We often think of David as a man after God’s heart. When in Antioch, Paul spoke from the scriptures about David, saying that God “found David son of Jesse a man after (His) own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22) Though we admire David, I’ve also wondered why he wasn’t chosen to build God’s temple. David himself said that, though he made plans to build the temple of God, the Lord told him “You are not to build a house for My Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.” (1 Chron 28:2–3).
Because David did the Lord’s will in unifying Israel by slaying her enemies, it may seem a contradiction that the Lord did not allow him to build His temple. However, the Lord chose a man of peace; David’s son Solomon. Solomon recognized that the Lord wanted to make His people famous for their God so that people who did not know God would come to his temple and worship Him there (1 King 8:41-43). Isaiah wrote that God’s house was a “House of Prayer for all nations” (Is 56:7). When we understand the purpose of the temple, then we understand better who should build it. A man of war was needed to unify the nation of Israel. However, a man of war could not bring aliens into God’s House, for they feared David. God planned a reign of peace under Solomon; a time wherein God’s fame would spread to those who did not know Him so they could find Him in Israel, and worship in His house.
There has always been a plan for those who did not know God to come to know Him through His people. The Temple was a physical representation of God’s spiritual house in the New Testament. We, His people, are the “living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” (1 Pet 2:5). We are God’s light to a lost and dying world.
Before we see the wedding of the Lord to His Bride written about in Revelation, it is written that He comes to vanquish His enemies (Rev 19:11-16). He comes as a man of war to do all that God asks of Him. His victories precede the time of peace wherein He will accept His Bride, described as God’s City, the “new Jerusalem,” (Rev 21:2), or the new City of Peace.
All the skills and gifts that it took to defeat God’s enemies also unify God’s people into His Beloved. And yet, just as in the day of building God’s Temple, the Bride will display peace to the world, as is her name.
In the City of God there is a river of Life, with trees which have leaves for the healing of the nations (Rev 22:2). God is building His people with those attributes that will make peace come between the nations. He is building His Bride with love, patience, kindness, and forbearance. They will trust, honor and forgive their brothers, preferring others over themselves. Though devoted to God, they will have brotherly affection, being sincere in word and actions. Their compassion and forgiveness will make God famous to outsiders.
When we understand God’s war, then we also understand the peace that follows. The Lord comes as a Man of War, putting all His enemies under His feet. Then He subjects Himself to the One who put everything under Him, “so that God may be all in all,” (1 Cor 15:28). When God comes to the City of Peace, the new Jerusalem, He will dwell with His people (Rev 21:3). God is building us into a Bride that partakes of and offers healing. Amen.
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