1 Kings 8:1-53

Discussion Questions

1. Pastor Tommy said, the dedication of the Temple was a directional signpost for what is to come. How is this true?
2. Do you prepare to worship or just show up? How can you prepare to arrive for worship with expectancy?
3. How might we learn how to pray from Solomon’s 7 petitions?  What are some specific ways you would like your prayer life to change?
4. Have you ever allowed the Lord’s Prayer to guide your own prayers; slowly, line by line?

Transcript

We do study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel, and I’m so glad. What a delight it is that we get to come together and do this together. If you’d like a paper copy now, just lift up your hand. Someone will bring one to you, and I would recommend that you have a copy of some kind in front of you today for 1 Kings 8. Also, I’m glad to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online today. It’s amazing, even just this week, we heard from folks who worship with us regularly online from Melbourne, Australia, from Southeastern Asia, Singapore, Philippines, France, South Carolina and the state of Washington, maybe even Alabama.

Yeah, it’s too soon. I’m so sorry, Tennessee fans. I’m so glad you’re here. The same spirit who’s dwelling here among us in Nashville is dwelling with you wherever you might be today, whether you’re watching it today or perhaps another time. We are continuing our study of 1 and 2 Kings, or sometimes I’ll just simply call it Kings. It is likely one book that we’ve broken up into two. We’ve called our study “The King of Redemption History,” and this morning the author of Kings will bring into sharp focus the pinnacle of Solomon’s great legacy of building a house for the name of the Lord: The Temple. We’ve already sung at the very first verse, “Praise the Lord the Almighty, all ye who hear, now to His temple drawn near.”

I love this. As a pattern of grace … and I really think it is, a pattern of grace that we see from the opening pages of Scripture, God will make a way to dwell among His people. He will make a way to be present with His people. We see it in Exodus at the tabernacle. We’re going to see it here today in the temple, and, of course, we see it more fully in Jesus Christ to make a way for an intimate, unbroken, sweet right relationship between God and His people. We talked about it already today with Kim and her prayers – shalom, peace. That’s part of what’s bundled up in that idea. Right relationship, dwelling with God together and here in this story that we’ve been studying, really over the past several weeks.

We’ve witnessed, and we’re witnessing now, a pinnacle moment in redemption history where, once again, God is making a way to dwell among His people in the construction of this temple. We know with a little bit more clarity this side of the resurrection of Jesus, that the temple was only a temporary signpost. You can even say a directional signpost, something more permanent and lasting has come, but the temple’s significance in the life of the children of Israel, in the life of God’s people of our story, it’s hard to overstate. The presence of God — His nearness is for our good, the Psalmist says.

There’s a longing in every single human heart, whether we acknowledge it or not, for the presence of God. For some that longing has been misdirected, it’s been obfuscated, it’s been calloused; for others, numbed by the weight of suffering. Others still ignore it or dismiss it by a willful unbelief. Why do we even gather here at TVC in Nashville or online? Why do we gather here on Sunday morning? There are many good reasons, but first and foremost, I pray that in my own heart and for us here today, it’s because we are eager to be in the presence of God with God’s people. I hope that’s the case in your heart.

So, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, about 400 years after that even and battles against enemies, battle against sin, the children of Israel are largely at peace. That’s where we find ourselves in this story today, largely at peace and they are eager to worship God and to consecrate a place for His name to dwell so that … and there is an end goal, so that they might experience the very presence of God. So, I invite you to turn, if you would, to 1 Kings, chapter eight, if you haven’t already. Much of the text we’ve been studying over the past few weeks has described all things related to the temple. If you’ve been here, you’ve known that. Here’s a basic outline we’ll put up on the screen of where we’ve been so we can situate ourselves. Chapter 5 of 1 Kings talked about the preparation for the temple.

Of course, the preparation had started way even before that, but it came into sharp focus in chapter5 and chapter six, the construction of the temple, and you saw the models that we put up on the screen that are so beautiful. And then chapter 7 described the furnishing of the temple and even Solomon’s own palace. And then chapter 8, which we’ll study most of today, a little bit more next week as well as chapter nine, the dedication of the temple. I heard one theologian talk about the temple. The way that the children of Israel would’ve thought about it is that this is the place where Heaven and Earth meet, like the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day.

