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For this evening, we're going to be continuing in two Chronicles. So if you take your Bibles in the Old Testament and go to the book of second Chronicles, we left off in the middle of chapter four last week. And so that's where we will pick up second Chronicles, chapter four, right around verse nine. Let's pray first Lord, your word says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. And it is good to be in your house. It is good to just rest our weary souls and pray and seek your face and study your word together. So I thank you for all those who are here tonight and those who are watching online joining our Bible study. We just want all of it to glorify you, Lord. So be with us as we share in your word together. We're always mindful of our troops serving in the Middle East. Bring them home soon and safely, Lord. And we thank you for this time we have together here in your house. Bless your word to us, Lord. We pray in Jesus name. And everyone said Amen. So the section we are in here in second Chronicles has to do with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. This is the first time that the Jews have had a permanent structure. David had a heart to build it, but God said no because his hands had shed blood since he was a warrior. So God chose David's son, Solomon to be the one to build the Temple of the Lord. It would be located in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. The measurements of the temple basically were 90ft long, 30ft wide, 45ft high. It took 150,000 workers to build it, and it took them seven years. The materials were made of white limestone, and then it also had wood. Cedar from Lebanon, olive cypress, King James instead of Cyprus says fir, and ivy says pine. And then the wood on the interior of this temple was adorned with gold, a lot of it. When you calculate the weight of the gold the Bible says was used to line the interior of the Temple and to make the articles within the temple. It comes to a little over $400 billion in today's value. So it's a magnificent structure. Here is an artist's rendering of what it might have looked like. And we'll go inside in just a minute and take a look around there as well. But the Temple was built by Solomon around 967 BC it was completed around 960 BC it would stand for 374 years until 586 BC when the Babylonians would come in, attack Jerusalem, besiege the city and destroy the Temple, so it will stand for almost 400 years, but a magnificent structure it was. And in these chapters here of 2 Chronicles 4 and into 5 and 6 tonight, it gives description of not only the temple itself, but the articles within the temple. We left off last week in chapter four, right around verse nine, where we are introduced to a guy by the name of Huram. It's in verse 11. His name is Huram, he is from Lebanon. We first actually saw his name back in chapter two and it tells us that he had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father, but he's from Lebanon. And he is hired by King Solomon because he is a master craftsman. He knows particularly how to fashion things out of metal and to make designs. And so that's going to be important to the decoration and the adornment and the articles within the temple itself. So verse 11 says, and then Hurram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. And so Hurrem finished doing the work that he was to do for King Solomon, for the house of God. The two pillars and the bowl shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars. Those were the pillars that adorned the entrance to the temple. You see there in the artist's rendering the two networks covering the two bowl shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars. 400 pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowl shaped capitals that were on the pillars. And he also made carts and the lavers on the carts, 1C. And 12 oxen under it. Now that is the article there to the in the lower left corner of the picture, the sea. It was a large brazen bowl supported by 12 oxen, three facing each of the directions on a compass. They represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Oxen represent strength. And this bowl that they supported on their backs was filled with. Well, the Bible says how many baths? 3,000 baths. And if you translate that into modern terms, about 18,000 gallons. So this is a small swimming pool. What was the purpose of this sea? It was so that the priests could climb into it and be cleansed, be washed. It was a ceremonial bowl into which they would plunge and be washed before they would sacrifice animals. So they would be cleansed for the service of the lord. And verse 16 says, and also the pots and the shovels and the forks and all the articles. Huram, his master craftsman, made of burnished bronze for King Solomon, for the house of the Lord in the plain of Jordan. The king had them cast in clay molds between Succoth and Zerida. We don't really know where those places are, but it's somewhere east of the Jordan River. On a map today, it would be somewhere in modern Jordan, the country of modern Jordan. So they had some kind of a kiln set up there where they molded and fashioned these articles, and then they would transport it there to Jerusalem. Verse 18 says, and Solomon had all these articles made in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined. And thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of God. The altar of