The Temple Fitted Together

1 Kings 6:1 (ESV) In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

Solomon goes into great care to erect the Temple of God in Israel. It is a new day for the nation as the tabernacle tent is replaced by an ornate and finely tuned house of worship for Israel. The temple's dimensions are double the tabernacle of Moses meaning the whole structure would be quadruple the size. While this structure pales in comparison to today's buildings and churches, in the ancient world, it was impressive.

Yet the most impressive thing about the construction of this house is not it's size but how it was formed. Look at verse 7:

1 Kings 6:7 (ESV) When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

This construction tactic separates Solomon's temple construction from every other building project ever completed. Could you imagine the immense focus that had to go into forming the stones off-site according to the exact measurements and then fitting them perfectly into place?

The important question is: why was this done so? First, it was in reverence to WHO would dwell in this house. This house is where God would meet with man. The Lord of the universe who dwell among His people as He promises Solomon in this passage.
1 Kings 6:11–14 (ESV) Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.” 14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.

But there is a spiritual lesson for New Covenant believers today about this construction tactic. We must remember the New Testament repeatedly calls us the "temple of the Holy Spirit."

1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV) For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own

So this moment in 1 Kings 6:7 points to how God is building His Spiritual house the Church today - one brick at a time. He is shaping us individually off-site where we are right now. He is also taking us from the Earth just as stones would have been taken from the ground. He is forming us to FIT into the fully constructed house that will come down from heaven as His body. 

Consider how Paul uses this exact language to describe the church in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:19–22 (ESV) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We may feel like outsiders to the world, but we are formed to be INSIDE the true community and true HOUSE of God. Think of the purpose of a house - for family. So we, brought from all over the Earth are formed by God through the process of sanctification to fit into His house and dwell together as family. 

This chapter is a beautiful picture of what God is doing right now in your life. You may be getting chiseled in ways you do not understand but now you can take hope in the fact that God is looking to FIT you where you belong. As Peter tells us:

1 Peter 2:5 (ESV) you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.