1st Kings 8:22-30

If you've got a copy of the scriptures and you

want to follow along, we'll be in the Old Testament

this morning, 1 Kings chapter 8. When we go somewhere

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

one time, we do have to weigh a little bit of

background and context to sort of understand

how we got here and what it is we want to see.

Today we take our text here in the Old Testament.

And this book of 1 Kings is a book that will

trace Israel's history from the death of King

David, who was the most faithful king that Israel

had. had through the division of the kingdom,

and it ultimately points to God's faithfulness

to His covenant promises despite Israel's repeated

failures. And what we want to see specifically

today is this is a specific part of Scripture

that after the temple had been built, Solomon

offers a prayer of dedication at the completion

of the temple. Now, you may remember, Moses was

first given instructions regarding the tabernacle

that would be a place where God's presence would

reside there in the wilderness and in those wanderings.

But eventually, King David desired to build a

house for the Lord. And even though he was very

zealous in that, and he was very sincere, the

Lord said, you will not build a house for me,

but one of your sons will. And even though David

would not build the house, he did lay up great

riches. for that temple to one day be built.

We're told in 1 Kings chapter 6 that the construction

1 Kings 6 · chapter mention

of the temple began in Solomon's fourth year

as he reigned and it was completed in the 11th

year, 480 years after the Israelites had left

Egypt. So a long time from the time they had

left Egypt till this permanent The temple was

built for the Lord's presence to dwell. And during

this time of temple construction, we don't have

time to go through it all, but Solomon employed

80 ,000 stone cutters, the scriptures tell us,

to cut every stone outside the temple, bring

it in, and fit it perfectly in place. And if

it did not fit perfectly in place, it was cast

off. There was not to be the sound of a hammer

or chisel within the walls of the temple. He

brought cedars in from Lebanon and had many skilled

tradesmen to do gold. overlays and many skilled

jobs. Now in today's text we see specifically

this prayer of dedication that Solomon offers

in front of all Israel. to the one true God of

the universe. And a prayer of dedication in and

of itself, not something we do a lot, is really

it's a heartfelt invocation to God. It expresses

commitment and surrender to His will. It's used

to dedicate oneself for a building like this

temple to specific endeavors in God's service.

It acknowledges His sovereignty. And it's not

a prayer that is merely ritualistic, but it's

a profound declaration of faith, dependence,

and showing allegiance upon the Lord. Now as

we work our way through the text, we will see

Solomon acknowledge that God had kept his word,

allowing him to succeed his father David as king.

and to build a temple there in Jerusalem. But

Solomon also will recognize that no earthly building

can contain the infinite God. Yet he asked God

paradoxically and graciously to place his name

there, that the Lord might hear the prayers of

his people that are offered toward the temple.

And this event had fulfilled a promise that God

had made to David. And Solomon appraises the

Lord saying that he has no equal. Now, At some

point, most of us have been to some sort of ceremony,

grand ceremony, the opening of a business, a

building, a school, a stadium, something like

that when a great work is completed. And you've

probably been to some sort of dedication like

that. Sometimes there is a ribbon cutting. It

can be a very grand affair. There's food and

balloons and celebration and all this, but...

Today, as Solomon dedicates his temple, we don't

see a ribbon cutting. We don't see a lot of these

things we would do today. He first raises his

hands and offers praise to the Lord for the work

that has been completed. Look with me, first

of all, in verses 22, 23, and 24. 1 Kings chapter

1 Kings 8:22

8, verse 22, 24. Then Solomon stood before the

altar of the Lord in the presence of all the

assembly of Israel. and spread out his hands

toward heaven. And he said, Lord God of Israel,

there is no God in heaven above or on earth below

like you, a God who keeps your covenant and mercy

with your servants who walk before you with all

their hearts. You have kept what you promised

to your servant, David, my father. You have both

spoken with your mouth and fulfilled it with

your hand as it is. this day. The first thing

we see is the faithfulness of God. And we see

here at this time of temple dedication, Solomon

begins to pray before all of Israel. And the

prayer of Solomon here in its entirety is one

of the longest prayers in the Bible. And Solomon

gives us a good biblical model for prayer here

in this dedication that we'll see this morning,

not just for dedicated church building, but also

in the day -to -day throws of our lives. The

opening words are of adoration and praise as

he starts. It says he stood before the altar

of the Lord in the presence of all Israel. And

Solomon opens his prayer by praising God for

who He is. He calls Him by His covenant name.