gold and the tables on which was the showbread. The lampstands with their lamps of pure gold to burn in the prescribed manner in front of the inner sanctuary with the flowers and the lamps and the wick trimmers of gold, of purest gold. The trimmers, the bowls, the ladles and the sensors of pure gold. As for the entry of the sanctuary, its inner doors to the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were gold. So let's also take a look at this artist's rendering. This is gonna be like a cross section of the interior of the temple. I'm gonna step back here just for a moment so that we can see again what we're looking at. The. This altar up here in the middle right section of the picture was the brazen altar upon which the priest would sacrifice the animals. This was all part of God's prescribed way of worshiping him and coming into his presence. And again, down here is the sea on the 12 oxen. Over on the exterior of the temple are these, what were called lavers, these five different, smaller pools of water. There were five on this side of the temple on the south, and 5 on the northern side of the temple, and 10 in all. And they were used as part of the cleansing process of the animals that were being slaughtered and sacrificed the before they would be placed upon the altar to be burned. You know. You know, it takes a lot of water when you're dealing with animals that you're killing. Now, I've never sacrificed a sheep or a goat, but I've sacrificed a lot of fish in my lifetime. And when you're cleaning fish and you're degutting them, you know, you need water, you're washing all the entrails and the guts and everything that comes out of them. So that's what these lavers would be used for, to help wash some of the. The animals as they were being sacrificed before they went up onto the brazen altar. But on the interior of the temple. And this is where I want to take us, because as we read the way chapter four ended, and it will translate into the way chapter five begins. The interior of this temple is divided into two sections. So when you walk through the front door of the temple, you're going through golden doors that were probably bifold doors. You can see the menorah, the five candelabras that are standing on the floor. Because of the cross section, you can't see the others. But there would have been five on the southern side of this temple too. So you have five on the northern side, five on the southern side. You have 10 menorahs, 10 candelabras that would have been the source of light within the temple itself. There were small windows at the top, but in the evening, that was the only source of light. And this interior was divided into two sections. So you have here the holy place, which is the. As you enter into the temple, this first part was called the holy place. You can see there, right around where the arrow is, you have a table there. That's the table of showbread with 12 loaves of bread, representing again the 12 tribes of Israel. And the priests were required. That was part of their nourishment for the day. They would put fresh bread on the table of showbread every morning, but in the evening they would eat it, and they would replace it in the morning with fresh bread. And then on the other side of the priest standing there is the altar of incense. Now, no animal would be sacrificed there, but sweet fragrances that would rise as an aroma in the house of the Lord. So it must have been a very sweet smelling place. But the holy place was separated from the most holy place, which is this. When you look at the description in the Bible, it's a room that was 30ft by 30ft. It was a square room. And on the interior of this room were these gigantic creatures called cherubim with wings. These were of the angelic order, but they were unique in the angelic order. The cherubim were guardian angels when you read in scripture. And it's interesting because Ezekiel calls Lucifer a guardian cherub before he fell, that he was of this order. And you'll notice at the right where this arrow ends, at the tip of the point of the arrow is the Ark of the Covenant. Now we're going to read about that in chapter five. Very sacred article. Because the presence of God would hover over the Ark of the Covenant. And the high priest could only go into this section of the temple once a year with the blood of the sacrifice to sprinkle on the Ark of the covenant to make atonement for the sins of the people. Very important, though, the most holy place was separated from the holy place by a curtain. And the Bible talks about how it was woven with red, with scarlet and blue. And ancient rabbis talk about how that the curtain was basically woven with goat hair and it was the width of a man's hand if he could stretch from the end of his thumb to the end of his pinky. So we're talking about nine inches thick. But the Bible says at the end of chapter four that there was a golden door that also separated the holy place from the most holy place. Whether the curtain was on this side of the golden door or the other side, we don't quite know because again, it was destroyed in 586B.C. We can't quite tell from the description. But this is the temple of the Lord. And again, all the interior was lined with gold. It was very elaborate, very beautiful. Imagine the menorah lights reflecting off of the golden walls. The scent of the aroma, the aroma of the incense represented the prayers of the people. And so here's this beautiful temple. Now, it