>> Jen: Hi there, faithful listeners.

Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast on this lovely Monday morning.

Well, happy November, everybody.

I hope that you had a good weekend and a, uh, good Halloween if you guys celebrate.

I am just appalled that it's already November.

Absolutely appalled.

I cannot believe that it's already as cold as it is.

Like, I feel like summer just didn't happen.

Like, I don't know where it went, but suddenly summer was just gone, like after five days.

And now the snow comes again.

But you know what?

I don't like snow.

But I wouldn't trade it for the world because I am extremely thankful to be where I'm at.

I'm thankful to be near my parents.

I'm thankful to be near my church family.

I wouldn't trade any of it for a warmer location.

Let's go ahead and read 2

Chronicles, chapter 6:1 through 21.

I'll be reading, as always from the web, but I hope that you guys have your cup of coffee or your cup of tea ready on this very cold morning.

M I have mine right here, so share it with me.

And also grab your Bible out of the version that you prefer.

Let's go ahead and read this prayer that Solomon gives in dedication of the temple to God once

again.

This is 2 Chronicles 6:1.

through 21.

Then Solomon said, Yahweh has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

But I have built you a house and a home, a place for you to dwell in forever.

The king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel.

And all the assembly of Israel stood.

He said, blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and as with his hands fulfilled it, saying, since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there.

I chose no man to be prince over my people Israel.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there.

And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Now it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

But Yahweh said to David my father, whereas 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 come out of your body.

He shall build the house for my name.

Yahweh has performed his word that I spoke.

For I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And there I have set the ark in which is Yahweh's covenant which he has made with the children of Israel.

He stood before Yahweh's altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.

For Solomon had made a bronze platform, 5 cubits long, 5 cubits wide, and 3 cubits high, and set it in the middle of the court.

And he stood on it and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

Then he said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth.

You who keep covenant and lovingkindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant David my father, that which you promised him.

Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and you have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father, that which you have promised him, saying, there shall not fail you, a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way to walk in my laws as you have walked before me.

Now therefore, Yahweh the God of Israel, let your word be verified which you spoke to your servant David.

But will God indeed dwell with men on earth?

Behold heaven And the heaven of heavens can't contain you.

How much less this house which I have built, yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication.

Yahweh, my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you, that your eyes may be opened toward this house day and night, even toward the place which you have said that you would put your name to.

Listen to the prayer which your servant will pray towards this place.

Listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place.

Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven.

And when you hear, forgive.

In the last chapter we talked about Solomon beginning the dedication of the temple.

Everything has been complete.

The Ark of the Covenant is now in its place inside the temple.

And we talked about that.

And we talked also about how God actually came and accepted the temple by having his presence fill the temple in the form of a cloud.

And this cloud was so thick that the priests who had actually dedicated themselves and were clean for the service of the temple.

They were not able to go into the temple, even though they were considered holy and clean in the eyes of God.

Because of God's rich presence inside the temple, even the priests weren't able to enter.

And so this spurs Solomon to say a speech to Israel and say a prayer to God publicly.

And that's where we leave off today in 2 Chronicles 6, verse 1, which says Solomon said, Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

But I have built you a house and a home, a place for you to dwell in forever.

So God dwells in the thick darkness.

That's talking probably about the cloud that God's presence is associated with.

A lot of times when we see God in the Old Testament, it's in the form of a cloud.

For example, the cloud that filled the temple right here.

And also the cloud that led Israel in the wilderness some 500 years before this.

God is often associated as a cloud.

And so when Solomon says that God dwells in the thick darkness, he very likely is referring to this cloud that he's actually looking at that is filling the temple right at this moment.

He says, but I have built you a house and a home, a place for you to dwell in forever.

Now, Solomon was very excited about this temple, as you can see.

He truly believed it was a place where God's presence could live forever, live among his people.

Solomon understood that God truly did want to live among his people because that was God's prime goal from the very beginning.

Like when he created people, his goal was to live with them.

He wanted to dwell with his people.

But then because of sin, you know, people kind of messed all of that up.

But even so, God's prime objective still stands, which is to live with his people.

So you can see multiple times God has tried to do this.

Most famously was in the wilderness.

God actually was with his people on a day to day basis, leading them through the wilderness in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

And then his presence settled on the mountain.

But the people just didn't want God near them.

And so they basically told Moses, they're like, get God away from us or we will die.

