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When the King Kneels, the People Bow | Solomon’s Prayer · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The title of this podcast is called When Leadership Falls on Its Face, Solomon's Prayer at the Temple.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: There is a moment in Israel's history where the glory of the Lord fills the house, the priest cannot stand to minister, and the king of Israel is seen not first as a ruler commanding men, but as a worshiper before God.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: That moment is found in 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 6.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon has finished building the temple.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: The ark has been brought in, the place of God's name has been established in Jerusalem.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 8 22.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But in 2 Chronicles 6, another detail is added in the thirteenth verse.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees, before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: In the account in the book of Kings we see him standing before the altar.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: In the Book of Chronicles we see him kneeling upon his knees.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: These are not conflicting pictures.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: They are two sides of the same solemn moment.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon stands as king representing the people before God.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: But he kneels as a servant, confessing that even the highest throne in Israel must bow before the throne in heaven.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is one of the first meditations here.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: True leadership knows when to stand, and true leadership knows when to fall down.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon stands publicly, he's not ashamed to identify himself with the Lord, but he kneels publicly too.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: He does not merely ask the people to humble themselves, he shows them what humility looks like.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: There is a great principle in this.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership falls on its face, and the people follow.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: When leaders only command, people may comply.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: But when leaders worship, people are taught how to bow.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon begins his prayer by blessing God for his faithfulness.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 8 23.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Before Solomon asks for anything, he acknowledges who God is.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer that begins with need can become anxious.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer that begins with God becomes worship.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: He remembers the covenant, he remembers David, he remembers the promises of God.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: The temple is not first an architectural achievement, it is a testimony that God keeps his word.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 24 says, Who has kept with thy servant David my father that thou promised him?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon knew something vital.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The temple was not proof of Solomon's greatness.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was proof of God's faithfulness.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then he speaks one of the highest truths in the whole prayer.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 27, But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: There is wonder in that question.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon has built a house for the name of the Lord, but he knows God cannot be contained by stone, cedar, gold, or ceremony.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: The temple is real, sacred, and chosen by God, yet God is infinitely above it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: That is a warning for every generation.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sacred places, sacred meetings, sacred order, and sacred service are not meant to reduce God into something manageable.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord may put his name in a place, but he is never controlled by the place.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then Solomon repeats a phrase that becomes the heartbeat of the prayer.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Again and again Solomon looks beyond the temple to heaven in the thirtieth verse.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, forgive.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: That last word matters.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: This prayer is not built around Israel's strength, but around Israel's weakness.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon is not naive.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: At the dedication of the temple, one of the highest moments in Israel's history, he warns the people that failure may come.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of sin between man and neighbor.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of defeat before enemies.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of drought.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of famine.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of pestilence.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of the stranger from a far country.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of war.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He even speaks of captivity in a foreign land.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Think of that.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: At the dedication of the temple, Solomon is already praying for restoration after ruin.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is not pessimism.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is spiritual realism.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon understands that outward glory does not remove inward danger.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: A temple may be built, songs may be sung, sacrifices may be offered, and yet the heart of man still needs to be watched.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: He says, in effect, Lord, when we sin, when we are humbled, when we are corrected, when our own ways bring sorrow upon us, if we turn again toward thee, hear us.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: The warnings in Solomon's prayer are deeply searching.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: First there is the warning of personal wrong.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon asks God to judge righteously, to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Worship cannot be separated from righteousness.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: A man cannot lift hands toward heaven while hiding dishonest hands on earth.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The altar does not excuse injustice.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: The presence of God exposes it.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Second, there is the warning of defeat because of sin in verse 33.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon does not merely ask for victory.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: He asks for repentance.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says, If they shall turn again to thee and confess thy name, then hear and forgive.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: There are times when loss becomes a messenger.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Defeat is not always merely military, financial, relational, or circumstantial.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God uses defeat to speak to the conscience.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Third, there is the warning of heaven shut up in verse 35.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rain in Scripture often speaks of blessing from above.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: When heaven seems shut, Solomon does not tell the people merely to work harder below.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: He teaches them to look upward and ask why.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, there is the warning of famine, pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, and enemy pressure.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Then Solomon gives this searching phrase in the thirty eighth verse, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: That phrase is one of the deepest in the prayer, the plague of his own heart.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon is not only concerned about locusts in the field, he is concerned about disease inside the soul.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: A man may recognize trouble around him long before he recognizes trouble within him.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But true prayer begins when the heart says, Lord, the deepest plague is not merely in my circumstances, it is in me.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: True worship does not become small and tribal.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a testimony to the nations.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then comes perhaps the most sobering section, captivity.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon includes all men under this truth, there is no man that sinneth not.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: The king knows the people will fail.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not whether sin is possible, but whether repentance remains possible.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: He pictures them carried away into the land of the enemy, far or near.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yet even there, if they bethink themselves, repent, make supplication, and return unto God with all their heart and soul, Solomon asks the Lord to hear.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is mercy reaching into exile.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Even when the people are far from the land, far from the temple, and far from former blessing, God is not far from a broken and contrite heart.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now consider the end of the scene in Chronicles.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then the people respond.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: There is the principle again, leadership falls on its face, and the people follow.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon kneels.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: The fire falls.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: The glory fills the house.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The people bow with their faces to the ground.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is not manufactured emotion.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is not leadership trying to produce a moment.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is the order of God.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Humility before glory, prayer before fire, confession before blessing, worship before service.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And what do the people say?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Chronicles 7 3.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is the answer to the whole prayer.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why can sinners return?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because his mercy endureth forever.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why can the defeated confess and be restored?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because his mercy endureth forever.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon's prayer teaches us that the house of God must never be a place of mere religious beauty.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: It must be a place where God is honored, sin is judged, repentance is welcomed, strangers are received, and mercy is known.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: It also teaches us that leadership is not merely platform, authority, or organization.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is responsibility before God.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon stands because he has a public charge.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon kneels because he has a dependent heart.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: The people did not need a king who looked impressive before men, but careless before God.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: They needed a king who knew how to bow.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that remains true today.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: A father who bows before God teaches his house something.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: An elder who bows before God teaches the assembly something.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: A servant who bows before God teaches others that the work is not ours, the glory is not ours, and the mercy must come from above.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: The most powerful thing leadership can sometimes do is not speak louder, plan harder, or organize more carefully.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is to get low before God.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because when leadership falls on its face in truth, the people learn where glory really belongs.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when the people see that, they too can say, For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll say that one more time as we close for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.