Dedicated to the Divine
(1 Kings 8:1-66)
(2 Chronicles 5:2-14; 6:1-42; 7:1-10)
Solomon Dedicates the Temple to the Lord
Artist Unknown
Having completed the Lord’s step-by-step instructions for constructing His holy Temple, Solomon led the people of Israel in dedicating it to God. Solomon offered a sacred prayer of consecration, marking the Temple as the Lord’s dwelling place among men.
Once the Temple was fully dedicated to God, the Lord’s glory filled it as a cloud, so that the priests could not even perform their regular duties. The people were overcome by the presence of the Lord.
Under the New Covenant of God’s grace, fulfilled through the Messiah Jesus Christ, we have learned that our very bodies are the temples of the living God. What a wonderful and miraculous mystery.
“Do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you,
whom you have received from God?
You are not your own;
you were bought at a price.
Therefore honor God with your body.”
How often do we pray for revival and the manifest glorious presence of the Lord? What is the secret to inviting God’s glory into our midst? Perhaps we must become fully devoted and dedicated to Him.
Let’s consider the consecratory prayer of Solomon, adapting it to fit the New Covenant through Christ. May we pray this Scripture together. Might we not consider all believers to be Israel, the Lord’s people, adopted by God’s love and mercy?
Will you pray with me?
"Praise be to the LORD,
who has given rest to his people Israel
just as he promised.
Not one word has failed of all the good promises
he gave through his servant Moses. 57
May the LORD our God be with us
as he was with our fathers;
may he never leave us nor forsake us.
58 May he turn our hearts to him,
to walk in all his ways
and to keep the commands,
decrees
and regulations he gave our fathers.
59 And may these words of mine,
which I have prayed before the LORD,
be near to the LORD our God
day and night,
that he may uphold
the cause of his servant
and the cause of his people Israel
according to each day's need,
60 so that all the peoples of the earth
may know that the LORD is God
and that there is no other.
61 But your hearts must be fully committed
to the LORD our God,
to live by his decrees
and obey his commands,
as at this time."
(1 Kings 8:56-61, NIV, emphases added)
Amen.
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