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I'm gonna read a long section from verses 22 to
53. Essentially what we have is that
Solomon builds the temple according to 1 Kings. We have him build
it properly in chapter five to seven. And then Solomon dedicates
the temple here in chapter eight. And there are five sections in
chapter eight. Essentially what you have is
the placement of the ark in the temple, verses one to 13. The words of thanksgiving in
verses 14 to 21. The section we're gonna look
at, not in exhaustive detail, but the prayer of dedication
in verses 22 to 53. And then you've got a benediction
pronounced on the assembly in verses 54 to 61. and then the
dedication proper of the temple in verses 62 to 66. So that's
an outline or a map of that particular chapter. As I said, 22 to 53,
though we may bounce around a little bit to other sections here in
1 Kings 8. 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 opened
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 towards this temple, then hear 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 name's sake, 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. 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 here in heaven,
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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the temple,
the tabernacle, what they pointed forward to and prefigured in
terms of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your
mercy. We thank you for the fact, as
Solomon so wonderfully relates here, that you are a God who
forgives, that you are a God who does show mercy, a God who
hears the prayers of his people, and we rejoice in that reality. Even now, again, we confess to
you our iniquities, our sins, as we Prepare to come to the
table. We pray that you would be glorified in this time of
worship. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and guide us according
to your truth. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, amen. Well, there is a lot of Bible
in the background to what we see here in 1 Kings 8, and he
makes frequent allusions to that, not direct quotations, to be
sure, but definitely allusions. When he refers to his father
David, he is referring, at least in a summary form, to 2 Samuel
7, what we call the Davidic covenant, when God promised that David
would have a dynasty. that he would have a succession
of kings who would follow him, and that would ultimately terminate
in the coming of the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. As well,
when he speaks of the various things that may obtain should
the people of Israel be unfaithful in their covenant relationship
to God, he's invoking Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter
28. When he speaks of war, when he
speaks of plague, when he speaks of exile, when he speaks of those
eventualities that we know come, he is speaking in light of that
law of Moses that promised blessings for faithfulness and cursings
for disobedience. So as we look at this particular
prayer of dedication, again, we're not gonna look at every
jot and tittle, but that section in verses 22 to 53, I wanna notice
first, the foundation of the prayer, secondly, the petitions
of the prayer, And then thirdly, the conclusion of the prayer.
The foundation of the prayer, very simply, is God. It is God. It is theology proper. Solomon
knows theology. Solomon was brought up at the
feet of David. And of course, David knew theology. David wrote us the Psalms full
of theological goodness with reference to who our God is.
And so when Solomon comes to dedicate the temple, He begins
first with God. He highlights certain perfections
or attributes of our God. That's the foundation of his
prayer. Similar to what Jesus teaches us in the Lord's Prayer.
We don't begin with a request for our food, for our forgiveness
or our protection. We end there, but we begin with
God's name, God's kingdom and God's will. The Ten Commandments
are structured in a similar way. Certainly, that second table
is crucial for our interpersonal relationships and for societal
blessing. But it doesn't start there. It
starts first with a prohibition against idolatry and blasphemy
and Sabbath-breaking relative to our God. So Solomon is in
good company starting with God. So with reference to these perfections
that we see in the foundation of his prayer, Notice in the
first place, the incomparability of God. The incomparability of
God. There's nothing that compares
with God. And he says as much in verse
23, Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or
on earth below like you. And then he gives a rationale
for that, who keep your covenant and mercy with your servants,
who walk before you with all their hearts. If you turn back
to the book of Exodus, you'll see a similar situation in the
song of Moses. Moses writes, or Moses composes
this song, and in 1511, he says, who is like you, O Lord, among
the gods? Who is like you, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? We see a similar
thing in the prophet Micah, in Micah chapter seven. playing
off of his own name, who is a God like you? So these men ask the
question, but then fulfill, or rather fill out, why it is the
case, they're stressing the incomparability of God Almighty. In Micah 7,
18, he asks, who is a God like you? Again, he's incomparable.
