TODAY'S BARGAINOMICS BIBLE PASSAGE

Before we move on, let’s take a deeper look at one of the Temple furnishings:

“Huram cast two bronze pillars, each 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. For the tops of the pillars he cast bronze capitals, each 7 1/2 feet tall. Each capital was decorated with seven sets of latticework and interwoven chains. He also encircled the latticework with two rows of pomegranates to decorate the capitals over the pillars. The capitals on the columns inside the entry room were shaped like water lilies, and they were six feet tall. The capitals on the two pillars had 200 pomegranates in two rows around them, beside the rounded surface next to the latticework. Huram set the pillars at the entrance of the Temple, one toward the south and one toward the north. He named the one on the south Jakin, and the one on the north Boaz. The capitals on the pillars were shaped like water lilies. And so the work on the pillars was finished” (I Kings 7:15-22, NLT).

The pillars stood “at the entrance of the Temple” and even though this passage reads as though Huram gave them names, it was undoubtedly Solomon who named them “Jakin” and “Boaz.”

“Jakin” meant “He shall establish,” while “Boaz” meant “in His strength.” These huge ornate pillars served as a continual reminder every time Solomon and the kings who followed after him entered the Temple that their rule was by God’s divine will. God established their kingship and in His strength and His alone would come the power and ability to wisely rule God’s people.

The pillars also served to remind the worshipers (who clearly understood the meaning of the pillars’ names) that it was in the Temple that they established a right relationship with God and in His strength they lived out that commitment and relationship.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to set up “Jakin” and “Boaz” pillars as reminders in our churches today. As baffling as it continues to be to me, so many people look at church attendance as service to God. That alone is ludicrous, but it’s even more ridiculous when a person has spent that time merely warming a pew rather than participating in true worship of the One we’re to be honoring.

After church one Sunday, I actually overheard three little ladies seated near me in a restaurant complaining because their preacher had “run over fifteen minutes.” One lady voiced her indignity: “I go to church from eleven to noon every Sunday. If that preacher can’t say what he needs to say in that length of time, I don’t need to hear it.” And her companions heartily chimed in their agreement.

I don’t much believe those ladies had ever heard what their pastor had to say. Oh, their heads might have heard it; but I don’t think it ever made it into their hearts. Church, my brothers and sisters, is the filling station. We tank up in order to be fueled with the power of the Holy Spirit to go and do the works we’re to do for God’s glory.

“I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit's leading on a daily basis. Christ said it’s better for us that the Spirit came and I want to live like that is true. I don't want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly.” (Francis Chan)

Me, too. How about you?