Study Helps - Lesson 6

Lesson 6 February 3 - 9

A Prayer for God's Dwelling: Solomon

Memory Text: (2 Chr 7:14 KJV) 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.

Sabbath Afternoon

(1 Ki 8:1-21 NKJV) Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion. {2} Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. {3} So all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. {4} Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. {5} Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. {6} Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. {7} For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. {8} The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. {9} Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. {10} And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, {11} so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. {12} Then Solomon spoke: "The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud. {13} I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever." {14} Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. {15} And he said: "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and with His hand has fulfilled it, saying, {16} 'Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.' {17} "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {18} "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. {19} 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' {20} "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 a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {21} "And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt."

(1 Ki 8:17-30 NKJV) "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {18} "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

{1 Kings 17:19-30} 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' {20} "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 a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {21} "And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt." {22} Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; {23} and he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. {24} "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 this day. {25} "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 before Me as you have walked before Me.' {26} "And now I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David my father. {27} "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! {28} "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 today: {29} "that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My name shall be there,' that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. {30} "And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

(1 Ki 8:31-61 NKJV) "When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, {32} "then hear in heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. {33} "When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, {34} "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. {35} "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, {36} "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. {37} "When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; {38} "whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: {39} "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), {40} "that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. {41} "Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name's sake {42} '(for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, {43} "hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. {44} "When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, {45} "then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. {46} "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; {47} "yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, 'We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness';

{1 Kings 8:48-61} "and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: {49} "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, {50} "and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them {51} "(for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace), {52} "that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. {53} "For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD." {54} 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. {55} Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: {56} "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. {57} "May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, {58} "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. {59} "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, {60} "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. {61} "Let your heart therefore be loyal to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day."

(2 Chr 7:11-22 NKJV) Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house. {12} Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. {13} "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, {14} "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. {15} "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. {16} "For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. {17} "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, {18} "then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.' {19} "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, {20} "then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. {21} "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?' {22} "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.'"

Sunday

A Dwelling Place For God

(Deu 12:5 NKJV) "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.

(Gen 22:2-14 NKJV) Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." {3} So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. {4} Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. {5} And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." {6} So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. {7} But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" {8} And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. {9} Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. {10} And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. {11} But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." {12} And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." {13} Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. {14} And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."

(1 Chr 21:15-18 NKJV) And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. {16} Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. {17} And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued." {18} Therefore, the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

(2 Chr 3:1 NKJV) Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Read 1 Kings chapter 6

(1 Ki 8:10-11 NKJV) And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, {11} so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

(1 Ki 8:13 NKJV) I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever."

Prophets and Kings, p. 46

Had Israel remained true to God, this glorious building would have stood forever, a perpetual sign of God's especial favor to His chosen people. "The sons of the stranger," God declared, "that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:6, 7. {PK 46.1}

In connection with these assurances of acceptance, the Lord made very plain the path of duty before the king. "As for thee," He declared, "if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe My statutes and My judgments; then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel." 2 Chronicles 7:17, 18. (p. 47) {PK 46.2}

(Rev 21:1-3 NKJV) Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. {2} Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. {3} And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

(1 Ki 8:17-20 NKJV) "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {18} "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. {19} 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' {20} "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 a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

(Rev 14:1 NKJV) Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads.

(John 17:6 KJV) I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

(John 17:26 KJV) And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

(John 17:6 NKJV) "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

(John 17:26 NKJV) "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Monday

"Hear From Heaven, Your Dwelling Place"

(1 Chr 28:3 NIV) But God said to me, 'You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.'

(1 Chr 28:3 NKJV) "But God said to me, 'You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.'

(1 Ki 8:16-20 NKJV) 'Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.' {17} "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {18} "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. {19} 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' {20} "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 a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

(2 Sam 7:27-29 NKJV) "For You, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house.' Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You. {28} "And now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. {29} "Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord GOD, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed forever."

(1 Ki 8:17-21 NKJV) "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {18} "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. {19} 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.' {20} "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 a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. {21} "And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt."

(1 Ki 8:27 NKJV) "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!

