1 Kings 9:1-9
1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the LORD said to him: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'
6 But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?' 9 Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.'"
The LORD showed Himself to Solomon again when the temple was completed and dedicated, the first being in 1 Kings 3:5, 9 where Solomon asked for understanding and wisdom instead of glory or riches. The LORD again heard Solomon’s prayer to finish well and glorify God in the endeavor, and now reassured him that He had consecrated the house of God Himself. He promised to meet His people there with the covenant initiated by God, not man. But the stipulation and expectation was that Solomon would reciprocate by living as a man after God’s own heart with integrity, righteousness, and willing obedience. Only then would his reign continue past the grave. Only then would the Branch of promise, the Messiah, rule through the lineage of Solomon. But if he or his descendants turned away from walks with the LORD, if they lived in utter disobedience to God’s word and walked their own ways after other things to worship and live for, then they would be cut off and cast aside. Ah, bit there was always a remnant, as God’s plans are certain even if He had to release them from His covenant which they had broken. The calamity of consequences was real, bit So was grace, mercy, forgiveness, and restoration. We know this because the lineage was kept in spite of Israel’s rebellion against God, their inability to keep God’s law, and the descendants brought to a culmination of God and man joining in the descendant of David, Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One of God who is Jesus the Christ of the seed of Adam in the lineage kept in the promised remnant. We find that the promise and warning to Solomon here did not keep God’s plan for saving the world based on the absolute obedience of him and his descendants, but of God Himself stepping into the world as a man as the only obedient and righteous one to pay the sacrificial price of our original sin (Genesis 3:22, 15). Our obedience was impossible; His became ours and our justification (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16). This is why Christ came as a man, of the seed of David in the flesh (but also God from eternity). He was perfectly righteous as God, yet fulfilled the promise that would result so that the kingdom of God could be forever established and never fall as that of the earthly kingdom did. Jesus walked a perfect life of upright integrity from the heart as a man to establish this kingdom which neither David nor Solomon could. He has also become our very righteousness that we may enter that kingdom purchased for us by His obedience as only the God as a man could. We could not earn this kingdom, so in grace He gives it to us on Christ’s merit alone. Galatians 3:24 therefore tells us that the Law and its requirements of perfect obedience could never deliver us, but the covenant of Christ’s sacrifice by the blood of His willing death did forever to all who believe and trust His word saying so; that is, faith in God’s work on our behalf, His agreement and work for us, not by us or our impossibly complete obedience. This is His grace. But we are in no way released from the requirement to live with a heart for God in obedience (Romans 6,1), just willing obedience to believe His work (John 1:12, 6:29, Romans 8:13) and the reciprocal response of sanctifying living to choose what allows Him to conform us to Christ. Let us then have a heart for God like David and Solomon, but by grace and willing obedience to honor and glorify our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13)!
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