In your Bible, you will see capital L -O -R -D.

In the Old Testament, anytime you see capital

L -O -R -D, that is Yahweh. That was the original

word. That is God's covenant name. And when He

says, Lord Yahweh, God of the covenant, there

is no one like You. You are a covenant -keeping

God and you have a steadfast love for your covenant

people. Solomon addresses God as the Lord, acknowledging

His sovereignty over heaven and over the earth.

He specifically identifies Him here. He says,

God of Israel. God is not abstract. He is not

distant. He is not far off. Rather, He is near

to His people. He has a personal relationship

with His people. If you are a believer, He is

your God. As a church, we would profess that

He is our God. And this is a starting point for

all prayer, that we acknowledge God for who He

is before we start jumping into what we need

and the goings on of our lives. Solomon goes

on to speak of the incomparability of God. He

said that the Lord is without parallel. Wonderful

language. There is no one else like Him. He is

the one only true deity of the cosmos. Israel's

enemies on every side had many so -called gods.

But they were not in the same category as the

true and living God, the one and only, as Solomon

would go on to say. No one else can we trust

to satisfy the longings of our souls or take

care of our physical needs. There is no other

God like Him, Solomon said, on earth beneath

or in heaven above. And because of that, we would

proclaim and attest that there is no other being

deserving of our worship than the one true God

of heaven. There is no God like him at all, Solomon

said. He alone is the one true God. But Solomon

was not the first to pray this way. This is wonderful.

In fact, Israel had been doing so from the time

of Moses. If we went back to Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 4:39

4 verse 39, we would see Moses writing there,

Therefore know this day. and consider it in your

heart that the Lord Himself is God in heaven.

Above and on the earth beneath there is no other.

Solomon's father David echoed very similar words

in Psalm 86, where David said, Among the gods

there is none like you, O Lord, nor are there

any works like your works. All nations whom you

have made shall come and worship before you,

O Lord, and they shall glorify your name, for

you are great. do wondrous things, you alone

are God." Now when we pray, we would do well

to model after what we have seen so far. Our

prayer should start with praising God for who

He is. We should attest that He is holy, that

He is righteous, that He is high, that He is

above the heavens, that He is merciful, that

He is good, that He is ever faithful to His people.

And then we praise Him for what He has done.

past tense, what he is doing, present tense,

and what he has said he is going to do in the

future, future tense. Solomon goes on to say

that the Lord is faithful. Specifically, in this

instance of temple dedication, God had faithfully

promised David that one of his sons would not

only ascend to the throne, but would build a

temple that David had first desired to build

for the Lord. David said, here I am. living in

this wonderful house, Lord, and you are still

dwelling in a tent. Shame on me." And the Lord

said, David, it's a wonderful desire, but you

will not be the one to build my house. One of

your sons will. Our Lord is unique in His steadfast

covenantal love, which is His faithfulness to

fulfill all the promises that He has vowed. to

keep, promises that were made and affirmed with

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If I was to say to

you, Church, God has been ever faithful, you

would respond, amen. But let's qualify that a

little bit. Let's qualify the question. God promised

to establish a royal dynasty that endures to

this day through Jesus Christ, David's royal

son. Philip Riken said in his commentary, no

other God had ever promised anyone an eternal

kingship and then delivered on that promise,

except God, the one and only. He is a promise

-keeping God who always keeps His word to His

people. What God says, He will do. What God says,

He delivers. Solomon said, what you've said with

your mouth, you have delivered with your hand.