So why does it matter for us to read this? This is a good 60,000-foot view question. Why does it matter that we read history like this? And there’s many, many reasons, but one is we become, I think, deficient in our understanding of the multifaceted diamond of the Gospel of Jesus when we don’t understand the roots from which it springs. That’s part of what we do when we study texts like this – our faith, our understanding in the goodness of God that we just sang about is deepened. I’m so glad we sing songs like that. Our faith in the justice and the mercy, the sovereignty of God is deepened, and it’s nourished as we saturate ourselves in the story of the way God has moved in space and time in history.

Reading and trusting the same scriptures that Jesus Himself read and trusted and obeyed – that’s what we’re setting in front of us today in our task as we study this text. So, we come to a story like this, and I pray that in my own heart and yours, the Spirit would teach us something about who God is, about who we are, and our hearts might be open to the ways that it points us to Jesus. He offers us rest and peace, and He promises His presence. The one greater than Solomon has come to dwell among His people. So let me pray for us and then, we’ll get started with 1 Kings, chapter 8. Pray with me, if you would: Father, we give You thanks that Your presence is already here. Your Word is before us, and may Your Spirit open it to us, and may it lead us to Jesus in whose name we all prayed. Amen.

All right, verse 1: “Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ household of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of Testimony. [Some of your translations will say: “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion.”] All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim.” So Ethanim was a Canaanite month, it was likely September, October.

So, in coordinating this dedication, they’re coordinating it with the Feast of the Tabernacles. There were three big feasts in the calendar of Israel: the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Passover. It’s so interesting that, at the dedication of the temple, a place that’s a more permanent resting place for the name of God is the same week that they’re celebrating the Feast of the Tabernacles, which preceded the temple, which was literally a portable tent that carried the Ark of God, the presence of God. The Ark of the Covenant is now moving from a temporary place to a more permanent place. So, in coordination with this Feast of the Tabernacles, we have this dedication.

I think there’s so much meaning there, and the Ark of the Covenant, we all know this is symbolizing or it’s pointing us to the presence of God, His atoning presence, His reigning presence. The actual lid of the covenant is the Mercy Seat. The blood would be spattered on it as they atone for their sins. There’s so much meaning in bringing the Ark. So, King David brought the Ark into Jerusalem proper, and Solomon, his son, now is taking the Ark from Jerusalem proper into a particular place in the temple. So that’s where we find ourselves here. Verse 3: “Then all of the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the Ark, they brought up the Ark of the Lord, the tent of meaning [or the tabernacle, the tent there] And all the holy utensils which were in the tent and the priests and the Levites brought them up.

“And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him were with him before the Ark sacrificing so many sheep and oxen, they could not be counted or numbered.” Can you imagine this scene? All of these animals. Everyone, and later, we’ll read that it’s actually from Hamath to the wadi of Egypt, literally from north to south, everyone from Israel who could come from the leaders to the workers, the farmers; everybody is coming into the city of Jerusalem to see this dedication. And they have all these sacrifices. This is a great assembly, a great party. It goes on for two weeks. It’s just supposed to last one week. It’s as if the people said, “Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going.”

Verse 6: “Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place.” I don’t know if you remember that in the model that we showed, the little video, the Holy of Holies, “Under the wings of the cherubim, for the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the Ark and the cherubim made a covering over the Ark and its poles from above, but the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside. They are there to this day,” of course, the day of the writing of this text.

I want to pause here for just a minute. Back in 2 Samuel 6, when David brings the Ark to Jerusalem, if you remember a little bit of the story of Israel, they didn’t do it as the Lord had prescribed them to move His presence, His atoning, His reigning presence. They didn’t do it the way He had prescribed, and there was a judgment that fell that day. David was very sorrowful. I don’t know if you remember that. So, it’s interesting here, we don’t know exactly why they put this in here, but so much about the method of bringing the Ark into the temple is put here, and I think in part, it’s showing us that this was a solemn moment. All of Israel is seeing the presence of God, coming to this more final resting place.

This is a solemn moment. Verse 9: “There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone,” that’s the 10 Commandments, the Decalogue which Moses put there at Horeb, which is Sinai, “…where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.” Interesting, we don’t know why, but in the Ark, when we originally hear about the Ark earlier in the text, there’s the rod of Aaron. There’s also a jar of manna to remind them of God’s miraculous signs and wonders. Those are no longer in the Ark. We don’t know why, but it’s interesting that the Word of God, the 10 Commandments, the Decalogue, the Law of God are still there.

