I want to please God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's turn
to the second book of the Chronicles in chapter six, and we'll read
the last three verses. That's verses 40, 41, and 42. The second book of the Chronicles,
chapter six, reading verses 40 to 42. Now, my God, let I beseech
thee Thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be a tent unto
the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O
Lord God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests, O Lord God,
be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away. the
face of thine anointed. Remember the mercies of David,
thy servant. We are really very blessed to
have a record in the word of God of such an occasion as this. Because here was a permanent
dwelling place which had been built for almighty God. There had been the tabernacle
which had been first of all erected in the wilderness when Israel
were traveling there and it had been used for some 480 years
and now the time had come and approved by God that the desire
that David had to build a permanent place for God was now fulfilled
and solemn had been the one ordained by God to erect this building
and it took many years and it took thousands and thousands
and thousands of man hours to build it but now it has been
completed and what had happened was then the ark which of course
had been made all those many many years ago was brought into
the holy of holies the most holy place central in the temple and
when this was there then We read the wonder in that last verse.
The Lord showed forth his glory for the glory of the Lord had
filled the house of God. And if you read the previous
chapters, you'll find how they assembled and how there were
the singers who sang praises under God and with cymbals and
psalterers and harps. And there were and with them
120 priests sounding with trumpets. So it would have been a very
considerable orchestra, we might say, who were involved in this. And then they were heard, they
were sang with one sound in praising and thanking the Lord. And when
they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and
instruments and music and praised the Lord saying, for he is good,
for his mercy endureth forever. Then the house was filled with
a cloud, even the house of the Lord. Now what a wonderful occasion
that was. And following that, on the same
time, then Solomon spoke to the whole company that would gather
together, a vast company, and then we know there was this scaffold
erected like a pulpit that he stood upon, and then he knelt
down upon, lifted up his hands, and he prayed that prayer which
we have read together. And there's much instruction
in such prayers. and we have it really as a template
for us. There are many prayers in the
Bible as templates for us today. We know of course we have the
wonderful short one from the Lord Jesus Christ that he gave
to his disciples but there are many prayers which are there
for our instruction that we should recognise that is how we should
come and we should pray. And we should come with confession
and we should come with thankfulness and we should come believing.
We come to a God who hears and a God who answers prayer. We
shouldn't come to what we might think as the unknown God. We want to come in faith believing
him to be the true God. The true God. Well what a blessing
it is for us then as we have an account like this and we have
a pattern of what Solomon prayed. And as we come down to these
last verses, he says, Now, my God, let I beseech thee, thine
eyes be open and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that
is made in this place. We can see with such a statement
that it was an urgency in his spirit. It wasn't just a few
words being mumbled, It wasn't just a tradition of phrases.
Here was a man praying from his heart. Here was a man praying
that God would come. And he wanted God to hear. And he said, let thine eyes be
open and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made
in this place. Well, what a blessing it is for
us if we pray with that intent and that intenseness and that
true desire, and that recognizing that we come, as he very clearly
did, had the evidence he came into the presence of Almighty
God. And it wasn't a prayer that he
prayed in any light way, it wasn't frivolous, it was urgent, it
was God-honoring, and it was a prayer which came from his
heart. And as we are blessed therefore
with such a picture, may we realize the importance of it. And as
we pray, you see often we pray, don't we? And we don't receive
answers for our prayers. And sometimes, of course, God
will not answer them. It's not in his will. Sometimes
we ask them wrongly. Sometimes we ask amiss because
if they were answered, we would consume them upon our lusts. You know, the relevance of our
prayer should be that if the Lord graciously answers, it will
be for His honour and for His glory, and for our encouragement
and thankfulness that we have had a God who has heard and answered
our prayers. Well, we need to look back in
our lives, don't we, to see whether God has heard our prayers. Well, let's put it this way.
Have we ever prayed? Have we ever prayed? You may say, well, of course
I've prayed. Have you prayed from your heart
or just from your head? If you pray from your heart,
then you know we can expect those prayers to be answered. Not always
in the way that we expect, but it is very relevant because prayer
is so, so important. And prayer becomes often relegated
to almost an add-on. If we've got time to pray, well
we will pray. You see, prayer should be the
priority. in our life. The thing that we
love to do, the thing that we desire to do, the thing that
brings us into communion with our God. It's a wonderful mercy,
it's a wonderful blessing to be blessed with a spirit of prevailing
prayer. Let's not be satisfied with just
mumbling a few words and thinking we've performed the duty which
somehow counts with God. You see, the prayer of faith
will be answered. And that which is not of faith
is sin. That's a very tremendous statement,
isn't it? It's a very solemn statement.
