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1 Kings chapter 8. 2 weeks ago we went through the 
whole chapter and I feel like we went through it, well there's 
a lot there so we didn't have a whole lot of time to spend 
on application. So I want to draw out several 
lessons from 1 Kings chapter 8. Remember the specific context, 
it's the dedication of the temple. And the temple section or the 
temple narratives begin in chapter 5. and carry through chapter 
8. Essentially what we have is the 
preparation to build the temple in chapter 5 and then the actual 
construction of the temple in chapter 6 and 7. Remember the 
temple is the place where God meets with Israel. It is that 
place of sacrifice where the Holy of Holies is, where that 
atoning sacrifice is offered so that God and His people can 
dwell together. And last time when we looked 
at chapter 8, we noticed that the section or the chapter breaks 
down into five sections. First, the ark was brought into 
the temple in verses 1 to 13. Secondly, the words of thanksgiving 
expressed by Solomon in verses 14 to 21. and then the prayer 
of dedication specifically in verses 22 to 53, and I'll read 
that in just a moment, and then the benediction, fourthly, pronounced 
on the assembly in verses 54 to 61, and then the dedication 
of the temple proper in verses 62 to 66. So it's a long chapter, 
but the thrust or the purpose or the focus is that the temple 
has been built and Solomon is dedicating it now for use unto 
the God of Israel. So I'll begin reading in verse 
22. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the 
presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his 
hands toward heaven. And he said, Lord God of Israel, 
there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you, who 
keep your covenant and mercy with your servants, who walk 
before you with all their hearts. You have kept what you promised 
your servant David, my father. You have both spoken with your 
mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. Therefore, 
Lord God of Israel, now keep what you promised your servant 
David my father, saying, You shall not fail to have a man 
sit before me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take 
heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked 
before me. And now, I pray, O God of Israel, 
let your word come true, which you have spoken to your servant 
David my father. But will God indeed dwell on 
the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven 
of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which 
I have built. Yet regard the prayer of your 
servant in his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to 
the cry and the prayer which your servant is praying before 
you today. that your eyes may be open toward this temple, night 
and day, toward the place of which you said, my name shall 
be there, that you may hear the prayer which your servant makes 
toward this place. And may you hear the supplication 
of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward 
this place. Here in heaven, your dwelling 
place, and when you hear, forgive. When anyone sins against his 
neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes 
an oath before your altar in this temple, then hear in heaven 
and act and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing 
his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according 
to his righteousness. When your people Israel are defeated 
before an enemy because they have sinned against you. And 
when they turn back to you and confess your name and pray and 
make supplication to you in this temple, then hear in heaven and 
forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to 
the land which you gave to their fathers. When the heavens are 
shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against 
you, when they pray toward this place and confess your name and 
turn from their sin because you afflict them, then hear in heaven 
and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, that you 
may teach them the good way in which they should walk and send 
rain on your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. when there is famine in the land, 
pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, when 
their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever 
plague or whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever 
supplication is made by anyone or by all your people Israel, 
when each one knows the plague of his own heart and spreads 
out his hands toward this temple, Then here in heaven, your dwelling 
place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according 
to all his ways. Whose heart you know, for you 
alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may 
fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave 
to our fathers. Moreover, concerning a foreigner 
who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a far country 
for your namesake, for they will hear of your great name and your 
strong hand and your outstretched arm. When he comes and prays 
toward this temple, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according 
to all for which the foreigner calls to you, that all peoples 
of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people 
Israel. and that they may know that this 
temple which I have built is called by your name. When your 
people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you send 
them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which you 
have chosen and the temple which I have built for your name, then 
hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain 
their cause. When they sin against you, for 
there is no one who does not sin, and you become angry with 
them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive 
to the land of the enemy far or near, Yet when they come to 
themselves in the land where they were carried captive and 
repent and make supplication to you in the land of those who 
took them captive saying, we have sinned and done wrong, we 
have committed wickedness. And when they return to you with 
all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their 
enemies who led them away captive and pray to you toward their 
land which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have 
chosen and the temple which I have built for your name. Then hear 
in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, 
and maintain their cause. And forgive your people who have 
sinned against you, and all their transgressions which they have 
transgressed against you. And grant them compassion before 
those who took them captive, that they may have compassion 
on them. For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you 
brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, that your eyes 
may be opened to the supplication of your servant and the supplication 
of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to 
you. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the 
earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by your servant 
Moses when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. Well, 
as we look at this particular prayer, just quickly by way of 
review, we notice in the first place the foundation of Solomon's 
prayer. He begins with God. We call this theology proper. It's the study of God in particular, 
and that is precisely where Solomon begins. in verses 22 to 30, before 
he goes into petition, he spends time to consider who God is. This is the same order or the 
same priority that our Lord instructs us in in Matthew chapter 6 with 
reference to prayer. Before we get into petitions 
asking for our food or asking for our forgiveness or asking 
for our protection, we are told in the first place to pray that 
God's name would be hallowed, to pray secondly that His kingdom 
would come, and to pray thirdly that His will would be done on 
earth as it is in heaven. So Jesus conspicuously teaches 
us that prayer begins with a consideration of who God is, and that is precisely 
what Solomon does in verses 22 to 30. Secondly, we'll notice 
