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January 8 - 1 Kings 8 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday and it is the 8th
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  of January and you have tapped on play.
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  Thanks for inviting me into your day because today it doesn't
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  matter how good you are at long term planning or how good you
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  think you are at long term planning.
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  We are about to be humbled a little.
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  A number of years ago I realised Sean you should really be better
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  at long term thinking, not just short term thinking.
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  So I got myself some bonsai trees and I thought ah you need
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  to plan ahead and not just trim for the current season but think
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  345678 seasons ahead as you trim the little bonsai to start
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  growing it you know to the tree that you want it to become.
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  My bonsai's are all dead, so that didn't work out for me.
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  But when it comes to planning ahead, as we heard on Monday
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  this week, it had been 480 years since God had rescued Israel
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  from the land of Egypt. And today the Ark of the
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  Covenant is brought into the temple.
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  This is such a big deal because from the very beginning the Ark
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  of the Covenant was kind of like the physical representation of
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  God's presence with His people. And that was always this mobile
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  thing as these itinerant people moved around.
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  But today God has said you are my people and this is your place
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  and I will be in that place with you.
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  So it is the end of this long journey as they have now
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  inhabited this land that God gave them.
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  So this is a monumentous occasion as the temple is
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  dedicated and the ark brought to the temple.
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  So let us read this story together as all of this plays
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  out in First Kings chapter 8. Solomon then summoned to
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  Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes,
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  the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites.
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  They were to bring the Ark of the Lord's Covenant to the
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  Temple from its location in the city of David, also known as
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  Zion. So all the men of Israel
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  assembled before King Solomon at the annual festival of shelters,
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  which is held in the early autumn in the month of Ethanim.
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  When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up
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  the ark. The priests and Levites brought
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  up the Ark of the Lord, along with the special tent and all
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  the sacred items that had been in it.
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  There before the ark, King Solomon and the entire community
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  of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no
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  one could keep count. Then the priests carried the Ark
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  of the Lord's Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple,
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  the Most Holy Place, and placed it beneath the wings of the
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  cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings
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  over the ark, forming a canopy over the ark and it's carrying
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  poles. These poles were so long that
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  their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in
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  front of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside.
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  They are still there to this day.
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  Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses
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  had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the Lord made a covenant
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  with the people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.
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  When the priests came out of the holy Place, a thick cloud filled
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  the temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue
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  their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence
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  of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord.
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  Then Solomon prayed. O Lord, you have said that you
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  would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
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  Now I have built a glorious temple for you, a place where
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  you can live forever. Then the king turned around to
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  the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave
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  this blessing. Praise the Lord the God of
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  Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father David.
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  For he told my father, from the day I brought my people Israel
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  out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the
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  tribes of Israel as the place where a temple should be built
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  to honour my name, but I have chosen David to be king over my
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  people Israel. Then Solomon said, my father
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  David wanted to build this temple to honour the name of the
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  Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord told him, you
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  wanted to build the temple to honour my name.
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  Your intention is good, but you are not the one to do it.
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  One of your sons will build the temple to honour me.
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  And now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have
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  become king in my father's place, and now I sit on the
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  throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised.
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  I have built this temple to honour the name of the Lord, the
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  God of Israel, and I have prepared a place there for the
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  ark which contains the covenant that the Lord made with our
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  ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.
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  Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of
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  the entire community of Israel. He lifted his hands toward
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  heaven and he prayed. O Lord God of Israel, there is
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  no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below you
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  keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk
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  before you. In whole hearted devotion.
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  You have kept your promise to your servant David, my Father.
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  You have made that promise with your own mouth and with your own
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  hands. You have fulfilled it to day.
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  And now, O Lord God of Israel, carry out the additional
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  promises you made to your servant David my father.
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  For you said to him, if your descendants guard their
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  behaviour and faithfully follow me as you have done, one of them
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  will always sit on the throne of Israel.
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  Now, O God of Israel, fulfil this promise to your servant
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  David, my father. But will God really live on
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  earth? Why even the highest heaven
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  cannot contain you? How much less this temple I have
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  built? Nevertheless, listen to my
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  prayer and my plea. O Lord, my God, hear the cry and
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  the prayer that your servant is making to you today.
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  May you watch over this temple night and day.
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  This place where you have said My name will be there.
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  May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.
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  May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and
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  your people, Israel, when we pray toward this place.
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  Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear,
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  forgive. If someone wrongs another person
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  and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your
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  altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and judge between
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  your servants, the accuser and the accused.