Like, you go talk to God, we're going to go do our thing over here.

So the people never wanted God to live with them, but God has tried on multiple occasions.

So now once again, God has accepted this house that Solomon built because he wants to live with his people.

But the thing that Solomon didn't understand that this was not a house God was going to live in forever.

In fact, God didn't stay in this house for very long because almost immediately the people started corrupting the temple by bringing in idolatry and other really weird things.

And God left the temple because his home became corrupted with sin and idolatry and all sorts of really crazy things, as we're going to find out in the Book of Ezekiel.

God actually shows Ezekiel everything going on inside the temple.

So, no, God does not stay in the temple for very long.

It is not his permanent home like Solomon thought it was going to be.

Because as people kick, uh, God out of his home, he leaves.

You know, God does not stay where he's not wanted.

There's a verse in the Book of James that says, come near to God and he will come near to you.

God does not stay where he's not wanted.

That doesn't mean he doesn't love people or that he abandons people, but it just means that when people reject God, God will let them have what they want and he will leave.

And that's what ended up happening.

Every single time God tried to dwell with his people.

The people rejected God and didn't want him there.

And so he left the vicinity.

And that, of course, was going to happen very soon, um, in this temple.

And God was not going to live there forever.

But, you know, Solomon was very, very excited about this temple and believed that it was going to be a place of worship where God could live among his people forever.

So the king after this, in verse three, turns his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel.

And all the assembly of Israel stood.

And so now Solomon begins his speech and prayer to God.

He starts with the speech, he says, blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David, my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying, since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in in that my name might be there.

And I chose no man to be prince over my people, Israel.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there.

And I have chosen David to be over my people, Israel.

So, as you guys know, David, Solomon's dad, really had an obsession with the temple, really wanted it to be built, even purchased the land that it would be built on.

And he purchased that land in Jerusalem.

Now, David had already chosen Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, mainly because Jerusalem was a very good location in Israel, pretty Central.

So it was a good place for politics to be done, for worship to be done.

And so David initially chose Jerusalem.

Now, I don't know if God chose Jerusalem because David chose it, like just out of mercy to David, or if God had told David previously that David should go to Jerusalem to build the temple and set up his kingdom there and the government there.

I don't know if God chose it and told David to go to Jerusalem or if David chose it and God chose it because of his love and mercy for David and for Israel.

And I don't know.

But regardless, you can definitely tell that God chose Jerusalem.

Like, even to this day, it is evident through the three Abrahamic religions who right now are vying for their piece of Jerusalem.

The Christians want it, the Jews want it, and the Muslims want it.

They're all fighting over Jerusalem because it's a special place.

And we know it's a special place.

It is the place where Jesus chose to die.

We know that Jerusalem is special.

And so God clearly did choose Jerusalem to put his name there.

Not to mention in the book of Revelation, it says that after the old heaven and the old earth pass away and Jesus makes a brand new heaven and new earth, he's going to make a brand new Jerusalem that's gonna like float in the sky or it's gonna come out of the sky like this big beautiful jewelry.

And only certain people are going to be allowed in the new Jerusalem.

Only people who are sons and daughters of God are going to be allowed in that city.

And it's literally called the new Jerusalem.

And God says that that city is never going to make him angry ever again.

That the old Jerusalem, you know this one where Solomon built the temple, that Jerusalem made God angry every single day.

It's what he says in Jeremiah.

He's like, since the foundation of Jerusalem, I have been so, so ticked off at that city because of their lack of morals and their constant sin against me every single day.

But someday there's going to be a new Jerusalem where my name will be.

And that city will never make me angry.

And the people who are in it will be righteous, who will worship me truly every single day.

But long story short, there's something special about Jerusalem.

And we just know that in our hearts because God chose .

Jerusalem.

Yahweh said to David my father in verse eight, whereas 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 come out of your body he shall build the house for my name.

Now, Solomon, of course, believed himself to be that son.

But we've talked about how, um, David and Solomon may have misunderstood the prophecy from God.

There God was probably talking about Jesus, you know, because Jesus was from the line and lineage of David.

And God said that Jesus was going to build him a house, which that is absolutely true, because Jesus is and was the foundation of the church.

And every single Christian, every true believer of Jesus makes up a piece of that church.

And that's where the Holy Spirit now lives, is in each one of us who has accepted Jesus as our Savior.

So the Holy Spirit no longer lives in the temple made with human hands, but lives in each one of us.

