First Kings 8

God’s message to me: God’s plan is to have all the world turn to Him in love, worship, thanksgiving and to fulfill their needs. This has been His plan from the beginning. For this cause He did great works that the entire world would know Him and His Power and recognize that He is God.

Promises: God hears our prayers and responds. He is not contained so that he can dwell in a building. He is Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent. He knows all, can do all and is everywhere at the same time. He may take actions to make his presence known in one particular place but He is everywhere, always listening and waiting for our prayer.

Commands: Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. This is not in the text you read today but it is a clear command repeated in the bible. This is the City in which God placed His name and in which he set the throne of His Kingdom and that of Israel. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and understand that true peace can only come when it once again belongs completely to Israel and is the Capital of that nation. Until the Jews can enter the Temple Mount without fear of reprisal there will not be true peace in Jerusalem.

Timeless principles: Jehovah is not the God of any one people. He is King of kings, Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, I AM, The Uncaused Cause, He is the one true God and Creator of the Universe. He placed his name in Jerusalem because it was there that He established the Throne of His Kingdom and the Seat of His Rulership over the earth. Even Solomon, at a time when few outside of Israel recognized The Lord, knew that He was the God of everything and that anyone in all the earth who turned to Him deserved His reply. Solomon knew that God had done all He had done in Israel in order that the world would know He Is Lord. He knew that all the great miracles and acts of God leading up to that day and beyond would be known, not only in the surrounding countries, as it already was, but throughout the world. That Gentiles of all nations would turn their hearts to the One True God.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: First, God is God to all people in all lands and desires that all come to him. It is true that many will never turn to Him and will be lost in their sin. This does not change that fact that God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins. God did this so that all who Believe in Jesus and accept His gift of Salvation can be saved and come to Jehovah as their own God.

Second, Jerusalem is the place where God placed His name. It is the place He chose to be the Capital of Israel and, when He returns, the capital of his Earthly kingdom. Jerusalem should not be divided. Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel. Jerusalem does belong to the Jews. The temple mount is the place where God put his name and it is the rightful place of the Temple of God built first by Solomon, and rebuilt several times since and will be built again. The Dome of the Rock has no place there. The Al Aqusa Mosque is in Mecca, you need only look at maps of that region, ask those who have been there or ask someone there if you visit and they can show you to and into the Al Aqusa Mosque. The Dome of the Rock is not the true Al Aqusa Mosque and no one ever tried to claim it was until Israel became a nation and they needed an excuse to try and remove God’s chosen people from the City of Jerusalem which they always knew was the Capital of the Jews and the place where God placed his name.

more to learn for in-depth study: As with the Tabernacle of Meeting the sign that the Temple of God was accepted by God was His presence. As soon as the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies The cloud, which had led the Israelites through the wilderness, filled the temple and it shown with the Glory of God so that the Priests could not minister inside the temple. This had been the way that God would dwell in the Tabernacle of Meeting as the Israelites traveled to the Promised land. When He entered the Tabernacle in this way Moses could go to the door of the Tabernacle to speak with Him.

tomorrow: First Kings 9-11