How do we know he's incomparable? Well, theology proper, for sure,
but in terms of his perfections, in terms of his acts toward his
people. So who is a god like you? Pardoning
iniquity, passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in
mercy. He will again have compassion
on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into
the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob
and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from
days of old." It's a great way to frame our minds before we
come to the supper. As we eat this bread, as we drink
this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And we know
it's as a result of that death, we have that pardon for our sin. We have the casting of all of
our sins into the depths of the sea. He doesn't throw them into
the shallowest parts of the sea so that they can bubble up once
again. He doesn't put them in just the shallow waters so they
can continue to haunt us. No, He goes deep sea fishing
with our sin and casts them into the depths of it. So the incomparability
of God, there is none like the living and the true God, that
they may know Thee, the only true God. He is isolated. There's
a unity of singularity. He is all alone. It's not the
case that God shares a sort of pantheon with other gods, and
he's the best version of it. Secondly, he speaks of the faithfulness
of God. He does that in verses 24 to
26. Again, the backdrop is the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel
7. He says, 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. Solomon is saying, we're not here building the temple
because of our faithfulness. We're not here building the temple
because of our goodness. We're not here building the temple
because we have undertaken this project on behalf of you and
we're going to accomplish it for you. No, we're here because
you promised we would be here. We're here because you made a
covenant with my father David. We're here because you made good
on those covenant promises and you vanquished his enemies through
his warfare. And under that reign of peace
that he secured, Solomon then was the temple builder. He was
the house builder for God most high. He goes on or draws an
implication from that in verses 25 and following. 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. He prays for a secure succession
of the kings of Judah, such that ultimately that son of God will
ultimately come and build a house for God. Remember, in 2 Samuel
7, that's the nature of the promise. David is sitting there in his
palace, and he's musing on the fact that he's in a palace, and
God is dwelling in a tent. And David makes known to the
prophet that he wants to build a house for God. And initially,
the prophet authorizes it, and then God speaks to Nathan and
says, tell David not to do this. David is a man of bloodshed.
That's not an ethical judgment. He's not impinging upon David's
ethics. He's not saying, David's a bad
guy. He's got blood on his hands. I'm not going to let him anywhere
near my temple. That's not it. David was a man
of bloodshed to secure the kingdom so that his son Solomon could
then come and build that house. So David says, I want to build
a house for God. The chapter continues in 2 Samuel
7. And God says to David, actually,
I'm going to build a house for you. And that's that dynasty,
that's that succession of kings that culminates in the Lord Jesus
Christ, a son of God who builds the house for God. And we see
that in Matthew chapter 16. Jesus says, who do men say that
I, the son of man am? They answer the question. And
then he says, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter confesses,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, the son of
the living God. Jesus pronounces a blessing on
him and then he says that on this rock, the confession that
Christ is the son of God, I will build my church. So you've got
a son of God who builds a house for God that Solomon typifies
and all the kings of Judah typified, David as well, and Jesus is the
fulfillment of that. So this invocation of David and
the promises made to him is very important for biblical theology.
The third thing we ought to appreciate is the transcendence of God.
The transcendence of God. God is removed. God is other. He's wholly other. He's not like
us. There is a creator-creature distinction. And Solomon, at the dedication
of the temple, acknowledges that. See, the nations around Israel,
they had temples. They had tabernacles. They had
gods. Their gods lived in those tabernacles. Their gods inhabited those tabernacles. When they went to visit, who
was it? It wasn't Moloch. Who's the Philistine
God? Well, who is it? Who? Dagon,
that's right, just jumped out of my head. That was a senior
moment. Actually, I'm not that senior,
but I certainly feel it coming. I'm not gonna lie to you. The
memory doesn't hold, and pains as you get older, you wake up
out of bed. What's that one? Dagon, when they went to see
Dagon, when the Ark of the Covenant was in there, they went to see
Dagon and Dagon had fallen over. Well, there's a great deal of
theology there. They put the Ark of the Covenant
that they won in battle in that temple of Dagon. Why? It showed
conquest. We beat the Israelites. We beat
their God. And as a result, we're going
to put the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Dagon to show
that subjugation. Of course, they go and visit
Dagon, and he had fallen down, so they prop him back up. They
go to him the next day. He had fallen down, and his hand
broke off, so they have to glue it, super glue or gorilla glue,
to put it back on. Their gods lived in the temples.