the petitions of the prayer and how forgiveness is a central 
theme. Solomon is not an idealist. Solomon is a realist, and I'm 
not speaking philosophically. I'm speaking practically. He 
knows that Israel is going to sin. He knows that Israel is 
always going to stand in need of forgiveness. In fact, that 
was the central function of the temple of God. It was the holy 
of holies. It was that place of sacrifice, 
that place of atonement, that place wherein God or God would 
cover the sins of the people based on the sacrifice received. So Solomon prays, and a central 
theme in terms of the petition of the requests is forgiveness. But we noticed that he asks in 
the first place for the adjudication of civil matters in verses 31 
and 32. Now Solomon would ultimately 
serve as the high court in Israel. There would be lower courts to 
be sure, but there would be those cases that would be presented 
to Solomon. In the display of wisdom previously 
in First Kings, Solomon's display of wisdom, remember that he adjudicated 
with reference to those two prostitutes. The one son died and they had 
a problem about it and they took it to Solomon. So Solomon would 
certainly function as the high court, but even Solomon and all 
of his wisdom realized that he was not fit for the task exhaustively 
or comprehensively, And that's the focus in verses 31 and 32. He asks God to intervene in the 
land and specifically so that the righteous would go unmolested, 
so that the righteous would be able to conduct himself in righteousness 
and as well that the wicked would be condemned. Solomon understands 
that a proper civil society has law and has one to enforce that 
law such that the wicked are punished and the righteous are 
allowed to flourish. The second request or the second 
petition is in verses 33 and 34. Solomon requests forgiveness 
when the people of Israel have been defeated by an enemy. And remember that so much of 
what he prays here is consistent with the curses of the covenant 
in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. God there tells Israel that 
when they go into the land, if they are unfaithful, they will 
reap the curses of the covenant. And so Solomon is saying, when 
these things occur, please hear from heaven and then forgive 
the sin of your people Israel. In the third place, He prays 
that God would hear when they cried out after having felt the 
pain of drought. Drought in verses 35 to 36. Essentially, 
again, forgive them, send rain, and correct this particular problem. 
The fourth has to do with famine and pestilence and other disasters 
in verses 37 to 40. And then, excuse me, in verses 
41 and 42, Solomon looks forward to the New Covenant era, the 
inclusion of Gentiles with Israel's God. Notice in verse 41, moreover 
concerning a foreigner who is not of your people Israel, but 
has come from a far country for your namesake, for they will 
hear of your great name and your strong hand and your outstretched 
arm. when he comes and prays toward this temple here in heaven, 
your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner 
calls to you, that all peoples of the earth may know your name 
and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know 
that this temple which I have built is called by your name." 
This is somewhat equivalent to the Great Commission in Matthew 
28. Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the 
nations. Solomon looks beyond the confines 
of Israel to the covenant blessings of God being applied to the Gentiles, 
to the nations of the earth. It truly is an amazing statement 
that he utters here by way of petition. He then prays specifically 
in the sixth petition for the presence of God in battle, verses 
44 and 45. Now as the king in a theocracy, 
that means a state or a government ruled ultimately by God, Solomon 
knew it was crucial to have Yahweh's presence when they went into 
battle. If they would go into battle 
on their own, they would certainly lose. And so we see the specific 
request there in verses 44 and 45. And then the final petition 
has to do with the prospect of exile. The prospect of exile 
in verses 46 to 51. Again, a curse connected with 
breaking the covenant, was that if they went into the land and 
they lived like the Canaanites, they would be expelled from the 
land, they would go into exile. This happened in the 8th century 
B.C. It happened again in the 6th 
century B.C. to Israel in accordance with 
their having broken covenant with God. Remember that we have 
noted that the books of 1 and 2 Kings were written and the 
audience was those in the Babylonian captivity. So no doubt those 
persons reading this book or hearing this book initially would 
have been caused or brought to the point of repentance as they 
are rehearsing Solomon's prayer and considering the fact that 
they're sitting in Babylon because they had been unfaithful to the 
living and true God. So that's just an outline, a 
bit of the prayer. The conclusion of the prayer 
is in verses 52 and 53, basically God's goodness and the reality 
that God did indeed bring his people to this particular place. 
So as I said, we looked in detail at the actual passage two weeks 
ago. Last week was still part of what 
Cam called Snowcopolis, I think, or Snowmageddon, or whatever 
it was. So that was the night of the ice, too, as Thursday 
came and everything was a sheet of ice. But we were here two 
weeks ago. We went through all of chapter 8. So I do want to 
draw out several lessons from chapter 8, not just the section 
we read. I will note the passages when 
we get to them. In the first place, we ought 
to appreciate the covenantal faithfulness of God toward His 
people. the covenantal faithfulness of 
God toward His people. In many respects, what we find 
here at the temple, at the dedication of the temple, is several streams 
of covenant theology coming to fruition. Remember in the first 
place that God promised Abraham land. God promised Abraham land, 
specifically in Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis chapter 17. God said 
to Abraham, I will make of you a great nation, I will give you 
a great posterity, and I will give you this particular land. 
In fact, that was essential to the Abrahamic covenant was this 
land promise, the idea of rest in the land. We'll note specifically 
in verse 56. While Abraham is not mentioned, 
I think the concept of the covenant with Abraham is everywhere behind 
1 Kings 8. Notice in verse 56, blessed be 
the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel. excuse me, 
according to all that he promised. So this idea of rest, the reality 
that the temple is in the land, makes us see and appreciate God's 
promise to Abraham had come to pass. Secondly, another stream 
of covenant theology that finds its realization here at the temple 
is the faithfulness of God toward Moses. And when I say Moses, 
I mean Moses as the mediator of the old covenant. God used 
Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, ultimately to come 
into the land of promise so that they may have the land, they 
may have this rest, and they may enjoy the temple and all 
that it brings in terms of blessing. Well, this faithfulness of God 
toward Moses is highlighted in several places. Notice in chapter 
8, verse 9. This is when the ark was moved 
to the temple itself. Verse 9, nothing was in the ark 
except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb 
when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when 
they came out of the land of Egypt. This covenant is referred 
to, or at least this act of Exodus is referred to in verse 16. Since 
the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen 
no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house that 
my name might be there. And then again, we see this in 
verses 21 and 56. In fact, look at verse 56, because 
we might add Joshua to this promise or covenantal faithfulness to 
Moses. Look at verse 56. B, it says, 
there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which 
he promised through his servant Moses. Now, there wasn't a specific 
covenant made with Joshua, but he carried on the work of Moses. 
