The God Who Prepares

Today's passage describes how Solomon worked with Hiram king of Tyre as he prepared to build the temple. Hiram, continuing from the days of David, kept up friendly relations with Solomon and supplied the cedar and craftsmen needed to build the temple, and through this Solomon systematically secured the labor and materials the temple required. This process is portrayed not as a mere political deal or trade, but as the sacred work by which the covenant God made with David is being fulfilled through Solomon.

The sermon emphasizes that for the mission of building the temple, God prepared a mission and resources suited to each one's place: David, Solomon, and even the Gentile Hiram. Just as David gathered and prepared wealth through the instruments of war, God governed the currents of the age and the hearts of people to set every condition for building the temple perfectly in place. Also, the contract Solomon made with Hiram by exercising his wisdom, and the way he managed the laborers, were the fruit of the wisdom God gave, showing that God accomplishes his work through people even where they can claim no credit for themselves.

The mission we must carry out in the last days is to hold on to the word of truth in this dark world and lead even one soul into the light. We are led to consider how we recognize the mission and the times God has given us, and how we will faithfully carry out that mission with the resources and wisdom we have been given.