That's not Israel's God. The tabernacle and the temple
were the special presence of God, but he wasn't located there. God transcends. God is in heaven. As the prophet Isaiah tells us,
heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool, according to
Isaiah. So Solomon, before he gets to
all the particulars and petitions, he wants, as it were, to not
only praise God for this truth, but to remind Israel that this
temple that we have built doesn't contain God. It's not the specific
location of God. God is immense, God is omnipresent,
God is transcendent. So notice in verse 27, 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. He's not a Philistine. He's not
a Hittite. He's not a Hivite. He doesn't
have any concept that this building actually houses God, as if it
actually contains God. God is transcendent. But that
God who is transcendent is also imminent. And imminent means
He is near us. He is with us. Again, immensity,
omnipresence. The fact is, is that God is near
his people. Notice in verse 28. Yet regard
the prayer of your servant and 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. imminence and transcendence. You get rid of either and you're
a heretic. You get rid of imminence and
you're a deist. You get rid of transcendence,
you're a pantheist. You've got big problems with
your theology if you deny either of those truths. And in short
compass, Solomon confesses these truths in prayer to God. And
I think there's a great model here based on what we saw this
morning in our studies in John's gospel, that they may know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Notice
how the knowledge of theology proper and who God is plays into
our prayer life. If we are to bless God for every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, then how can
we come to God with an informed mind if we don't understand these
truths? Solomon, I think, is a great
example. Jesus is a great example in terms
of prayer as far as it goes. But again, that's not the main
emphasis with Jesus. Here, Solomon dedicating the
temple as the public man, as the king, praying to God to be
sure that there is instruction in this in terms of the children
of Israel. And for us, the New Covenant
is real. So the foundation of his prayer is theology proper. Solomon knows God. Then secondly,
and we'll run pretty quickly through this, the petitions of
the prayer. And a central theme is forgiveness. Solomon not only knows God, but
he knows man. Solomon not only knows the holiness
and the righteousness and the justice and the goodness of God,
but he knows all those contrary attributes that man is about. So notice that Solomon prays
for God's assistance in the adjudication of civil matters. Verses 31 and
32. Solomon was a wise man. You've
got that in 1 Kings 2 and 3. You've got Solomon requesting
specifically from God wisdom. I mean, imagine that. God gives
you a wish. God gives you the desire of your
heart. He comes to you by way of vision
and says, what is it that you would like? What is it that you
would like? I don't actually want to hear
or know. If you're like me, it's probably wisdom wouldn't be the
first thing that popped up. But that's what Solomon says.
Why? Solomon is the king in Israel. And he takes that responsibility
seriously. And part of the king's function
in Old Covenant Israel is to adjudicate civil matters, to
deal with the crimes committed in the body politic. You see
this in Moses as well. There's that scene in Exodus
chapter 24 where they ascend the mount. And yet there's elders
left down below to make sure that the law and to make sure
matters of justice are carried out among the body politic. Just
because Moses is up on the mountain doesn't mean the children of
Israel aren't going to sin. It doesn't mean they're not going
to commit crime. They're going to do that. And
so all throughout, you see God's insistence on a well-regulated
civil polity. So Solomon prays for assistance
in the adjudication of civil matters. Notice then, secondly,
the defeat by enemies in verses 33 and 34. Again, you've got
Leviticus 26, 17, Deuteronomy 28, 25 behind the scenes. So
in verses 33 and 34, when your people Israel are defeated before
an enemy because they have sinned against you. He doesn't say if,
he doesn't say potentially, possibly, he knows. This has already been
their history up to this point. Solomon is not a fool. He knows
the heart of man. Read the Proverbs sometimes.
He knows the heart of man. He knows it's deceitful above
all things. He knows it's desperately wicked.
And he knows one of the curses associated with covenant breaking
was defeat by enemies in battle. 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. Notice then, thirdly,
drought, verses 35 and 36. Here you've got Leviticus 26,
19, Deuteronomy 28, 23. Drought sent by God. And notice
in this particular section, the reality that God sends affliction. We're gonna tease that out a
bit later when we come to some final thoughts. But with reference
to affliction, notice in verse 35, when the heavens are shut
up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you.