And interestingly, Joshua, at the end of his life, says something 
very much the same. In Joshua chapter 22 and verse 
45, he says, "...not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord 
had spoken to the house of Israel. All had come to pass." And then 
the third stream that lands us into this temple is the covenant 
made with David. Of course, that is all throughout 
1 Kings 8. We have rehearsed it many, many 
times such that I hope you'd be able to recite it by now. 2 Samuel 7, God covenants with 
David that there would be a son of David who would rise up and 
sit upon the throne over Israel. Now Solomon functions to fulfill 
that specifically, but even then Solomon is functioning typologically. He's pointing forward to the 
one who is ultimately greater than Solomon, the one who sits 
upon David's throne and whose kingdom will have no end. So 
we ought to appreciate here in 1 Kings chapter 8 the covenantal 
faithfulness of God toward His people. And when we understand 
that, it's not just an old covenant concept, but as well it transfers 
and translates into the new covenant people of God. God has entered 
into covenant with us by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If 
He has forgiven us of our sins, He has given us faith, He has 
given us repentance, He has brought us out of darkness into marvelous 
light, He is not going to abandon us. He is not going to turn away 
from us. He is not going to forsake us. He is our God. We are His people. And there is nothing that can 
damage that relationship. And that is something we as the 
people of God ought to appreciate. I think very often in our church, 
because we like covenant theology, we talk a lot about covenant 
theology. But I think at times people have 
this idea that it's just this heady sort of thing, and it's 
a way to sort of connect the dots in the Bible. It is intensely 
practical. Understanding what God does covenantally 
for His people is enough to take your breath away when you consider 
His faithfulness to Abraham, to Israel, to David, and in and 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not to mention the Noahic Covenant, 
the reality that God is never again going to destroy the earth. 
He's not going to send a universal flood and destroy every living 
being. God is faithful to His promises, 
and 1 Kings 8 preaches that to us, and we need to listen. A 
second thing we need to consider in 1 Kings 8 is the presence 
of God among His people, because that ultimately is what temple 
is about. Remember, Tabernacle was the 
sort of mobile temple. It was when Israel was in her 
wilderness or her wandering phase. She didn't have a land. She didn't 
have rest. She didn't have, you know, peace 
from her enemies all around, so she didn't have a temple. 
But prior to that temple, she had a tabernacle, and it was 
roughly the same in terms of its construction, at least the 
main parts of it, this holy place and then this holy of holies. 
Tabernacle means dwelling place. Temple has the same concept or 
the same idea. And what we find in tabernacle 
and temple is God in the midst of his people. Remember, Exodus 
ends with the tabernacle having been built and God comes in his 
Shekinah glory and he dwells in the midst of Israel. And yet 
he's dwelling in the midst of Israel and Moses himself cannot 
enter into the house of God. He cannot enter into the tabernacle 
because Moses is a sinful man. This is the rationale for the 
book of Leviticus. It provides the answer as to 
how that dwelling place of God becomes a meeting place with 
the people. And the way that the people of 
Israel meet that God who dwells among them is through sacrifice. It's through a bloody knife and 
a smoking altar. That's the only way sinful men 
will ever stand before a holy God. And so all those themes 
converge for us here in 1 Kings chapter 8. In the first place, 
we ought to appreciate that His presence, dealing with the presence 
of God among His people, His presence promotes reverential 
awe. His presence promotes reverential 
awe, or we might call this fear, because ultimately isn't that 
what the fear of God is? It is reverential awe. It is 
respect. It is esteem. It is understanding 
who He is and who we are relative to Him. Notice in chapter 8, 
specifically in verses 10 and 11. Here is where I suggest we 
ought to appreciate that God's presence promotes reverential 
awe. Verse 10, It came to pass, when 
the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled 
the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue 
ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled 
the house of the Lord. They couldn't stand in the presence 
because of His glory, His majesty. There is a reverential awe whenever 
the people of God come near to the God of the people. And that 
seems to be somewhat missing or lacking or absent in our day. Now we don't have tabernacle. 
