Joel M Bradshaw

5The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. 6But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?–2 Chronicles 2

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).

1. Solomon faced a theological reality when building a temple for God.
2. No building or location can contain the God who is omnipresent.
3. When I go to my house, I am by definition not going to a place that is not my house. My house contains me. I am either there or I am not.
4. God is not limited in that way, as if a building could possibly contain the whole of Him in His entirety.
5. This would make it so that man could limit God.
6. Paul addressed this reality in Acts 17 when traveling in Athens, a city full of statues and temples. God does not need me the way I need oxygen, water, and food. I am limited in a way that God is not.
7. This simple theology helps me to stay both humble and grateful regarding my service to God, even as a pastor and a biblical counselor. When we ponder God’s greatness and uniqueness, we find ourselves considering Solomon’s question and Paul’s statement.–JMB