speaks there at the end of chapter four, about the inner doors to the most holy place. And the doors of the main hall of the temple were gold. Okay, but now into chapter five, we going to see that they bring the Ark of the Covenant into the temple. And it says, so all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated. The silver and the gold and all the furnishings, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Now, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel in Jerusalem, and that they might bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord up from the city of David, which is Zion. Okay. By the way, when people say that you're a Zionist, it just means that you love Israel. Zion is a name that speaks about Jerusalem, and it was the city of David. And so, you know, people get all bent out of shape today like, you're a Zionist, you're Zionist. Yeah, I love Israel. Yeah, I'm a Zionist. Call me a Zionist, I don't really care. I'm a Zionist. I love Israel. So it's. It's a name that is found hundreds of times in the Bible. And it describes the city. Jerusalem in particular described the lower part of Jerusalem, which was known as The City of David. That's where David had established his palace. And then the temple was built on the higher part of Mount Moriah. And David, because he wanted to build a temple but wasn't able to, he at least had brought the Ark of the Covenant from the Tabernacle, which was a temporary temple, it was like a, a big tent from Gibeon. And David brought just that single item out of the Tabernacle. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, made a little tiny tent over it. He wanted worship to be central. He wanted God to be central to the nation. And so now that the temple is completed, the first thing that Solomon wants to do is to bring the Ark of the Covenant up from the city of David where his father had kept it into the holy of holy, the most holy place. The most holy place, also known as the Holy of Holies. In Hebrew it is Kadesh Hakadashim, the holy of Holies. And so now he's going to bring in the Ark of the Covenant. And so he's, he's assembled everybody. Verse 3. Therefore, all the men of Israel assembled with the kings, with the king at the feast which was in the seventh month. And so all the elders of Israel came and the Levites took up the Ark and, and then they brought up the Ark, the Tabernacle of meeting and all the holy furnishings that were in the Tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. Also King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the Ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. There were so many, they just, they lost count. And then the priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place and into the enter the inner sanctuary of the Temple to the most holy place under the wings of the cherubim. So there it is again. It's at the point, the tip of the arrow point there on the drawing. And the Ark of the Covenant, very sacred object. They could only transport it with poles through rings on the sides of the Ark. And the priests would hoist than the Ark on their shoulders. And if they didn't carry it in the prescribed way, you remember a tragic event where they didn't transport it the right way. And so people died as a result of it. But now they're transporting it the right way, they bring it into this interior location. And verse 8 says for the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the Ark and the cherubim overshadowed the Ark and Its poles. The poles extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. And. But they cannot be seen from outside, and they are there to this day. Well, as whoever wrote this, we think it was Ezra, it was there to his day. Obviously not Now. Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel and when they had come out of Egypt. So the Ten Commandments are inside the Ark of the Covenant. Now, for those of you who know your Bibles pretty well, you might remember that at other times the Bible says that the Ark of the Covenant contained not only the Ten Commandments, but also contained a sample of the manna and also contained Aaron's staff that was budding. So Aaron, the brother of Moses. And what happened to the manna? The manna was the food that was provided in the wilderness during their wanderings. What happened to the manna? What happened to Aaron's budding staff? And the answer is, nobody knows by the time we're reading it here. The writer of Chronicles just says the Ten Commandments were inside, but it doesn't mention the other articles that were normally kept inside. Verse 11 says, and it came to pass when the priests came out of the most holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without keeping to their divisions. And the Levites, who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthen with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets. So now you have to imagine, not only do we have, you know, the light of the menorah and the smell of the aroma of the fragrance, but now you have sounds, you have trumpets, you have harps, you have cymbals. Indeed, it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, and for his mercy endures forever, that the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house. So what a sight this must have been, the glory of the Lord filling the house. This is, of course, a reference to the Shekinah glory. This was described in the Bible as being not just light, like it