because they have sinned against you. He doesn't say Baal's not
working properly as the storm god. He's not suggesting that
there's just these natural forces at play, and the Israelites have
been corporately unlucky for this time. When you read of drought,
or you read of famine, or you read of those sorts of things
in Old Covenant Israel, you know that the judgment of God is lurking
behind that. So 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 sins, notice, because you afflict them, the
psalmist says, it was good that I was afflicted. Afflictions
are blessed of God to bring us back to the path of God. He says, then here 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. And then notice famine and pestilence and other
disasters. Again, you've got Leviticus 26,
16, 25 and 26, Deuteronomy 28, 21, 22, 27, 38, 42, 52. Deuteronomy 28 is no walk in
the park, brethren. Deuteronomy 28 is a house of
horrors with reference to a promise to the children of Israel that
if they breach, break, or disregard their covenant obligations before
Yahweh, they will reap all these things associated with their
unfaithfulness. So when you look at those passages
in chapters 26 of Leviticus, Deuteronomy 28, Solomon is all
too aware of that. And what is Solomon's recurring
theme? Forgive them, forgive them, forgive
them. Hear from heaven and forgive
them. Notice then in verses 41 to 43,
this isn't a forgive them section, this is a Gentile inclusion in
the covenant promises of God section. Solomon as well knows
the Oracle of Noah, that Shem will find, or Japheth will find
a safe harbor in the tents of Shem. The promise throughout
the prophets, the promise throughout the Psalter, that all nations
shall come to the Lord. Notice in 1 Kings 8 verse 41. Moreover, concerning a foreigner
who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a far country
for your name's sake." I love this parenthetical remark, for
they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and
your outstretched arm. Brethren, I think implied there
is that when we know our God, when we commune with our God,
when we enjoy our God, we tell others about that God. And once
we tell others about that God, the word spreads. And in this
particular instance, the nation's here. Remember the case of Rahab
the harlot in Joshua chapter 2. She had heard of the mighty
power of Yahweh. She had understood all too well
the God of Israel. So she gives safe harbor to those
spies spying out the land of Jericho. As well, you've got
the bride. Describe the bridegroom in the
Song of Solomon and the daughters of Jerusalem saying, where is
your beloved that we may seek him too? So I think what we've
got here is that people who know God, people that love God, people
that have been saved by God will tell others about that. It's
just the natural sort of a response. We tell people about how great
our God is, and Solomon assumes that that will in fact be the
case. He then goes on to say, when
he comes, this is the foreigner, 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." This is in Ephesians 3 in the Old Testament,
or at least in this prayer of Solomon at the dedication of
the temple. Remember Paul's emphasis in Ephesians
chapter 3? that the Gentiles are included
in the covenant promises of God. This is the mystery of Christ.
Again, not mystery as if it's brand new, not mystery as if
it was hidden without any expression whatsoever. Genesis chapter 9. You've got the prophets, you've
got the Psalms, you've got Solomon here dedicating the temple. He's
speaking of Gentile inclusion. Paul shouldn't have been opposed
for being an apostle to the Gentiles. In Acts 22, when he got to that
bit in his sermon and presentation, and he mentioned the Gentiles,
that's when the Jews in the synagogue lost their minds. Well, they
shouldn't have lost their minds because Yahweh's purpose was
always to demonstrate his power and glory in the reconciliation
of the world to himself by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says to the servant, in Isaiah 42 and 49. It is too small of
a thing for you simply to redeem the lost tribes of Israel, but
I will give you as a light unto the Gentiles. So Solomon is praying
that, Solomon understands that, and Solomon recognizes the beauty
of that. He then moves on to the presence
of God in battle, verses 44 and 45. We've just finished the book
of Joshua in our readings on Sunday night. What do we see
in the book of Joshua? We see God fight for Israel. What do we see in the Psalter?
We see that through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that
shall tread down his enemies in Psalm 60 and verse 12. The
Lord God Most High fights for his people. Paul picks up this
theme in Romans chapter 8. If God is for us, who can be
against us? Who can condemn you? Who can
bring a charge against God's elect? It is Christ who died
and who has risen again. So what we have is the God of
heaven and earth fighting for us, and Solomon prays that that
would be the case. And then he comes to the prospect
of exile in verses 46 to 51. Here you've got Leviticus 26,
40 to 45, Deuteronomy 28, 36 and 37, and then Deuteronomy
28, 49 to 68. A lot of time spent in the covenant
curses upon Israel with reference to exile. And that's precisely
what you see subsequent to this time in redemptive history. You
see the collapse of the Northern Kingdom under the Assyrians.
You see the collapse of the Southern Kingdom under the Babylonians.
So what he sees and what he says has specific reference to that
reality of their defeat in battle and then exile to foreign lands.
