We live in the dual realities of what God has done and what He’s going to do; of the joy of salvation and the longing for redemption; of what is and what will be. And though we might not be aware of both of these realities in our daily experience, they’re there.

When the builders had laid the foundation of the LORD’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as King David of Israel had instructed. They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; His faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD because the foundation of the LORD’s house had been laid.

But many of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this house, but many others shouted joyfully. The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were weeping so loudly. And the sound was heard far away (Ezra 3:10-13).

It’s hard for me to understand the significance of the temple to these people of God; I don’t have a comparison for it. But when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, when God’s people were deported, and when the temple was destroyed, along with it were crushed the hope of those people. For centuries, the enduring symbol of God’s favor and presence had been that temple. Here, when everything else failed, and when sin had run rampant, was somewhere the people could look; something tangible that demonstrated that God was still with us. His house is still here. His presence still resides.

And then it was destroyed.

But even in that destruction and deportation, the Lord promised hope and future. He promised that He would not only bring the people back to the land He promised, but that He was instituting a new covenant, written on hearts instead of stone. And some of those same people who watched the first temple burn actually got to see the new temple be erected.

Read More