Will God Indeed Dwell on the Earth?

Near the beginning of Solomon’s temple dedicatory prayer, he acknowledges the apparent futility of the event:

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?

1 Kings 8:27

The sentiment is similar to the brother of Jared’s expression of unworthiness to approach God in prayer (Ether 3:2). Solomon frames it as a rhetorical question, but with the implication of a negative answer. As the prophet Isaiah would later declare, speaking on behalf of God (and also ending with a rhetorical question): “The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1).

In the Book of Mormon, Nephi builds a temple “after the manner of the temple of Solomon” (2 Nephi 5:16), where his brother Jacob teaches the people (Jacob 1:17). Many years later, King Benjamin presides over a pentecostal experience with his people at a temple in Zarahemla (Mosiah 1:18). The Spirit of the Lord fills their hearts, and they receive a remission of their sins as they plead for forgiveness at that holy place (Mosiah 4:1-3).

The most important event in the Book of Mormon also takes place at a temple. After the destruction that signaled the death of Jesus Christ, a group of believers gathered “round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful” (3 Nephi 11:1). They heard the voice of God, announcing the arrival of His Son. Then, the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, descended from heaven and ministered to them for three days (3 Nephi 11:3-11; 26:13). During that visit, He quoted to them the following prophecy from Malachi:

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 3:1; 3 Nephi 24:1

Those words must have resonated powerfully with His listeners as they remembered how unexpectedly He had arrived among them at this holy place.

Will the God of heaven dwell on the earth? According to the Book of Mormon, the answer is yes. He will sanctify His people as they pray to Him in His house, and He will even visit them personally there. As impossible as it may sound, it is true.

Today I will be grateful for sacred places, houses of God, where earth and heaven meet, and where God can dwell.