in 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 15. A text is found here in 2nd Chronicles
chapter 7 verse 15 as the Lord appears to Solomon and
answers his prayer saying now mine eyes shall be open and mine
ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse
15. The answer then to Solomon's
prayer we might say that what we have here is the great truth
that prayer in the Lord Jesus Christ is always answered. Now mine eyes shall be opened
and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. The Lord Jesus says to his disciples,
if they ask anything in his name he will do it, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. And how remarkable are these
words when we see them in their context. We have here what is
obviously a direct answer and an immediate answer to the very
thing that Solomon had prayed. There at the end of his prayer
in chapter 6 verse 40, He asks, 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. And God says, Now mine eyes shall
be open, and mine ears a tent unto the prayer that is made
in this place. The prayer that we have, we only
read the opening verses and the concluding verses of the prayer,
recorded really In chapter 6 it's a remarkable prayer, and it's
not only found here in the 2nd book of Chronicles, but we find
it also previously in the 8th chapter of the 1st book of Kings. So it's recorded on these two
separate occasions, and you know the significance of that. When we find repetition in God's
Word, it's not vain repetition. Every word of God is a weighty
word, and when God is pleased to say a thing more than once,
we do well to take account. As I said, it is such a remarkable
prayer. In it, Solomon is anticipating
the various conditions that the people of Israel, the people
of God, will find themselves in. back in chapter 6 for example
then and there at verse 22 he says if a man sin against his
neighbor or if a man sins against his
neighbor and then comes to the realization of that and comes
and makes his confession God will hear, God will forgive again
at verse 24 he says there If thy people Israel be put to the
worst before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee,
and shall return, and confess thy name, and pray, and make
supplication before thee in this house, then hear from the heavens. Or if they sin against God, not
only sinning against their neighbor, if they find themselves in a
land where there is great dearth and need, verse 26, when the
heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have
sinned against yet if they pray or whatever the circumstances
they might find themselves in they are to be those who would
call and call again upon the Lord. Again look at verse 28,
if there be dirt in the land, if there be pestilence, if there
be blasting or mildew, locusts or caterpillars, if their enemies
besiege them in the cities of their land, whatsoever sore or
whatsoever sickness there be, then what prayer or what supplication
shall be made by any man? Oh God will hear them and God
will answer them. verse 36 of that 6th chapter in his prayer mode Solomon says
if they sin against thee for there is no man that sinneth
not and thou be angry with them and deliver them over before
their enemies and they carry them away captives onto a land
far off only, yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither
they are carried captive and turn and pray unto thee in the
land of their captivity." Here we have reference into the fact
of captivity, exile. And that would come, that would
come, we see it of course later in the days of Daniel, Daniel
the prophet is one of those who is found in the exile. But what
does Daniel do? He is ever a man of prayer. Even when the presidents seek to prejudice
the King Darius against him. There in the 6th chapter of the
book of Daniel. What does Daniel do? All prayer,
at the suggestion of the President's all prayer, Darius says is to
be made only in the name of the King himself, but Daniel will
not do such a thing as that. He still looks to the Lord his
God, he still prays to the Lord his God. In chapter 6 and verse 7 we're
told all the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, the princes,
the councillors, the captains, have consulted together to establish
a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask
a petition of any god or man for 30 days, save of thee, O
king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now O king, establish
the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according
to the Lord of the Medes and Persians which altereth not.
