2 Chronicles 7

2 Chronicles 7 documents what happened after Solomon’s prayer at the Temple dedication in 2 Chronicles 6.  This occurred during the Festival of Sukkoth.  Yehovah will answer Solomon’s prayer just as He answered Aaron in Leviticus 9.  In addition, Yehovah speaks to Solomon in a vision.  In the vision, Yehovah answers Solomon’s request and then proceeds to make an offer to Solomon.  We may never sit on the throne of Israel, but the vision is for us too in the very day we are living.  The question for believers is, will we fulfill our destiny in the vision?  In 2 Chronicle 7, Yehovah’s name is found 18 times.

2 Chronicles 7:1

¹ Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Yehovah filled the house.

After Solomon completed his prayer, God answered Solomon with fire.  This is similar to what happened in Leviticus 9:22-24.

²² And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. ²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the Ohel of the Congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of Yehovah appeared to all the people. ²⁴ And there came a fire out from before Yehovah, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Similarly in 1 Kings 18:36-39.

³⁶ And it came to pass at the offering of the grain offering, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Yehovah Redeemer of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You Redeemer in Israel, and I Your servant, and I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Hear me, Yehovah, hear me, that this people may know that You Yehovah Redeemer, and You have turned their heart back again. ³⁸ Then the fire of Yehovah fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones (eben), and the dust, and licked up the water that in the trench. ³⁹ And when all the people saw, they fell on their faces: and they said, Yehovah, He the Redeemer; Yehovah, He the Redeemer.

In all three occurrences, someone prayed to Yehovah then Yehovah answered them with fire.  Each time this was an acknowledgement of the individual’s righteousness and their prayer as in James 5:16.

¹⁶ Confess faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

It was not just that one prayed, a whole nation came together in repentance.  And in each case the results were similar.

2 Chronicles 7:2

² And the priests could not enter into the house of Yehovah, because the glory of Yehovah had filled Yehovah’s house.

Yehovah filled the house of God as He did in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.

¹³ It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yehovah; and when they lifted up voice with the silver trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yehovah, For good; for His mercy for ever: that the house was filled with a cloud, the house of Yehovah; ¹⁴ So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yehovah had filled the house of Redeemer.

Both times when the house of Yehovah was filled by Yehovah’s glory, the priests could not minister.  This is the way it should be all the time.  The power of God should flow so much that there is no question whose glory it is.

In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, it states that the Spirit filled the house after the trumpeters and singers as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yehovah.  This is what happened in Acts 2:1-4.

¹ And when the day of Shavous was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Just as it happened in the First Temple dedication, the same happened in Acts 2.  When the Apostles came together in one accord, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  Just as it happened then, it can happen for us today.  When we come together unified in the Spirit, in one purpose, His purpose, God will move in power for all to see.

2 Chronicles 7:3

³ And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Yehovah upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised Yehovah, For good; for His mercy for ever.

In all three cases mentioned earlier, when the fire of Yehovah came down, the people fell down and praised Yehovah.  This would have been a sight to see.  In each case, it was anywhere from hundreds of thousands to well over a million people affected.  We may not have been there in the past, but we will be there in the future.  When every eye will see Him and every knee will bow, Zechariah 12:10.

¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for firstborn.

So many of us have the wrong idea of what is going to happen when He returns.  Thankfully so, the scriptures have given us a foreshadow of the future.  Just as these fell on their faces in repentance, many in the millennium will too.  It will be a great outpouring of worship and praise.  Because, His great mercy and love for His creation will be evident throughout all the lands.

2 Chronicles 7:4-5

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Yehovah. ⁵ And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand bulls, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of Redeemer.

At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon offered up 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep.  The time and the number of priests required to perform all these offerings is staggering.

2 Chronicles 7:6

⁶ And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of Yehovah, which David the king had made to praise Yehovah, because His mercy for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

During the whole time, there was music and worship occurring.  It was never meant to be just an offering of an animal.  Worship should always accompany all we do in Yehovah.

2 Chronicles 7:7

⁷ Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yehovah: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the grain offerings, and the fat.

