Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 7:1-11 - Why God's Fire Was Never to Go Out
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners. I hope
- 0:02Speaker 1: you all had a fantastic weekend, and I'm so thankful
- 0:06Speaker 1: that you're here to share a delicious cup of coffee
- 0:09Speaker 1: with me as we read the Bible together. Today we
- 0:11Speaker 1: are in the Book of Second Chronicles, chapter seven, and
- 0:14Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about this big party that
- 0:17Speaker 1: Solomon throws for the people after the dedication of the temple,
- 0:21Speaker 1: and also God's presence coming down and lighting the altar
- 0:24Speaker 1: with his fire. It's going to be a great episode,
- 0:27Speaker 1: so stay tuned. So as you guys know, on Mondays
- 0:38Speaker 1: and Wednesdays, I talked about the Old Testament, and then
- 0:40Speaker 1: Tuesdays and Thursdays I discuss the New Testament. And I
- 0:44Speaker 1: am so happy to announce that tomorrow we are going
- 0:48Speaker 1: to be starting the Book of First Timothy. And the
- 0:52Speaker 1: reason I'm so excited about it is because the books
- 0:54Speaker 1: of First and Second Timothy are some of my favorite
- 0:57Speaker 1: in the New Testament. And I know I say that
- 0:59Speaker 1: about it every book of the Bible, every single one
- 1:02Speaker 1: of them is my favorite. But I'm telling you guys,
- 1:04Speaker 1: first and Second Timothy are some of my favorite books
- 1:07Speaker 1: in the New Testament. So make sure to tune in.
- 1:10Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you guys
- 1:11Speaker 1: are as well. Before today, let's go ahead and read
- 1:14Speaker 1: Second Chronicles seven one through eleven, and I'll be reading,
- 1:18Speaker 1: as always, from the web and we'll be covering a
- 1:20Speaker 1: few topics today, mainly God's fire coming down out of heaven.
- 1:26Speaker 1: What was that about? And also why does God command
- 1:29Speaker 1: the people for the fire to never go out on
- 1:32Speaker 1: the altar? How is that possible? And lastly, is it
- 1:35Speaker 1: okay for Christians to have fun and to party? We'll
- 1:39Speaker 1: get into all that today. So let's read Second Chronicle
- 1:42Speaker 1: seven one through eleven. I'll be reading from the web now.
- 1:48Speaker 1: When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven
- 1:51Speaker 1: and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and Ya
- 1:54Speaker 1: Always Glory filled the house. The priests could not enter
- 1:58Speaker 1: into Yaway's house because y Always Glory filled Yahway's house.
- 2:02Speaker 1: All the children of Israel looked on when the fire
- 2:04Speaker 1: came down and Yahwei's glory was on the house. They
- 2:07Speaker 1: bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement,
- 2:10Speaker 1: worshiped and gave thanks to Yahweh, saying for he is
- 2:13Speaker 1: good for his loving kindness indoors forever. Then the king
- 2:17Speaker 1: and all the people offered sacrifices before Yahweh. King Solomon
- 2:21Speaker 1: offered a sacrifice of twenty two thousand head of cattle
- 2:24Speaker 1: and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king
- 2:27Speaker 1: and all the people dedicated at God's house. The priests
- 2:30Speaker 1: stood according to their positions. The levites also with instruments
- 2:34Speaker 1: of music to Yahweh, which David the King had made,
- 2:37Speaker 1: to give thanks to Yahweh. When David praised by their ministry,
- 2:40Speaker 1: saying for his loving kindness indoors forever, the priests sounded
- 2:44Speaker 1: trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. Moreover, Solomon made
- 2:48Speaker 1: the middle of the court that was before Yahwai's house holy,
- 2:51Speaker 1: for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat
- 2:54Speaker 1: of the peace offerings. Because the bronze altar which Solomon
- 2:57Speaker 1: had made was not able to receive the burnt offering,
- 3:00Speaker 1: the meal offering, and the fat. So Solomon held the
- 3:03Speaker 1: feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel
- 3:07Speaker 1: was with him a very great assembly from the entrance
- 3:10Speaker 1: of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. On the eighth day,
- 3:13Speaker 1: they held a solemn assembly, for they kept to the
- 3:16Speaker 1: dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days.
