Solomon's Pattern of Prayer

English Standard Version Chapter 6

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 15 who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 16 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

How many of us get so caught up in the business of life, in a hectic work schedule, school and work schedule, or even as hard as it is to imaging a retirement schedule. Not matter what stage of life we are in we would probably all admit we can get drug into the business of this world to the point we are exhausted and probably even aggravated. This exhaustion and aggravation can ultimate lead to misappropriated affections and even all out sin and transgression. We get so busy and distracted that all we can focus on is finding some way to satisfy our need for what we think is rest and relaxation and this is where we often get off the rails. Whether we get to where we are devoted to traveling, golf, hunting, fishing, shopping, or some other means of self satisfaction we find that none of these things are helpful, fulfilling, or sanctifying. This is where the prayer of Solomon can be a great lesson for us today.

Solomon has completed the temple that God had promised him and the people of Israel . This proves to be the sacred place they needed where God’s presence would dwell with them and God’s people would be able to approach God in prayer, in praise, and even in repentance. Ultimately God has provided His people with a place of worship and a community they were to worship with! This was to be what they were to orient their life around. God’s people were to gather together offer praises unto Him and then pray for His salvation, protection and sanctification. This was to be the place where God’s people were to find ultimate peace. As New Testament believers today God has provided us with a place and a people to worship and pray with as we seek to be make His name known. The central focus of the life of the Christian should be knowing Christ and making Him known. The primary way we do that as Christ’s church is gathering under the preached Word, singing praises to Him, and praying to Him. This is the only way our lives will be rightly ordered, by gathering as His people at His sacred place to worship our Sovereign God and bring Him glory!

This morning I want us to consider the first half of Solomon’s prayer in Chapter 6. We can learn much by understanding Solomon’s pattern of prayer. He prays a beautiful prayer, a theologically rich prayer, and a prayer that points us to the sovereign, steadfast love of God and the sinfulness of man. This morning I want us to focus on the Pattern and Posture of Solomon’s prayer.

Now if you are like me 2 Chronicles is not a book we spend a ton of time in, so we need to understand how we got here. How did Solomon come to this point where he prays this prayer of praise and pleading.

Here is what has lead Solomon to this point.

In chapter 1 Solomon prays his well known prayer for wisdom as God has shown him steadfast love through keeping His covenant with his Father David.

In Chapter 2 Solomon prepares to build the temple that David desired to build, but God planned for David’s son to build.

In Chapter 3 Solomon begins to build the House of the LORD.

In Chapter 4 Solomon furnishes the House of the LORD.

In Chapter 5 Solomon finishes the House of the LORD, brings the Ark into the house, and the glory of the LORD fills the house!

2 Chronicles 5:11–14 ESV

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

2 Chronicles 5:

Can you imagine the elation Solomon and the people of God felt? All of these years of looking forward to the fulfillment of the covenant promise of God. All of the ups and downs of the life of King David. His Son Solomon is finally on the throne, finally completes the House, the Temple of the LORD where the ark of the covenant will dwell. They bring the ark in begin to sing praises to the LORD GOD of Israel, and the brightness, radiance, and majesty of the LORD descends into the temple. The glory of God is in the house of God amidst the people of God!

How would Solomon respond? How could he respond?

In Chapter 6 verses 1-12 Solomon proclaims blessing upon the people of God

2 Chronicles 6:4 ESV

And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,

2 Chronicles 6:4

Solomon preaches the faithfulness of God as He has fulfilled his promise to Solomon’s father David! It is after Solomon’s sermon he turns to what is a beautiful example of a pastoral prayer pointing God’s people to their promise keeping God and who is like no other in power, presence, and protection.

Before we get into the three specific lessons we learn from Solomon’s patter of prayer, I want to give you what I believe to be the main idea of the text.

MIT: God, through His steadfast love is fulfilling the covenant he made with David which drives Solomon to seek God in prayer through praise, supplication, and confession.

Here is the first lesson we learn from Solomon’s prayer,

I. Solomon Prayed in the Presence of the Assembly (12,13)

Notice first of all the place Solomon prayed.

A. Solomon stood before the altar

English Standard Version Chapter 6

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel

English Standard Version Chapter 6

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

Solomon stood in the presence of God’s people, the assembly. He called them to attention. He wanted them to know that they were about to go before the throne of God. They were about to come to worship their Sovereign LORD and Savior. God had blessed them, and filled the temple with His glory and now it was time to worship Him!

He wants them to know the reverence and humility they must have as they go before God in prayer.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it.

He has made a beautiful place for which he could stand before God’s people. A place where they could come together and pray to their God, the God who had created, protected, delivered, and cared for them.