Notice in verse 51, in this particular section, he says, for they are
your people and your inheritance whom you brought out of Egypt
out of the iron furnace. I think this functions two ways
in his prayer. On the one hand, God, you brought
them out of Egypt as your own prized possession. You brought
them out of Egypt and this is your project in terms of this
covenant people. You did this for your glory,
so see it through to your glory. But then secondly, if they are
exiled into foreign lands, you've shown yourself faithful to fetch
your people out of those foreign lands. You redeem them from the
iron furnace in Egypt. You redeem them with reference
to the Babylonian exile. We see that after the 70 years,
many Judahites returned to the land. So that's the petitions
in his prayer. The conclusion is with reference
to God's goodness. Notice in verses 52 and 53, that
your eyes may be open 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. In other words, you have shown
yourself faithful you have made your promises, you have kept
your promises, and we are trusting in your care and in your mercy
to bless us and to keep us and to see us through. Well, just
a few lessons in conclusion. First, with reference to the
faithfulness of God toward his people. He often invokes God's
faithfulness through Moses, and he invokes God's faithfulness
toward David. It wasn't just for Moses and
David. Moses and David were public men.
So as a result of his faithfulness to Moses, guess what? The whole
of Israel prospers. As a result of his faithfulness
to David, the whole of Israel prospers. Secondly, the presence
of God among his people. We're gonna jump out of the prayer
just a little bit in the surrounding context. Notice that his holiness
necessitates sacrifice. Verse five. Also King Solomon
and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him were
with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not
be counted or numbered for multitude. And then turn to the end in verses
62 to 64. So as far as the general heading, the presence of God
among his people, the holiness of God necessitates sacrifice. Verses 62 to 64. Let me pick
it up here. Then the king and all Israel
with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. And Solomon offered
a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord,
22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the children
of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. On the same day, the king consecrated
the middle of the court that was in front of the house of
the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings,
and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that
was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offerings,
the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. As
well, the presence of God among his people promotes reverential
awe." Reverential awe. I think that if you go to church,
you ought to fear, not the people. They're not gonna steal your
wallet or break into your car while we're singing hymns. There
ought to be a fear of God. There ought to be reverential
awe, levity and jocularity and jokiness. That's not what we
see. Notice in 1 Kings 8, specifically
at verses 10 and 11. And it came to pass when the
priest came out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house
of the Lord. so that the priest could not
continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of
the Lord filled the house of the Lord. As well, the nearness
of God in terms of his presence produces dependence. That's the
nature of his prayer, specifically in verses 31 to 50. He is calling
upon God and he says, hear from heaven and answer, hear from
heaven and forgive. God's presence amongst us provokes
dependence by us upon him. As well, his blessing or his
presence rather produces joy and gladness. Look at verse 66. 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. They had gladness, they had joy,
they had Thanksgiving. So that fear, that reverential
awe is mingled with joy. I love that scene at the tomb,
the women run and they're trembling with joy. Serve the Lord with
fear, rejoice in him. says Psalm 2. I would suggest,
secondly, the centrality of theology proper for his people. Solomon
knows good stuff. Solomon understands truth. It
affects the way that he prays. It affects the way that he lives.
It affects the way that he functions. Now, I know 1 Kings 11 gives
a disfavorable view of that, but we're not going to consider
that particular chapter tonight. But with reference to Solomon,
he rehearses the attributes or the perfections of God Almighty. Turretin speaks of the attributes
this way, they are the essential properties by which God makes
himself known to us who are weak and those by which he is distinguished
from preachers, or they are those which are attributed to him according
to the measure of our conception in order to explain his nature.
He says, now the definitions of the divine properties are
rather of our conceptions, conceiving God under this or that relation,
than of the thing itself, which is one and most simple. Basically
what he is saying is all that is in God is God. God is love. God is justice. God is holiness. God is righteousness. Those perfections
revealed to us demonstrate who God is, his nature. Bovink says,
whatever God is, he is that completely and simultaneously. Then he quotes
Augustine, God has no properties, but his pure essence. God's properties
are really the same as his essence. They neither differ from his
essence, nor do they differ materially from each other. That's a great
way to look at it. So with reference to the explanation,
notice then the enumerations. He speaks of incomparability.
He speaks of faithfulness. And notice in verses 25 and 26
what God's perfection of faithfulness does. Verse 25, 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, and 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 father David, my father. Isn't that
beautiful? The faithfulness of God evokes
from us prayer for God's faithfulness. As Davis says, in short, act
in the future as you've acted to date. Yahweh's fidelity in
the past becomes the basis for expecting the same in the future.