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  Punish the guilty as they deserve, acquit the innocent
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  because of their innocence. If your people Israel are
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  defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against
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  you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray
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  to you here in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the
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  sin of your people Israel, and return them to this land you
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  gave their ancestors. If the skies are shut up and
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  there is no rain because your people have sinned against you,
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  and if they pray to all this temple and acknowledge your name
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  and turn from their sins because you have punished them, then
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  hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your
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  people Israel. Teach them to follow the right
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  path and send rain on your land that you have given to your
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  people as their special possession.
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  If there is famine in the land, or a plague or crop disease, or
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  a tax of locusts or caterpillars, or if your
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  people's enemies are in the land besieging their towns, whatever
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  disaster or disease there is, and if your people, Israel, pray
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  about their troubles, raising their hands toward this temple,
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  then hear from heaven where you live and forgive.
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  Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone
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  know each human heart. Then they will fear you as long
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  as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
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  In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people,
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  Israel, will hear of you. They will come from distant
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  lands because of your name. For they will hear of your great
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  name and your strong hand and your powerful arm.
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  And when they pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven
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  where you live, and grant what they ask of you.
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  In this way all the people of the earth will come to know and
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  fear you, just as your own people, Israel, do.
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  They too will know that this temple I have built honours your
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  name. If your people go out where you
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  send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the
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  Lord by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this
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  temple I have built to honour your name, then hear their
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  prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.
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  If they sin against you, and who has never sinned, you might
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  become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and
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  take them captive to their land far away or near.
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  But in that land of exile they might turn to you in repentance
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  and pray. We have sinned, done evil, and
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  acted wickedly. If they turn to you with their
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  whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies, and pray
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  toward the land you gave to their ancestors, toward this
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  city you have chosen, toward this temple I have built to
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  honour your name, then hear their prayers and their petition
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  from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause.
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  Forgive your people who have sinned against you.
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  Forgive all the offences they have committed against you.
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  Make their captors merciful to them, for they are your people,
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  Your special possession, whom you brought out of the iron
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  smelting furnace of Egypt. May your eyes be open to my
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  requests and to the requests of your people Israel.
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  May you hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you.
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  And when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O
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  sovereign Lord, you told your servant Moses that you had set
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  Israel apart from all the nations of the earth to be your
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  own special possession. When Solomon finished making
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  these prayers and petitions to the Lord, he stood up in front
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  of the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his
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  hands raised toward heaven. He stood and in a loud voice
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  blessed the entire congregation of Israel.
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  Praise the Lord who has given rest to His people, Israel, just
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  as He promised. Not one word has failed of all
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  the wonderful promises He gave through His servant Moses.
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  May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors.
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  May He never leave us or abandoned us.
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  May He give us the desire to do His will in everything and obey
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  all the commands, decrees, and regulations that He gave our
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  ancestors. And may these words that I have
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  prayed in the presence of the Lord be before Him constantly,
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  day and night, so that the Lord our God may give justice to me
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  and to His people Israel, according to each day's needs.
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  Then people all over the earth will know that the Lord alone is
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  God and there is no other. And may you be completely
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  faithful to the Lord our God. May you always obey His decrees
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  and commands, just as you are doing today.
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  Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to
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  the Lord. Solomon offered to the Lord a
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  peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats.
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  And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the
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  temple of the Lord. That same day, the king
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  consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the
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  Lord's temple. He offered burnt offerings,
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  grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because
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  the bronze altar in the Lord's presence was too small to hold
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  all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the
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  peace offerings. Then Solomon and all Israel
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  celebrated the festival of shelters in the presence of the
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  Lord our God. A large congregation had
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  gathered from as far away as Lebo Hamath in the north and the
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  brook of Egypt in the South. The celebration went on for 14
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  days in all, seven days for the dedication of the altar and
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  seven days for the festival of shelters.
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  After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home.
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  They blessed the king and went to their homes, joyful and glad
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  because the Lord had been good to his servant David and to his
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  people Israel. Our Lord, thank you that it is
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  through Jesus, ultimately, that Solomon's prayer has been
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  answered in that when we turn away, when we make mistakes, and
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  then turn our hearts back to you, you forgive us.
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  You draw us back into your presence, and you are able to do
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  that because of what Jesus has done our Lord here.
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  Even at the beginning of this incredible journey with your
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  people in their homeland, with you, their present as their God,
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  with them, you foreshadow this incredible gift that will be not
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  just for your people, Israel, but for all of your people,
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  everyone who believes in Jesus and what he has done for us.
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  Thank you that your plans don't just span 480 years, but they
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  span thousands of years all the way through to eternity before
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  us. You are a great big God, unable
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  to be contained by this incredible vision of a temple,
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  but that it would remind people of the glory of your name.
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  And so we acknowledge and raise our arms in worship to the glory
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  of your name, our incredible God, and we praise you, and we
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  live for you, and we are grateful for all you have done
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  for us and for the gift of Jesus, in whose name we pray all
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  of these things. Amen.