We don't have temple. We don't have that elaborate 
structure. We don't have a priesthood who when we bring our lamb to 
him, we cut its throat and we turn it over to him so that he 
can go burn it and offer it up to Yahweh. We don't have all 
of that, but we have the same God. And we ought to remember 
this reality when we enter into the house of the Lord on the 
Sabbath day. We are approaching the same God. This same One who 
has, in the New Testament Scriptures, told us that His special dwelling 
place in this new covenant era is the church. And if that God 
is presence among this people, there ought to be a reverential 
awe. There ought to be a fear. There 
ought to be an esteem and a respect. In the second place, we learn, 
with reference to the presence of God among His people, His 
holiness necessitates sacrifice. His holiness necessitates sacrifice. We saw that specifically in verse 
5. When the people are transporting 
the Ark of the Covenant, what are they doing? They're not only 
carrying that sacred object, but they're offering up sacrifice. Why? Because you don't stand 
in the presence of God apart from sacrifice. We don't come 
into the throne room of heaven without the mediatorship of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. And then at the end of this temple 
dedication ceremony, specifically in verses 62 to 64, what do they 
do? They offer sacrifice, a great 
number of sacrifices, to be sure. And remember, the great number 
can be explained by the reality that it was a 14-day feast. It 
was a 14-day celebration. And they did, in fact, offer 
up a lot of sacrifice. But the point is, God's holiness 
necessitates sacrifice. In fact, look back to a particular 
instance where the people of God forgot that. Notice in Leviticus 
chapter 10, Leviticus chapter 10, I've explained that the purpose 
or one of the purposes for the book of Leviticus is to explain 
how sinful man dwells in the presence of a holy God. Right? That's the point. When you read 
Leviticus, you need to think God's holy, I'm not. How do I 
get near him? That's what the book of Leviticus 
answers. Remember, Exodus ends, God's glory fills the tabernacle, 
but nobody can go in. So in Leviticus 1-9, we have 
an elaborate, detailed system of sacrifice. God says you need 
to kill animals, you need to shed blood, and you need to burn them in 
offering up to the Lord God Most High. I mean, he details it, 
he goes through it, you know, very, very explicit. Most English 
readers get to about Leviticus 4 and they start wondering why 
they've ever committed to reading the book of Leviticus. These 
were detailed instructions on how sinful people enter into 
the presence of a holy God. So they go through this procedure. 
At the end of chapter 9, they offer up the sacrifice. The Lord 
God sends fire down, and He receives that sacrifice, and all the people 
shout. And the shout was probably a 
shout of joy and thanksgiving and just absolute exuberance 
at the reality that God had accepted. And then we enter into chapter 
10 and notice, then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each 
took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and 
offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded 
them. Learn a lesson, brethren. The way that you worship God 
is by obeying his commands. Nadab and Abihu wanted to be 
creative and innovative. Some suggest, or one man suggests, 
they went into the Holy of Holies. That may very well be the case. 
They weren't supposed to go into the Holy of Holies. That then 
is addressed in Chapter 16. And the Nadab and Abihu incident 
is mentioned there in Chapter 16, which gives some confirmation 
to this reality. But whatever it is, Nadab and 
Abihu, they deviated from the norm. They departed from what 
they were supposed to do. Now notice what God says, or 
God does and then says. It says, So fire went out from 
the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And 
Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, 
By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy, and before 
all the people I must be glorified. You see, I don't think you would 
have forgot that lesson that day if you saw what had happened 
to Nadab and Abihu. Now, I'm not suggesting that 
I'm hopeful that God will send fire out and, you know, pick 
off one of our irreverent so-called worshippers someday, so that 
we'll all learn how to be reverent. But brethren, we have the same 
God, and He underscores this reality. By those who come near 
me, I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people, I 
must be glorified. You know, one of the most offensive 
things about the prosperity gospel, or this health-wealth-prosperity 
approach, or I might suggest any non-reformed approach to 
who God is, is that it ultimately belittles God. If God only exists 
to make us happy, if God only exists to give us new cars, if 
God is only there to make our lives better, that is to belittle 
God Himself. That is not treating Him as holy, 
that is not esteeming Him, it is not revering Him, and it is 
not fearing Him. So any attempt to bring God off 
of his throne is ultimately rebellion against that God. And I would 
suggest that our worship at times, and I'm not saying us specifically, 
though I think we ought to look at ourselves, but us generically, 
do not always deal with these passages that highlight the reverence 
that is due to the living and the true God. Remember the Ananias 
and Sapphira incident in Acts chapter 5. They lied to the Holy 
Spirit. And what happened? God killed 
them. Perhaps you heard on Sunday morning, I mentioned a particular 
preacher named Ralph Barnard. I don't know if any of you looked 
him up, but he's a yeller. He can definitely yell. I mean, 
you're going to be turning your radio down, but Josh He listened 
to a few, and he texted me, and he said, man, this guy's hardcore. And he quoted this one bit, and 
I remember this, either reading it or hearing from Ralph Barnard. 
He says, the God of the Bible kills people. That's offensive 
to non-Christians, and I suspect to some Christians, but it's 
reality, isn't it? We're not dealing with Baal, 
or Dagon, or Asherah, or Mammon. We're not dealing with a god, 
or an idol rather, that has eyes but can't see, or ears that can't 
hear, or a mouth that can't speak. We're dealing with the god of 
absolute unrivaled sovereignty and power, and the god who demands 
that those who come near him must regard him as holy. That is absolutely crucial. In 
the third place, his nearness fosters dependence. His nearness 
fosters dependence. That's the whole point in the 
petitions of verses 31 to 50. Solomon wants God near because 
they are dependent upon him. This God who is absolutely holy, 
this God who is absolutely glorious, this God who is approached through 
sacrifice, is a God who is there for his people. And when we understand 
His nearness, it does hopefully foster in us this dependence 
upon God. And then His presence ultimately 
produces joy and gladness. Notice in verse 66. On the eighth 
day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and 
went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good 
that the Lord had done for his servant David and for Israel 
his people." You see, I've always found this to be most blessed 
within Christianity. Fear and joy are not enemies. 