- 3:20Speaker 1: On the twenty third day of the seventh month, he
- 3:22Speaker 1: sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad
- 3:25Speaker 1: of heart for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David,
- 3:29Speaker 1: to Solomon, and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished
- 3:33Speaker 1: the y Alway's house and the king's house, and he
- 3:35Speaker 1: successfully completed all that came into Solomon's heart to make
- 3:38Speaker 1: in Yahwai's house and in his own house. We finished
- 3:43Speaker 1: talking about the dedication prayer that Solomon gave last week,
- 3:47Speaker 1: and it was a very long prayer. It's a very
- 3:49Speaker 1: beautiful prayer. We had to break it up into two sections.
- 3:52Speaker 1: But essentially, Solomon gave thanks that God had blessed Israel.
- 3:58Speaker 1: He gave thanks that God had blessed Solomon himself, and
- 4:01Speaker 1: then he also asked God to bless the people in
- 4:04Speaker 1: the future, specifically with forgiveness. Solomon was like, when the
- 4:09Speaker 1: people's sin and when they are carried away to foreign
- 4:14Speaker 1: lands because of their sin, please God hear from heaven
- 4:18Speaker 1: when they change their minds and come to their senses.
- 4:21Speaker 1: And that was essentially the entire prayer. And so now
- 4:24Speaker 1: the dedication of the temple is over, and God himself,
- 4:29Speaker 1: who has already accepted the temple, because don't forget, before
- 4:32Speaker 1: Solomon gave that prayer, God actually came down and filled
- 4:36Speaker 1: the temple with the cloud of his glory, so much
- 4:39Speaker 1: so that the priests couldn't even enter the temple because
- 4:41Speaker 1: of how thick the cloud was. God's glory was just
- 4:44Speaker 1: too great. And that was when Solomon gave the prayer
- 4:48Speaker 1: in Second Chronicles, chapter six. And now Solomon finishes the prayer,
- 4:53Speaker 1: and here's what it says in verse one. Now, when
- 4:55Speaker 1: Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and
- 4:59Speaker 1: con assumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and yahways,
- 5:03Speaker 1: glory filled the house. The priests could not enter into
- 5:08Speaker 1: Yaway's house because yahways, glory filled Yahwey's house. Now you
- 5:13Speaker 1: might be like, man, that sounds a lot like what
- 5:16Speaker 1: happened in Second Chronicles five. You know, like, right before
- 5:20Speaker 1: Solomon gave the prayer, it says something very similar that
- 5:23Speaker 1: God's glory filled the house and the priests couldn't enter
- 5:26Speaker 1: because of God's glory. So is this the same thing? No,
- 5:30Speaker 1: I don't think it's the same thing, because let's go
- 5:32Speaker 1: back and read Second Chronicles five and talk about God's
- 5:36Speaker 1: glory first filling the temple. Second Chronicles five twelve through
- 5:40Speaker 1: fourteen says this, the levites, who are singers, all of them,
- 5:45Speaker 1: even asaf Hayman, Jennithon, and their sons and their brothers,
- 5:48Speaker 1: arrayed in fine linen with symbols and stringed instruments and harps,
- 5:52Speaker 1: stood at the east end of the altar, and with
- 5:54Speaker 1: them one hundred and twenty priests sounding the trumpets. When
- 5:57Speaker 1: the trumpet tears and the singers were was one to
- 6:00Speaker 1: make one's sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh.
- 6:03Speaker 1: And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets
- 6:05Speaker 1: and the symbols and the instruments of music, and praised Yahweh,
- 6:08Speaker 1: saying for he is good, for his loving kindness, endorsed forever.
