In 1 Kings 9 we read the following. And it came to pass when Solomon
had finished the building of the house of the Lord and the
king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to
do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time as he
appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I
have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made
before me. I have hallowed this house which
thou hast built to put my name there forever, and mine eyes
and mine heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou wilt
walk before me as David thy father walked in the integrity of heart
and in uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded
thee, and will keep my statutes and my judgments then i will
establish the throne of thy kingdom upon israel forever as i promised
to david thy father saying there shall not fail thee a man upon
the throne of israel but if ye shall at all turn from following
me ye or your children and will not keep my commandments and
my statutes which I have set before you but go and serve other
gods and worship them then will I cut off Israel out of the land
which I have given them and this house which I have hallowed for
my name will I cast out of my sight and Israel shall be a proverb
and a byword among all people "'And at this house, which is
high, "'everyone that passeth by it shall be astonished "'and
shall hiss, and they shall say, "'why have the Lord done thus
unto this land "'and to this house? "'And they shall answer,
"'because they forsook the Lord their God, "'who brought forth
their fathers "'out of the land of Egypt, "'and have taken hold
upon other gods, "'and have worshipped them and served them. "'Wherefore
have the Lord brought upon them all this evil.'" came to pass
when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the
Lord and the king's house and all Solomon's desire which he
was pleased to do that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second
time as he had appeared under him at Gibeon. The Lord appeared
to Solomon. The Lord appeared. We saw some
time ago, how the Lord appeared unto Solomon at Gibeon and how
he came unto Solomon and said, ask what I shall give thee. Solomon
prayed and said, Lord, give me wisdom. Wisdom. The Lord gave Solomon that faith
and that wisdom to ask for wisdom. And with that wisdom, God caused
Solomon to build the house that David had longed to build for
the Lord. Except the Lord had appeared
under Solomon, all that Solomon knew and all
that Solomon did would have been but outward. following a form. Whatever he may have done that
was right in the eyes of men before God, whatever he may have
done in terms of building a house for God, or in terms of worship,
or in terms of sacrifice, whatever he may have done outwardly would
have been but form. But Solomon met with God. The Lord had appeared under him.
And the Lord gave him wisdom. The Lord gave him Christ. The wisdom of God. Christ was
made under him wisdom. The Lord appeared to him. And
that made the difference. So too with us. Except the Lord
appears unto us. Except the Lord makes himself
known unto us. except we truly come to know
God in spirit, in reality, in truth, then all that we may say
and do and believe is but outward. All our understanding of the
gospel, all our religion is but a form, is but outwards. And
that is all it is with us until God appears. That is all it is
with so many. with so many in religions with
so many in Christendom so many who profess to follow Jesus don't
know him he's never appeared unto them
there's no reality they've read of him in the bible perhaps they've
heard of him from others perhaps they have the knowledge And in
their religion they have the form, they go to worship. They live their lives in a certain
way, but there's nothing to it, it's all outward. And so much
of our religion, personally, so much of your religion and
my religion, until God appears, it's just outward. And this is why so many on hearing
the gospel on hearing the truth can see nothing in it they're
not brought to believe because it's just outward they can hear
of the facts but it's not real so pharisee of the pharisees
of the tribe of benjamin zealous in the religion of the Jews,
esteemed by all as a man of religion, had no knowledge of Christ until
that day when on the Damascus road Christ appeared under him
and cried out under him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? And from that day on, Saul then
Paul, counted all that he had before, all his knowledge and
religion, all his wisdom, all his understanding as nothing
has done. He counted it as a hindrance
to knowing God. It got in the way. He never knew
God through the outward form until God came and took those
things and pointed him to Christ in them. All his religion had
got in the way. All his understanding had led
him nowhere until God came in the scriptures and pointed Christ
unto him and made him known in all those things, all those forms
that Saul had followed. He suddenly saw Christ in them. All the scriptures that he'd
read and knew, he suddenly saw how they all pointed unto Christ. Suddenly Christ appeared unto
him in all the scriptures and was real unto him. And so it
is when God comes unto us in the gospel by his Spirit, in
power, and speaks unto us through these words, and they become
real. Then the accounts in the Scriptures,
then the Old Testament record, then the New Testament record,
rather than just being words on a page, becomes real. We see Christ in all these things. We see Christ in all the Scriptures. He becomes real to us. The Lord appears. For unless the Lord appears unto
us, unless we are given faith to see and it becomes a reality,
then we have nothing. Salvation is to know Him, not
just to know of God. not just to know the account
concerning him, not just to know that Christ came, was born, was
made a man, lived and then died on a cross, not just to know
that he was crucified between two thieves, that his blood was
shed, that he was laid in the grave, that he rose again on
the third day, that he ascended, not just to know that the apostles
went forth and preached his message, throughout Judea, to the Jews
first and into the Gentiles, not just to know the record,
but to know the reality. When God comes unto us in the
gospel and makes Christ known unto us, when he appears unto
us, then we no more see the words on the page, but we see Christ
in them. We see him. We hear Him. We know Him. And suddenly what
is just words to others is a reality to us. He's life to us. He's salvation to us. The Lord
appears. He must appear. When Solomon had finished the
building of the house of the Lord and the king's house, and
all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, that the Lord
appeared to Solomon the second time. It came to pass that the
Lord appeared. Has he appeared unto you? Until he does, these are just
words. We may even see the truthfulness
of the words. We may even recognize that there
is a God and that this world was created by him. We may even
believe that his son came into the world. It's no great thing
to believe these things. The devils believe and tremble,
they're true. But the devils aren't saved.