Trembling and happiness are not enemies. In fact, look at Psalm 
2 for just a moment when David bids us to fear the sun. Psalm 2, it's a beautiful statement 
that combines those elements and we see it in the disciples 
as well. When they run from the empty 
tomb, they're trembling and they're joyful. These are twin blessings 
that the people of God have because of the goodness of God. Notice 
in Psalm 210, "'Now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, 
you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and 
rejoice with trembling.'" Isn't that beautiful? We can rejoice 
with trembling. Dare I say it? We must rejoice 
with trembling. If we properly understand who 
this God is in His presence among us, there is going to be reverential 
awe. There is going to be fear. There 
is going to be a degree of trembling. There's going to be happiness 
and joy. We've been brought nigh through the blood of Jesus Christ. 
He is favorable toward us. He is actually present among 
us. He has called us to be dependent 
upon Him. If that doesn't make us glad 
and happy, I really don't know what can. I mean, we are God's 
people, and let us be like God's people. As they left the temple 
on that day, they went to their tents joyful and glad of heart 
for all the good that the Lord had done for His servant David 
and for Israel, His people. Pastor Barcelos texted me this 
Sunday, and he said, did you guys have services today? Because 
we didn't the Sunday before, and I said, yeah, and it was 
great. It's just great to be in the house of God, isn't it? 
It's just great to be where God has promised to be with His new 
covenant people. It's great to worship this God, 
to sing psalms and hymns of praise to Him. It's great to hear His 
Word. These are the blessed privileges 
that we, the people of God, possess in and through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. So we see the covenantal faithfulness of God toward His 
people, the presence of God among His people. The third thing we 
ought to appreciate is the centrality of theology proper in prayer. I'll unpack these terms. and 
may stretch some of us a little bit this evening, because I think 
this is important. As we mentioned, Solomon first 
speaks of God. Before he asks, he speaks and 
rehearses who God is. Specifically, he speaks of God's 
incomparability. God is incomparable. There is 
none like Him. Dagon, Asherah, Baal, Moloch, 
they are not like God. There is none like thee. Notice, 
specifically in verse 23, this is how he starts. Lord God of 
Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like 
you. And then he flashes it out or 
amplifies it to tell us how this is the case. But this is something 
we need to appreciate, the incomparability of God. There is none like Him. There is not another being like 
Him. There is one true and living 
God who exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. There's not a pantheon out there. There's not various 
gods, Moloch, and Baal, and Asherah, and Dagon, and Mammon today, 
and whatever else it is that men worship today. That's not 
God. It's not really God. It's not 
like there's, you know, these several deities sort of out there 
and then Yahweh maintains a place of pre-empt. No, there is no 
other. God alone is God. Secondly, he rehearses the faithfulness 
of God in verses 24 to 26. God is faithful. This is, in some sense, a proof 
of his incomparability because the gods of the nations were 
specious. They were arbitrary. They were 
capricious, not specious, capricious or arbitrary. They changed their 
minds. They were not immutable or impassable. They flowed with the times. They 
changed with the culture. But God is faithful. When He 
promises, He carries it out. When He covenants with Abraham, 
when He covenants with Moses, when He covenants with David, 
He makes good those promises. Ultimately, they're fully realized 
in the New Testament in our Lord Jesus Christ. But Solomon rehearses 
the promise of God kept in verse 24, and this produces expectation 
in verses 25 and 26. Notice verse 24, you have kept 
what you promised your servant David, my father. You have both 
spoken with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand as it is this 
day. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, 
now keep what you promised your servant David, my father, saying. You see the connection? Here's 
what you've done. Continue to do it. Here's how 
you've acted, continue to act thus. Davis says, in short, act 
in the future as you have acted to date. God's fidelity in the 
past becomes the basis for expecting the same in the future. The way 
God behaves himself in the past is the way we pray he'll continue 
on through the future. It's a beautiful thing. the attributes 
that he celebrates, incomparability, faithfulness, and then he speaks 
of the transcendence of God. Verse 27, transcendence, you'll 
remember, means that God is removed. He transcends this creation. And this is an important qualification 
that Solomon builds into his prayer, lest anyone start to 
think that God sort of is like Dagon, or God sort of is like 
Baal, or God sort of is like Asherah. Because if you went 
to the temple of Dagon, and you opened the door, there was Dagon. Such was not the case in the 
temple of Yahweh. It was the visible expression, 
or the representation, or the symbol of God's presence among 
His people. But that temple couldn't house 
the God of Israel. And this is what Solomon confesses 
in verse 27. But will God indeed dwell on 
the earth? Behold, heaven in the heaven 
of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple which 
I have built! Lest any Israelite would leave 
that dedication ceremony thinking, is he actually in the Holy of 
Holies? Remember, the Israelites as a 
whole didn't ever penetrate that curtain. It was the high priest 
one day out of the year. So whatever they knew of the 
Holy of Holies, it was reported to them. And lest any of them 
think Yahweh was actually in there, Solomon makes this confession 
of God's transcendence. God is removed. He is not this 
cup. He is not the table. We're not 
pantheists. It's not as if we see God in 
the trees, or we marvel at God in ceiling fans. It's not pantheism. The God of heaven and earth is 
transcendent. He is removed from us. But then 
Solomon goes on to rehearse the imminence of God, and that means 
God's nearness. It's the beautiful thing in Christian 
theism. You have both transcendence and 
imminence. Imminence means that God is with 
us. God is present. Again, not pantheistically where, 
you know, this is God or God is everything. That is a denial. Pantheism is a denial of transcendence. But this denial of imminence 
is just as bad. It's what deism does. It says 
that God made, God created, and then God leaves it alone. That's 
not true. God is both wholly removed and 
wholly present with his creation. And Solomon says that over and 
over and over again in his prayer. He is in heaven. He sees where 
his name is according to verse 29, the temple, and he hears 
prayer and he acts on behalf of his creatures. And then there's 
what's called the singularity of God. Notice in verse 60, singularity, 
God is single. Sort of like incomparability, 
but notice in verse 60. that all the peoples of the earth 
may know that the Lord is God, there is no other." It's a blessed 
doctrine, a blessed truth. Now, these are called, or we 
often call these things in popular parlance, the attributes of God. Now, this isn't all of the attributes 
of God. We could see divine omniscience 
in there as well. In fact, I unfortunately skipped 
that, but notice divine omniscience in verse 39, for you alone know 
the hearts of all the sons of men. How could someone know the 
hearts of all the sons of men? Well, that someone happens to 
be omniscient. That means he has all knowledge 
all the time. But with reference to what's 
called attributes, we need to understand attributes. It's what 
we attribute about God, right? But we need to make sure we understand 
how these function and realize that God is not made up of his 
attributes. God is not pieced together by 
his attributes. God's not 33 and a third percent 
love, 33 and a third percent holiness, 33 and a third percent 
justice. Our confession of faith says 
that God is without body. We all appreciate that, right? 