Verse 10: “It happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” Another pastor I love, Edward Copeland, he said: “The smoke was in the house.” The glory of the Lord was so strong in this moment. The holiness, the otherness of God was so strong in this moment. It was as if the priest, the clergy were no longer necessary. They couldn’t even minister. I love this image. We’ll put it up here on the screen. This is an 18th century Dutch engraver named Jan Luyken. He was Dutch, so that’s why it looks like they’re in Amsterdam.

You still get a sense of the architecture is a little bit different. It’s such a beautiful piece though. In 2 Chronicles we get a lot more detail about what this great assembly looks like. If you’ll notice kind of in the middle to the left, all the trumpeters. Second Chronicles tells us that there are 120 trumpeters as well as guitar players or lyres, harpists and singers. Any trumpet players in here? Okay, we have one, that’s good. Now, if there’s 120 trumpets, you ain’t hearing nothing else, I’m just telling you. They got the advantage there. You can see the cloud of glory there, Solomon is there, kind of the center to the right, in the bottom left-hand corner.

Though I love the submission, the posture of submission, the posture of bowing before the holiness of the Lord. The cloud of glory. They were longing for his presence as we all do and there was something very particular about this moment. I love that image. You can find that image online on our Sunday page. Verse 12, “Then Solomon said that the Lord had said he would dwell in a thick cloud.” We see that in Leviticus. Verse 13, this is Solomon speaking. “I have surely built you a lofty house, a place for your dwelling forever. Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing and he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel who spoke with his mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with his hand.”

I encourage you to underline that in your Bible or highlight it. This is almost a summary of the character of God, in one little sentence. What He spoke with His mouth, He did with His hand. They’re one and the same. When He says it’s going to happen, it’ll happen. Verse 16: “Since the day that I brought my people [This is God talking.]  Israel from Egypt. I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel.” Now Solomon is going to talk: “Now it was in the heart of my father David, to build a house for the name of the Lord,” 14 times in the Word, the name of the Lord or My name or Your name is mentioned.

It’s very important, His name. It’s not just simply identifying Him, it’s His character. It’s who He is. “The Lord said to my father, David, because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for my name.” There’s just a little side road that we could take here for a second – a principle I think we can learn here. David is being commended by the Lord for wanting to build a house for the name of the Lord, but the Lord saw fit in His judgment that David would not build a house; He would prepare for it.

He’d pray for it, he would look forward to it, but it was Solomon who would build the house. Whatever stage of life you might be in, wherever you might be in your homes or in your neighborhood, your vocation; we are called to faithfulness in our moment, in our square inch, wherever the Lord has planted us. And it’s not for us to decide whether we get to see the fruit of that work. Sometimes we do and we should celebrate that like David. He didn’t get to see the house of the Lord. He was dead by this time. David wanted to build the house to the Lord, but the Lord had other things in mind, and here He is fulfilling His promises.

Verse 19: “Nevertheless, you shall not build a house but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for my name. Now the Lord has fulfilled his word, which he spoke [This is Solomon speaking.] for I, Solomon, have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have set a place for the Ark in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers when he brought them from the land of Egypt.” So, everything is ready in the temple except for one thing. The people were no longer there to gawk at the temple. They weren’t there to marvel at its architecture or to stand in awe of its furnishings, its flourishes, its beauty. There was a time for that.

No, they were there because the presence of God was coming to dwell among them. Habakkuk 2 talks about all Heaven being silent because the Lord is in His holy temple. And I wonder if it was like that in that moment. The picture that we saw earlier was their silence. They were there because the resting place or the throne of God had been built and the people were ready to worship their promise-keeping God. Do you remember towards the end of Exodus, so going back about 400 years ago, the temporary structure, the tabernacle, the tent of meeting that it talked about there, basically this portable tent. It was crafted and when it was, the Ark went into it. At the inception of the tabernacle, the cloud of glory descended on it. So much so if you remember, Moses wasn’t able to approach it because God’s glory was so strong, so radiant, so other.

