2 Chronicles 7:12-22
God’s Second Appearance to Solomon (1 Kings 9:1–9)
12 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. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 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. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 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. 17 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, 18 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.’
19 “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, 20 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.
21 “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?’ 22 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.’”
God came to Solomon for the second time at night in a dream; the first time He had asked Solomon what He should give him (1 Kings 3:5), this second time the LORD told him he heard his prayer for the temple and His people. The first time Solomon had answered with a request to be given wisdom to lead the people of God with a humble heart and a desire to know good and evil (1 Kings 3:9) and discovered that he was given great wisdom and opulence to match that he did not ask for. We sometimes are given material gifts as well as wisdom when our hearts sincerely seek to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but this is never a demand for wealth as some erroneously believe and teach today. We do well to echo Solomon in asking for wisdom to serve and guidance to learn good from evil as He instructs us (Hebrews 5:14) along the way of sanctification while we are being conformed to the image (Romans 8:29, 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 4:13, Colossians 3:10) of Christ and the knowledge of good and evil lost (Genesis 3:4-5) in Eden’s Garden. We are likewise to imitate the example of Solomon in the beginning where he heeded the call to turn from evil and run after (Psalm 119:32) His commandments to be pleasing children with changing hearts of willing obedience. This is to exalt these houses of God, namely our bodies where He now lives, to worship as we ought in holiness and singleness of heart and mind as we turn away from other idols of this present (Galatians 1:4) evil age. As we remember the good beginning of Solomon and how later these idols and wealth overran his God-given wisdom, it should humble us to face failure but energize us to stay the course according to scripture and run the race of faith in worship of living to honor our Lord who has bought us at such a price (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23) of His Son! Our gifts are given to serve God, not enrich ourselves, and our prayers are answered to honor Him in the beauty of holiness in these temples housing (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 John 3:24) His very presence as Solomon’s temple foreshadowed.
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