2. Chronicles 5,2-5.12-14. Cantate

2. Chronicles 5,2-5.12-14                3220

Cantate 039 

Comgall, Abbot at Bangor, ✠ 601 

10. Mai 2020

1. O Jesus, our dearest Friend, in You we have an all sufficient ransom, a perfect redemption, comfort us in this for Your resurrection is our victory, so that we are secure in the knowledge that You have obtained forgiveness of all our sins, no matter how many, how great and how grievous they may be.  Amen. (Starck 89 ¶ 2) 

2. »Then Solomon held an assembly of the elders of Israel, all the rulers of the tribes and heads of the families of the sons of Israel in Jerusalem to carry up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to the city of David (this is Zion); and they were all assembled before the king every man of Israel in the festival (this the 7. month), and all the elders of Israel went, and all the Levites and priests took the ark and have brought the ark, the tent of testimony and all the holy vessels in the tent. And the Levites, the psalm singers and all the sons of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun  and their sons and their brothers, the ones putting on stole/alb of linen, in cymbals and in string instruments and in lutes were standing over against the altar and the 120 priests with them trumpeting the trumpets, and there was one sound in the trumpeting, in the singing and in the sounding out loud with one voice to make acknowledgment and praise to Yahweh – and sounds raise on the lyre, in trumpets, in cymbals and in instruments with chants/hymns and said: „Acknowledge Yahweh, that He is good, that His mercy endures forever/to perpetuity,“ and the Cloud fills the house of the Glory of Yahweh, and the priests were not able to stand to minister/to liturgy because of the Cloud, so that the Glory of Yahweh fills the house of God.« 

3. Christ is risen! He has risen indeed. Hallelujah! Last week we heard that the Father will give us what we ask on account of Jesus. Today we hear Jesus has promised to send the Holy Spirit to His apostles. 

4. The promise to send the Holy Spirit is typified in our sermon text, particularly: The Glory of Yahweh fills the house of God. David had gathered all the silver, gold and sacred vessels needed to build the temple in Jerusalem; Solomon carried out that construction project. In 2. Chronicles 5, the temple is ready; all that is left is to bring the ark of the covenant into the Holy of holies. This is a momentous event in Israel. Up to this time, from Moses to David, the ark resided in the tabernacle, the Tent of meeting, that could be set up anywhere in Israel. David had desired a set location for the ark and wanted to build a grand temple in Jerusalem, his capital, on the highest hill, Mount Zion. »Then King David rose to his feet and said: „Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building. But God said to me: ‘You may not build a house for My Name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’ He said to me: ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be His father.’“« (1. Chronicles 28,2-3.6). The first temple was a colossal undertaking: 70,000 construction worker, 80,000 to quarry the stones, 3600 foremen. Cedar, cypress and algum timber imported from Lebanon, 20,000 woodworkers, 300,000 bushels of wheat, 300,000 bushels of barley, 440,000 liters/150,000 gallons of wine and 440,000 liters/115,000 gallons of oil (2. Chronicles 2, 1-10). 

5. God’s visible presence on earth was located upon the ark, and where the ark arrested is where God physically dwelt. In the temple, the ark rested in the Holy of holies/the Most holy place, that was particularly connected to Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Hence the cover for the ark, the two bowing cherubim of gold, was called the mercy seat; the Lord connected His Divine presence to mercy and forgiveness. In 2. Chronicles we are told that the temple was filled with a Cloud, that Divine Cloud that led Israel as a pillar by day and as a pillar of fire by night as they waited 40 years to enter the promised land under Moses and then Joshua. 

6. The Scriptures remind us that God is immanent among us. We often envision Him in transcendent Glory removed from us far above in heaven, but throughout the Bible we see God dwelling among us: in Eden, appearing as a man speaking to Abraham, a Pillar of cloud to Moses and Israel in the temple and finally God made flesh in Jesus. It is God’s desire to be among men and women whom He had created in His image and likeness. Where God is, His mercy and love are close behind.

  7. Our default setting in our fallen nature is to run and hide from God when we sin. So did Adam and Eve, and so do we. We fear His wrath and punishment. Thus God makes His presence among us to console us. Yes, He punishes the wicked and unrepentant, but He offers the olive branch of forgiveness to those who acknowledge and repent of their sins. If we sin against Yahweh, yet turn our heart, repent and plead with Him, then He hears from heaven and forgives (2. Chronicles 6,36-39). Thus prayed Solomon after the ark was brought into the temple. Solomon’s great descendent said the same. »For God sent not the Son into the world in order to continually condemn the world, but in order that the world was saved through Him« (John 3,17). This is one reason we begin each Divine Service with the preparatory rite of confession and absolution, where we hear: „Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God the Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness“ (Hebrews 10,22). Leading people to confession and absolution is one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit, who convinces the world concerning sin and points us to the righteousness the Christ gives (John 168-10).  

8. Solomon’s temple points to Yahweh’s righteousness, in fact, the temple is filled with His righteousness as the Cloud of His presence signifies. From this temple Yahweh’s mercy and forgiveness flowed. Jesus compared His body to this temple and said He would destroy it and in 3 days raise it up. In His death and resurrection Christ merits our forgiveness and fills us with His righteousness, thus fulfilling the primary role of the temple. The Church is now God’s temple, for He is present when we gather around the Word and Sacraments. Here grace is proclaimed, forgiveness given out and absolution received. The Lord’s Glory is here and has not departed; Christ is with us. We sing and rejoice, for Yahweh is good, for His mercy endures forever.  Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, who has redeemed all creation; point us to the suffering Christ who was crucified, risen and then entered His glory, so that by this gospel the Holy Spirit strengthens and comforts us during our suffering and assures us that we will join Christ in His glory.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Starck, Johann. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.