That there was no halfway of keeping that promise.

What God has said in His word, He will do. In

fact, Solomon's praise should be our praise.

Jesus said in John 20, 17, I am ascending to

my Father and your Father, to my God and to your

God. Through faith in Christ, we have a personal

relationship with the God of the universe. He

is our God. We are His people, the sheep of His

hand, the psalmist said, and we lay in His pastures.

God not only kept His promise of a royal line,

but also to provide a Savior by sending His very

own dear Son to die on the cross for our sins,

and not just to die on the cross for our sins,

but also to raise Him up from the grave with

the power of eternal life. We praise God every

time we pray, because He is a God who loves His

people and delivers on every single promise He

has made to His children. Secondly, not only

do we believe God's promises, we affirm God's

promises. Verse 25 and 26, Therefore, Lord God

of Israel, now keep what you've promised to your

servant David, my father, saying, You shall not

fail to have a man set before me on the throne

of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their

way, that they walk before me as you have walked

before me. And now I pray, O God of Israel, let

your word come true, which you have spoken to

your servant David, my father. Now while we start

prayer by acknowledging God for who He is, we

then do well to ask Him to do what He has said

in His Word. By affirming the promises He has

made, knowing what we just read, that He is a

promise -keeping God. Solomon's petition is based

on his praise. Now we are tempted at times to

think of prayer as a way of asking God for things,

things we want, things we desire. And certainly

it is appropriate to pray for the things that

we need, but prayer is also a way, we're told

in the scriptures, of asking God to confirm the

promises that He has made, and that is what Solomon

is doing here. When Solomon prayed for the throne

of Israel, he was not pursuing his own ambitions,

but standing on the promises that God had already

made. God vowed that one day one of David's son

would sit on this throne, and Solomon was praying

that God would honor that vow that he had made.

Notice, though. In those verses we read, walking

with God was a particular condition of that...

There are two types of promises and two types

of covenants, conditional and unconditional.

This was conditional on Solomon and his sons.

And Solomon prays that he and his sons would

walk with the Lord as David had done before.

If we had time, we could look at so many things.

We do not. Solomon was a man of wisdom. He was

a man who had a heart for God, but later in his

life, and then certainly his sons, would become

spiritual. failures. They failed to walk with

God in the way that Solomon had in the early

part of his life, in the way that David had in

his life, and their disobedience would ultimately

lead to Israel's downfall. After Solomon, the

kingdom would become divided and eventually would

be carried off into exile. Yet, this is wonderful,

Solomon's request in this prayer would not be

answered by one of his sons, but would be answered

in the person of Jesus Christ. Everything that

Solomon is praying He was not the ultimate fulfillment.

It was a shadow. Jesus Christ was the substance.

Think about this. Jesus prayed in a very similar

way to Solomon here, Luke 23, 46. Jesus prayed

to his father to do what he had promised as he

came to the very end of his earthly life. When

Jesus was on the cross, Luke 23, Jesus cried

out with a loud voice. He said, Father, into

your hands I commit my spirit. And having said

this, he breathed his last. uttered those words,

he was entrusting his life, body, and soul to

the Father's care. And He was asking the Father

to do what He had promised to do, and that is

raise Him from the dead and give Him an eternal

throne. On the third day, God did what He had

said. He affirmed those promises. His word was

confirmed by the bodily resurrection of Jesus

Christ and His ascension to the throne seated

at the right hand of the Father. Likewise, it

is good for us to pray the Word of God. It is

good for us to pray ourselves through the Scriptures.

It is good for us to pray ourselves through the

Epistles, through the Psalms, and ask God that

He would affirm the promises that He has made

to His people. That is a good thing. That is

why when Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer, He

encouraged us and instructed us to pray, thy

kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it

is in heaven. And we trust, based on the past

deliverances that God has done, that He will

fulfill every promise He has made to His people.

