A Real God, In Real History: A Meditation on 1st Kings 8-9 for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost

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 had 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…

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

In 1^st Kings 8-9, we have the recounting of King Solomon’s dedication of the new temple he built, the prayers of intercession he made on behalf of his people to God before it, and God’s answer to him after the festivities died down.  This moment brought to fruition a number of promises God made through His servant Moses more than 500 years prior, and for which the people of Israel waited.  God blessed Israel with peace and prosperity on a scale that amazed the ancient world, after having spent the last several centuries liberating them from slavery and the endless assaults of various enemies.  Solomon’s fame and that of Israel would draw the leaders and representatives of various other nations to his courts, where he would pour forth his God-given wisdom, and build strong alliances with many.

In this moment of peace and prosperity, however, came both a promise and warning to Israel.  God had heard their faithful prayers for mercy and grace, and had given it to them without measure.  He blessed them with riches and produce, a kingdom which the world would envy, defended them from their enemies, and dwelt among them as their salvation.  3000 years ago, the nation of Israel was united and prosperous.  Sadly, it didn’t stay that way.  In the years and generations that followed—even within the lifetime of this great King Solomon—the people let go of their faith in God and His Word, and found that the warnings God gave them were just as real as His promises.  Without His protection and grace, the Israelites suffered famine and drought, pestilence and war, and eventually the destruction of their nation under various invading armies. By refusing to dwell in the peace and prosperity of God’s Gospel promises, they chose instead to dwell under the severity of His curse.  These were real people, in real history, dealing with a real God whose Word was inescapably real, as well.

By the time Jesus would come to Israel nearly 1000 years after Solomon’s reign, the nation was an occupied state of Rome.  Under Ceasar’s vassal rule, the people of Israel were not full citizens, did not have full rights under the law, and lived under the tyranny of their occupiers who they supported with their taxes.  Israel had wandered far from the promises God had given them through Moses and Solomon, and often ignored the repeated warnings of the Prophets God had sent them.  But God had preserved a faithful remnant in Israel from the beginning, who despite the vast unfaithfulness of the people at large and their leaders, He would use to bring forth the salvation of His Messiah.  When Jesus encountered the faith and humility of the Roman Centurion in John chapter 7, He turned to His own people to say that He had not found such faith throughout all Israel.  It was an echo of the Word He spoke to Solomon so many years before, and it taught the people that God was less interested in nationality and heritage than He was in living faith and repentance.  In faith, the Centurion received the blessings of grace and providence which healed his beloved servant; without faith, the nation of Israel languished under the rule of the Romans.  Jesus’ Incarnation as the very Word of God made flesh walking among them in the fullness of divine Truth, was a declaration once again that they were in the presence of a real God whose Word made real what it said.

2000 years later, that Truth still remains.  There is still a real God who continues to speak His real Word to His people, showing forth the blessings of His mercy while warning about the calamity of His judgment.  The same Jesus who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, who spoke to Solomon and the Prophets, who walked the ancient streets of Palestine, who suffered, died, and rose again for the sins of the whole world, who sent forth the Apostles of His Holy Church to preach His Gospel of salvation to all people, who ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father until the time would be complete for His return to judge the living and the dead:  this same Jesus speaks to our world today.  Today, He calls His people to hear His Word, and to abide by faith in His promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Today, He sends His Holy Spirit to work through His Word, so that everyone who hears might turn from their evil, believe and live. Today, He gives His grace to all who will leave the ways of darkness behind, and preserves them in His sanctifying grace unto life everlasting in His Kingdom which has no end.  Today, He promises that His eyes will not depart from the temple of your heart as long as you abide in His Gospel promises by His grace through faith in Him and His Word.  Today, this very real and eternal God speaks His very real and eternal Word to you, that you might rise up in the newness of His life forever.

But He also speaks His Word of warning, as well.  Apart from Him, His Word, and His grace, there is no peace, no prosperity, no hope in this world or the next.  Apart from Him, our enemies gather at the gates to destroy our nations, our communities, congregations, our families, and ourselves.  Apart from God’s grace in Jesus Christ, we are left alone in the darkness of a dying world according to the consequences of His Holy Law, where we become downtrodden by the wicked and the malicious.  The spirit of evil still runs throughout our fallen world always seeking whom it may devour, lusting after whomever has drifted from faith in the saving promises of God our Savior—those who have forgotten the deep and eternal realities of God and His Word, and who may thus be easily led by deception unto eternal destruction.  He is a real God, and we are real people, living in a real world with real threats on every side.  We face real life, real death, and a real eternity as either the friends or enemies of God.

Today, let the Word of God’s eternal truth pierce through the fog of lies which have befuddled your heart and mind.  Hear Jesus make His appeal to you through His Word, to gather you to His eternal people, and to add you to the number of those who would abide in His grace and mercy forever.  Hear Him as He shows you the price of your salvation written in the holy blood He poured forth through His Cross, how He sends His Holy Spirit to make of you a temple more grand and enduring than the splendors of Solomon’s temple.  Hear Him as He reconciles you to His Father forever, forgiving you your sins, taking away your death, and giving you His never ending life.  Turn from the unfaithful sirens of a dying world, whose saccharine sweetness call souls to be crashed upon their rocks of destruction, and instead abide in the love and mercy and grace of the God who comes to save you.  Your God is real, and He comes to you in this very real time and place, to speak to you His real Word of promise and life.  Abide in Him, and live.  Amen.