1Ki 8:27
God was never trying to fit into creation—He made creation inside Himself, so He could be poured out into it.
📖 1 Kings 8:27[edit | edit source]
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
✝️ Sensus Plenior Summary[edit | edit source]
Solomon speaks more than he knows.
He asks the impossible:
Can the infinite God dwell within the limits of a house—on earth?
This is not just a question of space, but of being. It reveals the central mystery of Scripture:
How can the boundless dwell within the bounded? How can the Creator be present in creation?
🔥 Literal / Ontological Insight (SP-Revealed)[edit | edit source]
Before anything existed, there was only God.
There was nowhere to create, because there was nothing but Him.
So what did God do?
He did not create outside of Himself.
He cannot, for there is nothing outside Him.
Instead, He opened a void within Himself—
→ a space of formlessness (tohu),
→ emptiness (bohu),
→ and silence (tehom).
And into that self-emptying, He spoke.
This is creation.
This is love.
This is the cross.
Creation itself is an act of divine humility:
God made room within Himself for others to exist.
🏛️ The Temple: A Picture of That Void[edit | edit source]
When Solomon builds the house, he sees the limit:
"This cannot contain You."
But in SP, the house is not meant to contain God. It is meant to point to the place where God would dwell:
The body of Christ, who is the true Temple. The one who is both God and man—in one house.
🔍 Heaven Cannot Contain Him[edit | edit source]
“Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee…”
Even the holiest spiritual realms—the clearest reflections of God—are too small.
Why? Because they are created.
Only one place can “contain” Him:
The place He prepared within Himself by self-emptying—the void of creation. That void became the womb, the grave, and the temple—all symbols of Christ.
🧩 SP Layering:[edit | edit source]
| Symbol / Phrase | SP Meaning |
|---|---|
| Earth | Man without understanding (אדם from אדמה) |
| Heaven of heavens | Fullness of holiness—cannot contain the infinite |
| The house Solomon built | A shadow of the true temple—Christ’s body (John 2:21) |
| Dwell (שכן) | To abide intimately—fulfilled in the incarnation |
| God "cannot be contained" | Therefore, He emptied Himself (Phil 2:7) |
| Creation | God’s Word spoken into a void within Himself |
| Cross | The ultimate fulfillment of that self-emptying (kenosis) |
🔁 Gospel Echo[edit | edit source]
Solomon asked: "Can God dwell here?"
And heaven answered:
"Yes. He already has."
God opened Himself,
Entered His own void,
Spoke Light into darkness,
And made Himself a house of flesh.
He who could not be contained,
Chose to be poured out.
📖 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (שכן) among us…” — John 1:14 📖 “In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” — Col 1:19
