability, with heart and voice, praise, laud, and bless His name always!