- 6:12Speaker 1: Then the house was filled with a cloud, even Yahweh's house,
- 6:16Speaker 1: so that the priest could not stand to minister by
- 6:18Speaker 1: reason for the cloud. So, as you can see, that's
- 6:20Speaker 1: a little bit different than our passage for today. It
- 6:23Speaker 1: mentions the cloud filling the house. And this cloud was
- 6:27Speaker 1: so I guess glory filled that the priests couldn't even
- 6:31Speaker 1: go into the temple. But in second Chronicle seven it
- 6:34Speaker 1: mentions the fire that came down, not the cloud. So
- 6:39Speaker 1: let's read this again. Second Chronicle seven, verse one, when
- 6:42Speaker 1: Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and
- 6:45Speaker 1: consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and Yahweh's glory
- 6:49Speaker 1: filled the house. So there you can see it was
- 6:52Speaker 1: not a cloud this time. It was actually fire coming
- 6:55Speaker 1: down from heaven. And this is really cool because there's
- 6:58Speaker 1: two things we associate with God's presence, the first being
- 7:02Speaker 1: the cloud and the second thing being fire. Especially if
- 7:06Speaker 1: you're reading through the Early Old Testament, like in the
- 7:09Speaker 1: Book of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you'll see God show
- 7:13Speaker 1: up a lot in the form of either a pillar
- 7:16Speaker 1: of cloud or a pillar of fire. So God now
- 7:20Speaker 1: shows up as a pillar of fire to his people.
- 7:25Speaker 1: The fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt
- 7:29Speaker 1: offering and the sacrifices, and yahways glory filled the house,
- 7:33Speaker 1: so that the priests could not enter into Yahway's house
- 7:35Speaker 1: because yahways glory filled the house, and all the children
- 7:38Speaker 1: of Israel looked on and when the fire came down
- 7:41Speaker 1: and Yahways glory was on the house, they bowed themselves
- 7:44Speaker 1: with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiped
- 7:47Speaker 1: and gave thanks to Yahwehs, saying for He is good,
- 7:49Speaker 1: for his loving kindness endors forever. Can you imagine being
- 7:53Speaker 1: one of the people that sees fire come down out
- 7:57Speaker 1: of heaven and consume the burnt offering? Could can you
- 8:01Speaker 1: imagine that? Like? How could you not have faith in
- 8:05Speaker 1: God after seeing something so amazing like that? And that's
- 8:10Speaker 1: what the people were able to see. They saw God's
- 8:14Speaker 1: presence consume the burnt offering and fill the temple even
- 8:20Speaker 1: more with his glory. You know, his glory was already
- 8:23Speaker 1: in the temple in the form of the cloud, but
- 8:25Speaker 1: now it shows up even more so that the people
- 8:29Speaker 1: can't help but worship God. But what's really funny about
- 8:33Speaker 1: this is if you go to Exodus I'm sorry, Leviticus
- 8:37Speaker 1: chapter nine, twenty three and twenty four, God does pretty
- 8:42Speaker 1: much the exact same thing. Back in the wilderness days
- 8:46Speaker 1: when the tene meeting was first made and dedicated, God
- 8:51Speaker 1: also in the form of fire, came down and consumed
- 8:54Speaker 1: the burnt offering. But the people have a very very
- 8:57Speaker 1: different response to God's presence in Leviticus than they did
- 9:03Speaker 1: in our passage for today. So let's read Leviticus nine,
- 9:06Speaker 1: twenty three, and twenty four and see how the people respond.
- 9:10Speaker 1: Moses and Aaron went into the tenim meeting and came
- 9:13Speaker 1: out and blessed the people, and Yahweh's glory appeared to
- 9:16Speaker 1: all the people. Fire came out from before Yahweh and
- 9:19Speaker 1: consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar.
- 9:23Speaker 1: When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell
- 9:26Speaker 1: on their faces. So that's a very different response than
- 9:32Speaker 1: what the people and Second Chronicles were doing. The people
- 9:36Speaker 1: in the wilderness were so freaked out by God's presence
- 9:42Speaker 1: that they shouted like they screamed when they saw God
- 9:47Speaker 1: consume the burnt offering, and they fell on their faces
- 9:51Speaker 1: as if they were dead. Whereas the people in Second
- 9:55Speaker 1: Chronicle seven, Yes they fell on their faces, but they
- 9:58Speaker 1: did it in worship, and there was no screaming for
- 10:00Speaker 1: their lives that we know of. Instead, they were giving
- 10:04Speaker 1: thanks to Yahweh and worshiping, and they were singing for
- 10:08Speaker 1: He is good, for his loving kindness indoors forever. So
- 10:11Speaker 1: a very very different response from the people in second
- 10:14Speaker 1: chronicle seven as compared to the people in the wilderness,
- 10:18Speaker 1: And that just goes to show like how against God
- 10:23Speaker 1: the wilderness people truly were that like every single time
- 10:27Speaker 1: he showed up, they were freaked out and couldn't handle it.