He doesn't have feet. He doesn't have hair. He doesn't 
have eyes. He doesn't have a nose. God is 
without body. Doesn't Jesus teach us the essence 
of God in John 4? God is spirit, right? He is not 
a bodily being, he is not creature, but the confession also says 
he's without body, he's without parts, he's without passions. 
I think we all know, or at least have heard, this idea of without 
passions. Without passions is the doctrine 
of divine impassibility. Passions means that God does 
not increase, nor does he diminish. In other words, he's unchangeable. Doesn't he say this in the prophet 
Malachi, I, Yahweh, do not change. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
today, and forever. There is no change, no shadow 
of turning, no variation with God. This is James's point in 
James chapter 1. So without passions means that 
God is impassable. Now this does not mean he doesn't 
love, he doesn't have righteousness. He has all that to be sure, but 
he doesn't increase in them, and he doesn't diminish. In other 
words, when he sets his love upon us, when he loves us, That 
love is good. It's not going to diminish. It's 
not going to grow because it can't. Confession says he's most 
loving. He can't love us any more than 
he does in Jesus Christ. People say, oh, this doctrine 
of divine impassibility, what a horrible thing. Horrible thing 
that my God loves me with most lovingness? How could that be 
horrible? But there is between without body and passions this 
concept of without parts. It's an interesting statement. 
God is without parts. Well, what it means, the technical 
terminology for that doctrine is called simplicity. God is 
simple. And the idea of simple there 
doesn't mean he can't figure out 2 plus 2. Simple means he's 
not a composite being. He is not made up of God parts. If he was made up of God parts, 
there would be something pre-God. There would be all these parts 
out there that existed, and they went into forming God. But that's 
not the case. God is without parts. He is without 
composition. He is not creature. We as creature 
are composed. We have a material, the exterior, 
and we have an immaterial, the interior. We are body. We are 
soul. There are things that make us 
up. But that is the order of creature. When you get to creator, 
which is a different order of being, God is without parts. So it's not the case that when 
we talk about these attributes, there are several things that 
make up God. No. The attributes of God are 
more for us to understand, to get our minds wrapped around. 
It's a way to accommodate the Creator to the creature so that 
we can understand what it is we're dealing with. But I think 
at times we get it in our minds, He's a bit of love, He's a bit 
of hate, He's a bit of holy, He's a bit of... He isn't that. 
He is all that He is all the time. This is why John can tell 
us God is love. God's attributes are his essence. They're identical. They're consistent. 
They're co-existent. It's not the case that he's made 
up of these particulars. We love, don't we? But you can't 
define us as love. You can define God as love because 
he's simple. He is not composite. He is not 
a composed being. Let me read a couple of good 
theologians to try and get at this. Turretin says, the divine 
attributes are the essential properties by which God makes 
himself known to us who are weak and those by which he is distinguished 
from creatures. So again, when we talk about 
these attributes of God and we sort of run through a list like 
this that Solomon prays to God, don't think in your head these 
are the things that make up God. Nothing makes up God. There's 
no pre-God stuff to make up God. God has always been, God will 
always be, and He is without body, He's without passions, 
and He's without parts. Creator is a different category 
than creature. I always like to explain it this 
way. It's not the case that we go worm, we go cat, we go dog, 
we go angel, we go man, we go God. God is not man writ large. God is in a different category. 
Well, we put man, angel, God. He's not in that chain. He's wholly other. And so we 
need to get it in our heads that this classification or this idea 
of the attributes of God are not several things that make 
up God. They're not several bits and 
pieces that are God-like and produce the one true God. And 
this is what Turreton suggests. The divine attributes are the 
essential properties by which he makes himself known to us 
who are weak and those by which he is distinguished from creatures. 
or they are those which are attributed to him according to the measure 
of our conception in order to explain his nature." Basically 
what he is saying is what I said. When we talk about the attributes 
of God, we need to understand that that is for our benefit. 
Now that doesn't mean God isn't holy. It doesn't mean that God 
isn't loving. It doesn't mean that God isn't incomparable. 
He is all those things. But I think in our minds at times 
we start to piece together God. The doctrine of divine simplicity 
says you don't piece together God. He's not a quilt. You don't 
put him together. No one put him together. He has 
always been, he's always existed as Father, as Son, as Spirit, 
in perfect glory, power, majesty, and excellence. And all these 
several attributes that we say concerning God are God. He is love. It's not that he 
loves, but he is love. That's what the doctrine of divine 
simplicity tells us. Turretin goes on, now the definitions 
of the divine properties are rather of our conceptions, conceiving 
God under this or that relation, than of the thing itself, God, 
which is one and most simple. And then Augustine. If you want 
to do yourself a favor someday, read Augustine on the Trinity. 