When you look at the details of this platform, it is like everything else in the temple. It is made of costly material and it has specific details by which it was constructed. Here is what we can learn from this platform.

It took work and sacrifice to build something for us in God’s worship. They didn’t just throw some thoughtless furniture together to use in service to God.

God has provided us details in His Word on how we are to worship, and we would be wise to stick to His form of worship!

Secondly, notice the posture with which Solomon prayed,

B. Solomon prayed in humble submission (13b)

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven,

Think about this for a moment. Solomon is the king of Israel, the son of David. The wisest man in the world, not just during his day, but to this day. But when he recognized the person and work of God, he falls on his knees and spreads out his arms in complete humility! He the king of Israel understands all that he has and all who he is is a only because the true King has given it to him and enabled him to belong to his people and lead his people.

Now do you think we can learn from Solomon’s posture of prayer? Do you think we can learn from the place and people in which Solomon prays?

The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication (6:12–42)

Bodily movement in worship generally, and posture in prayer specifically, are important parts of one’s response to God because outward actions demonstrate and reinforce inward attitudes and beliefs. Typically, kneeling symbolizes reverence, even fear, before the deity, while spreading out raised hands is an act of veneration (i.e., blessing and praise) of the deity (cf. 1 Tim. 2:8).

Absolutely, because this is not the only place we see this pattern.

Paul tells Timothy,

1 Timothy 2:8 ESV

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

As people of God, saved by the blood of Christ we must come together as a body and seek the Lord of heaven and earth. We ought to come together in humble submission to praise God for who He is and what He has done for us. He has not saved us for personal devotion and salvation alone. He has delivered us and rescued us to be a called out assembly of believer to come together and worship Him in spirit and truth. One of the primary ways we do this is through approaching Him through bended knees and uplifted hands made holy by the blood of Christ.

Solomon had finally built the temple, he had made the bronze platform before the altar where he could call the people to come together to pray. Here is the difference for me and you as New Testament believers. Christ is our temple, this beautiful elaborate temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem was built for the presence of God to dwell. But centuries later the Apostle John tells us,

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus came as God in the flesh, the second person of the Godhead came and dwelt with us. After living a perfect life of obedience, he became the perfect Lamb of God who was slain for the sins of the world. Who rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. So now instead of praying from a platform before the altar, in the temple we gather as the church, the body, the temple of God in Christ.

The presence of God dwelling with His people

John Mayer explains, Therefore no one prays rightly but through Christ and according to Christ. Sacrifices that were offered on the tabernacle’s only altar did not please God. And prayer does not please God, unless it is offered in Christ, the only altar. The Israelites’ prayers were promised to be heard if they prayed with their faces toward Jerusalem. In the same way we must convert our prayers to Christ, who is the divine temple.

Cooper, D., Lohrmann, M. J., George, T., & Manetsch, S. M. (Eds.). (2016). 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles: Old Testament (Vol. V, pp. 597–598). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

We see that Solomon prayers before the people,

Next we see that,

II. Solomon Praised God for His Attributes (14-17)

Solomon prayed to God because of who God is. He prays to God in worship in light of God’s attributes. Knowing who God is and what he has done causes His people to turn to Him in prayer, through praise, confession of sin, and supplication. This first portion of Solomon’s prayer is praise to God for His attributes.

The first attribute of God Solomon praises the LORD for is the,

A. Incomparable Perfection of God

Solomon says in verse 14,

O LORD, GOD of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth.

Solomon begins his prayer with praise. He calls out to God as the one who is unlike any other. There is no one who can compare to the power and perfection of God.

Solomon affirms we can look in heaven or on earth and you will not find any created creature or being that compares to the Creator.

But what is more impressive than that, the LORD is the GOD of Israel. This perfect God has a chosen people in whom He not only rules and reigns over, but he delivers, protects, and provides for this people. Therefore he deserves the praise, honor, and worship of His people. So Solomon begins His prayer in vertical worship! Praising the God who saves His people. This has been the way faithful men of God have approached God throughout the Scriptures.

Moses writes,

Exodus 15:11 ESV

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:8 ESV

At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

We should learn much from Solomon’s vertically focus prayer and follow this same pattern as we approach the God of Heaven and earth!

Notice the next attribute Solomon exalts God for. He praises God because He is a,

Next Solomon praises God because He is a,

B. Covenant Keeping God

Solomon affirms what God has revealed of himself over and over in Scripture that God will not forget His covenant promises. He will never change His mind, or revoke what He has guaranteed.

Solomon sees a great fulfillment of God’s covenant fidelity in the completion of the temple. God is doing exactly as he has promised.

He is the God whom Moses revealed as a covenant keeping God.

Leviticus 26:9 ESV

I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.

