Second Chronicles 7:13

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 7:13-16, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;[14] If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.[15] Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.[16] For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.” Verse thirteen is a recognition that God does everything. If sorrows come, and if disasters come, it is God who brought them. He has a plan and everything fits into that plan. One reason for troubles and sorrows is so that people will wake up and turn to the Lord. There is a solution: turn to the Lord, seek Jesus and His help, and ask for forgiveness with true repentance. Verse fourteen is a very well-known verse about how an entire country can fix their problems. It says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” This is written to believers who are not close to God. People can drift away from the Lord, and that in itself is a terrible sin. We should have a great love and zeal to serve Jesus because He died for us. We owe Him everything. But we are still sinners, and our sins will separate us from the Lord and from being in fellowship with Him. Sometimes many people in one country are in the spiritual situation where they believe, but they have sins in their lives. Great numbers of people need to repent of their sins, tell the truth about what they have been doing, and turn to the Lord. God knew that this would happen to Israel. And so He tells them ahead of time how to fix it. He also tells Christians how to fix their own spiritual issues so they can stay in fellowship with Christ, and not get into a situation where they are in danger of chastisement in their own personal lives. It says in First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Notice what God said to Solomon in verse sixteen, “For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.” God loves Jerusalem. God has a plan for Jerusalem. When Jesus comes back, He will come to Jerusalem. He will protect Jerusalem. Jesus will not allow the armies of the antichrist to destroy Jerusalem. Jesus will destroy those armies in the Battle of Armageddon. Even the eternal city is named Jerusalem. It is called the new Jerusalem.

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 7:17-22, “And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statues and my judgments;[18] Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.[19] But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;[20] Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.[21] And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house?[22] And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.” Notice the word “if” in verse seventeen. Every person has a free will. Make sure that you are following the Lord with a desire to keep His commandments. That is a very important part of having the power of God and the blessings of God in your life. As Jesus put it in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”

In verse nineteen God spoke of the other possibility, the possibility that a believer will turn away from God: “But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments…” It can happen because we are still selfish sinners, and it takes a spiritual effort to put the Lord first each day. But if a believer does not walk in fellowship with the Lord, there could be some terrible consequences. That is exactly what the Lord was talking to Solomon about. If we believe in the Lord, we cannot go away from him and expect things to work out. In Solomon’s situation, the temple had just been completed by the grace of God. But God looked into the future and God warned that if they turned away from Him, the very same temple would be destroyed with a great destruction. It would be a terrible consequence and the opposite of the blessing that they had just witnessed. But it would happen. Be warned. The same kind of destruction can happen to your life and to your testimony. God warned in verses twenty-one and twenty-two, “And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house?[22] And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.”

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 8:1-10, “And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,[2] That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.[3] And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.[4] And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.[5] Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;[6] And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.[7] As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,[8] But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day.[9] But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen.[10] And these were the chief of king Solomon's officers, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.” These verses show us that Solomon was using the wisdom that God had given to him. Solomon was building, and accomplishing. That is what we are supposed to do in life: use the abilities that God has given to each of us and accomplish things for the glory of God by fulfilling our responsibilities. But something changed in Solomon’s life, and we will see what that is in the next verses. He sinned.

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 8:11-18, “And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.[12] Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch,[13] Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.[14] And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.[15] And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.[16] Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.[17] Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom.[18] And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.” Verse eleven is the beginning of Solomon’s downfall. He marries Pharoah’s daughter. Believers should only marry other believers. That is a very important Biblical principle. For example, it says in Second Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” Of course, Solomon knows that she is not a believer. She brings with her the false religion from Egypt. That is why Solomon said in verse eleven, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.” Solomon knew that it was not right, but he did it anyway. Women who had the wrong religion would be Solomon’s greatest downfall.

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 9:1-9, “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.[2] And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not.[3] And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,[4] And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.[5] And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:[6] Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.[7] Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.[8] Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.[9] And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.” There is a symbolic meaning to the fact that the Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and then went to meet him for herself. The same thing happens when someone hears about Jesus, and then goes to Jesus for himself or herself and comes to know Jesus as their personal Savior. Also notice that at some point the Queen of Sheba became a true believer. Notice that she said in verse eight, “Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever…” Only a true believer could talk about the Lord in this way. It appears that the Queen of Sheba heard about God from the nation of Israel and from King Solomon. That is the way it is supposed to work: we live for the Lord and talk about Him, and then others see and hear, and some of them become believers too. It is sad that some do not become believers in Jesus when they are given such a great opportunity.

___________________________________________________