Newsletter February 2022
God’s dwelling place
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. (2 Chronicles 7:12-16)
Solomon had just completed the building of the temple in Jerusalem and had dedicated it to God as a place for His presence to dwell. The temple of Solomon was modelled on the tabernacle of meeting, which God had instructed Moses to build – a mobile tent structure, which could be transported from place to place. Like the tabernacle, the temple too had an outer court, where the people would offer their sacrifices and make their petitions to God. Inside this court was the actual temple building which contained the Holy Place and, separated from it by a veil (or curtain), the Most Holy, where the high priest would meet with God and offer the annual sacrifice for the sins of the nation.
Yet Solomon’s temple was far more elaborate than the tabernacle of Moses’ time; it was a mighty, permanent structure, which towered high above the city for everyone to see. Surely this building was worthy of the Almighty God! And it was dedicated to God in a spectacular celebration with countless animal sacrifices. God showed his approval of this new place of worship by filling it with His glory so that not even the priests were able to enter in. However, it was after this remarkable event, when Solomon was by himself, that God appeared to him and promised that His presence would be in that place and that He would hear and answer the prayers of His people offered up there.
Today, all that remains where the temple once stood in Jerusalem is a solitary wall where Jewish people gather to pray, as they remember the great days in their nation’s history. Whatever happened to God’s dwelling place? How does He manifest His presence? God still desires to dwell with His people – with those who love and follow Him. He is not, and never was, limited to buildings made with hands (Acts 7:48-50). He inhabits eternity and His desire is to dwell with those who will humble themselves before His glorious presence (Isaiah 57:15).
God appeared to Solomon, confirming that He had accepted the place built for Him as a place of worship, and that His presence would be there. Therefore, He would hear and answer the prayers of His people offered up in that place. Before Jesus went to the cross and returned to heaven, He assured His disciples that they would not be left alone; the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them (John 14:16-17). Their bodies would be God’s temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and in that day they would ask the Father in His name and the Father would hear and answer their prayers (John 16:26-27).
God is still seeking a people in whom He can dwell – and where God’s presence is manifest, where prayers are answered, where miracles take place! Are we such a people? Are we that spiritual temple that Paul describes in Ephesians 2:20-22, built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit with Christ as the cornerstone, who holds everything together? Can the Almighty approve of what we present to Him as a dwelling place for His presence?
Pastor Konrad