Because until the Lord appears unto you, you do not know him
as your savior. We need to see him. We need him
to come unto us and to call our name and to make his grace and
his mercy known unto us and to call us by name to follow him. The Lord appeared to Solomon. On his first appearance in Gibeon,
he said unto Solomon, ask of me what I shall give thee. And
Solomon asked for wisdom. And God gave him wisdom. He gave him Christ. He gave him
salvation. And then the Lord caused Solomon
to build the house, to build the temple. to build the king's
house, to build all the altar and the lake before the altar,
before the temple, all the inner court of the temple, the Holy
of Holies, all the glorious things that Solomon built as a dwelling
place for the Lord Solomon had appeared before that
temple, before all the people of Israel, and had prayed unto
his God on their behalf, had bowed down before the altar,
and then risen up again in a picture of the work of Christ in salvation
when all was done. The Lord appeared to Solomon
the second time. The second time. These two appearances under Solomon
both precede and follow the building of the house of God. They are,
as it were, two bookends in between which all this work of God in
building his house is contained. We have, as it were, these appearances
around the work of the gospel, in which God builds his house,
gathers in his people, saves his people, and brings them unto
glory. All that is done between these
two appearances depicts the work of God, saving his people, bringing
them unto the marriage feast of the Lamb. In Solomon, bowed
down at the altar, we have seen a picture of Christ at the cross,
Christ upon the altar, the priest offering up the sacrifice, the
blood being shed. We see his faith as he hung upon
the cross in the darkness, bearing the sins of his people, made
sin, God's wrath, beaten and bruised under the fury of God's
wrath poured out upon him. We see his prayers from the cross. We see his intercession for his
people, his sufferings, his faith, his offering, the sacrifice,
the blood shed upon the altar. We see as Solomon rose from prayer,
the resurrection of Christ. his ascension into glory, his
gathering unto him all his people at a great feast, the marriage
supper of the Lamb. But before this and after this,
there are two appearances made by God unto Solomon, the king,
the son. Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear
the second time without sin unto salvation. But has he appeared
unto you the first time? Has Christ in his gospel made
himself known to you? as he appeared. The Lord appeared once unto Solomon
at Gibeon and came unto him and said, ask what I shall give thee.
And he gave him wisdom. In this first appearance, we
see a few things. We see a picture of Christ's
entrance and appearance into this world. as a fulfillment
of that eternal covenant of grace. When Christ came into this world,
he came to fulfill that covenant made between Father, Son and
Holy Ghost from eternity. That covenant in which God promised
his son that he would give him the heathen for an inheritance. He would give him a people and he would bring this people
into an everlasting kingdom. And when Christ came into this
world, God made man, God in human flesh, God incarnate. When he entered this darkness
below, when he entered this veil of tears below, when he grew
as a man born in Bethlehem and grew to a man and walked amongst
sinners. God's wisdom. Christ himself
walked amongst men. He appeared. He appeared unto
man. He appeared unto man physically. And there were many that saw
him with the natural eye. But did they see him by faith? Did they see him by faith? We
can read of his entrance into this world in the scriptures.
We can read of his birth, of his life, of his preaching, of
the gospel he declared. We can read his words. We can
read the account of his death, his burial, his resurrection.
but has He appeared unto you? As there was a day when Christ,
the wisdom of God, walked amongst us, when the Son of God was made
flesh, when He lived among men, the one man that ever lived without
sin, when perfection was upon this earth when the life of God
was manifest, when the righteousness of God was manifest in Jesus
Christ, when he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Oh
how many saw him, how they heard him, how they were astonished
at his doctrine, at his teaching, at his preaching. Never man spake
like this man. How they were astonished at his
wisdom, how they saw the miracles, the healings, how they saw his
meekness, how they saw the reaction of men towards him, how he was
rejected, how he was cast out, how he was despised, how the
religious describes the nefarious who should have received him
as the despised him, they hated him,
they tried to put him to death, they tried to trap him in all
his words, they rejected his wisdom because they loved their
own wisdom, they rejected his authority because they loved
their own authority, they rejected his kingdom and his throne because
they wanted to be on the throne of their own kingdom. Not only
did they reject him, But you and I, each of us, when we've
heard of Christ in the gospel, have reacted in the same way.
