[The Prayer of the Temple]
2 Chronicles 6:36-42
Solomon finishes building the temple. So all the people gathered there and worshiped
at the dedication ceremony of the temple.And there Solomon prays on behalf of all the people.
Im going to look at three things through todays Word about the prayer of the temple.
First, the plea of the repentant sinner.
'There is no one who does not sin against the Lord' (v. 36). Its a confession that we humans,
everyone, are all sinners. The essence of sin is to disobey God by missing his aim,
the will created by God. God does not let our sins stand by. He always watches with fiery eyes
and is angry about sin and judges sin. In Solomons time, the state of punishment paying for
the crimewas just captured by the enemy. Its a state of being tied up as a punishment for sin. (v. 37)
God says three things about what the saints should do in the captive land (v.37-38).
The first is to realize for oneself, the second is to turn back there, and the third is to ask God.
Here, to realize for oneself is to make change the mind.
Rather than the realization that we didnt know, we completely change our hearts and minds.
Change of heart is a turnaround just from what I thought it was the right answer,
what I thought it was the standard of the world. Thats just what I acknowledge that the sin
I have committed is far greater than the suffering I have been captured. Repentance is what reverses my body,
my actions, and my life according to this repentance. Repentance is different from desperation.
Because its not giving up completely, but begging God in repentance. It contains my wish for God.
The thing thats captured is what I deserve, but I hope its not the end of my life. The Lord, who built me
and is suffering with me now, is praying in aid for me and eagerly waiting for me to turn around.
Because I look at the Lord who will set me up as a temple in this captive land and ask him for his hope.
This is the prayer of the temple.
Second, the Lord in heaven is listening to.
The Lord in heaven listens to the plea of the repentant sinner. (v.39). No matter how unqualified sinners,
sinners the world condemns, and terrible sinners my conscience cannot allow, if you repent in Jesus Christ
and pray to God in heaven, the Lord in heaven listens to you. God in heaven comes close to us
enough to expressthat he sees our prayers with his eyes and listens with his ears (v. 40).
This is how the holiest and most omnipotent God hears our prayers. God actively answers our prayers
with his omnipotent power and holy nature. God takes care of all these things that we pray for,
and forgives our sins that we confess. Here, taking care of our work does not mean
that God will fulfill everything we want.The exact meaning is, Please make the Lords righteous judgment
on these things I prayed for. We have to repent by seeing our sins in the land that we are now obsessed with.
We shouldnt just understand it in my head, but my heart has to agree with it completely.
Therefore, I have to fully admit that I am a 100% sinner, and I beg God to in order to fully admit
that God who says I am a sinner is 100% completely right. We should pray to God that the will be done
on earth as it was done in heaven, and that we will be established as a temple of God in this land.
Judgment of sin is salvation for our saints. The result of confessing that we are 100% sinners is not death but life.
Because the Lord forgives us.
Third, I am happy because of Jesus Christ.
Solomon called the temple the 'comfortable place of the Lord' (v. 41). It means a house
where you can rest comfortably. He is asking God in heaven to take this temple he has built
with his people as Gpdshome and come in here to stay and live with them. Solomon also knew that this was
a ridiculous request. But now Solomon is earnestly asking the Lord to come closer to us
and hear our prayers. But as you can see in Chapter 7, God answered this prayer now
and filled the temple with Gods glory. God came into the temple and lived together,
and the priests who worshiped in the temple were saved. And the saints of the Lord were pleased
with the grace God had given them. This joy was not another joy, but the joy of meeting God in the temple.
The meeting with God is a meeting that can never take place with us, because we are 100% sinners
and God is 100% right, but this meeting will provide us with life. So its salvation and we are glad for it.
David, the king of your oil(v. 42), was a shadow of Jesus Christ in advance, and the reality is Jesus.
God has achieved all righteousness through Davids obedience to Him instead of us,
and now he sends the Holy Spirit among us to let us obey God as Jesus did. Because of Jesus,
who became the body of the Word and was obedient to death, all the prayers of our temple must be answered,
and we must be established as the temple of God and must meet God.
