"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. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.' "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (NKJV)
Introduction:
In the second chapter in the second Book of Chronicles, according to King Solomon, it was time to build the temple that his father King David desired to build in honor of Yahweh.In a conversation he had with King Hiram of Syria, Solomon said: This temple will be a place that honors God's name. It will be a place where we will burn incense and sweet spices before Him. (Here, Solomon is talking about worship.) It will be a place where all the offering God required to honor His name will be done… It will be a place of “historic” celebration; a place that allowed the people to celebrate the required 3 major feast in dedication to Yahweh.
Feasts:
The "Feast of Passover" (This feast commemorates the time when the death angel came through Egypt the night before the Exodus and passed over all of Egypt; and where he saw the lamb's blood on the door post on every Hebrew household he spared the first born son of the house). (Here, Solomon is talking about taking communion in remembrance of redemption)…
The "feast of Weeks" (Here, Solomon is talking about Pentecost)…Pentecost for them was the time when God gave them HIS Law and Covenant… up on Mount Sinai…when Moses came down from the mountain with the 2 tablets that contained the 10 commandments. (God empowered them through His Law and Covenant)
The Feast of Tabernacles (This commemorates the time when God stopped Israel from 40 years of wandering wilderness) living in “shifting” tents because of their rebellion and unbelief, and after the parent generation dies, the children are finally allowed them to go into the “land of promise”… a new home of their own…..
The Relevance Of These Feasts to the Modern Church?
These 3 feasts have a true "salvation" relationship spiritually to the modern church. We have a historic reason to give God the highest praise and totally dedicate our lives to HIM through prayer and dedication.
First of all, the church celebrates the Passover, but we celebrate Passover (Communion) because Jesus Christ (the paschal lamb….the lamb slain before the foundation of the world...the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world) fulfilled God's requirement for man’s redemption be allowing His blood to be shed …HIS body to be bruised...for the remission of our sin…on the cross at Calvary. So "spiritually" where God's sees the blood applied to the heart of a repentant/ redeemed sinner, that person is immediately spared from the "penalty" of sin which is eternal death and permanent separation from Jehovah. That’s "salvation" from the “penalty of sin….
Second, the church also celebrates Pentecost, which means 50..not because God was giving new laws, but God gave us His Holy Spirit. The disciples tarried in Jerusalem until the Day of Pentecost had fully come…On that day in the upper room, they heard the sound of a rushing…mighty wind… and the Holy Ghost came in the upper room and filled 120 waiting people who were there with one accord…with Holy Ghost power…HE lit on each one of them like cloven tongues of fire and cause them to speak in another language, as the Spirit gave utterance. NOT ONLY THAT, such a way… that everybody that heard Peter…heard the gospel in their own language…and 3,000 souls got saved….Not only that, we are now saved and sealed with the Holy Ghost…God has given us the power to be sanctified….That's salvation from the power of sin…
Third….in a real sense, the church celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles… After Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness and the parent generation died, God accomplished His purpose, stopped their wandering and gave them a new home, a permanent residence they could call their own. In like manner, there will come a day when we come to the end of this journey. That day , when we will "quit" the busy walk of life on this earth ; sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes almost leveled to the ground…When we no longer have to walk through this valley of the shadow of death…Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 "when this earthly house of this tabernacle (our physical bodies) will be dissolved (pass away) and when that happens, God has given us another building; a permanent residence, a house of God not made with earthly hands….eternal in the heavens". When we move out from this earthly body and move to our better home means we will then be saved from the presence of sin. On that day…it will be just like Job said in Job 3:17: "The wicked will cease from troubling and all of us who are weary will be a rest"!….