was this radiant shining of God's presence, but it also at the same time describes it as a thick cloud. So nobody really knows what it, what it looked like, but it is described that way, like a radiance of God's presence, of God's glory. At the same time, it was a thick cloud. And it says here that the priests couldn't even continue doing their duties because they couldn't see. It was either so bright or the cloud was so thick, thick that they couldn't even see their way around inside the temple. This was a, a way that God presented himself the way he presented his glory in their presence. And it was so thick that they couldn't even do their priestly duties. And oh, that God would visit again with this cloud of glory, this very presence. And how awesome that must have. Well into chapter six it says, and then Solomon spoke. So now here is young King Solomon. He's probably only maybe 21, 22 at this point. And the Lord, and this is what he speaks, Solomon spoke. The Lord said that he would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built you an exalted house and a place for you to dwell forever. And then notice if your Bible is subtitled like mine. It says, Solomon's speech upon the completion of the work. And he's going to give a speech down to verse 11, so not too long, because from verse 12 down through the end of the chapter, it's a prayer. So he gives a little speech here to the people of Israel who have gathered. And notice he says here, then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who was fulfilled with his hands what he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying, since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house that my name circle that, that my name might be there. Nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over my people Israel. And yet I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there. And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. Now the reason I said circle my name is because there, in just chapter six and seven, there's this reference to either my name or Solomon will say your name. It's all a reference to God's name. Just in chapter six and seven, found 14 times, 14 times. So God's name Is is very central to this story. And notice there again in verse six, that I just read where God says, yet I have chosen Jerusalem. That's the city that he's chosen, that my name may be there. Now I want to show you something that's fascinating. I learned this many years ago when I went to Israel, that there are three valleys that make up the city of Jerusalem. And here's a picture. This is an aerial view of Jerusalem. You have the Hinnom Valley, the Tyropean Valley, and you have the Kidron Valley. You can see between the Tyropean Valley and the Kidron Valley. That's where the Temple of Jerusalem sat. That's Mount Moriah right there. The Mount of Olives is just east of the Kidron Valley. You had to cross down the Kidron Valley to come into Jerusalem. But the three valleys form the Jewish letter shin on the Hebrew. The Hebrew Alphabet, Shin. And shin is the first letter in a few words that describe God, which is why today the letter shin, which looks like a W, is signifies the name of God, because shin is the first letter for the word shem. Today, Jews who are trying to be very respectful and reverent to the name of God, they do not say Yahweh. They might say Adonai, but they will say Hashem. They will say the name. And everybody knows when you say Hashem, the name, that's the name referring to the name of God. So shem means name. It starts with the letter Shin, and so does Shaddai. Shaddai means Almighty. Sometimes Jews will just refer to God as Shaddai, the Almighty. So either take your pick. They both begin with the word, with the letter Shin in the Hebrew Alphabet, which is why just that letter itself is indicative of the name of God. So when God says, I've put my name in Jerusalem, of course he means it in a way that it will be spread to all the world from that place. But isn't it interesting that the very topography of Jerusalem bears his name? It's as if he put his imprint over Jerusalem. By these three valleys, they will form the letter Shin that will stand for my name, Hashem Shaddai. So very interesting. When you go into a Jewish home, they often have these mezuzahs that are on this. They slanted on the side of the door frame. And inside each mezuzah are kept little texts of scripture. But they always have the imprint of that letter shining. That's a picture. God bless you. They have that letter Gesundheit. And they have that letter Shin printed on the mezuzahs, because again, it's a representation of the name of God. So very interesting. That's where God has chosen to place his name. Why do you think then that there is such a battle over that territory? Why do you think that there is such hatred to the Jews, toward the Jews? Yeah, it's a satanic thing that Satan has inspired nations and people to hate without cause the Jewish people. And there's a rise of anti Semitism in our world today. And people who call themselves influencers make it known how much they hate Israel. It's really interesting. The progression of anti Semitism and how it starts. You look at the way that it starts out with people just saying, I disagree with Netanyahu, I don't like Netanyahu. And then it becomes netanyahu bad, Israel, bad. And then it's like, netanyahu bad Israel, bad, Jews bad. There's a real progression. And then you know where it goes