- 10:32Speaker 1: They didn't want his presence. Is kind of what it
- 10:35Speaker 1: seems like. But now, thankfully, through the leadership of David
- 10:40Speaker 1: and Solomon being Yahweh worshipers so excited about the dedication
- 10:45Speaker 1: of the brand new temple to God, the people have
- 10:49Speaker 1: courage and faith that when they see God show up
- 10:53Speaker 1: in the form of fire, they are able to worship
- 10:55Speaker 1: rather than screaming and falling over like dead. But why
- 10:59Speaker 1: did God show up in this way? Why is it
- 11:03Speaker 1: that whenever a new temple or tene meeting is dedicated,
- 11:08Speaker 1: God shoots fire out of heaven and burns up the
- 11:11Speaker 1: sacrifice on the altar, Like, why is that God's chosen method? Well,
- 11:16Speaker 1: because of what Leviticus chapter six says, this was a
- 11:21Speaker 1: law that God gave to the people. Leviticus six eight
- 11:27Speaker 1: through thirteen. You always spoke to Moses saying command Aaron
- 11:31Speaker 1: and his sons saying This is the law of the
- 11:34Speaker 1: burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth
- 11:37Speaker 1: of the altar all night until the morning, and the
- 11:40Speaker 1: fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.
- 11:43Speaker 1: The priest shall put on his linen garment, and shall
- 11:46Speaker 1: put on his linen trousers upon his body, and shall
- 11:49Speaker 1: remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the
- 11:52Speaker 1: burnt offering on the altar, and shall put them beside
- 11:54Speaker 1: the altar. He shall take off his garments and put
- 11:57Speaker 1: on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp
- 12:00Speaker 1: to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall
- 12:03Speaker 1: be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, and
- 12:06Speaker 1: the priest shall burn wood on it. Every morning. He
- 12:09Speaker 1: shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it and
- 12:11Speaker 1: shall burn it on the fat of the peace offerings.
- 12:14Speaker 1: Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually. It
- 12:17Speaker 1: shall not go out. So what's the one theme you
- 12:20Speaker 1: noticed in all of those verses that the fire should
- 12:26Speaker 1: not go out? It needed to keep burning continually on
- 12:30Speaker 1: the altar. And why is that? Well, because God himself
- 12:34Speaker 1: lit it. God did not want the priests lighting a
- 12:40Speaker 1: new fire every single day, because, first and foremost that
- 12:42Speaker 1: actually does take a long time to do. Like if
- 12:45Speaker 1: you guys have ever tried to light a fire, sometimes
- 12:47Speaker 1: it is like stubborn and it's really really hard to
- 12:50Speaker 1: light something on fire like that. You know those things
- 12:52Speaker 1: when you were a kid, how they always told you
- 12:55Speaker 1: like stop, drop and roll and you thought that, you know,
- 12:57Speaker 1: catching fire was so easy. It is not easy. Like
- 13:02Speaker 1: I have dried leaves in my backyard and I can't
- 13:05Speaker 1: even catch them on fire. Starting a fire every single
- 13:08Speaker 1: morning would be very difficult. So it's easier actually on
- 13:12Speaker 1: the priests to keep this fire lit all the time. Now,
- 13:17Speaker 1: this of course means that there'd have to be priests
- 13:19Speaker 1: working around the clock to make sure that fire never
- 13:22Speaker 1: went out, But that wasn't a problem in the days
- 13:25Speaker 1: of Solomon because of how many priests there actually were,
- 13:29Speaker 1: Like it was doable to have priests working around the clock.
- 13:33Speaker 1: There are so many priests. In fact, they would take
- 13:36Speaker 1: turns and take breaks and things. But anyway, the altar
- 13:39Speaker 1: was always supposed to be lit with the fire of God.
- 13:42Speaker 1: And why is that. It wasn't just because it's easier
- 13:45Speaker 1: to keep a fire going, but it was also because
- 13:48Speaker 1: this fire was special. This was God's fire from his
- 13:53Speaker 1: own glory. So you can imagine, you know, the people
- 13:58Speaker 1: who see this happening at the dedication of the temple,
- 14:02Speaker 1: they can tell their grandchildren seventy years later, Hey, when
- 14:08Speaker 1: I was a little kid your age, I saw that
- 14:11Speaker 1: fire get lit. And then that little kid can grow
- 14:15Speaker 1: up and tell his kids about it, and the people
- 14:18Speaker 1: of Israel would know that was God's fire. There was
- 14:21Speaker 1: something special about that God himself had actually been among
- 14:26Speaker 1: his people and was still with them in that glorious fire.
