When You've Blown It Big - 2 Chronicles 6:12-7:3

Introduction

I find the case of Vicky White to be heartbreaking. From everything that I’ve read, it seems she lived the first 55 or so years of her life as someone who did the right things the right way. She worked for the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s department for 17 years where she’s described as a model employee who was respected by the sheriff, her colleagues, and judges. She had a perfect record and had become second-in-command. Vicky was close with her mother and family, and she was a good neighbor to the people around her. In fact, I read one co-worker who talked about how when he experienced a tremendous loss in his life how Vicky cared for him, checked on him, and helped him get through it. And, it seems thoroughly impossible to reconcile who Vicky had always been with what she ultimately did by becoming a national fugitive.

There’s one part of the story that really stands out to me. The night before she and Casey White make their escape Vicky got a hotel room instead of staying with her mother like normal. The best explanation they’ve been able to gather is that she couldn’t face her mother that morning knowing what she was about to do. It reminds me of my kids turning off the TV really quickly when they’re watching something they aren’t supposed to. It reminds me of how I become quiet and withdrawn when I know I’ve overreacted in anger toward my wife and kids. It reminds me of how Adam hid from God in the Garden when he had disobeyed God. That’s what we do when we blow it big, isn’t it? We go on the run. My guess is that there’s some of you this morning who have blown it big and are on the run. You wish you could go back to the way things are, but now it seems hopeless.

God’s Word

This morning’s text is for anyone who has blown it big and feels like going on the run. It’s for anyone who wishes you could go back but can’t. That’s really the difference between 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. If you’ve read the Bible all the way through, you’ve probably noticed that some of the stories repeat. For example, this morning’s text is found in 1 Kings 8 virtually word for word. So, you may even be tempted to skip 2 Chronicles thinking you’ve already covered it. But, that’s what brings us to the Big Story. Why did God include this story a second time? What’s the purpose?

2 Chronicles 6 is written around 500 years AFTER 1 Kings 8. So, it’s chronological in terms of the story but not the composition. I had to make a judgement call on how to put that together. And, in 1 Kings 8, Solomon dedicates the Temple in hopes of what can be. But, in 2 Chronicles 6, Israel is returning home after being exiled in Babylon, having this very temple destroyed, and still under occupation by the Persians. So, it’s a look back over what’s transpired. Israel had blown it big. She was a shell of her former self. But, the author here isn’t intending to beat them down over what’s been lost so much as to show them the way forward toward hope and restoration. So, if you’ve blown it big, this is hope going forward for you, too. Three Hopes When We’ve Blown It: (Headline)

God is “better” than “us.”

He isn’t “flaky.”

2 Chronicles 6:14 “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,”

The biggest problem we have in relating to God is that we tend to think that He is like us. Our dad walks out on us, and we have trouble believing God won’t do the same. We’re hot and cold, up and down, committed and absent, and we feel like God is that way, too. Zeroing in even closer, we’d give up and quit on us if we were treated as God is; so, we assume God will. We’re flaky, and the gods we create are flaky, too. You can hear that in what Solomon prays in verse 14, when he says, “There is no God like you, in heaven or on earth.” The Babylonian gods they had seen were flaky. One minute, they’re for you, and the next minute they’re against you. They’re with you, and then you can’t find them. Nebuchadnezzar himself was believed to be a god on earth, and go read his story in Daniel if you want to find out how flaky he was. Now, imagine the Chronicler pulling these exasperated exiles close, and reminding them of what Solomon said, “There is no God like (YHWH), in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love.”

What separates the LORD above all the other gods? Two things: 1) He keeps his covenant, and 2) He shows steadfast love (hesed). That is, what separates the LORD from all other gods is that He isn’t like us. He is committed to his covenant and promises, where we forget our commitments the second a new opportunity comes up, the second a scholarship opportunity presents itself for our kids or an investment opportunity offers us what we’ve always dreamed of. In fact, God keeps his covenant with Israel despite their breaking of the covenant. What separates him? He’s steadfast, committed, loyal in his love when we are hot one minute and cold the next. So, if you’ve blown it big and tired and run down like these emaciated exiles, do you see the hope that you have? God doesn’t treat you like you’ve treated him. In fact, God doesn’t even treat you like you would treat you, if you were him. He’s not flaky like us. He’s still committed. He’s still steadfast in his commitment. You don’t have to run.

