“It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, ‘The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever.’ …Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven…. ‘Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive'” (1 Kings 8:10-13, 22, 30).
If I didn’t know any better, I would say the Apostle John wrote this story in 1 Kings 8 because of its incredibly “Johannine” presentation of God. Consider the following details. Solomon builds the temple (1 Kings 7), brings the ark into the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 8:6), and then God’s glory fills the temple (1 Kings 8:10). The temple has now become “a place for God’s dwelling forever” (v. 13). But then against all expectations, Solomon lifts his hands skyward (1 Kings 8:22) and prays that God would hear his prayers from his dwelling place “in heaven” (1 Kings 8:30; see vv. 39, 43, 49).
Where exactly does God dwell? Isn’t this a contradiction? Does God dwell in Solomon’s temple? Yes! Does God simultaneously dwell in his heavenly temple? Yes! According to 1 Kings 8, God dwells in two places simultaneously without ceasing to be the one God of Israel. God in all his glory lives with his people down on earth without ceasing to be the glorious God who lives in heaven. Before the Gospel of John was ever written, the author of Kings provides a very “New Testament” theology of God. And though our people may be shocked when we say Yeshua is the fullness of God’s glory in the flesh, the author of 1 Kings 8 would respond to our theological claims with a very hearty “Amen!”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9).