from there. It's like, Netanyahu, bad Israel, bad Jews, bad. Qatar, not so bad. Sharia law. We can live with it. You see that progression. That's what's happening in our world today. People need to wake up. There's a reason why there's such anti Semitism. Because God has placed his name in Jerusalem. It is central. It's an epicenter of his story. Right. Jesus is born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, but he dies in Jerusalem, and he's coming again to Jerusalem. So it is a. It is a territory that not only represents the whole redemptive plan of God through our Savior. Jesus who died there, rose again from there, and is coming again there. But as a result, of course, Satan hates that. And so he's going around inspiring people. Do we have to necessarily agree with everything of the Israeli government? No, as I've said before, I don't agree with everything of America's government. But there is this hatred, there is this blaming of the Jews for everything. And no wonder, because Satan incites people and nations to hate the place where God says, I've placed my name, I've placed my name. Verse 7. Solomon continues in his speech here. He says, now, it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well in that. It was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the temple, but your son, who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for my name. So the Lord has fulfilled his word which he spoke. And I have filled the position of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised. And I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have put the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord which he made with the children of Israel. So that's his little spiel to the Israelites. And now he's going to turn to God in prayer. He's going to pray. This is going to be corporate prayer that he's going to lead here, but he's the one praying. And that's the rest of the chapter, so we'll see how far we get into this. But now Solomon prays a prayer of dedication. So the temple's been built, the furnishings have been brought inside the temple. And now Solomon is going to pray a prayer of dedicating this temple to the Lord for the Lord. And here he prays, it says in verse 12. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel. And he spread out his hands. For Solomon had made a bronze platform, 5 cubits long, 5 cubits wide and 3 cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. So this is not anything pictured on, on the earlier pictures. This is a. Like a raised platform that Solomon had built just for the occasion so that he can, you know, kind of stand and be seen by the people. You know, it's the reason why, you know, like, this is a raised platform so that as you're listening to me teach, you know, you can hear me, and so that I'm, you know, elevated a little bit. And that's what Solomon is doing here. He has this little platform that is built, and we'll translate the cubits. It was seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet wide. So it's a square platform, and it was four and a half feet high. And so he just steps up on it, he spreads out his hands and. And he's. And he's going to pray here it says, and he stood on it, and then he knelt down on his knees. This is the rest of verse 13, before all the assembly of Israel. And he spread out his hands toward heaven. So look, there's not one right posture for prayer. You can stand and pray. You can get on your knees and pray. You can raise your hands towards heaven and pray. I like that it mentions this twice, that he spread out his hands toward heaven. You know, the Bible talks about lifting your hands to The Lord. Even in The New Testament, 1st Timothy 2, 8, Paul wrote, I desire therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting. We see hands lifted in the Old Testament in Psalm 134, 2, Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. Now, I know some of your traditions, or if you have no church tradition at all, you come into a church like this and once in a while during worship, you see people raising their hands. And if that's not part of what you're used to, you're a little wigged out by it. I get it. But you know, look, I was like I've said before, I'm a recovering Methodist, I was raised in a Methodist church. We didn't raise hands unless you had a question or unless you were voting on something. And look how that's worked out for them. Not good. But you didn't raise your hands, you know, in worship. And then I went to the first like non denominational church service I'd ever been to and people were raising their hands and I'm like, what is going on? Who are they voting for and what questions do they have? And it was, you know, it was something I had to get used to. I wasn't comfortable with it. You know, somebody helped me understand one time, you know, the whole concept, why do we raise our hands to the Lord, you know, in worship or in prayer? And somebody once said, look, what is the posture when somebody is holding you up, like, you know, robbing you and they got a gun to you and you're like, you know, what do you do? You just take your hands up and it's a posture of surrender. It's a posture of surrender. So it's just when you're worshiping, you're saying, I'm surrendered to you, Lord. When you're praying, you're like, I'm surrendered to your will. So, you know, have that liberty here. But again, you don't need to feel forced to do it. But you should know it is biblical