Realize, though, that when you read Augustine on the Trinity, 
you'll read a couple pages and you'll soar into the heavens, 
if you're like me, and then you'll read a couple pages and then 
think you're reading a Japanese phone book. What is he talking 
about? I do not have any concept whatsoever. I took a turn somewhere that 
was not for good, and then he pulls you back, and it's, wow, 
this is great. Whoa, what's happening? But Augustine 
said this. He says God has no properties 
but is pure essence. Pure essence. It's a beautiful 
concept. God's properties are really the 
same as his essence. They neither differ from his 
essence nor do they differ materially from each other. You'll hear 
theologians at times say God is his attributes. Persons who 
struggle with that statement do not understand the doctrine 
of divine simplicity. When you understand that God 
is without parts, He is not pieced together, He is not put together, 
it begins to make sense. God is His attributes. God is love, right? It's not 
that He loves, but God is love. If you're interested in this 
subject, I really recommend that you pursue it, because I think 
when we get that threefold distinction of what our confessions say, 
without body, non-corporeality, the idea that he has no body, 
he's without parts, he's without passions. I think it opens up 
vistas concerning God that, you know, we don't always enter into. When you start to behold your 
God as the Bible sets him forth, this is a wonderful, wonderful 
thing for the soul of men and women. Well, anyways, that was 
a little theology proper. Some practical lessons for God's 
people in the chapter. We'll just quickly run through 
these, maybe focus a little on one or two of them. There's some 
practical lessons that I think we find first, and this should 
probably be the first practical lesson for God's people in any 
study of Scripture, is the centrality of the Word of God for the people 
of God. Notice in verse 9, nothing was 
in the ark except except the two tablets of stone which Moses 
put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the 
children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt." 
What was central in Israel's religious life? It was the Torah. It was the law of God. What is 
central in the Christians' religious life? It's the word of God. We 
need to understand how important the Word is. Apart from the Word, 
we don't know God. We need the Word of God in order 
to instruct us concerning who God is. House says, commentator 
Paul House says, God's presence, God's Word, and God's covenant 
with Israel are inextricably linked. God's presence, God's 
Word, and God's covenant with Israel are inextricably linked. You must have those three elements. Secondly, an emphasis throughout 
this particular passage is the necessity of obedience from the 
heart. Verses 48, 58, and 61. The people of God in the old 
covenant were supposed to obey God from the heart. So I think 
we get this idea from the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, 
you've heard that it was said to you, do not murder, but I 
say to you, whoever hates his brother. And we pit Jesus against 
Moses. That is wrong. Jesus has no problem 
with Moses. Jesus has a problem with Pharisees. 
Pharisees said, as long as you don't actually stop someone's 
heart from beating, you're okay. But the law of Moses always spoke 
to the heart. I mean, you get out of the Ten 
Commandments, and what do you see? Or all throughout the book 
of Deuteronomy, there's an emphasis on heart religion. Right? This is the whole thing with 
reference to Micah 6, verse 8. You know, He has shown you, oh 
man, you're supposed to walk humbly, you're supposed to do 
justice, you're supposed to be merciful, you're supposed to 
fear and revere your God. Well, these are heart dispositions, 
and that's a recurring emphasis throughout this particular passage. 
Thirdly, a practical lesson for God's people that I think jumps 
out, at least from the petitions, is the perpetual need for forgiveness. 
In some sense, Solomon's prayer is sort of an old covenant parallel 
to 1 John 1-9. If we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness. What's a central theme in Solomon's 
petitions? Forgive them. Forgive them, forgive 
them, forgive them, forgive them. If you would have been standing 
there, you might think, whoa, whoa, whoa, Solomon, don't you trust us? 
No, I don't. God, forgive them. That's the 
whole point of this temple structure. It's the whole point of the Holy 
of Holies. The whole point of the sacrificial 
system is because we sin. And we need to see that recurring 
emphasis here, and we need to understand this perpetual need 
for forgiveness and realize that God did forgive. Sometimes people 
look at God in the Old Testament and they say, oh, it was wrath 
and fury and judgment. You know how many hundreds and 
hundreds and hundreds of years God bore with these people? You 
know how foul and wicked they were and how wretched they were? 
I mean, we could probably read 1 Kings through in one night, 
or 1 Kings, 1 and 2 Kings in just one reading. It covers a 
lot of years. It's not like, you know, they 
did one little off-putting thing and God brought the Assyrians 
in. No, there's a lot of time in there and it shows that God 
did forget. It shows that God did bear long 
with these people. A fourth lesson, we looked at 
this just briefly two weeks ago, is the usefulness of afflictions. The usefulness of afflictions. 
Look at verse 35. When the heavens are shut up 
and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, 
when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn 
from their sin... Why? Because you afflict them. 
Why does God send drought? because he's just a mean, vindictive 
God that wants to punish his people? No, afflictions are good 
for people. It turns them back to the Lord 
Most High. You see, I think at times we 
miss that. The psalmist didn't. In fact, 
you can turn to Psalm 119. I'm not necessarily saying go 
home tonight and get in your prayer closet and say, dear Lord, 
please afflict me. Give it to me hard and heavy 
and, you know, just let me have it. But I am suggesting when 
afflictions hit us, brethren, we need to realize they have 
remedial value. God uses afflictions in the lives 
of His people. Notice in Psalm 119, specifically 
at verse 67. There are several New Testament 
passages, but we'll just look at these two in the Psalter. 
