Why do the prophets, Yeshua the Messiah and His apostles repeatedly refer to Sodom and Gomorrah when talking about judgment and mercy?
Category: Prophets and Writings
These studies cover the ancient grouping of Hebrew Bible writings called Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). These books include from Joshua through Malachi in the conventional Christian canon.
The lessons of God’s covering His people’s rebellion and moving His dwelling among His people, symbolized in the appointed times of Yom Kippurim and Sukkot, were acted out on a human level during the dedication of the first temple.
Yeshua gave an important message in the Temple on the Festival of Dedication — Chanukah — and the scribes and Pharisees asked Yeshua at that time an important question about His being the Messiah. What did He tell them, and why didn’t He directly answer their question? The lessons of Chanukah applied then and to the coming Day of the LORD.
Continuing the 1st Kings 7 exploration of the lessons of the design of the temple Solomon built for God, we see a division of copper and gold items. The lesson of copper in the outer temple area and gold in the inner temple area is God wants to clean us by moving us from the world of the Snake to God’s world.
Continuing the lessons from the items in the temple Solomon built for God, we look at the washing basins and see a parallel between the design elements and the role of God’s Spirit in cleaning the lives of believers and our role in that.
Like with the previous passages on the design of the temple and Solomon’s palace, the design of the two pillars at the entrance of the temple reveals the prophecy by Ezekiel’s lying on one side and the other. Solomon was prophesying the number of years the temple would stand before being destroyed.
A description of the design of Solomon’s palace seems more appropriate for an architecture textbook than the Scriptures. Yet the elements of the design tap frequent symbols in Scripture, pointing to the roles of “priest” and “king” in the Messianic Age.