“When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.

2 Chronicles 6:18-25

18 “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
22 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
24 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

Today’s title is “The House of Prayer”
We often call the temple the house of God because we believe it is fundamentally the dwelling place of God. But will God really dwell in the temple? The answer is yes and no. The answer is “yes” because God indeed filled the temple with His glorious presence. There in the temple, God received sacrifices and worships of His people. For a long time, there were no other places like the temple on earth. But we know that the temple has deeper spiritual significance than that. Solomon knew it. He was in search of the true spiritual significance of the temple. We can see it in today’s passage. Today’s passage is the central part of Solomon’s dedication address of the temple. It starts with a rather rhetorical question. “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! This is a very honest and humble recognition of God’s greatness at a time that they were dedicating the most glorious and gorgeous temple for God. But that is exactly true. In fact, that’s very similar to what God said when David expressed his desire to build a temple for God. There is nothing in the whole world that is fitting for God to dwell. He is just too big and too glorious for anything. Then why did God approve the building of the temple? Who would know the mind of God? But I am sure that Solomon got to understand at least a part of it. God recognized and anointed the temple as a place of prayer. In other words, God wanted to give His people access to His throne of grace through the temple for rainy days as well as shiny days. No wonder Jesus called the temple as the house of prayer for all people as well as My Father’s house. Solomon had such insight. So he says, “Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.”. Beautiful, isn’t it? I believe this is the true spiritual significance of the temple. Solomon’s temple certainly played its role in this. But we know that it still is a shadow of the great and everlasting temple who not only made a way to God but also He himself became “the Way” to God. Of course, He is none other than Christ. Surely no one can come to the Father except through Him. Anyone can freely go to the throne of grace in Him and through Him. Are you rejoicing in such grace of the true temple?