Instead of, if you like, receiving the acclaim of God, we receive
condemnation. Because our prayers haven't been
right. Our prayers haven't been in faith. Our prayers have been
to ourselves. How important it is therefore
that you and I have a correct and God-honouring understanding
of prayer, what it means, how we should pray and how we should
look and wait for and seek for answers and not to pray and forget. If you prayed about something
and you forget about it, the prayer doesn't mean very real,
does it? If you prayed about something, and it's still upon
your spirit, and you're watching, and you're waiting for answers, well then, you'll understand
what Solomon desired here. That God, and remember, he comes
like this, now, my God, he knew who he was praying to. Do we
know who we're praying to? Do we know that we're coming
to our God personally? The very God who has loved us?
The very God who has saved us? The very God who has had mercy
upon us? Real religion is personal. And
it's not abstract. It's real. And it's not, then,
have a wrong view of relationship to God. Let us not think that
God, as it were, is as an untouchable situation, someone who is we
don't really know. The people of God, they know
their God. They know their God. You may
ask me, well why do we know? We know because God has spoken
to our hearts. God has revealed himself to us
as it is not unto the world. He's shown us what we are, how
sinful we are, and how we're heading for eternal misery and
hell. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
That's the evidence that God is taking, and has taken, and
is taking notice of us, and it brings about then the understanding
in our hearts that we have a God. We can come and say humbly and
yet boldly, you see the word of God encourages us to come
boldly unto the throne of grace that we may find help in time
of need. Isn't it an encouragement that
you and I as unworthy sinners who don't deserve any notice
from God are invited to come boldly to him as my God. True desire. And there was an
urgency here. He says, I beseech thee. He really wanted God to hear.
He really wanted God to answer. Is that how we come? Is that
how we come? Day by day. really on our knees
before God. Well, does Solomon desire that? May we desire it, and may we
move on to realise then what he says in the 40th verse, verse,
now therefore, now therefore, referring to what's gone before,
now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place thou and
the ark of thy strength." Prior to this, the ark had not had
any settled resting place. It had been moved from one place
to another. Especially in the wilderness,
when the pillar of cloud moved, they moved. The ark was taken
up, the tabernacle was taken up and it was moved. No resting
place. But now, in the providence and
purpose of God, there was a resting place. And so Solomon comes and
says, now therefore, arise, O Lord. He wanted to have the evidence
that God was with them, that God was in that place. that God
was going with them and that he wouldn't leave them. Now therefore
arise O Lord God, the psalmist in the 68th Psalm and the first
verse he commences with very similar words and very strong
words and very powerful words and it's good if we always follow
the desires set forth in the Word of God and that's what We
read in the 68th Psalm, the Psalm of David, and he says this, let
God arise. Let his enemies be scattered. And all of us have an enemy in
the position of the devil. He is a great enemy who attacks
us continually really. Let God arise. Let his enemies
be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee. before him. Now no one can stand
before Almighty God. Be encouraged by that. Whatever
enemies you may have, perhaps you have a great enemy in your
own heart. And you may pray, O Lord arise
and let this enemy which so gets hold of me, so almost envelops
me, indeed may be scattered. And you know, one of the enemies
that you and I possess, I'll tell you what it is, it's an
evil heart of unbelief. We don't believe the Word of
God. We read the Word of God, but we don't believe it. We carry
on in our own way. We ignore it. And yet here, David
desires, and Solomon desires, let God arise, let his enemies
be scattered, let them also that hate him flee before him." What
a wonderful thing it is. And further on in this book of
Psalms, Psalm 132, we have really very similar words, almost identical
to the words which we read here in this text this morning. And
we can see in Psalm 132 and from verses 8 to 10, We can read what the psalmist
says. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy
strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy for thy servant
David's sake. So not away the face of thine
anointed. You see these words were spoken
in the Psalms almost assuredly they were the words of David,
and no doubt Solomon would have been aware of those words, he
would have known the Psalms pretty well, and he would have known
what the words were that his father spoke, and therefore he
desires the same things. It's a good truth if you and
I desire the same blessings that we read of in the Word of God.
we don't try and produce something new, we follow the guidance of
God's Word and how wonderful it is. Now therefore arise, O
Lord God, into thy resting place thou and the ark of thy strength. Now it's very relevant that what
was spoken here, because Solomon asks that there might be then
the Lord resting there and the Ark of Thy Strength. And the
Ark of the Covenant, which was the Ark of Thy Strength, was
of course the central item in the temple. It was the central
item in the tabernacle. And what did it set forth? It
set forth the glory of Christ. And so as we look back, we can
think that Israel were privileged to have that set before them.