Wherefore King Darius, it says, signed the writing and the decree.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into
his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward
Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed
and gave thanks before his God as he did before time. He is
one of those, you see, mindful of the prayer and the request
of Solomon, he prays to the Lord God. He's cast into the lion's
den. We're all familiar with what
happens now that Daniel is delivered, Daniel is preserved and then
later we have that remarkable prayer that Daniel himself makes
as he comes before the Lord God reading there in the prophecy
of Jeremiah. He came to realize that God would
accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem, 70 years in captivity. And he says, I set my face unto
the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplications with fasting
and sackcloth and ashes and I prayed unto the Lord my God. And his
prayer was heard, his prayer was answered and deliverance
was granted from the captivity. read through the content then
of Solomon's remarkable prayer and how he seeks to deal with
the various conditions that the people might find themselves
in. It reminds us in many ways of what we read in the 107th
psalm. That psalm that speaks of God's
providences and all the varieties of situations that men are brought
into throughout their lives. And what is the answer? they
are to be those who in every circumstance would turn themselves
on to the Lord God. Always speaks there of how the
Lord is the one who ever leads his people, ever directs his
people. They wander in a wilderness in
a solitary way, they find no city to dwell in and yet the
Lord leads them forth by the right way. At times they sit
in darkness, in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and
iron. These are the things that we
read of there in the 107th Psalm. Fools because of their transgressions
and because of their iniquities are afflicted it says. They go down to the sea, they
do business in great waters. Whatever their circumstances
they are to observe. and they are to call upon God
and to cry to God. And God will answer in every
situation. God is pleased then to attend
to the cry of His children. But coming this morning to consider
how God hears and God answers from the words of our text. here
in 2nd Chronicles 7.15 God says, Now mine eyes shall
be opened, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made
in this place. First of all, the significance
of the place. It's in this place. What is this
place? It's the temple. It's a temple
that Solomon had built, it's a temple that David himself had
wanted to build, but the Lord had told him not so, although
he gathers so much of the materials, he's not the man who is going
to build that temple. Now this will fall to his son
Solomon. And how significant it is, we
find Jonah the prophet, just like Daniel, when he's swallowed
by that great fish and taken to the depths of the Mediterranean
sea. Yet he looks to the temple. He comes in, as it were, to the
temple. This is what he says there in that second chapter
of the book that bears his name, the prayer of Jonah. He looks
again to the temple of the Lord, he would surely have had no concept
of just where the temple of the Lord was, is in the fish's belly,
is in the depths of the seas, is altogether disorientated. But there's a spiritual looking.
He's looking to the Lord God. The significance of the temple,
as you know, is that it is a remarkable type. It's a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the temple of the Lord.
We have that work of Bunyan, the Puritan. Solomon's temple,
spiritualized, in which Bunyan, dear Bunyan, brings out the the
true significance of what the temple is, what this place is.
He directs us to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
not just on the authority of the Puritan, we have the words
of the Lord Jesus himself. Remember how he answers the Jews,
there in the second chapter of John's Gospel. And at the end
of that chapter they come and they desire that the Lord would
show them some sign. They are always asking signs
of the Lord Jesus. Verse 18, Then answered the Jews
and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing
that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, destroyed this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of
his body. When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had
said. Oh, the Lord himself indicates
quite clearly there that the fulfillment of the temple is
to be found in himself. As he comes in the great mystery
of godliness in the incarnation, as God descends, God contracted
to a span, incomprehensibly made man, says Charles Wesley. All
this is a true tabernacle. which the Lord pitch and not
man. The tabernacle, which was previous
to the temple, was also a type of the Lord Jesus as he comes
in his human nature, the temple itself. When we read here then
of prayer being made in this place, we have to think in terms
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was the glory of the tabernacle,
the glory of the temple? It was the Holy of Holies. It was that place where the Ark
of the Covenant was housed, and upon the Ark was the Mercy Seat. It was a covering to the Ark
of the Covenant. And the Lord Jesus Himself is
the Mercy Seat. He is the Mercy Seat. When The Apostle speaks, in Hebrews
chapter 9, of the various furnishings in the tabernacle. He makes specific
reference there, in verse 5, to the mercy seat. And we said
before that the particular word that he uses, he uses on just
one other occasion. Paul uses the same word, writing
in Romans chapter 3. at verse 25 where he speaks of
the Lord Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood he says but the word propitiation
it is identical with the word that the translators have rendered
mercy seat in Hebrews 9.5 whom God hath set forth to be a mercy
seat that is the glory of the temple the ark with the mercy
seat upon it. And it is of course that place
of propitiation where on the great day of atonement the high
priest would go and take the blood of sacrifice and sprinkle
it before the mercy seat and upon the mercy seat making atonement
for the sins of the people. But Christ is the mercy seat.