So things are different now with the New Testament.

But in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit didn't live in people.

He lived in a temple made with human hands.

And so that's why the temple was so special.

It was a special place.

But regardless, people were going to corrupt the temple and cause the Holy Spirit to leave.

But for the time being, the Holy Spirit is in the Temple, has accepted the Temple, and has placed his name in Jerusalem.

Even if David and Solomon's understanding of the prophecies from God weren't exactly clear, God still had mercy on David and Solomon still had grace and love for them and chose Jerusalem and the temple that Solomon built.

Then in verse 10, Solomon continues, Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke.

For I have risen up in the place of David, my father, and sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

There I have set the Ark in, which is God's covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.

Now, here's what's kind of interesting about the Ark of the Covenant.

When the Ark of the Covenant was first built 500 years before this in the wilderness, it actually was supposed to hold three things.

It was supposed to hold the Covenant, which was the law of God.

It was supposed to hold a bowl of manna, and it was also supposed to hold Aaron's budding staff.

Okay, now, I don't know if you guys remember what the manna is, and Aaron's budding staff.

I'm not going to get into those things right now.

But there was supposed to be more items in the Ark of the Covenant than just the Covenant itself.

And that was, of course, by God, like God told Moses and Aaron put these other things in the Ark of the Covenant forever.

So at Some point in the Ark's history, someone opened it up and took those things out.

And we don't know who did that.

We know the Ark was captured for a little while before David was even born.

The Ark was in Philistine hands for a couple months.

But, uh, things did not go well for the Philistines because of the Ark of the Covenant, because God did not want the Ark there.

And so eventually the Philistines, like, sent the Ark back because they were getting plagued with, like, all of these boils or something, these tumors.

And so the Philistines understood that it was the Ark of the Covenant causing these issues, so they sent the Ark back to Israel.

But there is a possibility that the Philistines actually opened the Ark up and took some of those items out of the Ark, but somehow the covenant was still in there, was still preserved.

And that's essentially what Solomon says right here.

I have set the Ark in the temple in which is God's covenant.

That's it.

No other things inside the Ark, just the covenant.

And that was also mentioned in the previous chapter as well.

And I forgot to talk about that.

Where only the law was still inside the Ark of the Covenant, nothing else was.

Moving down to verse 12.

He stood before Yahweh's altar in the presence of the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

For Solomon made a bronze platform 5 cubits long, 5 cubits wide, and 3 cubits high, and set it in the middle of the court.

And he stood on it and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread his hands toward heaven.

Now, this was the common posture for doing prayer back in the Old Testament.

It was not, uh, folding your hands the way we do now and like bowing our heads.

It was actually raising your hands up to heaven.

And I do have to say, the way we do prayer now is kind of wrong Biblically.

There's nowhere in Scripture that tells you to fold your hands to pray, but there are so many verses that talk about raising your hands to heaven.

In fact, I was just reading one of them in, uh, 1 Timothy 2, 8 from the NLT version says, in every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

And yet we don't do that in the modern day.

And neither do I, quite honestly.

I do not raise my hands up to heaven while I'm praying.

I just don't.

I'm so inclined to, uh, interlock my fingers right underneath my chin, like that is just what I do.

And Yet Scripture tells us to raise our hands up to heaven.

I'm not going to lie.

I did not research this topic.

But if I were to guess why raising your hands to heaven was the correct posture, it's because there's something very vulnerable about it.

And it's also a sign of surrender.

When you're raising your hands up to God, it's almost like you are giving him whatever is inside your heart.

And I can tell you honestly that the times when I feel the most worshipful, like, say, in church or something, when we're singing songs, my hands, they just go right up.

Like, it's like I can't control it.

The hands just go up.

That's because there's something about that posture that is both vulnerable, freeing, and also a sign of surrender.

You know, our posture is very important.

Um, my husband often tells me, you know, if I'm feeling down, I will, like, slunch right over.

And my husband will be like, if you fix your posture, you might actually feel better, like, mentally.

And so I'll fix my posture.

And what do you know?

A few minutes later, I actually am feeling a little bit better mentally.

So you can change your mindset based upon the posture you are carrying.

And I think that's why Scripture always tells us to pray with our hands reaching up toward heaven.

And I mean, there's so many psalms that talk about that as well.

So Solomon takes this posture where he's standing up on this platform, and he's got his hands up to heaven, and he is kneeling down, just praying to God very fervently.

