1 Kings 6:18-35 “The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers . . . Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms . . . He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers . . . The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers.”
Don’t you just love spring? This spring I remember driving by a beautifully shaped weeping cherry tree that was just starting to bud. Earlier this spring the crocuses had bloomed, and later the daffodils were popping out of the ground. After any long, dark, cold winter, it is so wonderful when everywhere we look we see the beauty that points to the new life of spring. There’s a feeling of anticipation that accompanies all this. Don’t you agree?
Which brings me to the passage above from 1 Kings 6. It’s talking about the design of the inside of Solomon’s temple. One of the most prominent features of this building were the carvings of flowers and “gourds” (these were likely flower buds) everywhere one looked. They were on all the walls, and they were on all the doors. As I think about this, my thoughts turn to the symbolism that these things represent. As one would enter the temple, it was like walking into an eternal springtime. Signs of beauty and the budding forth of new life were everywhere. And like the springtime, it would elicit thoughts of wonderful expectancy, don’t you think?
And that’s exactly what life in God’s spiritual temple is like. It’s a life of expectancy of the wonderful things to come. The Scriptures are filled with the glory of what “shall be” for every believer. As Lamentations 3:22-23 exclaim to us, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” It’s because of this reality that the psalmist could pray, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3). Jesus, as he began his ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth, opened the scrolls to the prophecy of Isaiah and read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). And then, wonderfully, He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” They were such words of expectation, such words of the coming deliverance of the oppressed and freedom for those long held captive by sin. And that’s what life in Christ IS! It’s a life of great expectations!
Whenever a person puts their faith in the Resurrected One, they too, receive the resurrected life that only He can give. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). As the Scriptures promise us, “The righteous will the righteous will flourish like a green leaf” (Proverbs 11:28), “the tabernacle of the upright will flourish” (Proverbs 14:11), and “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green” (Psalm 92:12-14).
Throughout the New Testament, Christians are urged to live in anticipation of Jesus’ second coming. It’s a life of expectation. But not only should that expectation be for that Great Day when Christ appears in the clouds, but it should also be an expectation for Him to show up every day of their lives. It is this life of expectancy that can cause us, like Paul, to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4), and “in whatever situation (we find ourselves) to be content” (Philippians 4:11).
So does this describe you? Are you living in anticipation of the beauty and joy of life that is the blessing of those who know Christ? Or are you living in dread of the future, always waiting for the other shoe to drop? If you are, it means you either don’t know Him, or you’ve forgotten the glory of those who are saved. The writer of Hebrews summed it all up in the following way, i.e., the glorious expectation of those who have placed their faith in Christ compared to the tragic future coming to those who have heard the gospel but have turned away: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:23-27).
May God help us to embrace the truth of the life-giving gospel and the wonderful expectancy that this gospel brings. What a wonderful God do the flowers of the temple point to. What a “rose of Sharon (and) lily of the valley” (Song of Solomon 2:1), is our life-giving Lord.
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