- 14:31Speaker 1: So that's the main reason why the fire was never
- 14:33Speaker 1: supposed to go out, because it was a special fire
- 14:36Speaker 1: and a testament to who God really was. And actually
- 14:41Speaker 1: the priests were successful that we know of, in keeping
- 14:44Speaker 1: this fire lit the entire time. It was lit until
- 14:49Speaker 1: the Babylonian captivity. Actually, and we know the Babylonians came in,
- 14:54Speaker 1: they destroyed the temple, and at that point, you know,
- 14:56Speaker 1: the fire went out. But after all that happened, they say,
- 15:00Speaker 1: the fire miraculously came back in the time of the Maccabees,
- 15:06Speaker 1: when the temple had been rebuilt and the Maccabees were
- 15:11Speaker 1: protecting it from the Greeks who came in trying to
- 15:13Speaker 1: destroy it. So that fire was special and it was
- 15:16Speaker 1: never supposed to go out because it was a testament
- 15:18Speaker 1: to who God really was. So after the people see this,
- 15:22Speaker 1: this miraculous sign from heaven, they of course can't help
- 15:26Speaker 1: but worship, and they're singing to God. They're singing for
- 15:29Speaker 1: he is good, for his loving kindness endorsed forever. Now,
- 15:33Speaker 1: this was a little ditty that David had made. In fact,
- 15:37Speaker 1: you'll see through the psalms that this was a very
- 15:40Speaker 1: common phrase that David used in a lot of different psalms,
- 15:44Speaker 1: So it was a common thing for the people to sing.
- 15:46Speaker 1: And actually it even says that in this passage. It
- 15:51Speaker 1: mentions that David praised God by saying his loving kindness
- 15:56Speaker 1: endures forever. That's in a verse. Say we'll get to
- 16:00Speaker 1: that in a second. But in verse four, the king
- 16:03Speaker 1: and all the people offered sacrifices before Yahweh. King Solomon
- 16:06Speaker 1: offered a sacrifice of twenty two thousand head of cattle
- 16:09Speaker 1: and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep, So the king
- 16:12Speaker 1: and all the people dedicated God's house. So something I
- 16:14Speaker 1: didn't realize earlier when I talked about all of the
- 16:18Speaker 1: crazy amounts of sacrifices that Solomon did in dedication to
- 16:21Speaker 1: the temple. I didn't realize until today that he had
- 16:25Speaker 1: done two separate sacrifices. I kind of thought it was
- 16:28Speaker 1: just one. And we went into that. We talked about how,
- 16:32Speaker 1: you know, God does not desire sacrifice like it was
- 16:35Speaker 1: necessary at this time because that was how people had
- 16:39Speaker 1: their sins forgiven. But God didn't desire it because animal
- 16:43Speaker 1: sacrifice was just a problem of sin technically, and also
- 16:50Speaker 1: the animals themselves. You know, God loves animals and cares
- 16:53Speaker 1: about their lives. So God does not desire animal sacrifices,
- 16:57Speaker 1: but they were necessary to be done. But in the
- 17:01Speaker 1: case of right here, where Solomon's offering a sacrifice of
- 17:04Speaker 1: twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred and
- 17:06Speaker 1: twenty thousand sheep, most people think he wasn't doing that
- 17:10Speaker 1: sacrifice for himself, but actually for the people. Now, these
- 17:15Speaker 1: were peace offerings that we find out in First Kings eight,
- 17:18Speaker 1: and when it came to peace offerings, part of the
- 17:21Speaker 1: sacrifice went back to the people, so some of that
- 17:24Speaker 1: meat actually went home with the individual. That wasn't the
- 17:28Speaker 1: case for every sacrifice. A lot of times a sacrifice
- 17:30Speaker 1: was a sacrifice. You know, you gave the entire animal
- 17:34Speaker 1: to God. But in the case of peace offerings, the
- 17:37Speaker 1: meat was given back to the people and only part
- 17:41Speaker 1: of the animal was given to God. So it could