that you can raise your hands in prayer, you can raise your hands in worship, and you should feel comfortable doing it. And if you don't feel comfortable, don't do it until you feel comfortable doing it. Otherwise, then you're just doing it. Cause other people do it, you know, and that's something, you know, that can happen too. It's like Christian peer pressure. Somebody next to you is lifting their hands, you're like, guess I need to lift my hands. And then what is, how high am I supposed to go? Is it like, you know, goal posts? Is it like washing windows? What am I supposed to do? And just like, be surrendered? That's all I can tell you. And have the liberty to do that because you see it in the Bible. And so he's praying here and he's lifting his hands towards heaven. And he says in verse 14, Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth. Like you. Notice how he starts there. You are incomparable. There is no comparison to you, Lord, who keep your covenant. He's a covenant keeping God. He keeps his promises and mercy. He's a merciful God with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts. You have kept what you promised your servant David, my father, you have both spoken with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, as it is to this day. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what you promised your servant David, my father, saying, you shall not fail to have a man sit before me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in my law as you have walked before me. And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word come true, which you have spoken to your servant David. Now he continues, this whole chapter is a prayer. But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven. And the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. That's just flowery prose. That means the heaven of heavens, like you are seated above everything, everyone. You are the highest of the heavens. And he's questioning. He's like the idea, like, will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Like I built you this temple and are you going to now be living here with us on earth? And look, we need to understand, you know, God is omnipresent. He can be anywhere at all times. And in fact, in Acts 17, Paul would say this. He would say, the God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. That's Acts 17:24. Well, if Paul's saying the Lord doesn't dwell in temples made by hands, and Solomon is praying here, oh Lord, you know, do you actually dwell with men on earth? Like, it's not a contradiction. This is the idea that God's presence can be anywhere, anytime, and that he is everywhere all the time. But he's not restricted by any space or time. And so, yes, is God here? Yes. But is he restricted to just the four walls of our church? Of course not. And so he's unlimited in his ability to be everywhere, all the time, in Every place. And so Solomon's like wondering, are you coming now to just live with us on earth in this temple? And he says in verse 19 or the rest of verse 18, how much less this temple which I have built. Verse 19. Yet regard the prayer of your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant is praying before you. Real quick note, what's the difference between prayer and supplication? The word supplication he's going to use five times in this prayer between chapter six and seven. And it just is a Hebrew word, tachina and it means an appeal for a favor. So he's praying because he's seeking the face of the Lord, but he's also appealing for a favor. And so he says your servant the supplication, Lord my God, listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant is praying before you. Verse 20. That your eyes may be opened toward this temple day and night toward the place where you said you would put your name. That you may hear the prayer which your servant makes toward this place. And may you hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven your dwelling place. And when you hear forgive, and that word forgive is going to be a regular word that he uses in the rest of the prayer because he knows how much we need it. We are sinful people who always are in need of the forgiveness of God. But he appeals to the God of mercy who is a covenant keeping God. He's incomparable to any other small G God in the world. And so Solomon prays this prayer dedication. We'll continue there next week and read the rest of his prayer as he dedicates the house of the Lord. And then Solomon still has some time here until the end of chapter nine when we read about his death. But we'll park it there for tonight. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are an incomparable God of the universe. Nothing and no one compares to you. That you are a covenant keeping God. You keep your promises, you are a merciful father, you are a forgiving God. And we thank you for who you are. Lord, as we read your word, we just are reminded of just how awesome and great, majestic, holy, pure, true right you are, Lord in all your ways. And we just lift up holy hands to worship you, to pray to you, to seek you. Thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you that we can approach the throne of grace boldly to find help and grace in our time of need. And thank you that Jesus opened that access so we can freely come into your presence, Father. And we thank you together for your word tonight. It's in Jesus name we pray. And everybody said amen and amen.