He doesn’t “overpromise.”

2 Chronicles 6:15 “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.”

500 years earlier, when Israel looked up and saw the Temple, they were looking at quite literally the fulfillment of a promise that had been made a generation earlier. The beauty and majesty of the Temple was brick and mortar proof of God keeping his word. But, now, 2 Chronicles, Israel is standing before a reconstructed Temple that paled in comparison to the original. It would have been natural for them to feel the weight of disappointment and discouragement as they looked at this cheap temple replica. Of course, the reason it was this way was because they had sinned and abandoned God, and God allowed them to be exiled in judgement that they might long for him again. So, they probably felt like many of you feel: We’ve tarnished what God has promised because of what we’ve done.

But, there’s fresh hope to be found by looking at old promises like this. God had made a promise to David, and David had sinned greatly against God. Yet, Solomon was able to stand before the Temple and say, “What God said with his mouth, He did with his hand!” The building of the Temple was the evidence that God was keeping his word to David and establishing his throne as an eternal dynasty — in spite of David himself. God didn’t overpromise and underdeliver, even though David did. So, because of who God was (faithful and steadfast), and because of what God had promised (David’s throne would endure forever), they could be certain that God was not finished yet. That’s certainly how Solomon understood it, if you’ll notice verses 16-17. The Temple was a fulfillment of past promises and assurance of future promises. They could be certain that God’s promises were still in effect and the future was still optimistic. Why? Because God is better than us! He will do what He says, and He will do it in greater measure than we can imagine. And, He will do it in spite of us. In fact, this promise would be ultimately upheld by the Greater Son of David, Jesus, to secure the future for all who would trust him. Look to this old promise for fresh hope so that you can see that God will bring to completion what He has started in you in spite of you. Because He’s that good.

God has “come” to “us.”

2 Chronicles 6:18 ““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!”

Solomon was a man of tremendous intellectual and theological understanding. But, he couldn’t have understood the full breadth and impact of the question that he asked in verse 18. And, it’s in this profound question that Solomon asks of God that we can see where the Chronicler wanted Israel (and, now, us) to find our hope. The temptation for Israel was to see their weakened state and their lesser temple and their Persian occupation, and wonder, “Have we lost God’s presence? Has God abandoned us?” If you’ve blown it big and are on the run, it’s likely you’re wrestling with the same thought. That’s why this question centers upon the two biggest mysteries a human can wonder:

How can a “limitless” God fit into a “limited” space?

The first question is one of rational humility. It’s the opposite of what we saw at the Tower of Babel when men tried to build a tower to reach the heights of God. Instead, Solomon sees the Temple he’s built, which was made from the finest cedars and inlaid with gold, and he wonders, “How can such a puny building house such a great God?” The Bible says that the galaxies are the footstool of God. He holds the water of the oceans in the palms of his hands and the dirt from every mountain range in a single bucket. He exists beyond the confines of space and outside of the constraints of time. So, Solomon prays aloud, “How can we hope that such a great God would reside in such a modest house?” That is, when you contemplate such a great God, you come to the same conclusion as the Psalmist in Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” The expectation is that such a great God would have no reason to dwell with such an insignificant people in such a run down house. The exiles must’ve felt that even more with their run down temple. And, you probably feel the same way with your run down life.

How can a “holy” God dwell among “sinful” people?

And, there’s second question that surfaces, revealing a second mystery. You’ll notice that Solomon’s question isn’t just about where God will dwell but with whom He will dwell. “With man on the earth”. In Exodus 33, Moses asks to see God’s glory, and do you remember what He says? He says, “You can’t see my direct glory because it will kill you.” In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has a vision where the Lord is seated upon a throne, high and lifted up, “and the train of his robe filled the temple.” That is, just the outer edges of God’s glory and holiness was shining through in the temple. And, the seraphim were crying out to one another the same song, over and over, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is filled with his glory.” And, do you remember how Isaiah responds? He says, “Woe to me! I am ruined! I am unclean! I am filthy!” So, this gets to the essence of Solomon’s question here. God is not just uncontainable with space; He is unattainable in holiness. How can a holy God live among unholy people without putting them to death? For the wages of sin is death, and Proverbs 17:15 says that it’s an abomination to justify the wicked by letting them live.

