GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 7:11-16
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11 When Solomon had completed the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had finished everything he had in mind to do for the house of the LORD and for his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house for sacrifice.
The account jumps to a moment long after the dedication of the temple. The dedication took place in about 958 BC in the seventh month (Tishri, our October), a little more than seven years after the building was begun and less than a year after the project was completed. However, we are told that Solomon had also completed the palace at this time, which was not accomplished until around the twentieth year of his reign (see 2 Chronicles 8:1). Solomon’s reign began in 970, so this would have been about 950 BC, seven or eight years after the dedication of the temple, and halfway through Solomon’s forty-year reign.
The Lord appeared to the king for the second time (he also appeared to Solomon at Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3-13). In my judgment, this was in a dream:
1, It happened during the night (verse 12).
2, The parallel account in 1 Kings 9:2 says that the Lord appeared to the king “as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.”
3, In the Gibeon appearance, the Lord appeared in a dream (1 Kings 3:5; 3:15).
4, There is no outstanding reason to take the phrase “as he had appeared to him at Gibeon” as anything other than “in the same way as,” although a skeptic might argue that it only means “he had also appeared at Gibeon– there it was a dream, but here it is unspecified.” There is no real reason to argue about this; skeptics do not argue for the sake of understanding God’s word more clearly, they simply argue.
In the dream, God said: “I have heard your prayer,” and “I have chosen this place as a house for sacrifice.” God does not always answer prayers right away. But now that seven years had gone by with daily sacrifices and the three yearly festivals faithfully kept, he acknowledged Solomon’s request. Of course, he had already appeared in the cloud, the Glory of the LORD, during the dedication ceremony, so there was no reason to doubt any of these things, but God knows that man needs to hear the truth and to hear it spoken again. Our God is seldom subtle; his compassion leads him to be direct.
13 “When I close up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves, pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. 15 My eyes will be open now, and my ears will be attentive now to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple for my Name to be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there every day.
The Lord proclaims various responses he might make to unfaithfulness on behalf of the people. First: No rain (see Jeremiah 14; James 5:17). No rain meant no crops, no harvest; no food. The people would suffer. Of course, they could bargain with other nations like Egypt for food, but the shortages would lead them to consider their sins and perhaps lead them to repent. This happened in the days of Jeroboam II, king of Israel (Amos 4:7).
Second, he might send locusts, as he had against Egypt (Exodus 10:13). This almost happened in Israel, also in the days of Jeroboam II, except the prophet interceded for the people (Amos 7:1).
Third, he might send plagues, which he did against Egypt (again and again, Exodus 7:14-12:30) and some specific plagues against Israel and Judah (Habakkuk 3:5; Amos 4:10).
But God does not do such things out of spite or for revenge. He does these things so that people might become aware of their sins, and become afraid of suffering the eternal consequences of hell and all its horrors, and remember the promises of forgiveness that God has always made. And this is the goal he spells out here to David’s son: “If my people humble themselves, pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.” He will forgive those who do these things. But in between “humble themselves” and “turn from their wicked ways,” which are things done outwardly, at least in part, are the inward parts of faith: to pray and to seek God’s holy face; that is, his forgiveness. These are matters of trust and faith that are impossible for the hypocrite and the unbeliever to do. But anyone, everyone, who has faith in Christ and comes to God to be forgiven, will indeed be forgiven. But those who cling to their wicked ways, whether openly or secretly in their hearts, those who are “not generous, not gentle, not humble,” he brings his sins back down on his own account on his own head once again, and he is lost. “But if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life” (Ezekiel 18:27). To do what is just and right is most especially to have faith in God and in God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.
We anticipate and look for this forgiveness, to be assured of God’s love and graciousness to shine down on us to give us consciences set free of guilt, lives free from shame, hearts free from the terror of hell’s fire and agony. We yearn to be liberated from all of the bondage of sin, including those doubts that plague us all right up until the hour of death. Happy is the Christian who dies with a good friend or faithful minister to assure them of their forgiveness and their place at God’s side! How happy is the faithful believer who dies without any fear of the Devil, without any questions about the Law, without any lingering sins that trouble their hearts, but who see Jesus and only Jesus, and the place prepared for them ahead of time, just as the Lamb of God promised (John 14:2). “Who is sufficient,” Clement of Rome asked as the first century drew to a close, “to proclaim the majesty of the beauty of God’s love?” (1 Clement 49:2). The answer is you. Happy are you because you know all these things. Share them with the people you love, and don’t let them forget– especially the little ones. Make sure they know: God’s eyes and God’s heart are on them and with them, every day.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 I have heard your prayer