Devotions from the Heart: The Way God Builds

by Derek Gitsham

"Then Solomon began to build the house of
the Lord at Jerusalem in Mt. Moriah, where the
Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor
of Ornan the Jebusite." 2 Chronicles 3:1

Solomon did not have a say in where the temple
was to be built, it was already chosen by his
father, David. The place is terribly significant
because of the events that had taken place at each
one. Mt. Moriah was where Abraham had been told by
God to go up the mountain to offer up Isaac, his son,
for an offering (Genesis 22:2). Ornan’s threshing
floor was the place where David met the angel, with
sword in hand (1 Chronicles 21:16), after he had
slain seventy thousand men.

David had numbered Israel, which was not to be done
according to the law, and God offered him three
choices as a penalty. He chose none and placed
himself in the hands of God. God took the
initiative and slew seventy thousand. At Ornan’s
threshing floor the Lord commanded the angel to
stop slaying the people. David buys the threshing
floor from Ornan under protest as Ornan wanted to
give it to him. David says, "I must pay for it
‘for how can I offer to God that which cost me
nothing?’" (II Samuel 24:24).

Both these places spoke about death and resurrection.
Abraham offered Isaac up. God stops him as he can
see that Abraham has already had the work done in his
heart. So Isaac is given back to him, a type of
resurrection. The same in the threshing floor, the
price had been paid, sacrifices had been made. David
turns the place into an altar and worships and offers
it back to God. Both pictures speak of death and
resurrection. Here God chooses to build His temple.

The same happened with His people. There is no
building going on except by death and resurrection
going on in the lives of the saints. Daily we have
to die to self and daily we must rise again to newness
of life. God is expecting us to want to die to self,
as that is the only way to be built into His Body.

New Jerusalem, when she comes down from heaven unto
the new earth, has no scaffolding. The building is
finished. Death is God’s way of bringing to life,
and in so doing, He builds His temple in us. Death
and resurrection are His tools. Amen!