The mercy seat is the type, the Lord Jesus is the blessed antitype. Or when the fullness of the time
was come, God sends forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law, that one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwell. He is that one who is the God-man. He is that one who is the only
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Now what
do we read here in this 7th chapter? A sermon comes to the end of
his prayer. Now the Lord God descends. The fire came down from heaven.
and consume the burnt offering it says and the sacrifices and
the glory of the Lord filled the house and then we're told
how the priest could not enter into the house of the Lord because
the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house oh there's a
glory you see in that temple and there is a glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ as we see him as that one who descends who comes
down from heaven but what is that glory that belongs to the
Lord Jesus? Oh, this is the man who doesn't
rebuke sinners, refuse sinners turn away from sinners, no, this
is the man that receiveth sinners and eateth with them and back
in that prayer of Solomon in chapter 6 and the language there at verse
29 it says then what prayer or what supplication so ever shall
be made of any man or of all thy people Israel when every
one shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread
forth his hands in this house then hear thou from heaven thy
dwelling place and forgive and render unto every man according
unto all his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou only knowest
the hearts of the children of men or those who come you see
spreading forth their hands because they know their own sorrow and
their own grief those who have such a sense of their sinnership
or they will be received they will be hurt in this house it
says they heard in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the glory of
Christ that He is that One who is ever the sinner's friend,
the only Saviour of sinners. Here we see the person then,
He is God to Him belongs all the glories that belong unto
God but He is also that One who is man and He is a real man and
He is touched with the feeling of all His people's infirmities
and he ever lives now to intercede for them he is their mercy son
but also when we think of the plight we not only to think in
terms of the person of the Lord Jesus we must ever remember the
great work that the Lord Jesus crime to accomplish where was
it that Solomon stood as he made his prayer Well, back in chapter 6 we read
those words. In verse 12, He stood before
the altar of the Lord. He stood before the altar of
the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and
spread forth His hands. And spreading forth His hands,
He then begins to address God. Verse 14, He says, O LORD God
of heaven, there is no God like Thee in the heaven nor in the
earth, which keepeth covenant. and show us mercy He stands in
before the place where the sacrifice is made, where the sacrifice
is to be consumed and it is that fire that comes down as we see
in the opening verse of chapter 7 the fire coming down from heaven
consuming the burnt offering and the sacrifice And then we
read again of other sacrifices being offered, verse 4. The king
and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord, and King Solomon
offered a sacrifice of 20,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the
king and all the people dedicated the house of the Lord. It speaks to us, does it not,
of the Lord Jesus Christ and that great sacrifice that Christ
himself has made. Here we have a multitude of offerings,
but the Lord Jesus has come and made one offering for sin, one
sacrifice for sin, once and for all. All those Old Testament
types all those sheep and oxen that were to be offered as prescribed
in the book of Leviticus all points to him and that great
offering that he made when he poured out his soul unto death
and offered himself in the room instead of his people bearing
in his own person all that punishment that was due to their sins. All this temple you see, it was
God himself who was pleased to make his dwelling there in the
midst of Israel and it was the place where the priests were
to offer the sacrifices. Sacrifices for sins upon the
brazen altar. but there's not only the brazen
altar there's also the golden altar the golden altar of incense
that was also to be there in the temple as it was in the tabernacle
and that was to be addressed by the priest every day. They
were to burn incense upon the golden altar, as we read back
in the opening part of Exodus chapter 13, part of the furnishings. And it reminds us of that other
aspect of the priestly work of the Lord Jesus. He's not only
a sacrificing priest, but the Lord Jesus Christ himself is
a praying priest. Oh, we've already made some reference
to that with regards to the fact that He Himself is really the
Mercy Saint. We speak in terms of the throne
of grace, that place where the Lord is pleased to hear prayer
and to answer prayer. Oh, it's all in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And how it's even taken up when
we come to the end of the New Testament. when we come to the
very last book, the book of the Revelation remember what we're
told there at the beginning of Revelation chapter 8 another angel John says came
and stood at the altar this is the golden altar having a golden
censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should
offer it with the prayer of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne. Always the prayer of saints offered
with the incense. It's all the merits of the Lord
Jesus Christ and it is that that makes the prayer of saints acceptable. Oh our prayers, so often poor
prayers. Do we not feel it? Our prayers
are so pathetic, our words fail us so often. We can scarce speak
when we come, when the Lord is really dealing with us. It's
not a matter then of saying fine words. It's those groanings,
it's those sighs, it's those cries. We sang just now in that
hymn of heart, this prayer supports the soul that's weak, though
thought be broken, language lame, pray though thou canst or cannot
speak. but cry with faith in Jesus'
name. There's the secret you see. It's
faith in the name of the Lord Jesus. It's that prayer that
is made in this place. It's putting all our trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's looking to Him, His person.