Because of the number of animal offerings, they sanctified other parts of the Temple to perform the offerings.  Similarly, this will happen in the future, but offerings will not be animals.  It will be offerings of people, who will dedicate their lives to Yehovah in the Restitution of All Things.

2 Chronicles 7:8

⁸ Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt.

This is referring to the Festival of Sukkoth.  This can be easily determined from 2 Chronicles 5:3.

³ Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king in the feast which in the seventh month.

And Deuteronomy 16:16.

¹⁶ Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Yehovah your Redeemer in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: and they shall not appear before Yehovah empty:

Sukkoth is the migratory Festival in the seventh month.  During Solomon’s reign, the Temple was dedicated on the First of Sukkoth, the 15^th of Tishri, the seventh month.  All of Israel was present for this dedication.

2 Chronicles 7:9

⁹ And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

When it states the eighth day, it is referring to what is stated in Leviticus 23:33-36.

³³ And Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month the Feast of Sukkoth seven days to Yehovah. ³⁵ On the first day a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work. ³⁶ Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yehovah: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yehovah: it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no servile work.

Feast of Sukkoth is seven days long.  The eighth day is not part of Sukkoth.  It is the seventh holy convocation.  It is traditionally called Shemini Atzeres or the Eighth Festival.  In traditional Judaism, it is considered part of Sukkoth.

As a New Covenant believer, it is much more.  Since Yeshua was born on the First Day of Sukkoth, Shemini Atzeres is the day Yeshua was circumcised, Luke 2:21.

²¹ And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His name was called Yeshua, which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Shemini Atzeres is the day God glorified His son with a name above every name, Philippians 2:9.

⁹ Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:

Shemini Atzeres is the day Yeshua declared the prophesy of the Holy Spirit, John 7:38-39.

³⁸ He that believes on Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹ (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet; because that Yeshua was not yet glorified.)

Shemini Atzeres speaks of the endless study of scriptures.  Shemini Atzeres speaks of bringing the nations back to rest.  Shemini Atzeres represents Eternity in God’s time.

2 Chronicles 7:10

¹⁰ And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents (ohel), glad and merry in heart (leb) for the goodness that Yehovah had showed to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

The 23^rd day of the seventh month, Tishri, is the day after Shemini Atzeres.  After the Holy Convocation was complete at sunset, the people returned to their homes.  They were filled joy and were well pleased.

One cannot walk away from a situation when God pours out His glory and not be affected.  The question becomes, what will you do next?  Will it change you?  Or will you go back to your former life?

It is a choice that we all have to make multiple times during a lifetime.  For some, they bask in the glory only to return to their former life and not much changes.  Others will make changes and will continue to walk in the way.  However, eventually these weary and return to a path similar to those in Ephesians 5:14.

¹⁴ Wherefore He says, Awake you that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Messiah shall give you light.

Eventually, these will weary in well doing and become dead pew sitters.  They may go to church, they probably tithe consistently and will even get involved, but the fire has died within them.  They failed to learn the lesson of Ephesians 5:18-21.

¹⁸ And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; ¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua Messiah; ²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We will all weary in well doing, if we do not learn this lesson.  We must build ourselves up in the Holy Spirit.  And, we must continue to do this each every moment of our lives.  Then we can make the commitment to follow Yehovah everywhere He goes.  Then the fire inside us will grow with each and every step we take.

The Apostles learned this lesson as a result of the young rich ruler, Mark 10:20-22.

²⁰ And he answered and said to Him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. ²¹ Then Yeshua beholding him loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatsoever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. ²² And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

What Yeshua had asked was a hard thing for this man to do.  The young rich ruler had great wealth, probably more than most of us.  He was unwilling to give up his wealth for the Kingdom of God.  Many believers today are unwilling to sacrifice even less for the Kingdom of God, Mark 10:23-25.

²³ And Yeshua looked round about, and said to His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! ²⁴ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Yeshua answered again, and said to them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.

So many today set themselves apart from the young rich ruler.  Mostly because many of us can barely make ends meet.  We would never consider ourselves rich.  However, that is not what Yeshua was referring to.  Each of us has something we value.  It may not be great wealth, but then again it is what we value.  Whether it is tangible or something else, many are unwilling to let go.  For some it may be pride, hurts or lust, we hang on to it, Mark 10:26-28.