The third thing we see here is the transcendence

of God in verse 27. But will God indeed dwell

on the earth? Solomon praying here still. Behold,

heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain

you, how much less this temple I have built.

Now, in the middle of this prayer of dedication,

Solomon asks a very deep theological question.

And that is, will God indeed dwell on the earth?

And how so? The highest heaven of heavens cannot

contain His glory. We see God is transcendent,

that He is high above the heavens, and Sproul

put it very nicely. R .C. Sproul says, God transcends

space as He transcends time. He does not literally

dwell on a material throne, as Solomon observes

at the consecration of the Jerusalem temple,

but there are certain places in creation where

God has ordained that we will sense His presence

with particular intensity. Places like the burning

bush in Exodus chapter 3, places like the inner

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

court of the temple and indeed the person of

Jesus Christ, God's temple incarnate. Heaven

is one of those places, a literal dwelling place

of God to which Jesus ascended when His earthly

work was complete. When we think about the transcendence

of God, we would try to not become overwhelmed

because that would be very easy to do, but we

would do well to say that God is immense, that

His invisible being fills the entire universe.

And with that in mind, How could he be held within

four walls of any building? Nevertheless, Solomon

prays for God to be with his people. Last three

verses, 28 through 30. Solomon says, yet, in

spite of that, regard the prayer of your servant

and his supplication, O Lord my God. Very personal.

He says, listen to the cry and the prayer which

your servant is praying before you today. that

your eyes may be opened towards this temple night

and day, toward the place of which you said,

My name shall be there. And you may hear the

prayer which your servant makes toward this place,

and may you hear the supplication of your servant

and your people Israel, when they pray toward

this place, here in heaven your dwelling place,

and when you hear, forgive." Now, we learned

something here that, of course, God cannot be

contained. But the true God, as described in

verse 27, being so transcendent, being high above

the heavens, can be reached through our prayers.

This is wonderful. That through our pleas for

mercy and our pleas for grace to our Lord, through

prayers of triumph, through prayers of tears,

Solomon teaches us a great truth. This transcendence

does not destroy spiritual intimacy. Although

God is transcendent, He is also available. And

Solomon points out that He is available night

and day. Dale Davis in his commentary says, here

is the reason for both trembling and joy. Yahweh's

people can never comprehend Him in all the fullness

of His being. But they can apprehend Him in the

place of prayer. I cannot encompass God and His

grandeur, but I can engage Him in His grace.

His majesty dwarfs our universe, yet His ear

receives our prayers." This is wonderful and

amazing, church. I really want you to get this.

God is accessible and He is available, even though

He spoke the world into existence. Even though,

as He said it, creation happened. Even though

the Lord dwells... in heavens, and that it says

the highest heavens of heavens cannot even contain

Him, and that Genesis would just say that, you

know, He just created the stars also. It's just

some little subtle note there. Even though He

is transcendent, He is accessible to His children.

He is a God not only of grandeur but a God who

sees and hears His children. He has not cast

us off to fend for ourself. We are not distant

from Him. We are not out on our own. He hears

the prayers of His people and not only does He

hear them, He cares! God is intimately involved

in the lives of His children. The Lord has great

care for all those who have called out on the

name of the Lord and are saved. Those who have

been marked out as His and confess His name and

Savior, the Lord cares about us. It'd be one

thing if He just heard our prayers. It's a whole

nother that He has a care for us that we cannot

even fully comprehend. Church, how many of us...

have felt the presence of the Lord and felt Him

drawn near when it felt like the weight of the

world was on our shoulders, when we were just

being crushed by the circumstances of life all

around us and we did not know what to do, when

crisis strikes, when we are completely sideswiped,

we just don't know how we're going to carry on.