Nehemiah prayed to as the covenant keeping God.

Nehemiah 1:5 ESV

And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

The psalmist reminds us of God’s covenant fidelity,

Psalm 111:5 ESV

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.

Solomon like all of the other authors of Scripture knew God as a covenant keeping God. One in whom they could trust with all their heart mind and soul. As we come to God in prayer shouldn’t we come to him praising him for His perfections, his otherness, and His covenant faithfulness?

Notice Solomon still doesn’t move on to his supplications instead he continues to praise God because He is the,

C . Steadfast Loving God

Look again at verse 14, “and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

Notice in this statement of adoration Solomon explains how God expresses His covenant fidelity and with whom he expresses.

Solomon knows God is faithful because of the way He loves His people. God shows a never ceasing kindness and mercy to His people. God’s love for His children never ends even when His children fall short, God’s love never wains.

In God’s steadfast love is affirmed over and over.

Psalm 136:1–3 ESV

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

God’s love is not like our love, His love is perfect, not an emotional driven love that increases and decreases because of His feelings and the faithfulness of those whom He loves. His love is steadfast, permanent, and unending.

2. Notice who God shows His love to, His servants who walk before you with all their heart. How about that for a high standard? How many of us walk before God with all of our heart, did Solomon walk before God with all of His heart?

Throughout the Scriptures God’s covenant has conditions. God promises he will do something, if His people will do something. The awesome thing about God is that He always holds up His end and His people usually fail on their end. But God is such a loving God that he always finds a way to justly maintain His covenant faithfulness while cleaning up what His people have messed up. God’s steadfast love is sustained even when His people sin.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Do you see how he kept His covenant when generation after generation fell short on their side. God had a predetermined plan to keep His covenant before the foundation of the world.

We see this also in Solomon’s prayer, when he affirms, God is a

D. Promise Fulfilling God

God is

2 Chronicles 6:15 ESV

who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.

2 Chronicles

Solomon was experiencing the partial fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. God has promised David, who Scripture call a man after God’s own heart that there would always be someone from David’s line on the throne. Solomon was the first fulfillment of that promise. God had also promised that David’s son would also build a temple for the LORD. Now it had been completed!

Solomon is not only watching God fulfill his promises to His father, but He is experiencing them personally. He is the next son on the throne. He is the one contracting and consecrating the temple in which the presence of the LORD will dwell!

Consider all that David has gone through as he ascended to the throne over God’s people. Saul was constantly trying to kill him, he was hiding in caves running for his life.

Then once he was given the reign over God’s people he fell into great sin, experienced great discipline by the LORD. His own son tried to kill him, humiliated him in public, and sought to take the kingship. But God, never failed to keep His promise through it all David repented of His sin and trusted God and God fulfilled His promise to David!

Next Solomon exalts God as the,

E. Promise Confirming God

2 Chronicles 6:16–17 ESV

Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

In verse 16 Solomon says, because you are the God with no equal, because you are the covenant keeping, promise confirming God of Israel, remember what you promised my father, your servant David. You promised him he would always have a man on the throne. He asks God to affirm this promise, to show his people how good of a God he is!

Solomon pleads with God to verify His Word. Solomon knows that God is sovereign over his rule and reigns over Solomon’s ability to take over the throne of His Father. He understands what it means for Him and what it means for God’s people to have God confirm His word!

Do we pray this way? Do we pray according to the promises of God will and God’s Word knowing that He is the one who has the power, ability, and authority to fulfill His own Word and Promises.

Now we must have a knowledge of God’s word if we are going to pray according to His promises.

If we pray according to God Word:

We pray for wisdom not wealth.

We pray for consecration not Cadillacs.

We pray for holiness not bigger houses.

We pray for lost souls not lives of ease.

We pray for the glory of God not to fulfill our own greed.

Do you get the picture? We pray what we see as God’s will in His Word not our wants or the pleasures of this world.

So far we have seen,

First, Solomon Praying in the Midst of God’s People,

We pray for

Secondly, Solomon Praising God for His Attributes,

Third truth we learn from Solomon’s pattern of prayer is,

III. Solomon Prayed for the Presence of God (18-21)

A. God cannot be contained in the house Solomon built. (18)

Notice first of all Solomon proclaims the Omnipresence of God. He asks a rhetorical question that He is going to answer himself!

But will God indeed dwell with man on earth?

Solomon knows God cannot be contained in this temple He has built, He knows God is bigger than the arc which contains the stone tablets. Solomon knows God is transcendent, majestic, and separate from all mankind. But, he also knows God is immanent, meaning He dwells with His people.

He goes on to say, Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!

Solomon is going to answer His own questions as he walks through this prayer. He is going to be reminded by the inspiration of the Spirit why he has built this house and what God will do for his people as they come before His presence!