That’s 400 years prior. Now, we’re moving into a new era: The Temple. And we see the same thing in this account except, this time in the temple. Of course, for the children of Israel, it was a more lasting place. Let’s skip ahead to the New Testament in Matthew 17. Peter, do you remember he confesses who Jesus is? Jesus says, “Peter, who do you say that I am?” And Peter makes his great confession and says, “You are the Christ. You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” And after that, Jesus takes Peter and James and John up a mountain where they encounter Jesus along with Moses and along with Elijah.  Peter and James and John, they stand in awe of what’s going on here and they kind of fumble around.

Do you remember this? They kind of fumble around wondering, “Lord, should we make a tent? Should we make tabernacles for each of you?” Then a voice in a cloud says, “This is my son. Listen to him,” essentially saying the confession that Peter just made, who Jesus says that He is, that is who He is – the son of God, the Messiah. Peter and James and John, the text tells us, fall to the ground. They fall to the ground because they’re terrified. The holiness, the radiance, the otherness of God’s glory. We see it at the tabernacle, we see it at the temple, we see it here with Jesus before He comes to Calvary. And I think our Bible records events like these not simply to make us stand and wonder, although they should, they absolutely should.

They point to the truth that the living God is active and working in history and times and places. And it seems that He sees fit, that this cloud imagery, where the manifest presence of God, sometimes it comes down in the changing of an era, a changing of a season and with Jesus Christ there is a new way, a more permanent and lasting way to the Lord. What He says with His voice, He does with His hands. He promised His abiding presence and I think there’s something so beautiful, so right, about this congregation of God’s people together beginning with the king. Did you notice that? It listed the king, and then the leaders, and then the people; everyone was at attention to the God who created the heavens and the earth.

Their longing for the presence of the Lord was being met in this particular place, and the cloud of God’s glory is a potent reminder that He is almighty, and we are not, but also, a visible sign that He intends to be with His people. I think we have much to learn from this kind of celebration, this worship service that goes on for two weeks. I love this quote from David Cassidy, “You’d think we wouldn’t need reminding that God is God and we are not. But sanity is a rare thing in the mad society. [Amen.] Worship is where a return to wisdom begins. Come let us worship and bow down…” Well, let’s keep reading. Verse 22: “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hand toward heaven.”

There’s a posture of worship, of vulnerability, of trust. He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below, keeping covenant and showing loving kindness to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant, my father David, that which you have promised him indeed. [Here we go again] You have spoken with your mouth and have fulfilled it with your hand as it is this day. Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David, my father, that which you have promised him saying, you shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before me as you have walked.

“Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word I pray be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant, my father David.” Verse 27, he shifts here: “He may ask this question, but will God indeed dwell on the earth, behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you? How much less this house which I have built?” Here’s a moment of humility with Solomon. We don’t often see that with Solomon, but here’s a moment of humility, of recognition that of course God cannot be contained in a temple. I think it’s helpful for us to think about the original readers of this text were likely those who are just about to be in exile or are already in exile.

They’re reading this text knowing that King Solomon has fallen, the other kings have fallen. The temple in fact has been destroyed. Those are the first readers of this text. So, there’s something I think quite comforting, I would imagine, as they read from their King Solomon here, that God does not, He will not be contained in a temple. Those who have seen the temple fall will be comforted by the fact that the Lord is the maker of heaven and earth. He won’t be contained. The eminence, but also the transcendence, of God is a mystery to us, but it’s so beautifully spoken here. Verse 28: “Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today, that your eyes may be opened towards this house night and day.

“Toward the place of which you have said, my name shall be there and to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray towards this place. Listen to the supplication of your servant and your people Israel.” It’s not Solomon’s kingdom. This is the Lord’s kingdom, and Solomon acknowledges that. “Your people Israel, when they pray towards this place hear in heaven, your dwelling place, hear and forgive.” So now he’s going to go through what theologians might call, or we see in commentaries, the seven petitions. He’s going to say seven different prayers. Solomon is at the dedication of this temple. We’ll put it up here on the screen.

There’s a pattern of how he actually prays this. He states the need of God’s people. That’s the first thing you’ll notice. He appeals to God’s character and promises. God, You promised You took us out of Israel, Your name is here. Remember that He appeals to God in His character, and then he requests the provision of God: the provision of grace, of mercy, of forgiveness, of healing. So, as I read through these petitions, I’ll tell you when we get to the next one, I’ll say one, two, three, four and so on and on the screen, we’ll put a little summary of each of the petitions that, hopefully, can be helpful as we read these beautiful prayers.