About King David's Dream:
As you know… David would have built this temple himself …if he could have… but God told him… I’m honored you had it in your heart to build a magnificent temple it in MY honor… and in MY name…nevertheless… I can’t, permit you to build it… because David, you are a warrior and a king during war time… you got too much blood on your hands…. God said however, because of your pure motive for wanting to do something like this…I will honor your desire to have it built…I’ll let your son build it for MY name…
Point of Emphasis:
My brothers and sisters…It goes to show you that there are times we want to do great things for the Lord…and the reason we desire to do it is because it in our heart… and we want to show Him ….that we love Him like that… yet God will not allow us to do what we desire to…. even for HIM…because of mitigating circumstances in our life’s status and duty station…. Sometimes… our assignment from heaven won’t allow us to do what we want….but God won’t deny what we want….we just can’t do it ourselves…fortunate on one hand… but unfortunate on another…. But aren’t you glad we serve a great, loving, fair, prayer answering, merciful God who will still honor our desires and move on the heart of family members …or a friend…or a church to fulfill your deepest sincere desire for others…even for God.
Building a Temple:
They began to build the temple…They started 4 years and 2 days in Solomon’s reign. It was built on Mount Moriah, located in in Jerusalem. It was built exactly as the plans called for…and everything was put in its proper place…and when it was done…the Bible said Solomon brought the “dedicated things” of David and put them in the treasuries of the temple.
"Every church should have some “dedicated things”…and “dedicated people” set aside to be counted on as “treasures” in the house of God"…
When you get to Chapter 5, you see where Solomon assembled the elders, the heads of the 12 tribes… so they might bring the Ark of the Covenant up from Zion…the city of David…to Jerusalem to be place in its resting place in the new temple…The Bible said in verse 5 the “sanctified” priest…(the ones who “detoxed” themselves from the iniquity of a sinful life; those who refused to corrupt the office of the ministry and dedicated themselves to a holy life and to holy work) brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. They brought the Ark and put it in its place in the “inner” sanctuary, the Most Holy Place…the Holies of Holies……They placed the Ark directly under the out stretched wings of the Cherubim…
When that was done…the “sanctified” priests came out of the Most Holy Place, and then…the “singing” Levites….relatives of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun …along with their sons and brethren stood at the east end of the altar…clothed in white linen…with cymbals….stringed instruments…and 120 trumpet playing priests … and it came to pass when the musicians and the singers were as one…
Note this: When they were on one accord….when they were on the same page…when they got rid of their hidden agendas and yielded to one Lord…one faith..and one baptism…one people….with one purpose to make one unified sound of praise and thankgiving…to the Lord…. who brought them out of the darkness of bondage and gave them a worship place…and a nation of their own….they lifted up their voices…they sounded their trumpets and gave God praise: You want to know what they said? For the Lord is good…His mercy endures forever….and when they did thet The temple filled up with God’s glory cloud…so much so…the priest could minister because of the cloud…the cloud was full of the glory of the Lord…
Another Point of Emphasis:
1. You haven’t had a real worship experience until you have been filled with the Holy Spirit. When there was so much Holy Ghost power in the house of God that the preacher could preach…the choirs couldn’t sing…the deacons and mothers couldn’t pray….Don’t you wish that you could come to church and feel the holy presence of our Holy God without fighting through the drama of people text messaging in the church…without note passing…without people wanting to pass rumors…murmuring and whispering about things that ain’t got nothing to do with worship?…
2. When we come to HIS house… God wants to deliver somebody who desperately needs a breakthrough …. God’s wants to heal a sin-sick soul….God wants to heal a sick body…God wants to fill us with his power… In the service…The church ought to be the p[lace where we can get healing …help and hope…The song writer said when all of God’s children get together….what a time….what a time!…I dare you to get o one accord….I dare you to let go and let God have his way…I dare you top give God all the honor….all the glory…and all the praise…preachers couldn’t preach…the choirs couldn’t sing…the ushers couldn’t usher because the house was full of the Holy Ghost…all we could do is lift up holy hands and cry halleluiah….praise the Lord…He’s worthy…
Solomon's Testimony: The Temple: "God's Exalted House"
And after that there ought to be a great testimony…In Chapter 6, Solomon said: The Lord did just what he said he would do…He said that He would dwell in a dark cloud but He would build you an “exalted” house….And that’s how we are to see this earthly tabernacle…I’m talking about the physical church. When we come to this “exalted” house… we need to pull off "every shoe"…the shoe of indifference…the shoe of jealousy….the shoe of procrastination… the adulterated shoes… the drug infested shoes… the drunken alcoholic shoes….every shoe and every weight of sin that thus so easily beset us and remember that the ground that you now stand on is HOLY Ground!
