Temple of Solomon Dedicatory Prayer and The Consequences of Broken Covenants - 2 Chronicles 6 & 7

In 957 BC, after seven years of construction, Israel had finally completed the Temple of Jehovah. King Solomon gathered the choicest materials from throughout the known world. Sparing no expense, the temple's foundation and walls were built from stone quarried in Israel. Cedar beams from Lebanon, overlaid with Ophir gold, supported the ceiling. Lebanon cypress, also overlaid with Ophir gold, was used for the flooring. Precious stones acquired through King David's conquests adorned the walls and pillars, and fine linen was used for the veil that concealed the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant.

For generations, Israel's prophets had made it clear that if the people obeyed God's commandments, they would be abundantly blessed and a powerful nation. However, if they broke their covenant with Him, they would experience drought, famine, captivity, and death. Yet the prophets also taught that if the people confessed their sins and returned to the Lord with all their heart, they would be forgiven, and Jehovah would restore and reestablish them.

King Solomon understood this principle clearly. He knew that the Lord requires obedience and that grave consequences follow when a nation's people forget their God. In his dedicatory prayer, he asked that the temple would be a place where the Lord would hear the righteous prayers of both His people and visiting Gentiles, so that faith in Jehovah would increase throughout the earth. Solomon reaffirmed the blessings and curses of Jehovah's covenant and once again bound himself and his people to its terms.

Christians today claim to be the covenant people of the Lord, but do we understand that God's standards of righteousness have not changed? Hebrews 13:8 declares that Jesus Christ or Jehovah is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The covenant blessings and curses demonstrated throughout scripture remain active today. Europe, Canada, and the United States are experiencing the consequences of national rebellion against God's laws.

Murder, rape, and crimes committed by illegal immigrants are increasing. Seats of government are occupied by robbers who weaponize their nations' laws against their own people, undermining God-given rights and liberties. Christianity is being replaced by Islam, and the world stands on the brink of a third world war. We are experiencing these problems because we the people have come to believe that wickedness produces happiness. We couldn't be more wrong. 

The Lord Jesus Christ, our good Father, is allowing us to be smitten by the devil's minions so that we may learn once again that obedience brings blessing, rebellion brings suffering, and that only keeping the Ten Commandments is righteous indeed. 

Solomon’s temple was destroyed around 587 BC. Before burning the temple, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the plated gold, precious stones and other precious materials to be stripped from the temple and be brought as spoils to Babylon. Then the temple was burned, the stone walls were cast down, and the people were either killed or taken as slaves into Babylon. 

As Christians living in 2026 we can certainly expect the same judgements to come upon our nations, communities, and families if we refuse to mend our broken covenant with Jesus Christ.  Our churches, sanctuaries, and temples will be spoiled, burned, and razed to the ground, and our families will be placed under the hand of a cruel ruler.

After the temple of Solomon was dedicated and the 7 days of feasting were ended, the Lord appeared to Solomon to deliver a message. 

In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 the Lord said, 

“13 If I shut up the 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.

19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, 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 to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house?

22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.”

I invite all of us to evaluate our lives and ask ourselves, do I sanctify the name of Jehovah in all that I do and say? Does Jesus Christ or the cares of this fallen world own my heart? Let’s choose to return to the Lord today. 

Let’s Be Christians!