Dynamics of the Dwelling Place
August 16, 2020 Series
summer20202 Chronicles 7:12–16 (NIV) 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
Previously…
2 Chronicles: Solomon builds the temple.
Excellence | Extravagance |Energy
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (NIV)
Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Dynamics of the Dwelling Place
Reminder: Under the new covenant, we are the temple.
2 Corinthians 6:16 (NIV) For we are the temple of the living God.
1. The weight of God- Glory
- Kabod: There was a heaviness, a weight.
- Shekinah
- Psalm 22:3 (NLT) You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
2. Sustained weight
2 Chronicles 6:40-42 (NIV) 40 “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 41 “Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place…
When we try to manage God, we diminish glory.
2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (NIV) 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
God rules from a position rest.
We rest when we trust!
“ANYWHERE HE IS SEATED ENEMIES ARE DEFEATED.”
3. Fire
2 Chronicles 7:1-3(NIV) When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”
Romans 12:1 (NIV) 12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
