Pastor Rusty Milton1  Kings 8:1-12 ESV"The Temple"Because Christians are the temple of the Living God, we are to live all of life as if in the Divine Presence. In 1 Kings 8, we see the ark being raised up, the presence of God coming down to dwell in the temple, and the Israelites gathering for corporate worship. We, too, need to remember that, because God dwells within us as he did in the temple, we should engage in private and public worship. In this way, we connect and communicate with God, and experience his presence.1 Kings 8English Standard VersionThe Ark Brought into the TempleThen Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 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.Solomon Blesses the Lord12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord[a] has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.