I know it was not clearly illustrated and they would have needed faith
to have observed it. But we know, of course, that
many were given faith to view it. And you may say, well, how
did the Ark set forth the Lord Jesus Christ? Would it set forth the Saviour
in this way? First of all, it showed forth
It was made of wood, shitting wood, wood that lasted well,
which showed that it was the Saviour who came onto this earth.
He lived upon this earth, he came from heaven, and then it
was all covered in gold, pure gold, to set forth his glorious
work of salvation and the glory of himself. And then on top of
this box, there was this solid gold sheet, which was called
the mercy seat, where God came down to dwell with his people. Came
down, especially on that great day of atonement, when the high
priest went into the Holy of Holies. to present Israel and
to seek for the forgiveness of all their sins. And of course
we must never forget the high priest would never have been
admitted into that holy place unless there was that shed blood. Without shedding of blood there
is no forgiveness, there is no remission and therefore blood
was used in those days to signify the way into the holiest, the
way to Christ. And what was in the Ark? What was in the Ark was the Law
of God, the Ten Commandments. That was in the Ark. And it wasn't
to be seen. People didn't see it. My friends,
Christ, our Saviour, has kept the law on our behalf. Every bit of it. He never failed. And so we see the significance
of the Ark. And there's no doubt it was so
important that it was central in the tabernacle and now today
central in the temple. Now therefore arise, O Lord God,
into thy resting place. Come and be there in that place. Thou and the ark of thy strength.
And he goes on to say, let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed
with salvation. And that means, of course, that
the priests were to direct the people to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the way of salvation. He is the way of salvation. He always has been. right from
the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. He is the way of salvation. And my friends today, is He our
way of salvation? Is He your way of salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ, is He your way of salvation? Or do you say, well, I don't
know. Well, my friends, we must know. Don't go wandering on through
life without the personal knowledge
of Christ as your salvation. Nothing less than this will do. You can be a very knowledgeable
person. You can perhaps recite many parts of the Bible. But
my friends, the important thing is to know that Lord Jesus Christ
is your salvation. And that means, very simply,
He is the one who has saved your soul. He is the one who has died
in your place to redeem you, so that by its grace one day
you will be in heaven. No one gets to heaven who does
not know the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ personally,
so that you can come and say, my Lord and my God, and that
will be a very humbling position. but a very wonderful position,
and my friends, a very necessary position. Don't be satisfied
with anything less. When you come to pass out of
time into eternity, you will need that certificate which God
gives of the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ is your salvation. that He's my salvation. My friends
do pursue this way, desiring that God will reveal to you that
He is your salvation. He does. He does. All God's people have the evidence
that the Lord Jesus Christ is their salvation. That He it is,
and He alone has saved their souls. That's why Solomon says
here, let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
to show forth the glorious plan of salvation, which of course
was hidden really in the ceremonial law in the Old Testament, with
those physical emblems of the Ark and the other things. And
also, of course, with the high priest garments, they all pointed
towards the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. But you see, they
needed spiritual eyes. And you and I need spiritual
eyes. It won't be any good. To just
be satisfied with what we know, what we can speak about. We might
think, well I can speak about this and I can speak about that.
The important thing is to know my Jesus crucified by far excels
all things beside. You know we live in a pretty
sad age. A pretty sad age in the Church
of God. Really when there's not very much knowledge. of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His great work of salvation is
not very much appreciated. It's not very much spoken of.