Verse 31, this is the first petition. “If a man …” so now this is an individual. “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and he comes and takes an oath before your altar in this house then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.” Solomon is praying for mercy, for righteousness to be done in that situation. The second petition, verse 33: “When your people …” so now it’s not just an individual, it’s the community of God’s people. “When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, if they turn to you again, [Here’s repentance. We talked about that earlier.] And they confess your name, and they pray and make supplication to you in this house 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.” There’s restoration in mind.

The third petition, verse 35: “When the heavens are shut up and there’s no rain because they have sinned against you [There’s a judgment here.] and they pray towards this place and they confess your name and turn from their sin [There’s repentance] when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel indeed, teach them the good way. The way that they should walk and send rain on your land, which you have given your people for an inheritance.”

There’s restoration, guidance. Jeremiah 6:16, it says, “Stand at the roads and look and ask for the good way and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.” And that’s what Solomon is praying here. When we go astray, Lord, bring us back, bring us back. Verse 37, this is the fourth petition: “If there’s famine in the land, if there’s pestilence, if there’s blight or mildew, locusts or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and spreading his hand towards this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each, according to all his ways, whose heart you know for you alone know the hearts of all sons of men.”

And here’s the end goal: “That they may fear you, honor you all the days that they live in the land which you have given to our fathers,” and there’s restoration. Just real briefly about this one, you’ll notice at the beginning it says, “If there’s famine in the land.” He’s talking about suffering. Suffering corporately, perhaps even individually, but it doesn’t say because of sin. He does reference forgiveness later on, but I think this prayer is for the moments when Israel is suffering because of their own sin or for no fault of their own. And I know many of you, I can see your faces and hear those who are in a time of grief, in a time of suffering. He knows and He asks us to come to Him in prayer.

Verse 41, this is the fifth petition: “Also, concerning the foreigner who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your name’s sake, for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm. When he comes and prays towards this house, hear in heaven, your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order [Here’s the end goal of this one.] that all the peoples of the earth may know your name.” To that we say amen. That’s the goal. That’s what we see in Revelation 21. All people, every tribe and tongue and nation around the throne, and Solomon here is prophetically praying for this.

“In order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name.” Why? “To fear you as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.” The Psalmist is an evangelist I think in some sense. I love this John Piper quote. He says, “Love means doing all we can at whatever cost to help people be enthralled with the glory of God. When they are, they satisfied, and God is glorified. Therefore, loving people and glorifying God are one.” We see a little bit of this here in what Solomon is saying, “This temple, this city of Jerusalem, Zion, the way that we live our lives, Lord, may it bring You glory, and may that glory be seen by other nations and other people groups that they might come and follow You.”

Verse 44, the sixth petition: “When your people go out to battle against their enemy by whatever way you shall send them and they pray to the Lord toward the city which you have chosen in the house, which I have built for your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.” The seventh petition, verse 46: “When they sin against you, for there is no man who does not sin and you are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near…” Do you remember the original readers of this text who had been taken captive because of their own sin? Great comfort they would see here in 47. “If they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive and repent [Turn around] make supplication to you in the land of those who have taken them captive saying, we have sinned.”

Here’s a confession of sin. “We have committed iniquity. We have acted wickedly. If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul and the land of their enemies who have taken them captive and pray to you toward their land which you have given to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, then hear their prayers, and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place and maintain their cause. And forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions, which they have transgressed against you and make them objects of compassion, before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them for they are your people.”

He’s appealing to God and His character and what He’s done. “Remember, they’re your people, your inheritance, which you have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace, that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to you for you have separated them from all people of the earth as your inheritance. As you spoke through Moses, your servant, when you brought our fathers forth from Egypt.” O Lord God, the personal name, Yahweh, seven beautiful prayers. So, I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I read prayers like that or when I hear someone praying who’s just exquisite, they have wisdom.

There’s something about it. I stand and wonder, and I want my prayers to have that kind of quality, that beauty, that expectancy, that honesty. Perhaps it’s you as well. I’m still a student in the school of prayer, as perhaps you are too. Jesus, of course, our Lord, He knew this about His own disciples, and they felt the same way. The disciples must have heard Jesus pray over and over and over, many times and thought the same thing. Finally, they ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And we prayed what He taught them earlier. “Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be …” let’s say it together. “Thy name.” The name of the Lord. In other words, Lord, may Your name be honored, may be feared, glorified, loved, enjoyed.

