Scripture Menu—
1 Kings 8:27-30 — God’s Name, Eyes and Ears
“Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”
John 2:13-21 — The Lord Jesus Christ: God’s Name, Eyes and Ears
“The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ So, the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”
Cogitations—
I was raised in “The Name of Jesus.” Every prayer I ever heard ended with “in The Name of Jesus, we pray,” so I likewise concluded prayer in The Name, too. It had the feel of an audible signature of authenticity— stamping the prayer as official: A holy, but perfunctory “Sincerely Yours.” But to the contrary, it is much weightier than a rote literary closure. When we conclude prayer with the words, “in The Name of Jesus,” we are bringing the flavor of Solomon’s Temple to bear upon (and into) our prayer lives.
Theologian extraordinaire Peter Leithart pontificates: “The Temple itself functions as [a] mediator, a communications switchboard connecting heaven and earth. Yahweh [God] promises… that his ‘Name’ would dwell in the house… From the New Testament perspective, the ‘Name’ is associated with the second person of the Trinity, the specific ‘address’ of God. Prayer is not offered to God but ‘toward the house’ or ‘toward the city.’ Once prayer is offered toward the house, it will be delivered to God who ‘hears from heaven.’ …To say [then] that Jesus is the Temple of God is not only to say that he is the earthly address of God, but also that he is the One toward whom we address our prayers, and through Whom our prayers are heard by our Father in heaven.” [!]
Further: “In the Temple, Yahweh comes near; he does not remain at a distance to hear prayer and flick a distant switch. He enters into Israel’s space to open his eyes and ears to their cries and stretch out the arms of his Temple toward his people. For such a God, coming in human flesh is the most natural thing in the world.” Peter Leithart, (1&2 Kings, Brazos, pp.69-70)
In Solomon’s Temple, “The Name” of God came to rest amid His people. His “eyes” and “ears” were there. Prayers could be directed to this holy place and God would “see” and “hear” them. This is why there is such intense liturgical drama at the foot of the Western Wall Plaza (Hebrew: The Kotel) to this day— and BTW, don’t call it “The Wailing Wall.” That designation evolved from early times into an epithet used to mock Jews who “wailed” there over the destruction of their Temple in both 586 BC and definitively in 70 AD.
The Western Wall is the only remaining tangible expression of Solomon’s Temple, even though this Wall wasn’t a part of Solomon’s complex. It was only much later erected by Herod the Great as a retaining structure for the now extinct Temple that was situated above it. Jews of all theological persuasion and degree gather in the Plaza to rock and pray facing the Wall. This space is as close as a Jew can get to where the Holy of Holies once stood. The Mount is now managed by the Islamic Waqf, and Jews are forbidden from ascending by the Jerusalem Rabbinate for fear of violating holy ground. Consequently, the Herodian ashlars in the Plaza below are worn smoothly to the touch from millennia of hands caressing the sacred stones. (Note well the picture below of my touch on the stone shaped to fit praying hands.) Paper-scraps of prayers are stuffed into the fine gaps between the ancient ashlars. To the Jewish mind, this is where you climb into the lap of God and tell him what you want.
In the Gospel of John, the so-called “cleansing of the temple” occurs at the beginning of the Story. Matthew, Mark and Luke place the “cleansing” during Passion Week at the end of the Story. But for John, it leads, because one of the Big Ideas of his Gospel is that Jesus has come to fulfill the meaning and function of the Temple. Jesus said, (2:19-21) “‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body[!]” (Emphasis mine)
This is why the Gospel of John opens with this giant neon sign (1:14): “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The word translated “dwelt among us” is better rendered as “tabernacled with us.” John is explicitly declaring that Jesus is the new Tabernacle/Temple.
When we pray “in the Name of Jesus,” we are declaring that in Jesus, God “sees” and “hears” our prayers. In Jesus, we know that he cares, too. Subsequently, the Apostle will preach in his epistles, “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:17-18). God the Father has placed His “Name” on His Son. The Temple has taken human flesh. He has died and risen from the dead. And has ascended to the right hand of the Father, ever there to make intercession for us. Therefore, when we pray, we need face in no particular direction to offer supplications, petitions and praises to the Name. So… “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in The Name of the Lord Jesus, [give] thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:17).
Next time you see a picture of Hasidic Jews rocking and reciting at the Western Wall, remember the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom God the Father has placed His Name, forevermore.
Pictures: The Kotel (Western Wall Plaza) from July 2022.