The prophet Isaiah also affirms God’s transcendence and immanence,

Isaiah 57:15 ESV

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isaiah

E

What about us church? We are God’s temple today! We are His people, His dwelling place. Do we recognize the privilege of being able to gather as His people, His bride, and His body? Do we realize what it means to be able to come together and sing praises to Him, pray to Him and sit under the proclamation of His perfect soul piercing Word?

We worship God this way because we believe that one day we will experience dwelling with God fully. The apostle John reminds us in ,

English Standard Version Chapter 21

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

When God consummates His Kingdom in the New Heavens and New Earth we will dwell with Him like never before. His presence won’t be represented in an Ark like in the days of Solomon, and we won’t be trying to worship him with minds and hearts impacted by sin, but in our glorified bodies with our perfectly purified minds! That ought to cause us to cry out to God in expectant prayer calling out to Him to come Lord Jesus come!

Solomon continues his prayer and, He reminds us,

B. God sets His eyes on His servants.

Notice how king Solomon refers to himself in these next 3 verses…The king the wisest man in the world pleads with God to hear His servant. He refers to himself as a servant 4 times in these three verses. Solomon is showing his ultimate submission to the King of King and Lord of Lords!

1 and 2 Chronicles: A Mentor Commentary Petitions in General (6:19–21)

the king acknowledged himself to be a submissive vassal under the imperial rule of the divine King.

He asked God to set His eyes on the place where He knows he needs God to watch over him and the people of God. He knows God has promised to save, sustain and protect His people.

This reminds of what it meant to have God’s name set on you in the OT.

Remember the words of Rahab?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

She knew that because the LORD’s name was on His people all the enemies of the LORD had no chance they would melt away before His people. Solomon knew this same truth. As long as the LORD was for His people no one could be against them. As long as His eye was on His servants there was no enemy who could defeat them.

Solomon probably knew well the prayer of his Father David from

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

15  The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Solomon pleads for God to watch over His people all though He is transcendent and above His people He is also immanent being close to and with His people.

Solomon ends this section praying that,

C. God would hear His people praying from His place.

He cries out,

And listen to the pleas of your people Israel when the pray toward this place. It was a special privilege for God’s people to have this access to Him to be able to petition the One who was their Rock, their Refuge. When they came to the temple to pray and God heard their prayers it was affirmation of His care and protection for them.

Notice how Solomon ask God to,

listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

He closes this section of His prayer recognizing God’s high, exalted, and holy dwelling place. He recognizes the peoples need for forgiveness. He ask God to forgive them when He hears them cry out for help. He is about to break out in a string of if statements pointing out all of the way man sins against God, but we are going to save that for tonight.

Here is why this idea of Gods presence in the temple Solomon built is so important to us. The presence of God

The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles Bridging Contexts

first associated with the portable shrine of Moses and then housed in the permanent temple of Solomon was an important theological foreshadowing of that day when “Immanuel” himself would appear (Isa. 7:14; 9:7; 11:9). Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God ultimately reestablished his presence among the faithful of Israel, all nations, and all creation (John 1:14).

The Reformation Study Bible states it this way,

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 6

For old covenant Israel, the temple is the earthly place that provides access to the heavenly court through the sacrifices offered there and the promise of God’s gracious presence (1 Chr. 13:6 note). This role is now consummated in Christ, the incarnate temple

This is good news to us as God’s people today, because of what we learn in...

Hebrews 7:25 ESV

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

All those who have been born again by the mercies of God and been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ can now draw near to God in prayer because of the intercessory work of Christ! Think about that he lives to make intercession for us! Is there any greater reason to approach the throne of God than know the Savior that died for you, now lives to make intercession for you so that you may approach the throne of God! What a blessing. This should humble us and encourage us.

So as we close consider these lessons from Solomon’s pattern of prayer.

We should as God’s people come together as his temple, his church and pray corporately. God desires to hear our prayers and we need to continually offer Him praise as His people.

We as God’s people must approach Him in humble submission as Solomon did. The only reason we can approach God in prayer is through the mediation of His son.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

3. We should always approach God in prayer praising him for his attributes. We must remember who He is and what He has done as we come before the King of glory! This not only helps us being with God in the right place, but it humbles us and reminds us of our need for repentance.

4. We must always approach Him according to His Word and His will. Knowing that apart from a proper knowledge of who God is and what He desires we will end up praying selfish man exalting prayers instead of prayers of repentance and request that we would be faithful servants of the divine King!

Here is the closing question this morning, are you a servant of God?

Have you been freed from the bondage of sin and death and been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ?

Have you been adopted into the family of God affirming that you are a member of the family of God?