We turn our eyes away. We turn our backs upon him. Our
hearts are elsewhere. We don't want to know. Though
he's appeared unto all men in history, in his appearance upon
this earth, Your men have, as it were, taken
a sword and planted into him upon the cross. They've put him
to death. Away with this man, away with
this man. Crucify him, crucify him. We love wisdom that comes from
within. And we despise and reject the
wisdom that comes from above. But oh, what an appearance. when
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Oh, what an
appearance, God manifest in the flesh. Never man spake like this
man. But there were some who heard
and saw him at his coming under whom he appeared by spirit. When Christ asked the disciples,
will ye also go away? Peter answered, to whom else
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe that thou art the
son of the living God. Has God appeared unto you in
Christ and given you the faith he gave Peter? Have you heard
from Christ the words of eternal life? Is he made unto you wisdom? As Christ came into this world,
he appeared in his first appearance. Has he appeared unto you by his
spirit? in his gospel. For there is a second time when
Christ shall appear at the fulfillment of all things. At the conclusion
of time, he is coming again. He will appear again. And on that day when he appears,
if he has not appeared to us the first time like he appeared
under Solomon, it will be a solemn day. On this second appearance
of the Lord under Solomon, the Lord makes two things clear unto
Solomon. He makes it clear that if Solomon
and his people follow the Lord, then Solomon's kingdom will be
established forever. But if they should turn away
unto other gods, then they will be destroyed. And this pronouncement is a pronouncement
of the gospel and its effect upon all mankind. When Christ
appears a second time, if we're found in him, having his righteousness, doing all his will, not through
our own strength or ability, but because he's washed us clean
in his blood and made us to be the righteousness of God in him.
If we appear before him on that day in that state, then he will
reign as our king forever and we will reign with him in an
everlasting kingdom. But if we're found as those who
have turned aside unto other gods, then our end will be very
different. In this second appearance, there
is a solemn warning and a powerful declaration of the finished work
of the gospel in Jesus Christ. Here the Lord appeared to Solomon
when all the work of building the temple was done. When the
work of salvation, when Christ's work in building his house was
complete, when he had gathered in the last of his people by
his gospel, he will come. He will return and he will appear. There will be a people who go
with him into eternal glory and the people who were sent off
into eternal damnation. For Solomon here, As a man, there are promises made and warnings
given. As the king over Israel in those
days, there were warnings made and promises. Should the people of God worship
in faith at that temple, then God would bless them. Should
they turn aside, then the temple would be cut off and the people
would be cut off from the land. It was a solemn warning and indeed
as we read on later in Solomon's life, God makes it plain that
he will not share his glory with a man. At Solomon's latter end,
he turned aside from the strange gods. Solomon, like his father David,
by nature was a sinner and all that he had that would last was
that which was given to him by God by grace. We are the same. We're but vile sinners. We cannot
serve the Lord as we would. We cannot serve him righteously. We cannot be faithful under God
in our own strength. Left to ourselves, we will go
off after other gods willingly, rapidly, headlong. We're sinners through and through.
