Devotional Reading: Isaiah 58:6-12
I recently attended Menopause the Musical which was playing at the Playhouse in Westport Plaza of St. Louis County, MO. It was a hilarious celebration of women and the change. What I did not realize was this musical was birthed out of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, just two years ago. So in the midst of women and their natural body change during menopause, their trying to maintain sanity and get along with themselves and others, there was an underlying theme that we must get along despite any circumstances that affect our lives.
I observed portions of the historical March For Our Lives Walk on March 24th organized by students from Parkland, FL. Our children are trying to teach us how to get it together regarding gun legislation. They are fighting against the lobbyists and some politicians. Approximately 800,000 people marched on Washington, D.C. and there were also marches across the world. Their themes were Enough is Enough and Never Again.
In order to get it together we must obey the rules given by Jesus in Matt 22:37-39, Jesus said …, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (NKJV)
This spring quarter focuses on ways God’s people acknowledge the greatness of God. We are in Unit I “Follow in My Ways” of the three units of the quarter. This is the last lesson of the four lesson study. The scene takes place at Mt. Moriah. It was here that Abraham offered up his son to God, and it was the site where King David bought the threshing floor from a Canaanite to build an altar to the LORD to stop a plague against the people (2 Samuel 24). Upon David’s death, his son King Solomon built a glorious Temple and prayed to dedicate it to the honor of God and request the LORD keep the promises made to his father, David. Our last lesson focused on God’s dramatic fiery acceptance of Solomon’s prayer and the result following God’s response.
Following the dedication of the Temple and the Feast of the Tabernacles, the people were sent home joyful and glad for the things the LORD had done for David, Solomon, and Israel. (2 Chron 7:9-10) And Solomon finished all he had in mind in completing the LORD’s Temple and his own palace. (vs. 11) However, as we discussed last week, God wanted more than a Temple for Himself. He can’t be contained in a structure made by man. God was most interested in the house he promised that would be fulfilled through the lineage of David and ultimately produced King Jesus, our LORD and Savior, and the Son of God. To address His requirements God came to Solomon at night and declared, beginning at 2 Chron 7:12-13, “Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: ‘I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,’ (NKJV)
This was the second time God appeared to Solomon at night. The first time was at 2 Chron 1:7-10 when God inquired of Solomon what he wanted as king and Solomon requested wisdom and knowledge to lead the people. The LORD was pleased and promised Solomon that and much more. Now God is letting Solomon know He heard his prayer and is affirming it. Although it was not Solomon’s request, the LORD is advising him He will choose this house, this place, as a house of sacrifice.
God will answer the prayers of the people. However, if the people turn from God due to their disobedience, they can expect outcomes of famine (due to no rain or locusts) and plague as mentioned within the curses by Moses when he warned the Israelites of how they would be disciplined by God. (See Deut 11:17; 28:21, 38). This sounds as if God is addressing a national judgment and advising they have to get their act together.
God continues to advise Solomon of His conditional blessing in a most quoted Scripture, 2 Chron 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (NKJV) Here we have national repentance, prayer, and reformation. The LORD will forgive the nation when they humbly return to Him. However, He expects them to pray sincerely for the removal of the judgment, seek His face sincerely, and sincerely turn completely from their wicked ways. This is the only way God will hear them and provide national mercy. Also, the LORD does expect His people to accept their just punishment even though they have received mercy.
Critics of 2 Chron 7:14 indicate it is only applicable to Israel. Although it was originally addressed to the chosen nation of Israel, it is rightly applied to any nation that is biblically based. It is the sure road to restoration and revival as long as the conditions are kept. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever more.
As we stated, God has accepted the Temple as a house of sacrifice. He further promised His omnipresence in the Temple in 2 Chron 7:15-16, “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (NKJV) As Solomon neared the end of his dedicatory prayer at 2 Chron 6:40, he implored the LORD to open his eyes and have attentive ears toward the prayers offered within the Temple. The LORD promised to do so.
He also promised to consecrate the Temple where He would put His Name, eyes, and heart forever and always. Naturally all of God can’t be contained in the Temple. Secondly, God will advise Solomon and the Israelites this promise is subject to their obedience for which they will be disciplined (vv 19-22). Verse 16 seems to imply that the Temple would endure for all time; yet we know that it was destroyed in 586 B.C. The explanation, of course, is that God’s promise was conditioned on Israel’s faithfulness and obedience.
God further promised Solomon personal prosperity in his house just as He had promised King David. The promise was based on Solomon remaining obedient to God. The promise is given at 2 Chron 7:17-18 and the passage reads, “As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.” (NKJV)
The LORD’s message now focuses on the other house that God had promised David, the one where there would always be a King from the seed of David which ultimately resulted in Jesus Christ. God promised to perpetuate Solomon’s kingdom, upon condition that he persevered in his duty. If he hoped for the benefit of God’s covenant with David, he must imitate the example of David. To walk as David does not mean that David was perfect. What it means is, David knew how to acknowledge his guilt and sincerely repent to the LORD. Therefore, God called him “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22). With all the wisdom Solomon had, he needed to be able to follow in his father’s example.
We must know that God will not bless us for our disobedience. We must remain in His favor. So what are the consequences of disobedience? God knew the proneness of the Israelites to backslide into sin and issued conditions at 2 Chron 7:19-20 which declared intently, “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.” (NKJV)
As the leader Solomon must take this personally. This condition is directed to my people of 2 Chron 7:13-14. The primary warning is against idolatry. Do not serve other gods. This is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments and it has never been repealed. Our God is a jealous God. The consequences of disloyalty caused the Israelites to lose the Promised Land and go into Babylonian captivity. God took His eyes off the Temple and rejected it. Therefore, the Temple experienced His judgment. This grand, beautiful Temple shall come down to the amazement and astonishment of their neighbors. Instead of being treated with reverence it will be treated with contempt.
The Temple as intended to be a place where God’s people could worship joyfully. Passers-by will be stunned to see the Temple lying in ruins. 2 Chron 7:21-22 outlines the conditional warning the LORD promises will occur should they disobey. The passage reads, “And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’” (NKJV)
Just as the exquisite Temple is a physical symbol of the harmonious, obedient relationship between God and Israel, so also is a burned heap of rubble would be a visual reminder if the people of God choose a disobedient relationship instead. The Israelites will not be able to say they did not know. God had not only warned them initially, but He had sent prophets to warn them of their disobedience. Yet they forgot the warnings until God’s patience finally wore thin centuries later when He implemented His promise to destroy the Temple because of the people’s idolatry. In the case of the Israelites the view of the Temple as a heap of rubble will not reflect poorly on God. It will reflect poorly on the people who went against Him. Everyone knew they were His chosen people who had a history like none other, but they chose to worship otherwise.
Deborah C. Davis
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