And yet it is a wonderful and a glorious truth. And it's a
wonderful theme. It's the theme and truth which
the Church of God rejoice in. And that's what Solomon says
here. and let thy saints rejoice in
goodness." The goodness of the Lord in revealing these things
to their souls. Well, do we rejoice? Let's say,
have we rejoiced? Have you rejoiced in what Christ
has done? Have you rejoiced that he's taken
you in hand? Have you rejoiced? He hasn't
passed you by. Have you rejoiced? He's come where
you are. He's come where you are. And He's called you. Every believer has a calling. Every believer has a calling
from God. We refer to it sometimes as a
call by grace. The Apostle Paul referred to
it when he said he was called by grace. And every child of
God is called by grace. But they have a call. There is
a call. It's not something which is not
known. Every believer is called. And every believer
will know that call. And they will have the evidence
that they are called. You know, people today They seem
to settle down in a religion of doubt. And they seem to think,
somehow, that that has value. My friends, it's nothing at all,
really. And I need to know, as David
desired, and as he prayed, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
the priests, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. Rejoice in the goodness of God
toward our souls. Rejoice that he has taken notice
of us. We never deserved it. We never
will. What a mercy when God has come and touched our hearts. And the result is very simply
explained like this. We have, naturally, a hard heart. A hard heart which is rebellious
against God. A hard heart which doesn't really,
is prepared to acknowledge God, isn't prepared to bow down to
God. And our heart is, we have our own plans and we will not
submit to God. And there we are, by nature,
with a hard heart. Just like a lump of rock. Now
when God comes and calls us by His grace, and when He directs
us to the Saviour of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens
then? The hardness is removed. And what do we have? We have
a soft heart. Not a hard heart, a soft heart,
because then we have a new heart. And it's the evidence of the
blessed work of God. And don't settle down unless
you have the evidence of this change within. And it's known and felt. It's real. It's the work of God. Because
when that comes, the evidence is that we've passed from darkness
to light. The glorious light of the Gospel.
And we view it in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, here we have
then this picture. Solomon was praying for God to
come. And there to be, in the middle,
the temple that had been built. You see, it would have been nothing
unless God had been there. Unless the ark had been there.
It would have just been a mere building. would have meant nothing. The great thing is for Christ
to be there. And it's the same for us today. The great thing for you and me
is to have Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Not outside. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Now the effect of the work of
the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the Blessed Saviour will be
to rejoice. Rejoice. It must be so. If you've
never had any rejoicing in the salvation of God to your soul,
there's no evidence that you possess the life of God. There
is rejoicing. God's people do rejoice. They
must rejoice. And they praise God. And they
must praise God. Because He's worthy. He's worthy
of all acclamation. And the Church of God rejoiced
to do it. They love to do it. And they
say in their heart, and they say in their words, worthy is
the land that was slain. This is my great and glorious
savior. This is the one that I bow down
to. This is one who I come to in
prayer, believing he is my God. Solomon came believing that he
was praying to his God. My friends, look through the
word of God and find the many people who prayed to God. Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Joseph, many evidences of those who prayed
to God. and God heard and God answered
their prayers. You see, you and I can go to
chapel all our life and never pray. You may think, well, I pray.
Well, if you pray from your heart, there will be an effect and there'll
be answers. Don't say, well, I've prayed
all my life and never had any answers and be satisfied with it. That
won't get you to heaven. You'll need answers. You need
to come in faith to God. You need to come desiring that
he hears and answers your prayers. Here was King Solomon then seeking
for this wonderful favour. I beseech thee, let thine eyes
be open and let thine eyes be a tent unto my prayer. that is
made in this place, this place where God had now come. God had
evidenced His presence there with His glory. It's a wonderful
thing when God evidences His presence within us, with the
effect it has upon us, with salvation. And let thy saints
rejoice in goodness. And then He says, O Lord God,
Turn not away the face of thine anointed. He didn't want God
to turn away from him. And that would be a real concern
of us. We won't want God to turn away. We want to view his face. We want to know his love. We
want to know his grace and his mercy continually. We want fresh
evidences of it. And we need our heart to be moved.
And we are praying that the Saviour may be with us and go with us
and bless us indeed. O Lord God, turn not away the
face of thine anointed. Remember the mercies of David
thy servant. You and I would need to remember
what God has done for us. and desire that the Lord will
remember us and not pass us by but do us good. Well the whole
thrust really of this verse is Christ. Christ as central in
the tabernacle and in the temple and my friends Christ central
in the assemblies of his saints And my friends, Christ central
in our lives, central in our heart. Let us not think of anything
less. Because if you and I are blessed
with the evidence of Christ within, how humbling, how wonderful it
is to think the blessing of the Lord God should have come to
us, should have taken notice of us, should have dealt with
us, should have loved us, everlasting love and indeed loved us so much
that he gave his life that we might have life. It's an amazing
truth. It's a truth beyond our natural
comprehension to think that God, who rules on high, created all
things, should so wondrously look upon us and call us and
give us the evidence that we're among his children. My friends,
the Apostle Paul was able to say, by the grace of God, I know
whom I have believed. And the Church of God, by the
grace of God, are able to say, I know whom I have believed. Not for their exhortation, but
for the glory of God. Because he has shown to them
his salvation. Well, may we have the wonderful
evidence of it in our lives and bless God that we have pictures
in the Word of God to direct us to the glorious Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may bow down before him and honor
him as our Lord and our God.