We're vile. We're lost. But if God should
appear unto us in Christ and take us and wash us in his blood,
he will keep us. He will redeem us. He will ransom
us. He will save us. He will deliver
us. He will make us to be the righteousness
of God in him. Yes, we see an earthly warning
and promise made unto Solomon as a man. We see through him
the promise unto Christ that his kingdom shall not fail and
that his kingdom will last forever and all those who are in him
will be delivered. There's a promise of fulfillment
of the covenant here and there's a warning to all those outside
of Christ that outside of him They are lost. Where do you stand
in relation to these things? Are you in Christ as he appeared
unto you? Has he appeared unto you in the
gospel? Or do the warnings of judgment
apply to you? As those, as one who has turned
after other gods, who has turned after your own wisdom, you've
gone another way. Yes, in this second appearance
to Solomon we see very much the end of all things. We see the
judgment seat of Christ here before which we will all be brought. We see his second coming at the
end of time. his second appearance before
all men. We see that day when every knee
shall bow before him. We see that day when all things
are fulfilled. We see that day when time is
brought to an end, when it's brought to a conclusion, when
this earth will be no more. We see that day when the sheep
and the goats shall be gathered before him. As we read in Matthew
chapter 25, There we read, when the Son of Man shall come in
his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon
the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
"'Inherit the kingdom prepared for you "'from the foundation
of the world. "'For I wasn't hungry and you
gave me meat. "'I was thirsty and you gave
me drink. "'I was a stranger and you took
me in. "'Naked and you clothed me. "'I was sick and you visited
me. "'I was in prison and you came
unto me.' "'Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, "'When
saw we thee and hungered and fed thee, "'or thirsty and gave
thee drink? "'When saw we thee a stranger
and took thee in, "'or naked and clothed thee? "'Or when saw
we sick or in prison and came unto thee?' "'And the king shall
answer and say unto them, "'Verily I say unto you, "'Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least "'of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.'" "'Then shall he say also unto them on
the left hand, "'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, "'prepared for the devil and his angels. "'For I was an
hungred, and ye gave me no meat. "'I was thirsty, and ye gave
me no drink. "'I was a stranger, and ye took
me not in. "'Naked, and ye clothed me not. "'Sick and in prison, and ye
visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hungry, or a thirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life. eternal oh what a day it is coming
when the lord appears when he appears on which side of him
shall we stand on which side shall we stand
peter also writes of this day in his epistle to peter chapter
three He writes that ye may be mindful of the words which were
spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us,
the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their
own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? But
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the
heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept
in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, Be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. See in them that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness. looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness are you looking according to
his promise for the new heavens and the new earth were in dwelleth
righteousness because just as the Lord appeared to Solomon
in Gibeon and gave him wisdom and just as the Lord appeared
unto Solomon again when the temple was built and made those promises
and those warnings unto him and just as Christ was born and lived
and came into this world God in human flesh and died upon
that cross and shed his blood as he had promised he would just
as he fulfilled the promise of his coming and fulfilled all
things concerning him that were declared in the scriptures by
all the prophets Just as Christ came as he said he would, so
he will return as he says he will. The day is approaching,
fast approaching, when the Lord shall appear the second time. The second time. Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He will appear. He is coming. And are you looking for him?
Has he appeared unto you the first time? Has he come unto
you in the gospel and said unto you, thy sins are forgiven thee? Follow me. Has he come unto you
like he came unto that thief upon the cross and said, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise? Has he appeared unto you in salvation? If he has, then when he comes
the second time, he will declare that you shall enter into his
kingdom to live and reign with him forevermore. that you shall
enter into his paradise, that you are his, that you are his
bride, that he has set his grace upon you. He shall say, come ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. But if he's never appeared, If
every time he's come unto you in the gospel, in mercy and grace,
in making his truth known, is every time he's had the long-suffering
and compassion to make his truth known unto you, you've turned
aside and shut your ears and gone another way, whoring after
the gods of this world and the wisdom of man and your own glory. If every time you've turned aside,
And in your heart, you've hammered another nail into his hands and
crucified him upon the cross afresh. If every time he's come
in the gospel, he's never truly appeared unto you as your savior. If every time it's just been
words to you and a burden to you and a disinterest to you. If every time he's come your
way, you've turned aside and mocked and scoffed. If you've never shown compassion,
if you've never clothed one of his little children, if you've
never shown love under his little ones, if you've never shown love
under Christ and his people, if all the time you've cast him
and them aside, then on that day he shall come unto you and
say, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire. prepared
for the devil and his angels. But the Lord did indeed appear.
He appeared under Solomon at Gibeon. He appeared under Solomon
the second time. He appeared under Saul on the
road to Damascus. He appeared upon the face of
this earth in the person of Jesus Christ. and declared his gospel
unto all kingdoms, to the Jew first and to the Gentile. He's
made it known. And he appears every time he
sends forth his gospel by a preacher sent of God. He appears every
day that the sun rises and the darkness of the night is dispelled. He appears unto all men and says,
this is God. This is my son. Hear ye him. He appears. But has he come unto
you in that gospel by his Spirit? Has he come into your heart? Has he appeared unto you by power
and said, you're mine? I shed my blood for you. I died
for you. I knew you before ever you were
born. I knew you when you were in your
sin. I knew you when you were in darkness. You're mine. I gave myself for
you because I love you. And you shall be mine forevermore. As he appeared unto you in the
gospel, in Christ, in his spirit, in grace has he come unto you
and said believe me follow me you're mine the lord appeared
unto solomon oh that he should appear unto us in grace in salvation
and give us that faith to look for his coming that when he returns
again in power, he should appear unto us without sin unto salvation
the second time.