Almost every modern English translation uses that word “hallowed,” which is really an old word, but there’s not really another word that gets at this idea. It’s so bundled with meaning. Honor, fear, glory, love. That’s how Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers. I’m so glad we prayed this morning. May Your kingdom come; may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There’s a sense there of an expectation of restoration, of justice, of mercy, things being set right. Did you hear echoes of the Lord’s prayer there in Solomon’s? It must have been such a remarkable two weeks as God’s people gathered together at family camp there in Jerusalem, eager, longing for the presence of the Lord, and the cloud shows up and Solomon prays these beautiful pastoral prayers.

Even so, it was only but a foretaste of something far more eternal and lasting. Of course, we all know Solomon’s kingship will come to an end soon, the people will become divided, the temple will be torn down. Ezekiel tells us in Ezekiel 10 that the glory of the Lord actually departs from the temple as the people go into exile. So, the temple is significant. Yes, it’s a part of God’s plan. Yes, but it’s only a foretaste. It is a beautiful one though. The frailty of Solomon and the kings that follow show us that human kings, all of them in history, cannot do what Jesus can do. He can raise the dead; He can heal the blind. He can lay down His life, and He can burst forth from a tomb to make a new and a permanent and a lasting and a living way to God.

Do you remember at the cross of Christ when he’s being crucified, and the veil is torn in two? It says in Matthew 27, “The veil between the Holy of Holies and us, the protection from the holiness, the radiance of God is torn in two.” And I think put it another way, there’s lots of reasons for that, but there’s a sense in which God is saying there is no longer any need for a temple, a new and living way has come through the blood of His son Jesus. Jesus made a way for us not only to be in right relationship with God, but to be adopted as His children with access to His presence today. There is no need for a temple because of the cross we see, back behind me.

In fact, let’s consider the first two words of the prayer that our Lord taught us. Two really powerful words, “Our Father.” That would’ve been a radical notion. I imagine the disciples upon hearing this prayer for the first time that would’ve caught them off guard. “Father,” an intimate word, a personal word. It would’ve been radical then, but implicit in that bold prayer is the reality that for those who have turned to Him, His presence, the presence of the loving Father is always near. It’s implicit in that prayer. Do you know that love this morning? Do long for the presence of the loving Father? I pray you do.

For you who are in chronic pain, for you who are suffering, grief and loss, for those who can’t seem to win the battle for temptation, Jesus says to start your prayers with “Our Father.” His presence is near because He’s a loving father. I love this. Tish Harrison Warren said it this way, “We cannot hold together human vulnerability and God’s trustworthiness at the same time unless there’s some certain sign that God loves us, that He isn’t an absentee landlord or worse, a monster… it takes the whole story of redemptive history to shape our questions about God’s presence in the darkness.” Or in the light, I would add as this day.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil. We all know that song, that Psalm, Psalm 23. Why can the Psalmist say that? Why can David say that? For You are with me. We continue to long for the day when His kingdom will be fully realized, that shalom, shalom is the way that the world operates. We long for that day and we long for the day when He will come again on a cloud and set all things right. By the power of His Holy Spirit, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, we do have access to His presence today, and we give thanks for that. We still have this longing for Him to come and set all things right when the longing for His presence will be fully and finally satisfied for eternity.

J.C. Ryle, a 19th century pastor said, “The day is coming when there shall be a congregation that shall never break up, a Sabbath that shall never end, a song of praise that shall never cease, and an assembly that shall never be dispersed.” And I would say a longing that will be fully satisfied. Amen. Let’s pray together: Father, we come to You as Your children and we ask because we long for it, for a sense of Your nearness, of Your presence. For some in this room who were calloused over, perhaps we haven’t had that in a while, and Lord, we ask for it. We ask Lord that You would soften hearts, soften minds, open eyes, open ears that through your Holy Spirit we might be awakened to the wonders of what it means to be a child of God. To be able to pray this prayer, “Our Father,” the access it gives us to Your presence even right now in this moment, wake us up to that reality. In Jesus’ name we all said: Amen.