But not only looking to Him in His person as God-man, but looking
to Him as that One who has accomplished all the goodwill and pleasure
of the Father. or how he came, you see, as that
one who is the mediator of that new covenant. Why in his prayer
doesn't Solomon make mention of God's covenant with his father
David? But David is always a type of
the Lord Jesus. Those sure mercies of David,
or that covenant that is ordered in all things and sure, is that
that was sealed by the Lord Jesus with His coming and His sacrifice
as the mediator, as the testator He has offered His blood, He
has died, His covenant, His testament now stands in force and it's
only as we come in and through Him it's the place in that Solomon
is speaking of here in our text God says now, mine eyes shall
be open and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made
in this place. Or do we come then with that
confidence that we will always be heard, no matter how poor
and how pathetic we understand our prayer to be, we're heard
and heard only for the sake of the Lord Jesus. But what is it
that we have here? when we look at the text is it
not really a promise? it's all promise God goes on
in verse 16 for now have I chosen and sanctified this house that
my name may be there forever and mine eyes and mine heart
shall be there perpetually How the Father constantly delights
in the Son. How He declares there in the
Gospels, both at the baptizing of Christ and then again in the
Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. How the Son speaks there in Proverbs
chapter 8, He was daily by Him, as one brought up with Him. He
says, I was daily His delight. rejoicing always before Him. Oh, God declares all His good
pleasure with the Lord Jesus. And let us not forget, friends,
that all those promises, and this is promise, all the promises
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ are yea, and in Him are men,
to the glory of God. Oh, we have this promise here,
that God will hear and God will answer when we come in Christ's
name because the Father ever always delights in the Son we
can never pray in vain when we pray it's not wasted breath the
Lord hears the Lord answers look at the language that we have
there in Isaiah 45 19 I said not under the seed of Jacob seek
him I face in vain I the Lord speak righteousness I declare
right words that's God's righteous words He will not ever have Jacob
sin he will never have his spiritual Israel to come and to seek his
face in vain he will hear them and David knew it and Solomon
knew it the glories that belong unto that life of prayer. In the midst of all their trials,
all their troubles, we see it time and again in the Psalms
of David. All time and again those Psalms
have prayers. Whatever situation, whatever
circumstance David finds himself in, he turns to the Lord his
God. You see what we said at the beginning,
the prayer of Solomon. It deals with all the various
circumstances, the vicissitudes that we have to pass through
in our lives. Psalm 86 for example, Bow down
thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Or are we
those who fear ourselves to be so needy? We're so poor, we have
nothing to bring. We have nothing to plead before
God but our great want. We can only come to Him as those
who are beggars. We have no deeds of righteousness
that we've performed. We have to come as beggars, constantly
pleading for His mercy. We want Him to lift up the light
of His countenance upon us to behold us to take account of
us or we see it do we not in the case of poor blind Bartimaeus
remember how that beggar would not be refused he would
not be refused though the Lord seems to ignore him Yet ultimately the Lord is pleased
to hear and to answer the cry of the beggar. We were reading just this last
week the account as we have it in Mark's Gospel. in chapter 10 of Mark's Gospel
it's interesting Mark's account because previously in that same
chapter we see the Lord dealing with the rich young ruler and
the rich young ruler comes and speaks of all the good that he
has done oh the Lord deals with these
two men so differently when the young ruler comes and addresses
Christ. He says, what shall I do? Good
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And
you remember how the Lord answers him. He immediately directs him
to law. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
And what does he say? Master, all these have I observed
from my youth. he's looking to the Lord, he's
looking to himself, he's looking to his own doings but then when
we come to the end of that chapter they come to Jericho and here
is blind Bartimaeus sitting by the highway side begging and
he doesn't come to speak to Christ of what he has done no, he cries
out and he says Jesus our son of David have mercy on me They charge him to hold his peace.
