Ready the Preparations to Build

2 Chronicles 2:1-18 

    1 Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD, and a royal house for himself. 2 Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
    3 Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying:
As you have dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me. 4 Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
    5 And the temple which I build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. 6 But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?
    7 Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver, in bronze and iron, in purple and crimson and blue, who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. 8 Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and indeed my servants will be with your servants, 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.  10 And indeed I will give to your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, twenty thousand kors of ground wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
    11 Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon:
Because the LORD loves His people, He has made you king over them.
    12 Hiram also said:
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for He has given King David a wise son, endowed with prudence and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself!
    13 And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram my master craftsman 14 (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him, with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.  15 Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants. 16 And we will cut wood from Lebanon, as much as you need; we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, and you will carry it up to Jerusalem.
    17 Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census in which David his father had numbered them; and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred. 18 And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.

Solomon now readied the preparations needed to begin work on the house of the LORD.  He was determined to begin well based on the previous preparatory foundational work of his father King David.  Solomon had caught the desire to guild God’s house from that godly influence, that heart for God, and now that spark burned brightly in his heart and mind to complete the work and do it well to honor God.  This should be the driving force of discipleship in Christ as well, having a prepared heart motivated by following and imitating Christ and modeling that life to others to continue the work of the gospel.  Solomon here began by skiing for help and resources from a good friend of his mentor, needing materials and skilled workers to make a temple which properly honored God, much as we seek knowledge, wisdom, and methods to build in the lives of others as the example of Paul and Timothy which could be passed on (2 Timothy 2:2).  The physical house of worship was to be great in majestic design and craftsmanship, just as the spiritual one which is the universal church corporately and each individual as well (1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 2:22, 1 Peter 2:4-5).  Our church congregations and each of us is therefore to be prepared and built upon the solid foundation of Christ and His word (1 Corinthians 3:10-12, Colossians 2:7, Jude 1:20); this means we have to have a plan and materials to work with, bit a willing heart set on God’s glory is the most vital asset in building well on Christ.  This means time in the word and prayer, time to grow in wisdom on top of knowledge, and application of the word caught as taught by spiritual example mentoring.  Then others will see the wisdom as Hiram saw Solomon’s and glorify our Lord in heaven.  God will give us all we need to be built into conformity to Christ, including prudence and understanding, as we rely on His sanctifying work in our zeal of following obedience (Philippians 1:6, 2:12-13).  God gave understanding to the builders of His physical temple before, and certainly will do even more in building us up in Christ to worship Him with our life!  Have we made ready the preparations to build us and each other on this solid foundation?  Are we actively at work in this work of discipleship and sanctification to magnify God in these temples?  Let us always strive to do these things to please, honor, and glorify the Lord our Maker.