2 Chronicles 6:40-41

Now, my God, let, I beseech Thee, Thine eyes be open, and let Thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

The dedication of the Temple

(a dedication sermon):--The text is a prayer to God--

I. For the notice of His eye. “Let Thine eyes be open towards this house.” That you may worship under His approving eye.

1. Your worship must be spiritual.

2. Your worship must be that of faith.

3. You must come with purity.

II. For the attention of His ear. “Let Thine ear be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.” What prayers will be made here?

1. Personal prayers.

2. Prayers for ministers.

3. Prayers for the inhabitants of this town.

4. Prayers for our country.

5. Prayers for the extension of Christ’s kingdom.

III. For the instructions of His word. “Arise Thou and the ark of Thy strength.” We consider this part of the text a prayer for the administration of instruction; because the ark contained the tables of the ten commandments and a copy of the whole law, which the priests were appointed to teach.

IV. For a holy and successful priesthood. “Let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Thy saints rejoice in goodness.”

1. No minister can fully know the truth but by experience, and therefore cannot teach it.

2. No minister can conduct his office with a proper feeling, without experience, and that experience constant.

3. Success is promised to no unconverted man. (R. Watson.)

Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple

There are two things of which we are here reminded.

I. Our own sanctuary. “Let Thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.” We must carry a home-feeling with us into the sanctuary, if we wish it to be to us the house of God and the gate of heaven. There are some who are utter strangers to this home-feeling; they have no place of worship which they can call their own. A wandering spirit in religion is destructive to vital religion in the heart.

II. Our earnest supplication. “Arise, O Lord God,” etc. This prayer is extremely suitable in the exercises of public worship, because it includes all that can be included both for minister and people. (R. C. Dillon, A.M.)

The dedication of the temple

I. An unequivocal recognition of the necessity of the Divine presence in order that a Church may be a source of real benefit to the people.

II. The indispensable necessity that ministers should have a Divine commission and suitable personal qualifications.

III. The paramount object as identified with the glory of God, worthy of the mighty apparatus provided and brought into action--the eternal benefit of the people. (J. Davies, D. D.)

God in His temple

I. A description of God’s house. “Thy resting place.” Rest is not used here in the sense of ceasing from labour, but in the sense of remaining or staying. Here we have the outward building for the worship of God represented.

1. As the heart of national life.

2. As the special place where God meets His people.

II. A prayer foe Christian ministers. Some look upon a preacher as a social reformer. Some as a lecturer on morality. Some as a well-directed pattern of propriety to keep up appearance and show. The true light in which to regard a preacher is that of a messenger o! salvation.

III. A petition for the people. “Let Thy saints rejoice,” etc.

1. An important state. A condition of joy.

2. A necessary condition. The only true ground of rejoicing is goodness. (Homilist.)

Solomon’s prayer for the sanctuary

I. Explain Solomon’s views of the sanctuary. He here represents it as the resting-place of God. Solomon was fully justified in this view by Psalms 132:1., which was supposed to have been composed in reference to the erection of the temple. There his father prays, “Enter Thou into Thy rest,” and affirms--“For the Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation: here will I dwell for ever, for I have desired it.” And further than this, the Divine presence had dwelt in the cloud that overshadowed the mercy-seat in the tabernacle. The presence of God was manifested in the temple, differently from everywhere beside. In hell, it is displayed by His frown--in heaven, by the unveiling of His glory--throughout the earth, in the exuberance of His goodness; but in the sanctuary, by the manifestation of His grace and compassion. It is called His “resting-place,” because He regards it with complacency and delight. This delight, however, did not arise from the splendour with which Solomon’s temple was adorned, for the Infinite Mind, which from its own vast resources could call into existence the temple of the universe, must be far superior to delight in any mere material edifice. God does not now dwell visibly in the midst of His people, nor does He confine the manifestation of His presence to one temple, as in the times of Solomon; for the resting-place of God is wherever His people meet together, whether in the mountain, den, cave, cottage, cathedral.

1. The sanctuary is the scene of the manifestation of His character as a God of grace. In the temple this was taught by God appearing reconciled by the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy-seat. This appears more clearly in the Christian sanctuary, where God appears in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself by Jesus Christ, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

2. The sanctuary is the scene of the worship of His people. The temple of old was thus distinguished.

3. The sanctuary is the sphere of the accomplishment of the purposes of Divine grace in reference to man. It was one great means of keeping alive the worship of the true God, and of preserving the existence of religion amongst them. Thus, on a limited scale, every Christian sanctuary is exerting a most salutary influence upon the present and eternal destinies of the children of men. These were reasons which induced so much delight in the mind of God in reference to the temple of Solomon, and in the scene of His people’s assembling now. These are objects worthy of affording delight even to the mind of the eternal God. Is the sanctuary His resting-place? We see the propriety of our being anxious that this house of prayer should be distinguished by attention to its external appearance. Is the sanctuary His resting-place? It ought to be the object of our warm affection. Is the sanctuary His resting-place? Then it ought to be the scene of our constant resort.

II. Solomon’s desires on behalf of the sanctuary. The blessings which true religion required in the days of Solomon for its extension and perpetuity are essentially necessary at the present time and will be through every age.

