What is the point of all the details in\u00a0Solomon\u2019s Temple in the Old Testament? \u00a0Such as the cherubim in 1 Chronicles 3 whose wings stretch from wall to wall in the Holy of Holies? \u00a0And the pomegranates and chains that grace the tops (capitals) of the pillars that stand there?<\/p>\n
For that matter, what\u2019s the point of all the details about worship in the Pentateuch\u2013details that (it is sometimes alleged) could have no relevance to \u201cworship in spirit and in truth\u201d after the destruction of the Temple? \u00a0And for Christians?<\/p>\n
Plenty, according to Jonathan Edwards.<\/p>\n
After all, Jesus said not one iota (the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet) and not one horn (the smallest mark of the one in Hebrew script) would pass away from the OT \u201cuntil all things are accomplished,\u201d which surely means the eschaton.<\/p>\n
So what about the cherubim, carved from cedar and overlaid with gold? \u00a0Edwards said they represent the angels, whose presence around God show us that we are not the only intelligent beings in the cosmos. \u00a0There are celestial others who are constantly waiting on God to do his will, and are constantly worshiping his beauty. \u00a0They show us that the cosmos is thick with beings and activity, completely apart from us. \u00a0We are not the center of things.<\/p>\n
The pomegranates, said Edwards, represent the fruit of the Spirit exhibited by the saints. \u00a0They show us that goodness is always linked to truth if the latter is genuine. \u00a0No truth will stand unless it points to the moral beauty that all truth exhibits. \u00a0Dogmatic theology disconnected from moral theology is unbalanced and disproportionate.<\/p>\n
Salvation is both justification and sanctification. \u00a0To preach and teach about the salvation in terms of justification only is to speak of a distorted gospel. \u00a0A shrunken gospel.<\/p>\n
The true gospel involves joining a celestial world of worship (cherubim) and being transformed to produce moral beauty (pomegranates).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is the point of all the details in\u00a0Solomon\u2019s Temple in the Old Testament? \u00a0Such as the cherubim in 1 Chronicles 3 whose wings stretch from wall to wall in the Holy of Holies? \u00a0And the pomegranates and chains that grace the tops (capitals) of the pillars that stand there? For that matter, what\u2019s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2043,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n