²⁶ And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? ²⁷ And Yeshua looking upon them said, With men impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. ²⁸ Then Peter began to say to Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed You.

When the Apostles heard Yeshua’s words, they were astonished.  They had given up so much and now Yeshua asked even more.  Of course, Peter would say something.  He may not have been as wealthy as the ruler, but he had a large fishing business.  Three other apostles were involved in it.  There were several fishing vessels.  Numerous families were support by the business, Mark 10:29-31.

²⁹ And Yeshua answered and said, Verily I say to you, There is no man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, ³⁰ But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. ³¹ But many first shall be last; and the last first.

Yeshua told them that they would receive in this lifetime a hundred fold and even more in the world to come.  This would be enough to keep many going for a while.  However, Yeshua also said that they would receive persecutions with what they received.  That would stop many dead in their tracks.  For some, the slightest hinderance or deterrent will lay them to rest.  When we follow Yeshua, tribulations and persecutions are a guarantee.  The question for us is, will it deter us or will we keep the fire going.  Because we need to be the ones keeping the fires burning if we expect His Spirit to move in our lives.  He does not expect us to do it on our own nor will His Spirit move for us if we weary in well doing.  Commitment is a continuous journey.  We go from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3:18.

¹⁸ But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 7:11

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of Yehovah, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of Yehovah, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

At this time in Solomon’s life, he was walking with Yehovah.  God prospered Solomon as long as Solomon’s heart was for Yehovah.

2 Chronicles 7:12

¹² And Yehovah appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for a house of sacrifice.

Yehovah appeared to Solomon that night in a vision.  He had a message for Solomon and all of us that are willing to listen and apply it to our lives.

Yehovah’s message was in response to Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 6.  Solomon had asked God several times to establish the Temple as a place where both Israelites and strangers alike could find Yehovah.  Solomon wanted a place people could come to when they realized that they had fallen far from Yehovah.  There Yehovah would answer their prayer, grant repentance and a way back to God’s Kingdom.

2 Chronicles 7:13-16

¹³ 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 My eyes shall be open, and My ears hearken to the prayer in this place. ¹⁶ For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there for ever: and My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

Yehovah said yes to Solomon’s request.  It is important to understand exactly what is being said.  Both Solomon and Yehovah are consistent in the question and the answer.  It is almost a formula that if followed, will work every time.

First, one must be called by His name.  To do that one must fulfill 2 Corinthians 13:5.

⁵ Examine yourselves, whether be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know not your own selves, how that Yeshua Messiah is in you, except be reprobates?

We must examine our walk to know if we are His or if we are someone else’s.  But to do that, we must know the faith.  We cannot depend on others to educate us.  We must educate ourselves through the Holy Spirit, 1 John 2:27.

²⁷ But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as It has taught you, you shall abide in Him.

We must be led of the Spirit.  Teachers are good, when they present a doctrine and allow the Spirit to move.  In the end, our final understanding and conviction must come through the Spirit.  One must be convicted and taught of the Spirit in a Body of likeminded believers.

Secondly, the individual praying must humble themselves, James 4:6.

⁶ But He gives more grace (charis). Wherefore He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We must humble ourselves.  Again there is more in what follows, James 4:7-10.

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse hands sinners; and purify hearts double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

To humble is to submit one’s will to His will.  Meaning, whatever the answer, we must be committed to it.  Even if it is something we do not want.  We must resist the devil.  Submission to God without resisting the devil is no submission at all.  We must draw close to Him.  This will require more than a quick prayer.  It will require your time and attention.  How much you may ask?  If you are asking this question, then do not expect an answer to your prayer.  Hands must be clean.  What you do in this life must be sanctified to Him.  We cannot be involved in doing worldly things.  We need our hearts purified, they must be given over to Him in purity and righteousness.  We must stop our hypocritical ways.  It is time to live as the Bible has directed us.  We have to stop our foolish ways and repent of our sins completely.  Meaning, never to be done again.  If we repeat our foolishness, then we never did repent.  God knows the difference.  If you do all this, then you have humbled yourself and He will respond in power.

Thirdly, we must devote ourselves to prayer.  How much prayer?  Again if you are asking this question, not much will change for you.  We are to pray as in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

¹⁷ Pray without ceasing.