Psalm 119.67, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep 
your word. Isn't that a beautiful statement? 
Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. 
That seems to get at what Solomon is saying there in that particular 
petition. They come back because you afflict 
them. What happens when God sends drought 
upon the land? Lo and behold, the people cry 
out to Him. What happens when God sends famine in the land? 
Lo and behold, the people cry out to Him. You see, there are 
dangers associated with prosperity. Israel was taught that, Deuteronomy 
6, 10 to 13. We see it in Deuteronomy 32, 
when that sort of pet name is used for Israel, Jeshurun. And 
she got fat, she got lazy, she got to the point where she forgot 
God. Prosperity carries with it some potential dangers, and 
we need to guard against that. But afflictions bring us to an 
end of ourselves and put us on the mercy of God. That's why 
he says, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep 
your word. Now notice verse 68, you are good and do good, teach 
me your statutes. It's interesting, that link there. See, I think at times we interpret 
afflictions this way. God has either, A, stopped being 
good toward me, or he has diminished to some degree in his goodness 
toward me. Wednesday, everything was great. 
Thursday, not so great. God must have been unhappy with 
me. We interpret affliction as the absence of God's goodness. 
It is intriguing to me that the psalmist puts two statements 
together that will not allow us to do that. He says, before 
I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. You 
are good and do good. Never forget that. Never get 
that out of your head. That's a theological axiom that 
the people of God must always entertain, is that God is good 
and God does good. even in afflictions, even in 
hardship, even in difficulties, even in the things that press 
us to the point of panic, anxiety, and falling on our face before 
God and crying out. That is our Lord, right? Spurgeon 
says, grace is in that heart which profits by its chastening. It is of no use to plow barren 
soil. When there is no spiritual life, 
affliction works no spiritual benefit. But where the heart 
is sound, trouble awakens conscience. Wandering is confessed. The soul 
becomes again obedient to the command and continues to be so. 
Whipping will not turn a rebel into a child. But to the true 
child, a touch of the rod is a sure corrective. He says, before 
his trouble he wandered, but after it he kept within the hedge 
of the Word, and found good pasture for his soul. The trial tethered 
him to his proper place. It kept him, and then he kept 
God's Word. Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
and this is one of them. It puts a bridle upon transgression, 
and furnishes a spur for holiness. And then notice in verse 71 of 
Psalm 119. He says, it is good for me that 
I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. It's good for me. Luther said, 
I never knew the meaning of God's word until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of 
my best schoolmasters. Amen. It's a beautiful statement 
by Martin Luther. And then the last thing, just 
real quickly, that we saw, we looked at real briefly, I'll 
just give you a couple texts you can compare later. In 1 Kings 
8, 57 and 58, 1 Kings 8, 57 and 58, we need to understand the 
need for God's presence in the pursuit of holiness. In other 
words, we're not going to pursue holiness without vital communion 
with the Lord. If we are pursuing holiness without 
vital communion with the Lord, we're not pursuing holiness. 
We might be pursuing behavior modification. We might be pursuing 
moralism. We might be pursuing something 
that, you know, passes for holiness. But without God, there's no holiness. And I think that connection is 
stressed in verses 57 and 58. May the Lord our God be with 
us as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake 
us. That He may incline our hearts 
to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, 
and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers." 
Note the connection. May God be with us. Why? That 
He may incline our hearts to Himself. In other words, the 
absence of God means no inclining our heart to Him. You see, if 
you're struggling with a particular sin, the problem may be more 
basic, more foundational, more fundamental. It may be you're 
struggling with being with God. You see, once you're with God, 
then you have the ability and the wherewithal to deal with 
particular sins. 2 Corinthians 7.1, I think, vitally, 
vitally underscores this particular theme. 2 Corinthians 7.1 does 
occur in a context. In fact, this is one of the places 
where versification, putting in verses, numbered verses, might 
have been a little off because 7.1 sure seems to go with the 
preceding context than with the rest. But notice, verse 1, chapter 
7, 2 Corinthians. Therefore, having these promises, 
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So what's 
the imperative there? We're to cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
the fear of God. We're supposed to pursue holiness. But notice, 
therefore having these promises. What promises? The preceding 
verses. Notice in verse 16, I will dwell 
in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they 
shall be my people. Therefore come out from among 
them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean 
and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and 
you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Look 
what Paul does, having these promises. of communion with God, 
having these promises of God's presence with us, having these 
promises, therefore, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness 
of the flesh and spirit. So if you are struggling or battling 
with a particular sin, but your devotional life is non-existent, 
if you are not gaining the victory over, you know, yelling at people 
or you know, raising your middle finger at people on the street, 
or whatever it is, perhaps your devotional life needs to be re-examined. Because when we spend time in 
the presence of God, that is when He inclines our hearts to 
follow His law. No God, no holiness, brethren. 
And communion with God is the first step to get to be a holy 
person. But without God, there's not 
going to be any genuine pursuit of holiness. Well, let's pray. 
Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this 
dedication, prayer in 1 Kings 8 and all the surrounding context. 
We thank You that You show Yourself merciful, You show Yourself forgiving, 
gracious, kind, loving. All these attributes truly do 
speak to what a great and glorious God You are. I pray that you 
would help us to take these lessons, to meditate upon them, may they 
affect us in a good way, and may you continue with us through 
the remainder of this week and bring us together on the Lord's 
Day, that we may worship you in spirit and truth. And we pray 
through Christ our Lord. Amen.