- 17:43Speaker 1: be that Solomon, in planning this big party, that he
- 17:47Speaker 1: had actually dedicated a lot of this meat to the
- 17:51Speaker 1: people and gave it to them as a free gift
- 17:55Speaker 1: of celebration for the dedication of the temple stood according
- 18:01Speaker 1: to their positions, and the levites also with instruments of
- 18:03Speaker 1: music to Yahweh which David the King had made to
- 18:06Speaker 1: give thanks to Yahweh. When David praised by their ministry,
- 18:09Speaker 1: saying for his loving kindness endorsed forever, the priest sounded
- 18:12Speaker 1: trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. Moreover, Solomon made
- 18:17Speaker 1: the middle of the court that was before Yahway's house holy,
- 18:20Speaker 1: for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat
- 18:22Speaker 1: of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon
- 18:25Speaker 1: had made was not able to receive the burnt offering,
- 18:28Speaker 1: the meal offering, and the fat. So we talked about
- 18:30Speaker 1: that the other day, where there are so many sacrifices
- 18:34Speaker 1: coming into the temple, that the big altar, like the
- 18:38Speaker 1: giant bronze altar that Solomon had made was not big enough,
- 18:43Speaker 1: so Solomon had to put like smaller altars all over
- 18:47Speaker 1: the place. Well, he dedicated one of them as holy,
- 18:50Speaker 1: the one specifically in the middle of the court. And
- 18:54Speaker 1: once again, all the burnt offerings that Solomon was sacrificing
- 18:57Speaker 1: to God and giving to the people, there was too
- 19:01Speaker 1: many to actually put them on the big altar, and
- 19:05Speaker 1: they had to go on a different altar. So Solomon
- 19:08Speaker 1: held a feast at that time for seven days, and
- 19:11Speaker 1: all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the
- 19:14Speaker 1: entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. So the
- 19:18Speaker 1: people celebrated with God. And I don't know if God's
- 19:21Speaker 1: presence remained in the temple the entire time. He very
- 19:24Speaker 1: well could have, but regardless, the people celebrated all over Israel,
- 19:29Speaker 1: from the border of Egypt all the way to the north.
- 19:33Speaker 1: Everyone was so excited about the temple finally being built
- 19:37Speaker 1: that they probably took some time off work and had
- 19:39Speaker 1: a big party and celebration with all their friends and
- 19:43Speaker 1: family members. Then on the eighth day in verse nine,
- 19:46Speaker 1: they held a solemn assembly, for they kept the dedication
- 19:50Speaker 1: of the altar seven days and the feast seven days,
- 19:53Speaker 1: So it wasn't just partying and celebration. There was also
- 19:57Speaker 1: essentially church services happening as we well, that would be
- 20:01Speaker 1: the solemn assembly where the people go to the temple
- 20:05Speaker 1: and they're not partying, they're learning about Yahweh, they're having
- 20:08Speaker 1: the scrolls of the Law read to them, they're listening
- 20:11Speaker 1: to worship music, they're probably partaking in worship in whatever
- 20:15Speaker 1: that looked like these days. That would be the solemn Assembly.
- 20:19Speaker 1: And I wouldn't be myself if I didn't throw some
- 20:21Speaker 1: shade on our modern day churches. So that's what I'm
- 20:25Speaker 1: gonna do right now. But I think sometimes Christians or
- 20:29Speaker 1: churches don't understand the mixture of reverence and fun. Sometimes
- 20:35Speaker 1: churches are overly solemn where they're like, we can't have
- 20:38Speaker 1: any fun whatsoever. In fact, we had a problem with
- 20:41Speaker 1: that not too long ago in my church with the
- 20:44Speaker 1: youth group. As you guys know, I'm one of the
- 20:47Speaker 1: youth leaders at my church, and somebody was really upset
- 20:51Speaker 1: that the teenagers play games and have fun at youth group.