Our Physical Body: The Temple of The Holy Ghost: "God's Exalted House"
But as I think about it further, we ought to see our physical body the same way…After all, every child of God that has been saved and washed in the blood of the lamb and sealed with the Holy Ghost are now "temples" of the Holy Ghost… This body, this earthy tabernacle is to be presented as a “living sacrifice”…wholly…that’s completely…and acceptable unto God because that is our reasonable service….and the vessel …that’s you and your body….must not conform to the ungodliness of this world ….we must be transformed….first by the renewing of our minds….that we may prove that which is good….and acceptable… that perfect will of God…
Solomon's Prayer of Dedication:
Solomon testifies, then turned around standing before the congregation Solomon said: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He verbally said to my father David when HE said:, Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I haven’t chosen any city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, “ a stationary tabernacle” that My name might be there, As a matter of fact: I hadn’t chosen any man to be a ruler over you, MY people Israel. I have chosen Jerusalem… that My name may be there, and I have chose David to be over My people Israel…So God fulfilled HIS Word…..and I have now fulfilled my father’s position as the next king in line… …I just as king built the temple for the Lord God of Israel…I just put the Ark in the temple in the holies of Holies which is the covenant….the contract… between God and His people…
In Conclusion: God's Response to Prayer and Dedication:
When you read the rest of the 6th Chapter of 2 Chronicles,you will see where Solomon got down on his knees…and gave a dedcation prayer… In that prayer he acknowledged the sovereignty of almighty God …I heard Solomon say: there’s no one on earth like you…In that prayer he acknowledged the need for God to look upon the temple built in His name…and to hear the cry of his people. When your people don’t do right please forgive them. When you punish them because of their sin and they call upon your holy name…please Lord forgive them and restore them in your good grace…when the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because we have sin…and they pray toward this temple and confess your name …forgive their sin…If that complete prayer was to be prayed in the modern church in a short form, that same prayer would sound like this:
Our father…Who art in Heaven…Hallowed be Thy name….Thy kingdom come…thy will be done…. On earth as it is in Heaven…Give us this day… our daily bread…Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us …Lead us not into temptation…but deliver us… from evil..For Thine is the kingdom … the power… and the glory forever and ever Amen…
Well what was God’s response to their pray and dedication…
First of all….When the glory of God showed up in the temple….God let them know that he was with them….When the lightning be there was power in the house… loving power…healing power…Holy Ghost power….Power to walk right; power to pray right; power to live right; power to shout right; God's power was in the house. God answer was the flashing lightning and roaring thunder and a lit up sky. The sky lit up in the power of God and his Shekinnah glory.. filled the house again…God caused them to have 7 more days of praise and worship; 7 more days of sacrifice and prayer...
Finally, after the 7 days were up, After the 7 day were up…
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. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.'
"But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?' Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.'"
Final Message:
God is looking for people who will pray and dedicate themselves to the call of Holy work. Jesus said; If any man will come unto me, deny yourselves, take up the cross and follow me". When you give yourself fully to the Lord, He will bless you above measure. He will never leave you, nor ever forsake you. Come boldly before the Lord and tell Him: I am thine O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and it told Thy Love to me. How I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thy has died. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy Precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to Thy service Lord by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up, with a steadfast hope and my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thy has died, Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy Precious Bleeding side. May the Lord bless each and everyone who reads this message in Jesus name...Amen!
Rev. Dr. William Edward Boddie