God has joined fidelity and expectancy. We pray the way Spurgeon tells
us as men and women who have tried and proven their God. That's precisely what verses
25 and 26 indicate. You have been faithful, continue
to be faithful. We share faithfulness in the
past, it gives us expectancy with reference to your faithfulness
in the future. Transcendence, imminence, singularity,
it's all there. Solomon was a theologian. And
then I would suggest there are some practical lessons. We'll
run quick through here. The centrality of God's word
for the people of God. The centrality of God's word
for the people of God. Solomon isn't making this up.
He's not ad hoc. He's not spitballing. He's got
scripture in his head. He's got scripture in his heart.
He's got scripture at the throne of grace as he prays. As well,
the necessity of obedience from the heart. He emphasizes that
in verses 40 and 58 and 61. That's a good lesson for us in
the New Covenant. Christ has saved us, he has forgiven us,
he has given us his righteousness, and therefore we are to let our
conduct be worthy of the gospel. As well, Solomon understands
the perpetual need for forgiveness. So do the apostles. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. John writes that in 1 John 1
verse 9. So when we look at men of God
who understand God and people, they understand the need for
forgiveness. And then the last practical lesson
here is the usefulness of affliction. The usefulness of affliction.
Verse 35, from their sin, because you afflict them, then here in
heaven. Maybe I'm alone here, but I doubt
it. When bad things happen, do you
ever say, I wonder why, or how is this, or why me, or I don't
get it. I mean, we default into a Pentecostal
or charismatic way. Why is this happening to a child
of the king? We become health, wealth, and
prosperity people all overnight. Bad things happen, and we're
wondering, how could bad things happen to me? I'm such a great
guy. I'm such a child of the king. Afflictions are God's means
to conform us onto the image of his blessed son. Psalm 119,
verse 67. Psalm 119, verse 67. Before I
was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. Before
I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. How
does he get to the, but now I keep your word? He went astray, but
now I keep your word. What's the magic potion? Affliction. Notice in verse 71, it is good
for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn your statutes. Spurgeon makes a comment here.
or actually on verse 67, he 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. 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. Beautiful statement. It's a beautiful
concept, a beautiful exposition of that portion of scripture,
and one that unfortunately flies out of our minds the moment that
adversity comes. Bridges quotes Martin Luther
in his treatment of verse 71. Luther, I never knew the meaning
of God's word until I came into affliction. I have always found
it one of my best schoolmasters. That's encouraging. It's one
perspective, the perspective that I would encourage all of
us to get a hold of, and Solomon understands that principle all
too well. Because you afflict them, then
here in heaven, 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." And then the typological significance
for the encouragement of God's people. Solomon is a son of God
who builds a house. for God. Jesus is the son of
God who builds a house for God. The temple is the old covenant
shadow of the new covenant reality. Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up. What do you mean it took us 46
years to build this temple? What's John tell us? He was talking
about his body. Revelation chapters 21 and 22,
there's no temple. God and the Lamb are its temple. Tabernacle and temple were temporary. They were not forever. They pointed
forward by way of prefiguring, by way of shadowing, by way of
foreshadowing the glory of Jesus Christ. As well, we've got the
in-gathering of Gentiles among the people of God. Dempster says,
although the temple is built by Israelites in Jerusalem, it
has universal implications. It is designed to be a place
where all peoples of the earth may know your name to fear you
like your people. That's Jesus. Jesus is the one
in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. And then the
fulfillment of the purpose of the temple in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the end of Stephen's
sermon. He traces God's presence, that
theme in an old covenant biblical theology, and he brings it to
pass with reference to Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, hopefully
those are some encouragements to us, not only in the manner
of prayer, but in some of those things that Solomon exhibits
in the nature of his prayer. And may God indeed encourage
us to study him, to know him, to delight in him, to understand
those perfections as best we can. We're finite, you know,
seeking to know the infinite. There's always going to be a
chasm. There's always going to be some hurdles. but may the
Lord guide us in that direction. Well, let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for what we have
here in 1 Kings 8. And we pray that these things
would be a benefit to our hearts, that you would go with us into
this coming week, that you would cause us to constantly and always
depend upon you, to know the presence and the power of your
Holy Spirit to guide, to direct, to lead, and to help us each
and every day. And we pray through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Amen.