But how have we felt the prayers of our brothers

and sisters in Christ? And have we felt the presence

of the Lord just undergird us and almost carry

us through that season where we just felt like

we couldn't even put one foot in front of the

other? In those times, we run to the Lord. And

as we run to Him, we find a place of safety and

refuge as His children. When we pray, we have

the privilege to call Him our God. And we are

a people who desperately need our God. We are

not self -sufficient. We cannot do anything on

our own. The very breath that we have in our

lungs is a gift and a grace from God Almighty.

Every day that we get up, no matter our age,

and put our feet on the floor and stand up is

a gift from God, never to be taken for granted.

And we should pray accordingly, asking God to

listen to our humble pleas and our cries for

mercy. But notice this. Every request Solomon

has prayed to this prayer is not answered in

him. It is ultimately answered in Jesus Christ.

Will God dwell upon the earth, Solomon asks?

Yes. Matthew told us, we're told in Matthew,

Jesus was to be called Emmanuel. God with us.

The temple was never to be a final dwelling place

of the Lord. Christ Himself was to be the true

temple. In Christ, the fullness. of God dwelt

bodily as Christ incarnately came and took on

flesh and God then dwelt among his people. The

temple Solomon dedicated is a shadow. Christ

was the substance. Christ not only coming to

dwell amongst his people, taking on flesh, He

lived amongst a fallen race to die for our sins

and then to rise again so that we could live

with Him. In Christ, God has certainly dwelt

on the earth. But after all this, I want you

to notice God's response to Solomon's prayer,

this heartfelt prayer that he has made in earnest

faith, this prayer of dedication, a prayer that

acknowledged who God was. a prayer that asks

God to confirm His promises and a prayer to dwell

amongst His people, to hear their prayers and

to forgive them. And we would read that in 2

Chronicles 7. We read it in our Order of Service

also. When Solomon had finished praying, fire

came down from heaven. It wasn't just an audible

voice as it was when Jesus was baptized. Fire

came down from heaven and consumed the burnt

offerings and the sacrifices that had been prepared

and laid out there on the altar. And it says,

the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And

the priests could not enter the house of the

Lord. Why couldn't they go do their duties? Why

couldn't they do their services? Because the

glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.

And when Israel, who was all gathered there,

when the children of Israel saw how the fire

came down, and the glory of the Lord had entered

the house and was on the temple, it says they

bowed their faces to the ground. They went prostrate

before the Lord on the pavement and they worshiped

Him and they praised God saying, He is good for

his mercy endures forever. We hold 1 Kings and

2 Chronicles together in parallel. Each book

has a slightly different focus. 1 Kings focuses

on why the kingdom eventually split, but 2 Chronicles

focuses on a post -exile people focusing on God's

faithfulness, proper worship, and the importance

of the temple. But because of these purposes,

we have different emphases. But we see here in

2 Chronicles, when Solomon finished praying,

this fire descends and comes upon these sacrifices,

consuming them. And the glory of the Lord, capital

L -O -R -D, there again, Yahweh, fills the temple

visibly for all Israel and Solomon, confirming

that God's acceptance of the worship and the

prayer that was offered according to His covenant.

That the overwhelming manifestation of God's

God's presence in fire and in the temple prevented

the priests from demonstrating His holiness and

His sovereign majesty. And in response, what

do His people do? They're driven to worship.

They fall down. They put their faces before the

Lord reverently, confessing God's goodness and

His steadfast love. And you say, that's great.

That is wonderful. What about us? What about

the saints gathered on Kitts Hill here at Mamrie

Baptist Church this morning? Church, as we have

heard Solomon pray, we must remember we too have

a King who prays for us. Not just on this earth,

Jesus Christ, the greater Solomon, who not only

prayed for us in the garden and prayed for us

on this earth, now makes royal intercession for

us in heaven. In every way that Solomon and his

sons fell short, Christ never did. They were

spiritual failures. They transgressed the law.

