And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.” (1 Kings 8:54-61)

Solomon’s Prayer For The Christian

The Temple was finished and the son of David completed all the work of building the house of the Lord. Glistening in the Judean sunlight, the Temple would be the communion of the people of Israel with the God who had chosen the descendants of Abraham to be His special people and show forth His glory. In the Holy of Holies the Lord would meet with the High Priest and shed His grace of forgiveness to the people as they sacrificed to Him with penitent hearts. Worship at the Temple would be a daily reminder of the mercy of the Lord to a people disposed to the frailty of rebellion. The glory of the Temple would not last long as the reign of Solomon ended in his death the nation went into civil war and rebellion. Less than four hundred years after Solomon became king of Israel the king of Babylon would destroy the Temple and carry what remained away to his country. Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple is a clear declaration of the faithfulness of God and the need for man to be faithful to the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar would have never been permitted to enter the Temple and destroy it if the Lord had not allowed it. The reason the Temple did not last is because the heart of the people did not serve the Lord. They had long forgotten the prayer of Solomon and his plea to serve the Lord in truth and faithfulness. God had done His part and blessed the people without measure but the people of Israel were rebellious, stubborn and unwilling to following the will of the Lord. Because of their rejection the Lord God who brought them out of Egypt rejected them. These are great lessons for those who seek to please God today under the covenant of Christ.

Solomon begins by showing everything the Lord had done for Israel. He had given the people peace and rest as He promised to Moses and through the Law. God always told His people that He would care for them, fight their battles, bless them beyond measure and keep every promise He made to them. History bears the truth that not one word promised by God failed. Everything promised by the Lord from the beginning of time has come true as promised because it is impossible for God to lie. There is not greater assurance than the word of the Lord. He promised to deliver them from Egypt and He did. Through the forty years of wilderness wanderings the Lord promised to care for His people – He did. Solomon declared the promises of God as the nation became a united kingdom as fulfilled and true. Why then would the Temple be destroyed in 586 B.C.? God never failed in His promises and one of the promises made by the Father was if the people rebelled against Him He would withdraw His blessings and punish the nation. Solomon prayed for the people to incline their hearts to God, walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments, statutes and judgments which He commanded. Their hearts were not loyal to the Lord God and they did not walk in His statutes and keep His commandments and subsequently judgment was brought upon the nation by the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Solomon’s prayer for the Christian is the application of the blessings, promises and judgments of the Lord. The Temple would be rebuilt in 516 B.C. but destroyed again in 70 A.D. by the hand of the Romans. Jesus Christ came into the world to bring all men to Himself under the blood stained cross of redemption. The Law of Moses has been abolished and the religion of man seeking to save himself by himself has been nullified. Salvation can only come through Jesus Christ. The prayer of Solomon is still a powerful testimony to the promises of God and the requirements of man. Everything promised by the Lord from the Garden of Eden to the coming of Christ has been fulfilled to save man. There has not failed one word of all His good promise which He promised through His Son Jesus Christ. Hope is in the blood of Christ, eternal life in the teachings of Jesus and through the grace of God man can find redemption. Like the prayer of Solomon the child of God must incline his heart to the Lord, walk in all the ways of the Lord, and keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes and His judgments. Faith is manifested in obedience. Salvation by grace is measured by the willingness of man to do the will of the Father. The heart of the Christian must be loyal to the Lord God in keeping the commandments of the Lord.