- 20:57Speaker 1: They kind of thought that it should just be sitting
- 20:59Speaker 1: down and doing a Bible study the entire time, and
- 21:03Speaker 1: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. There's certainly
- 21:05Speaker 1: a time and place for a Bible study and for
- 21:07Speaker 1: a solemn assembly. But we can also have fun, you know,
- 21:13Speaker 1: like it's not wrong for teenagers to play games at
- 21:16Speaker 1: youth group. But then on the flip side, there's some
- 21:19Speaker 1: churches that are way too into fun and don't do
- 21:23Speaker 1: the solemn assembly, don't have any reverence whatsoever. They're only
- 21:26Speaker 1: focused on the entertainment aspect. They're only focused on how
- 21:30Speaker 1: many people they can get through the door and how
- 21:32Speaker 1: much fun people are having. That's wrong too. There should
- 21:37Speaker 1: be a mixture of the two. Christians can have fun,
- 21:41Speaker 1: but there also needs to be reverence and a solemn assembly.
- 21:45Speaker 1: So after all this happens in verse ten, it says
- 21:48Speaker 1: on the twenty third day of the seventh month, he
- 21:50Speaker 1: sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad
- 21:53Speaker 1: of heart for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David,
- 21:56Speaker 1: to Solomon, and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished
- 22:01Speaker 1: Yahway's house and the King's house, and he successfully completed
- 22:06Speaker 1: all that came into Solomon's heart to make in Yahway's
- 22:09Speaker 1: house and his own house. So Solomon finished everything, not
- 22:13Speaker 1: just Yaway's house, but also his own home as well.
- 22:17Speaker 1: And we do know from first kings that Solomon took
- 22:20Speaker 1: more time to build his own house, But you know,
- 22:24Speaker 1: I don't necessarily know if that was a bad thing.
- 22:26Speaker 1: It could have been if Solomon was like putting more
- 22:29Speaker 1: time and attention into his house as compared to the temple.
- 22:33Speaker 1: But probably the reason the temple went faster, quite honestly,
- 22:37Speaker 1: is for two reasons. Firstly, it was more important, you know,
- 22:41Speaker 1: the temple was where the people were gonna come and worship,
- 22:44Speaker 1: and so maybe Solomon prioritized the temple to get done
- 22:49Speaker 1: faster just because of that fact. And also, the temple
- 22:53Speaker 1: plans were like done way ahead of time, and Solomon
- 22:56Speaker 1: had already acquired everything he needed to actually build temple
- 23:00Speaker 1: like way ahead of time, whereas that wasn't the same
- 23:03Speaker 1: case with his own house. So even though yes, Solomon
- 23:07Speaker 1: took more time to build his own house, I don't
- 23:09Speaker 1: know for sure, but I would guess it was not
- 23:11Speaker 1: done with a wrong heart. But anyway, we're going to
- 23:13Speaker 1: talk about Solomon being visited by God in the night.
- 23:19Speaker 1: God is going to talk to Solomon once again, we
- 23:21Speaker 1: know that God did appear to Solomon actually a few
- 23:24Speaker 1: years before this, but now God appears to him again,
- 23:28Speaker 1: so we're going to talk about that on Wednesday. I
- 23:31Speaker 1: hope you tune in for that episode. So faithful listeners,
- 23:34Speaker 1: please check out all the links listed in the description
- 23:36Speaker 1: of this episode and click on them if you want
- 23:38Speaker 1: to know more about P forty Ministries or the Bible
- 23:40Speaker 1: Explained podcast, or if you would like to support the
- 23:43Speaker 1: Bible Explained by purchasing something from the shop, maybe getting
- 23:47Speaker 1: the Adore Advent devotional because Advent is coming up, or
- 23:50Speaker 1: some merch from the merch shop like the really cozy
- 23:54Speaker 1: P foury Ministries beanies that I have available. You should
- 23:57Speaker 1: check all of those links out. But of course, please
- 24:00Speaker 1: pray for this ministry that it gets spread to more people,
- 24:03Speaker 1: that the Bible gets spread to more people. And another
- 24:05Speaker 1: excellent way to do that is by just rating this
- 24:09Speaker 1: podcast on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else that you listen,
- 24:12Speaker 1: and also sharing the podcast with your friends and family.
- 24:16Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I will see you guys tomorrow as we
- 24:18Speaker 1: start a new book of the New Testament, first Timothy,
- 24:22Speaker 1: so make sure to tune in six am or actually
- 24:24Speaker 1: whenever you wake up and listen for an episode from
- 24:28Speaker 1: First Timothy until Tomorrow, Happy listening and God bless