Here shall be the house of the LORD God
Sun, 26 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
David has just purchased the threshing floor from Ornan the Jebusite. At God’s command, David built an altar there and offers a sacrifice. God accepts the sacrifice and the plague against the people is ended.
As a result of all that he has happened, David declares this will be the site where the temple will be built, and the site of the altar will be where the temple’s altar will be.
What do we learn from this?
David recognizes God’s mercy in halting the plague and accepting the sacrifice. God didn’t have to accept the sacrifice and end the plague. It was God displaying His mercy. David understands that and wants to praise and thank God for His mercy. Thus he dedicates the land for the coming temple.
God’s mercy to us demands a response on our part. We can’t dedicate our property to build a new temple. The temple is obsolete. But we can commit ourselves to live a life of obedience for Him. We won’t be completely successful, but we owe it to God to do our best for the great mercy He has shown to us.
Where is Christ in this passage?
David dedicates the land for the temple where uncounted animal sacrifices were offered. These sacrifices in themselves could not pay the penalty for anyone’s sin. All they could do was to point people to the reality that their sins must be laid upon another who was to come. They pointed people to Jesus Christ.
