Wednesday – History

Reading – 1 Kings 8

Highlight Verses:

“So all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn in the month of Ethanim. When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark. The priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the Lord along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it.”
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I spent much of yesterday visiting temporary shelters for the homeless (checking on their copiers as part of my job).

Though they were once nice hotels, they were not pleasant places. The scent of stale cigarette smoke and body odor still lingers in my mind.

Despite the less than pleasant conditions, one of the managers mentioned that one of the toughest parts of their jobs was convincing the guests that these were only

temporary accommodations.

When Solomon dedicated the Temple, the people of Israel were in temporary accommodations.

It was during Sukkot, the Festival of Shelters.

During this festival, Israelites would stay in tents for seven days to commemorate the Exodus when the whole nation sheltered in tents as they wandered around the wilderness.

In a sense, bringing the ark of God’s presence to the permanent home of the temple during Sukkot was appropriate.

It brought the story of God’s relationship with His people full circle back to a time when they had to trust God completely to get them through a difficult transition.

By that same reasoning, it was appropriate, and perhaps prophetic that Mary and Joseph had to seek temporary shelter when Jesus was born.

It was the beginning of the time when God, the Son, came to His temporary home here on Earth making it possible for everyone to have a permanent home in Heaven.

Maybe my thinking is twisted but I think it’s pretty cool that He chose to enter the world in that way.

What about you? Do you think there is significance to Jesus entering this world in a temporary shelter?
Do you believe this world is only a temporary shelter for you? If so, how do you live out that belief?