(Isa 57:15 NKJV) For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

(1 Ki 8:28-30 NKJV) "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 today: {29} "that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My name shall be there,' that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. {30} "And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

Tuesday

Prayer For A Rebellious Nation

(1 Ki 8:41-43 NKJV) "Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name's sake {42} '(for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, {43} "hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

(Isa 56:7 NKJV) Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

(Lev 26:14-39 NKJV) 'But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, {15} and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, {16} I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. {17} I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. {18} 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. {19} I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. {20} And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. {21} 'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. {22} I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. {23} 'And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, {24} then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. {25} And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. {26} When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. {27} 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, {28} then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. {29} You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. {30} I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. {31} I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. {32} I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. {33} I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. {34} Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. {35} As long as it lies desolate it shall rest; for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it. {36} 'And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. {37} They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. {38} You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. {39} And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; also in their fathers' iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

(1 Ki 8:33 NKJV) "When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple,

(1 Ki 8:35 NKJV) "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them,

(1 Ki 8:37 NKJV) "When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;

(1 Ki 17:1 NKJV) And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."

(Lev 26:27-28 NKJV) 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, {28} then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

(Lev 26:33 NKJV) I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

(1 Ki 8:46 NKJV) "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;

Wednesday

"When You Hear, Forgive"

(Lev 26:40-45 NKJV) 'But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, {41} and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt; {42} then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. {43} The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes. {44} Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. {45} But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.'"

(1 Ki 8:46-51 NKJV) "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; {47} "yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, 'We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness'; {48} "and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: {49} "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause,

{1 Ki 8:50-51} "and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them {51} "(for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace),

(Dan 9:4-19 NKJV) And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, {5} "we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. {6} "Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. {7} "O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day; to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. {8} "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. {9} "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. {10} "We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. {11} "Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. {12} "And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. {13} "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. {14} "Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. {15} "And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly! {16} "O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. {17} "Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. {18} "O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. {19} "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

(Rom 3:21-22 NKJV) But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, {22} even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

(1 Ki 8:33-34 NKJV) "When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, {34} "then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.

Thursday

"If My People..."

(2 Chr 7:1-2 NKJV) When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. {2} And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the Lord's house.

(2 Chr 7:12-16 NKJV) Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. {13} "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, {14} "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. {15} "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. {16} "For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

(2 Chr 7:17-22 NKJV) "As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, {18} "then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.' {19} "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, {20} "then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. {21} "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?' {22} "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.'"

(Eccl 1 NKJV) The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. {2} "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." {3} What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? {4} One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. {5} The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. {6} The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. {7} All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. {8} All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. {9} That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. {10} Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in ancient times before us. {11} There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after. {12} I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. {13} And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. {14} I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. {15} What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered. {16} I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." {17} And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. {18} For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

(Eccl 2 NKJV) I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity. {2} I said of laughter; "Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" {3} I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. {4} I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. {5} I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. {6} I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. {7} I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. {8} I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. {9} So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. {10} Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. {11} Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. {12} Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?; Only what he has already done. {13} Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness. {14} The wise man's eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all. {15} So I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?" Then I said in my heart, "This also is vanity." {16} For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool! {17} Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. {18} Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. {19} And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. {20} Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. {21} For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. {22} For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? {23} For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. {24} Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. {25} For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? {26} For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Friday

(Exo 25:8 NKJV) "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

(1 Cor 6:19-20 NKJV) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? {20} For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

{Rev 21:3} And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 144

Like the patriarchs of old, those who profess to love God should erect an altar to the Lord wherever they pitch their tent. If ever there was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now. Fathers and mothers should often lift up their hearts to God in humble supplication for themselves and their children. Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to tarry. {PP 144.1}

From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be revealed in action. It should flow out in all home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this principle is carried out--homes where God is worshiped and truest love reigns. From these homes morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew. {PP 144.2}

A well-ordered Christian household is a powerful argument in favor of the reality of the Christian religion--an argument that the infidel cannot gainsay. All can see that there is an influence at work in the family that affects the children, and that the God of Abraham is with them. If the homes of professed Christians had a right religious mold, they would exert a mighty influence for good. They would indeed be the "light of the world." The God of heaven speaks to every faithful parent in the words addressed to Abraham: "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." {PP 144.3}

Prophets and Kings, p. 188

The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ's righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness. {PK 188.1}

Among earth's inhabitants, scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven, which appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine forth when darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people. In heathen Africa, in the Catholic lands of Europe and of South America, in China, in India, (p. 189) in the islands of the sea, and in all the dark corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. Even now they are appearing in every nation, among every tongue and people; and in the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan's supreme effort is made to cause "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive, under penalty of death, the sign of allegiance to a false rest day, these faithful ones, "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke," will "shine as lights in the world." Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15. The darker the night, the more brilliantly will they shine. {PK 188.2}

(John 1:11-14 NKJV) He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. {12} But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: {13} who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. {14} And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.