Center and Presence
1 Kings 5:1-5, 8:1-13
1 Samuel 16:7 
1 Kings 2:1-4
1 Kings 5:1-5
1 King Hiram of Tyre sent his emissaries to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, for Hiram had always been friends with David.
2 Solomon sent this message to Hiram: 3 “You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of the Lord his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 The Lord my God has now given me rest on every side; there is no enemy or misfortune. 5 So I plan to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God, according to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for my name.’
1 Kings 8:1-13
1 At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion. 2 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month,[a] at the festival.
3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. 4 The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. 5 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many. 6 The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim were spreading their wings over[b] the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above. 8 The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are still there today. 9 Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple, 11 and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
12 Then Solomon said:
The Lord said that he would dwell in total darkness.
13 I have indeed built an exalted temple for you,a place for your dwelling forever.
1 Kings 8:9 Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 19:1-7
If the Ark is in the central place of honor in the Temple...
If the Arik is the physical representation of the presence of God...
In the center (the heart) of the Ark is the physical representation of covenant- the two tablets.
Genesis 17:7 
Exodus 6:7 
Ezekiel 34:24 
Ezekiel 36:28 You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Jeremiah 7:23 However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’
Jeremiah 31:33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jeremiah 30:22 You will be my people, and I will be your God.
1 Kings 8:9 You will be my people, and I will be your God.
What would be different in your life if the central place was, “You will be my people and I will be your God”?
if covenant was central
if relationship was central
if the holy place was a relationship with the God of Life