God is “determined” to be “with” his people.

This is where get down to how this brings hope to those sinful exiles and hope for when we blow it big. There are two ways that we might try to make ourselves feel better about these questions. The first is to domesticate God so that He is more understandable and approachable. It’s to do what other nations like Babylon and the family across the street from you likely do. It’s to shrink God down to size so that He can fit into what we can build and how we think. It’s to neutralize his holiness by making him tolerant of our sin. But, these won’t stand ultimate reality, and Solomon resists it. The Chronicler wants them to resist it as well. The other way is to have an even bigger vision of God than you already have. That is, there’s one way to make sense of this by making God smaller and there’s another by understanding that He’s even bigger. Solomon chooses the latter. Eight times after verse 18, Solomon uses the phrase: “Hear from heaven” when Israel prays toward the Temple. That is, Solomon came to understand that God was SO great that He would make a way to be with his people without reducing or domesticating himself. He would dwell partially in the Temple, but He would rule from the throne of heaven. The exiles couldn’t lose the presence of God because the presence of God was because of them to begin with.

The Temple was just further evidence of the determination of God to be with and among his people. In the Garden, God gave total access. In the Tabernacle, God gave restored access. In the Temple, God gave settled access. But, in Christ, God would give complete access. How can a limitless God fit into a limited space???? John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us...” Even smaller than that Temple, the fullness of God would empty himself into a fledgling baby, not in part, but in full! Colossians 2:9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”. How can a holy God dwell among sinful people? By becoming a man himself so that He might live the life they were supposed to live and die the death they were supposed to die that He might take their place. And, through Jesus’ perfect life and death upon the cross, He would make us holy so that we can dwell with him and enjoy him and draw near to him, despite what we’ve done. You see, God was so determined to be with his people that He became one of his people so that He personally could restore his people.

And, that’s your hope if you’ve blown it big. There’s no hope in a shrunken, domesticated god who doesn’t mind what you’ve done. There’s hope in a God who is so great that He will make a way to pay himself for your sin so that you can maintain access to him.

God has “made” a way for “us.”

2 Chronicles 6:19-21 “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, 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. 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.”

A shift happens in Solomon’s prayer beginning in verse 19. In verses 19-42, Solomon’s prayer becomes a prayer about prayer. But, it’s because it’s the landing place of the previous two realities that we’ve just seen. If God is better than us in keeping the promises that He’s made to us in spite of us and if God has come to us because He’s determined to be with us, then what should we do? What should we do when we’ve broken every last commandment God has given us like Israel so that they ended up exile? What should we do when we’ve blown it big? What should we do when we find ourselves on the run? What should we do when we’ve hurt everybody close to us and lived as though God isn’t there? We should pray!!! We should go to God. “When (He) hears, (He) forgives.”

2 Chronicles 6:36-39 ““If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.”

You see, the Chronicler is reminding these exiles (and us today) that God has made a way back for us. When Solomon first prayed these words, he used the word “if”. But, for the returning exiles that day, “if” had been changed to “since.” “Since they sinned against him....since they were carried into captivity.” Solomon seems to have prophesied exactly what would happen. But, what those exiles needed to see and what we need to see this morning is the second part. Since we have sinned, “if we will repent with all of our heart and all of our souls, then He will forgive us.”

To repent means “to turn back.” But, that’s not what we want to do when we blow it big, is it? What do you think would’ve happened if Vicky White would’ve turned back to her mom and confessed what she was planning? Instead, she ran away. That’s what we’re tempted to do. Let me tell you the clearest fruit of whether or not you’re a Christian, if you’re a child of God in the way that Solomon frames it up. Do you run from God when you sin or to him? Do you become a fugitive on the run or a repentant child to his Father? When was the last time you repented? It will tell you a lot about how you view your relationship with God. Because, you see, that’s what the Temple was about. It was a place where you could enter the presence of God for the forgiveness of God according to the promise of God. And, that’s why Jesus is the greater Temple. Jesus is the promise of God fulfilled by the presence of God to offer you the forgiveness of God. Will you keep running, or will you turn back?