And so here's his prayer.

He says, Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth.

You who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant, David, my father, that which you promised him.

Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and you have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

And so, of course, Solomon there is talking about the entire project of building the temple.

God promised it to David that the temple would be built.

And now here it is.

It has been fulfilled.

Now, once again, that prophecy was broadly talking about Jesus, but there's something called double prophecies where a prophecy will come true multiple times.

And a lot of times, the first time it comes true, it's like a much smaller iteration of it, if that makes sense.

So the prophecy of the temple being built came true with Solomon, but the larger interpretation of that prophecy would be Jesus building the temple.

Like I talked about earlier, where he made the foundations of the church, and like you and I make up the individual members of the church.

Right?

So this prophecy that Solomon says has come true would be one of those double prophecies that we've talked about before.

And he continues in verse 16.

Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David, my father, that which you have promised him.

There shall not fail you, a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.

Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to David, your servant.

So of course, um, that's talking about God telling David, if your sons walk in my laws and follow my ways, then they will be blessed forever.

I will keep somebody on the throne of Israel forever, is what God says.

But if your sons don't follow my laws and don't keep my ways and abandon me and reject me, then I will reject them.

God actually told this same prophecy to Solomon directly.

Solomon knew this prophecy both from his father David, and also straight from God's mouth.

However, spoiler alert, Solomon does not keep the ways of God, and God doesn't immediately reject Solomon.

But later on down the line, um, as the lineage of David got worse and worse and worse, God did eventually punish Israel for, um, their sins.

But, but that's not for several hundred years after this.

But moving forward in verse 18, will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?

Behold heaven, and the heaven of heavens can't contain you, how much less this house which I have built, yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication.

Yahweh, my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you, that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you said that you will put your name to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place.

That's a really nice prayer because there's a lot of humility in it.

Basically Solomon's saying, you know, God, heaven can't even contain how amazing you are.

So this house that I built can't possibly contain how amazing you are.

It is so small and so little compared to your throne room.

But yet, God, I ask that you accept it anyway, that you accept this gift that I gave you and that you be here in this house and listen to the prayer of your people.

In fact, listen to my prayer, when I direct it toward your house.

Now, that was a common belief back in these days, which was to direct your prayer toward the temple of the deity that you worshiped.

And generally, it's just gobbledygook because, uh, you know, the deities that the people worshiped didn't actually live in the temples because they were fake.

They were just idols made of stone or gold or whatever.

But in the case of God, he was living inside that temple.

And so to direct your prayer toward the direction of the temple actually made sense because God's physical presence was there, and the people couldn't go inside the temple at this point in time.

Um, the priests couldn't even go inside, but the average person wasn't even allowed to step foot in the temple.

It was only the priests.

So it makes a lot of sense, actually, for the people to direct their prayers to the temple of God, because that is where God was physically sitting on earth.

You'll see this actually in the book of Daniel.

Daniel, when he was in Babylonian captivity, he would open up his window that faced toward Jerusalem and he would pray in that direction.

And don't get me wrong, they're not directing their prayers at the temple.

They're not praying to the temple, but they're directing their prayers to who is inside the temple.

Then he says in verse 21, listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place.

Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven.

And when you hear, forgive.

So there.

Solomon even says, he's like, yes, God, your presence is in this temple, but your dwelling place is technically heaven, because this little temple cannot contain you.

So whenever anybody prays to your name, please hear them and forgive them.

And that's just the first portion of this prayer.

It goes on for a lot longer, and we'll talk about that on Wednesday.

So I hope to see you guys Wednesday as we discuss the second portion of this very beautiful prayer that Solomon gives.

And not to be a negative Nancy, but, uh, there's one specific problem with the prayer that we will get into on Wednesday.

So, faithful listeners, I

hope you guys tune in then 6:00am um, or whenever you choose to wake up.

And also tune in tomorrow because we'll be in the book of second Thessalonians.

And, man, I have just been loving the book of second Thessalonians.

If you are not tuning in to the New Testament side of stuff, you absolutely should, because the book of second Thessalonians is fire, and it talks about fire.

Actually quite a bit in it.

So I hope you guys tune in tomorrow for an episode from 2nd Thessalonians where we'll talk more about the second coming of Jesus.

Faithful listeners, have a wonderful rest of your Monday.

Happy listening, and God bless.

Sam M.