1 Kings 8:1-53 - The Promise of His Presence

Well, we do study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and so glad, what a delight it is that we get to come together and do this together.

If you'd like a paper copy, uh 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 glad to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online today.

It's amazing, uh even just this week, uh we heard from folks who worship with us regularly online from Melbourne, Australia, from Southeastern Asia, Singapore, Philippines, uh, France, and even South Carolina and uh the state of Washington, maybe even Alabama.

Yeah, it's too soon.

I'm so sorry.

So glad you're here.

The same spirit uh who is dwelling here among us in Nashville is dwelling with you wherever you might be uh today, whether you're watching it today or perhaps another time.

We are continuing our study of first and second kings, or sometimes I'll just simply call it Kings.

It is likely one book that we've broken up into two.

We have 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 it the very first verse Praise the Lord the Almighty, all you who all ye who hear, now to his temple draw 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 gonna 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 several, 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 its significance, the temple, its 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 perhaps others numbed by the weight of suffering.

Others still ignore it or dismiss it by a willful unbelief.

Why do we even gather here?

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 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 the 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 8 if you haven't already.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

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.

And of course, the preparation had started way even before that, but it came into sharp focus in chapter 5.

Chapter 6, 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, 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 9, the dedication of the temple.

I heard one theologian talk about the temple.

The way that the children of Israel would have thought about it is 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 is a good like 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, and 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 and history.

Reading and trusting the same scriptures that Jesus Himself read and trusted and obeyed.

And 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, 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.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

And 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 pray.

Amen.

Alright, verse one.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the father's 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 Ethanem.

So Ethanim was a Canaanite month.

It was likely September, October.

So coordinating this dedication, they're coordinating it with the Feast of the Tabernacles.

And there were three big feasts in the calendar of Israel: the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Passover.

And 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 Tabernacle, 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.

And 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 the symbolizing or it's pointing us to the presence of God, his atoning presence, his reigning presence, the lid, the actual lid of the covenant is the mercy seat.

The blood would be spattered on it as they atoned for their sins.

There's so much meaning in bringing the ark.

So David, King David, in 2 Solomon 6, he brought the ark into Jerusalem proper, and Solomon, his son now, is taking the ark from Jerusalem proper into a particular place, into the temple.

So that's where we find ourselves here.

Verse 2, uh actually, verse 3.

Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priest took up the ark, they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, or the tabernacle, the tent there, and all the holy utensils which were in the tent, and the priest 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's coming into this 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.

And it's as if the people said, Let's keep going.

Let's keep going.

Verse six.

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 they, this was a solemn moment.

All of Israel 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, so that's the Ten 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 they 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 Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, the law of God, is 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 a 19th or an 18th-century Dutch engraver named Jan Liken.

He was Dutch, so that's why it looks like they're in Amsterdam.

But you still get a sense of the architecture's a little bit different.

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 in the kind of in the middle to the left, all the trumpeters.

2 Chronicles tells us that there are 120 trumpeters, as well as guitar players or lyres, uh, 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's there in the 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 is 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, brought my people 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's going to talk.

Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord.

Fourteen times 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.

But 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 a little, just a little side road that we could take here for just 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 the 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.

And 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.

But 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 of the Lord, but the Lord had other things in mind, and here he is fulfilling his promises.

Verse 19.

Nevertheless, you shall not build the 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 now.

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, and 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 all 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 the earth being silent, or all heaven rather, 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, and 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 was 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 the temple, of course, for the children of Israel 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.

And 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 tents?

Should we make tabernacles for each of you?

But then a voice in a cloud says, This is my son.

Listen up 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.

And Peter and James and John, the text tells us, falls 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, but to 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, this 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 it?

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 a 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.

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 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.

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 imminence, but also the transcendence of God.

It's a mystery to us, but it's so beautifully spoken here.

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.

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 and 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.

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 here 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 here 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'll find rest for your souls.

And that's what Solomon's praying here.

When we go astray, Lord, bring us back.

Bring us back.

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 here 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 sinning or is suffering rather because of their own sin or for no fault of their own.

And I know many of you, I can see your faces in here, who are in a time of grief, in a time of suffering.

He knows.

And he asks us to come into him in prayer.

Verse 41, this is the fifth petition.

Also, concerning the foreigners 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.

Solomon 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 are satisfied, and God is glorified.

Therefore, loving people and glorifying God are one.

We see a little bit of this here in what Solomon's saying.

This temple, this city of Jerusalem, Zion, the way that we live our lives, Lord, may it bring you glory, and may that be 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, and 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 forty-six.

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 in 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 are 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 for all 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, 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.

Um, I stand in wonder, and I want my prayers to have uh that kind of quality, that beauty, that expectancy, that honesty.

Perhaps it's uh you as well.

I'm 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.

And 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 it be feared, glorified, loved, enjoyed.

Every modern, 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.

And 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?

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.

But even so, it was only but a foretaste of something far more eternal and lasting.

And 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 lasting and a living way to God.

Do you remember at the cross of Christ when he's being crucified, 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 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 have been a radical notion.

I imagine the disciples, upon hearing this prayer for the first time, it would have caught them off guard.

Father, an intimate word, a personal word.

It would have 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 you 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 says 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.

But why can the psalmist say that?

Why can David say that?

For you are with me.

But 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.

But it's still, 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 uh your children, and we ask, because we long for it, uh, for a sense of your nearness, of your presence for some in this room who are calloused over perhaps uh we haven't in a while.

And Lord, we ask for it.

We ask, Lord, that you would uh soften hearts, soften uh 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 prayer presence even right now in this moment.

Wake us up to that reality.

In Jesus' name we all said.

Amen.