It's just not the same

Ezra
It's interesting how different people can have such different reactions to the same event.  In Ezra 3, the temple has just been rebuilt (or at least started to be rebuilt) in Jerusalem after years of exile.  Many of the Jews have now returned to Jerusalem and the temple is back, although not in its former glory.  Almost all of the people were ecstatic, gave shouts of praise to God, and offered up thanksgiving.  But some of the older people there, the priests and Levites, wept aloud when they saw the temple because they remembered the former temple of Solomon from many years ago.  This new temple wasn't nearly as good as the old one.
What do you say to those people who aren't happy?  Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?  After all, it was only by the goodness of Cyrus of Persia that the temple rebuilding took place anyway.  Or do you just tell them to forget about the past and move on with life?  None of these words would be that comforting.  I think we all just have to come to the realization that our sin is really going to make things worse, and even after God has forgiven us, we've got to deal with the consequences of the our sin, and whatever circumstances we got ourselves into.
What about the people that were happy just to have a temple?  Maybe it would have been a good reminder for them to think of the former temple and see just where rebellion against God had got them.  Perhaps they did realize that and understood how great it was just to have a temple and their homeland back at all.
Read on in the rest of Ezra and we'll see where this temple story leads us.

Repentance and the blood of Christ

Key verse
1 Thessalonians 4:7 - For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.


2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 - “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
God's love manifests itself in different forms.  If we repent and obey, he is kind and compassionate and slow to anger.  But if we have heard his commands and yet disobey, He will not hesitate to punish us.  Not that we have to fear fire from God every time we do something wrong, but we can't rest on  our laurels thinking that God has promised only to do good to us, even if we do bad.  Look at King Solomon.  God told him, right after verses 13 and 14, that yes, if they repented, he would save them.  But, if Solomon did not respect God's law and instead followed pagan gods, God would certainly send Israel into exile and destroy the temple Solomon had just built for Him.
Our good deeds will never save us.  Only the blood of Jesus, come with the new covenant, can cover our sin and intercede for us when we go off the trail.

Glory in a cloud

2 Chronicles
Whenever I read about the glory of God physically appearing before man, I'm impressed.  It sounds so wonderful and amazing!  In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, it says that when Solomon finished building the temple, the priests couldn't even perform their service because the glory of God filled the temple as a cloud.  I've never seen the glory of God appear as such a cloud, but it sounds like quite the sight.

A temple for God

1 Chronicles and Psalms
Psalm 132 relays how David had exclaimed that he would build God a house on earth.  Knowing what a psalm of ascent is, this psalm really makes sense because it is all about God’s temple in Jerusalem.  It’s
also interesting to see how in 1 Chronicles 17, also in today’s reading, we can read again of David’s desire to build God a temple.  He wanted to honour God by giving him a beautiful and wonderful place to reside.

I don’t always think of my body being a temple, but if we have received Jesus into our hearts and placed our trust in Him, we are all temples!  David never got the chance to build a temple, yet he continually strove to honour God with all his heart.  I have a temple of the Lord right here, and what am I doing with it?  Am I honouring God?

Psalms of Ascent

Psalm 121:1-2 - I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 

This is part of a psalm of ascent. A wikipedia article on the psalms of ascent said that these psalms were likely sung as the people ascended to Jerusalem on the three pilgrim festivals (Deut 16:16) or by the priests as they ascended the steps into the Temple in Jerusalem. 

In both of these cases, these psalms would certainly help the speaker enter into closer relationship with God or reflection on His character.

Clearing out the temple

Mark
Jesus wasn't just concerned about clearing out the moneychangers and livestock market from the temple.  The temple area where these people were conducting business was meant to be the court of the Gentiles, the place where Gentiles could come and worship God.  They couldn't move any farther into the temple, but they could come to this outer court to worship and pray.  When the place was full of animals and people trying to do business, the hubbub was so loud that others could hardly think, let alone try and pray to God.  When Jesus cleared out the temple (Mark 11), he said "My house is a house of prayer for all nations."  He wanted all people to be able to come and worship God, not just the Jews.  God is available for all of us!