1. Solomon implores the Divine presence. He desires that the ark should occupy its appointed place in the temple. This was the appointed medium of Divine manifestation, and therefore he desired the entrance of the ark. But he is also anxious for the Divine presence, without which all external symbols would be in vain. He desires His presence as a God of mercy, from off the mercy seat; for this only is suitable to us as fallen creatures. A God of pure justice and immaculate purity would fill us with terror and insure destruction. Under the Gospel, the mercy seat is more distinctly revealed than under the law, and the blood of atonement is more precious. The Divine presence as a God of grace and mercy is absolutely necessary. The temple of Solomon would have been as worthless as a heap of ruins, as to any moral power and influence, without the Divine presence. This is equally necessary now; for we may have every part of sanctuary worship complete--the ordinances, the ministry, the assembly--but without the presence of God totally inefficient. It is the altar, the wood, and the sacrifice, without the holy fire. It is the Bethesda, the house of mercy, without the descending angel to impart efficacy to the waters. While we seek it, let us remember, that though it is thus essential to the power and efficiency of ordinances, it is graciously promised. He says, “In all places where I record My name, I will come unto you and will bless you.”

2. The efficiency of the ministry.

3. The benefit of the Church of God. One of the great designs of Christian ordinances is the advancing improvement of true believers as well as the conversion of sinners.

In conclusion--

1. Let us be thankful for the institution and possession of Divine ordinances. The wisdom and grace of God has given existence to these ordinances, as the channel of His grace to the souls of men. “There is a river, the streams whereof” etc.

2. Let us learn our dependence upon the Divine blessing for the efficiency of ordinances.

3. Let us cultivate a deep anxiety for the Divine blessing. (C. Gilbert.)

The Divine presence entreated, for the efficiency of the ministry and the prosperity of the people of God

Throughout the inspired volume one uniform representation prevails touching the dignity, importance, and responsibility of the sacred ministry; Moses (Exodus 33:15); Elijah (1 Kings 19:4); Paul (2Co 5:18-20; 1 Timothy 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:11); and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other “watchmen of Israel” were keenly alive to the weight of the “burden of the Lord” which was laid upon them. If we would be upheld in our work, and labour for the Divine glory and the welfare of the Church of Christ, let us enter into the prayer of Solomon at the consecration of the temple.

I. The invocation of the Lord’s presence suggests how necessary that presence is for the prosperity of His Church.

1. It was manifested in those times by a visible symbol.

2. If the ark be regarded as typical of the Lord Jesus, as undoubtedly it is to be, then we may identify Christ with Jehovah and we may see in the entrance of the ark of God’s strength into the temple and into its most holy place a prefiguration of the abode of Christ in His Church, and of His entrance as our Great High Priest into the most holy place in the heavens, from which He manifests Himself to His people by His Spirit (Psalms 68:18).

3. This is the presence of God for which we are to look in the present state of the Church. All our endeavours will be in vain, all our labours abortive, unless attended by the grace and influence of the Spirit. “It is necessary,” says Augustine, “that the Holy Spirit should work inwardly, that the medicine that is applied from without may take effect. Unless He be present to the heart of the hearer, the word of the preacher is idle and vain.” “I once,” observes Cecil, “said to myself, in the foolishness of my heart, what sort of sermon must that have been which was preached by Peter when three thousand souls were converted at once? What sort of sermon? Such as other sermons. There is nothing to be found in it extraordinary. The effect was not produced by his eloquence, but by the mighty power of God present with His Word.

II. In connection with this blessing, and dependent upon it, we should fray for ministerial qualification. “Let Thy priests be clothed with salvation,” or “righteousness” (Psalms 132:9).

1. The beautiful garments of the sanctuary would not be sufficient without the inward endowment of truth and holiness. Still more should the ministers of the gospel be qualified for their office by an experimental knowledge of the great salvation and the adornment of a holy life (2 Corinthians 6:4; 1 John 1:3). It is a striking observation of Bishop Bull: “The priest who is not clothed with righteousness, though otherwise richly adorned with all the ornaments of human and Divine literature, and those gilded over with the rays of seraphic prudence, is yet but a naked, beggarly, despicable creature, of no authority, no use, no service in the Church of God.” “I will be sure to live well,” was the remark of G. Herbert when he entered upon his living at Bemerton, “because the virtuous life of a clergyman is the most persuasive eloquence to persuade all that see it to reverence and love.”

2. To be thus “clothed with salvation” will most effectually fit the Christian minister for the various departments of labour and trial through which he will have to pass (2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 4:5).

3. The habitual clothing of salvation and righteousness, for which we should pray, will indeed conduce to ministerial efficiency. Putting on Christ, arrayed in the garments of purity and truth, of meekness and love, we shall best “magnify our office.” Cecil says: “The zeal of some men is of a haughty, unbending, ferocious character. They have the letter of truth, but they mount the pulpit like prizefighters. It is with them a perpetual scold. This spirit is a reproach to the gospel; it is not the spirit of Jesus Christ. He seems to have laboured to win men. But there is an opposite extreme: the love of some men is all milk and mildness; there is so much delicacy and so much fastidiousness--they touch with so much tenderness; and, if the patient shrinks, they will touch no more. The times are too flagrant for such a disposition. The gospel is sometimes preached in this way till all the people agree with the preacher: he gives no offence; he does no good.” In “speaking the truth” we should do it “in love,” yet always maintaining its supremacy end never sparing the sin in our desire to spare the sinner.

III. The efficiency of the ministry will conduce to the prosperity and joy of the Church and people of God. (J. T. Broad, M.A.).