Fire from Heaven
2Ch 7:1-3. WHEN SOLOMON had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.
And when all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed with their faces upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,
For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
The Dedication of the Temple
2Ch 7:4-10. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God's house.
The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with instruments of music to the Lord, which King David had made to praise and give thanks to the Lord--
for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever--whenever David praised through their ministry; the priests blew trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.
Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which [he] had made was not sufficient to receive the burnt offerings, the cereal offerings, and the fat.
At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.
The eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar and the feast, each for seven days.
And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel His people.
If My People Pray
2Ch 7:11-22. Thus Solomon finished the Lord's house and the king's house; all that [he] had planned to do in the Lord's house and his own house he accomplished successfully.
And 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.
If I shut up heaven so no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place.
For I have chosen and sanctified
(set apart for holy use) this house, that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.
As for you [Solomon], if you will walk before me as David your father walked,
and do all I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances, [1Ki 11:1-11]
Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.
But if you [people] 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 will I pluck [Israel] up by the roots out of My land which I have given [them]; and this house which I have hallowed for My Name will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. [Jer 24:9-10]
And this house, which was so high, shall be an astonishment to everyone passing it, and they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?
Then men will say, Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of Egypt, and they laid hold of other gods and worshiped and served them; therefore has He brought all this evil upon them.
2 Chronicles 7:1-22
7:1-7 As soon as Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
The people saw . . . the glory cloud coming down . . . on the temple, and they bowed . . . on the pavement, worshiping and praising the LORD.
Solomon then led the people in offering thousands of bulls and sheep as sacrifices to the LORD.
The priests took their positions, the Levites played the Lord's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord. Opposite the Levites, the priests sounded their trumpets, while all the Israelites stood.
The bronze altar was too small for the enormous number of sacrifices and offerings.
7:8-10 The dedication feast lasted for seven days, including the Day of Atonement. This was followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, after which Solomon dismissed the people.
7:11-16 After Solomon had finished the temple and his own palace, the LORD appeared to him at night with promises and warnings. In the event that God sent drought, locusts, or pestilence on the people, they should humble themselves, . . . pray, . . . seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then He would forgive their sin and restore them.
Verse 14 may very well be the golden text of this entire book. Though originally addressed to the chosen nation of Israel, it has rightly been applied to those nations which have a biblical heritage. It is the sure road to restoration and revival for all times. If the conditions are met, the promises are sure of fulfillment.
J. Barton Payne comments:This great verse, the best known in all Chronicles, expresses as does no other in Scripture God's requirement for national blessing, whether in Solomon's land, in Ezra's, or in our own.
Those who believe must forsake their sins, turn from the life that is centered in self, and yield to God's word and will.
Then, and only then, will heaven send revival.
7:17-22 If Solomon would live in obedience before God, He would establish his throne and allow Solomon's descendants to sit upon it.
On the other hand, if Solomon and his people forsook the Lord for other gods, they would be carried into captivity, and God would reject the temple so that it would be an object of derision and a testimony to the nations that Israel had forsaken the LORD.
Verse 16 seems to imply that the temple would endure for all time; yet we know that it was destroyed in 586 B.C. The explanation, of course, is that God's promise was conditioned on Israel's faithfulness and obedience. Verses 19 and 20 specifically warn that if the people became idolaters, God would reject the temple.
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