He cries them all. Thou son of David have mercy
on me. And the Lord deals with him not
in terms of law but in terms of grace. What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? That's what the Lord says. Oh
the rich young ruler says what must I do? But Jesus you see speak to this
man of what he will do. It's grace. The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Christ
says to him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Or as the margin says, thy faith
hath saved thee. Oh, the Lord is pleased with
us. To hear those who come and cry and call and beg this is
the promise that he has given mine eyes shall be open mine
ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place all his
eyes are open as well as his ears he looks upon these poor
needy souls there be many who say who will show us any good
Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us is that
what we desire that the Lord would look upon us and grant to us those gracious
smilings of his face and deal with us not in terms of law but
in terms of grace oh this is the promise you see and that
promise of God it all centers ultimately in the Holy Spirit
when we think of the prayer made in this place when we think of
that prayer to Christ What does He say to His own disciples at
the end of His ministry? There in Luke chapter 24, behold
He says, I send the promise of my Father unto you. Oh, what is the promise of the
Father? It is that promise of the Holy
Spirit. The words are repeated in the
opening chapter of the Acts that to remain at Jerusalem until
that promise is fulfilled Acts like Luke as a preamble at the beginning and then we come there in Acts 1
to verse 4 being assembled together with them that is the Lord Jesus,
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but
wait for the promise of the Father, which saith, Ye have heard of
me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many
days hence. And then, in chapter 2, when
the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where
they were and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like
as of fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance. Nor it is the promise of the
Holy Spirit Now God time and again directs
us to that blessed truth I will pour upon the house of David
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirits of grace and of supplication
and they will look upon me whom they have pierced and will mourn
for him as one mourneth for his only son and be grieved for him
as one is grieved for his firstborn or the Spirit. He comes as the
Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to reveal the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to help the poor, needy
people of God in all their prayers. He helps their infirmities. He
makes intercession for them with those groanings that cannot be
uttered. Oh now, says God, my eyes shall
be open, my ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this
place. It's a promise, it's a promise
ultimately of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but in prayer is
it not all the persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit that reveal themselves to us. or we come by the mediation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the only mediator. He is the
way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
He says, but by me. We need that gracious ministry
of the Spirit. He must constantly help us, He
must indict all our prayers if they're going to be real prayers.
And we come to meet with the Father, we're to address Him,
we're to call upon Him as our Father which is in Heaven. Paul says it there in Ephesians
2.18, through Him, that is through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. This is the prayer then,
that Solomon is assured has not been in vain. He had made his
specific request, Now my God, let I beseech thee thine eyes
be open, let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made
in this place. And God hears prayers and answers
prayers specifically. Do we ask for particular things?
We're not just to deal in generalities. God says, Now mine eyes shall
be open. and my ears attend unto the prayer
that is made in this place for now have I chosen and sanctified
this house that my name may be there forever and mine eyes and
mine heart shall be there perpetually. Oh the Lord grant that we might
learn of God himself that our eyes and our hearts might be
ever centered upon the Lord Jesus Christ and that we might be emboldened
as we come before God and please His name and His merits and expect
that the Lord will indeed answer for He is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or that we think. Will the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us? The tune is a bit low. 435.