They chased after false gods. But in stark contrast,

Jesus Christ kept the law of God faithfully in

every point. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment

of Solomon's example. In the days of Solomon,

God put his name on the temple. But what about

now? What about us? God now dwells among his

people, the church, by his Holy Spirit. Paul

would write in Ephesians, Now therefore, you

are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow

citizens with the saints and members of the household

of God, having been built on the foundation of

the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ

being the chief cornerstone, and whom the whole

building. Being fitted together grows into a

holy temple in the Lord, here you are, in whom

you also are being built together for a dwelling

place of God in the Spirit. Because God has kept

the promises that He has made to His beloved

Son, Jesus Christ, we have every confidence that

He will keep the promises He has made to us,

His beloved children. Our expectancy every time

we go to prayer is based on the fidelity of God's

promises because He has kept every promise He

has made in Scripture. Because He has kept every

promise He has made to His dear Son, we have

every confidence that He will keep every promise

that He has made to His children, to you and

I. We have every expectancy. And when we go to

prayer, we stand on those promises and we trust

in them every time we pray. God has promised

that His church would persevere to the very end,

that the gates of hell would not prevail against

it. So church, we pray for the perseverance of

Christ Church, especially in places that it is

under severe persecution in countries all over

the world where our dear brothers in Christ are

at great risk every time they go to worship.

God has promised that his kingdom will grow until

every tribe and nation gives honor and glory

to him. So we pray that God expand his wide dominion

by planting new churches and sending gospel workers

to the ends of the earth. Church, not only does

God hear us when we pray, we have been granted

great access to Him. We do not have to go to

a particular temple and have someone intercede

for us. We do not have to come and offer physical

sacrifices to have our sins covered anymore.

They were atoned by Jesus Christ the righteous.

No matter the time, Solomon said, day or night.

Hear the prayers of your people. Forgive them.

God hears the prayers of His covenant people

and the assurity of His word. He hears the petitions

made from our beds during long sleepless nights

where sleep is gone from us, where the cares

of the world have overtaken us, where we have

so much going on and we just don't know what

to do. He hears us from there. He hears us on

our best days as we pray throughout our days.

God hears us in all places at all times. We have

access to Him. that they did not have at the

time of this dedication. It was unfathomable

to God's people. The Lord hears us when we pray,

and as He hears us, He answers us according to

His will for the divine purposes of His glory.

And we rest in that. We take our prayers to the

Lord, and we rest that His will be done in accordance

with His glory. You say, okay, in light of this

text, how now must I live? Church? We must live

by the truths that we pray. Our prayers must

be deep. They can't be surface level, superficial,

robotic. Since God is a faithful God, we trust

Him to provide for our needs even when we're

not sure how it's going to be accomplished. Since

He's a loving God, we believe that He cares for

us even when we feel forsaken by those around

us. resting in the fact that He calls us His

own. Since He is a promise -keeping God, we are

convinced that He will save us to the very end,

even when life is hard and we're not sure how

we can go on from day to day. We rest in the

truth that God has began a good work in us and

He will bring it to completion. We have the privilege

of praying to an all -wise, merciful, gracious

promise. keeping God. May the Lord help us to

do so, to pray in this way, seeking his face

in prayer regularly and consistently for his

ultimate glory. Church, this is the word of the

Lord. Amen. We don't get to the Old Testament

that often. We do on Sunday nights quite a bit,

but on Sunday mornings we're in the study of

Matthew, Pastor Ryan, and I enjoy going back

in the Old Testament and seeing the prophets

and the saints and the shadows that we see and

ultimately the fulfillment in Christ. We have

to find that every single time. We've reached

a point in our service that we have sang, we

have praised, we have had public prayer. We've

opened God's word, and now we come to the point

of service that we set aside every week to come

to the table of the Lord and take communion with

one another. And as we look to these sacraments,

the bread and the cup, we do invite you to the

table this morning. It's the Lord's table. But

by coming to the table, we are not only engaging

in a common means of