Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Psalm 48:9

Some people approach Feb. 14 with a sense of dread. Do too little, and your loved one may feel unappreciated. Do too much, and your loved one might ask if you are feeling guilty about something! Cynics scoff that Valentine's Day was created for the sole benefit of florists. Others embrace the holiday, exchanging tokens of affection or enjoying a brief escape to some romantic setting.

I'd be shocked to find Solomon's temple on a list of romantic getaways. Yet the writer of Psalm 48 treasured this temple as a place to meditate on love. Not just any love. God's unfailing love.

God's love seen at Jerusalem's temple

It seems counterintuitive to connect the temple at Jerusalem with the concept of love. The temple's outward beauty could not mask the reality that this house of worship was a brutal place of death. Day after day sharp blades silenced bleating animals in the courtyard. A river of blood flowed as an army of priests offered sacrifice after sacrifice. The stench of acrid smoke rose from the altar's hot coals. A place of romance? No! A place of love? Yes!

Jerusalem's temple was a physical reminder of God's unfailing love. The Lord had not abandoned his sinful and rebellious people. The cloud of the Lord's presence filled the temple (1 Kings 8:10,11). God's unfailing love moved him to promise, "My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place" (2 Chronicles 7:15). God's unfailing love was also present in the gruesome sacrifices. God loved his people enough to teach them that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). The nonstop activity at the smoking altar assaulted every worshiper with this clear message: God hates sin!

The animal sacrifices at the temple proclaimed another message: a message of the Lord's forgiveness and grace. The bloody offerings served as a reminder of the promise the Lord first made to the world's first sinners. The offspring of the woman would crush Satan's head (Genesis 3:15). Everything happening at the temple was carefully crafted to point ahead to the work of Jesus. "Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself" (Hebrews 7:27).

God's love seen in Christ