Fourthly, we must seek His face.  The psalmist writes in Psalm 27:7-8.

⁷ Hear, Yehovah, I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁸ Seek My face; my heart said to You, Your face Yehovah will I seek.

We are to seek His face, His presence.  If all you are doing is going for a handout, then you will probably be disappointed.  It is in His presence that one finds fulfillment and joy.  It is never in what we receive, it is Him that we should want to receive.

When we seek His face if we want answered prayer, it must be in alignment with 1 John 5:14-15.

¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us: ¹⁵ And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

One must know His will.  If one prays outside the will of Yehovah, He will not answer them.  Therefore, one must learn His will, then ask in the will of the Father if they want a positive response.

Finally, we must completely turn from our wicked ways.  To turn is to repent.  And our repentance is to be 2 Corinthians 7:10.

¹⁰ For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.

We must have godly sorrow.  We must realize that our sins are mostly against Him, Psalm 51:1-4.

¹ Have mercy upon me, Redeemer, according to Your lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  ³ For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin ever before me. ⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight that You are justified when You speak be clear when You judge.

So it is a simple formula; however the steps themselves are not simple.  It will require more than most are willing to do in this lifetime.

2 Chronicles 7:17-20

¹⁷ And as for you, if walk before Me, as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and shall observe My statutes and My judgments; ¹⁸ Then will I establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man ruler in Israel. ¹⁹ But if you turn away, and forsake My statutes and My commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other redeemers, 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 a proverb and a byword among all nations.

Yehovah did not stop with just an answer.  Often when we ask a question, we may receive an answer to the question we never asked.  Too often, we fail to ask the right question.  Thankfully so, God always knows what we need to hear.  The question for us is, will we heed His words?

Yehovah told Solomon if he would walk as David and do all he is commanded, Yehovah would establish the throne of Solomon’s kingdom.  What exactly that meant is not of much concern, Solomon did the second half.  He turned away from Yehovah and God plucked up the kingdom from his son, Rehoboam.  If not for David, nothing would have been left.  In Ahijah’s prophesy for Jeroboam, he stated in 1 Kings 11:32-34.

³² (But he (Rehoboam) shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) ³³ Because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the redeemer of the Zidonians, Chemosh the redeemer of the Moabites, and Milcom the redeemer of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do right in My eyes, and My statutes and My judgments, as David his father. ³⁴ Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes:

If not for David, nothing would have been left of the Southern Kingdom.  Solomon failed to fulfill the words of Yehovah.

We ought to be mindful to heed what Yehovah tells us before it becomes too late.

2 Chronicles 7:21-22

²¹ And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it; so that he shall say, Why has Yehovah done thus to this land, and to this house? ²² And it shall be answered, Because they forsook Yehovah Redeemer of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other redeemers, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore has He brought all this evil upon them.

This prophesy was finally fulfilled in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the Second Temple.  However, before this happened; Haggai prophesied at the Second Temple in Haggai 2:3-9.

 ³ Who left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? ⁴ Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says Yehovah; and be strong, Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all people of the land, says Yehovah, and work: For I with you, says Yehovah of hosts: ⁵ The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, So My spirit remains among you: fear not. ⁶ For thus says Yehovah of hosts; Yet once, it a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; ⁷ And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, says Yehovah of hosts. ⁸ The silver Mine, and the gold Mine, says Yehovah of hosts. ⁹ The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says Yehovah of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, says Yehovah of hosts.

Haggai said that the Second Temple was nothing compared to that of Solomon’s original Temple.  However, there was coming a time in the future; well past the time of Haggai, when the glory of the latter house would be even greater than Solomon’s Temple.  Yehovah through Haggai was not referring to some future building, He was speaking of the Temple of believers.  The one that is being built through the Spirit, Ephesians 2:20-22.

²⁰ And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹ In whom all the building fitly framed together grows to a Holy Temple in the Lord: ²² In whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

The Temple of Believers that will be finished when Yeshua returns.  This Temple will be more glorious than any other building that could be built.  Its glory will exceed all that was before it, because these will be the believers that bring forth God’s glory and vindicate His name in the Millennium through the Restitution of All Things.

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