On July 24, 1839 Laura Bridgman wrote her name down, and it was legible. Now, I realize that doesn’t sound very impressive. Perhaps it even sounds less impressive when you consider that she was nearly ten years old when she did so. Yet when you understand some background, the achievement is remarkable.
Laura Bridgman was born healthy, but when she was two years old, scarlet fever struck her family. Laura’s two sisters were killed by the illness, while Laura herself was spared. But the illness had done its damage. It left her without use of nearly all of her senses for a while. She couldn’t see, hear, smell, or taste. Eventually, her health would improve a bit, but she never regained her sense of sight or hearing. She would live the rest of her life blind and deaf. And this girl, who was born over fifty years prior to the more famous Helen Keller, learned to write her name legibly prior to her tenth birthday!1
Sometimes things don’t hit us as powerfully as they should because we don’t consider the full context of a situation, much like Laura’s writing of her name only appears in its full glory when you understand her physical condition. Well, the same thing is true in regard to much of God’s work in redemptive history. For example, the glory of Christ’s atoning work only appears as glorious as it is when we understand our rebellion against God, God’s holy character, and the truly disgusting nature of our sin.
I think that we find the same kind of glorious contrast in 2 Chronicles 1-9. Like we saw last week from 1 Chronicles 10-29, these chapters too teach us much about God. This makes sense when we consider how much these chapters focus on the temple – which was the place where God manifested his presence and glory among the people. A quick survey of the chapters shows that the element of Solomon’s reign that the Chronicler wants to stress is his building of the temple. These nine chapters begin and end with notes on Solomon’s wisdom and wealth, as we see in 1:1-17 and 8:1-9:31, but all the middle chapters revolve around the temple. In chapter 2, he gathers everything necessary for the building of the temple. In chapter 3, the temple is built. In chapter 4 the temple is furnished. In chapter 5, the ark is brought to the temple. In chapter 6, Solomon offers a prayer of dedication concerning the temple. And in chapter 7, the Lord’s glory fills the temple. Therefore, again, this shows us much about God.
Specifically, I want to note four things about God that we see in these chapters, but I want to begin noting another aspect of God’s nature because I think the four aspects I want to note about our God this morning are only seen in their glory if we understand this other aspect – much like Bridgman’s writing her name is only seen as glorious as it is in light of her physical condition.
So, with that said, this is the aspect of the Lord’s nature that I want us to understand as we look at the four other aspects this morning:
What I mean by saying God is transcendent is that he is above all things in creation. He is greater than anything or anyone in creation. He does not need anything or anyone in creation. He is far above and beyond us and distinct from his creation so that whereas all things are utterly dependent on him, he is not dependent on anything. And one reason we can speak of God as transcendent is because he made heaven and earth. He alone is the Creator, and all other things we know of are created. The triune God alone is uncreated. This is why I want to say specifically, “The Lord is the transcendent God who made heaven and earth.” But before going on, let’s see this in the text.
In 2:5-6, as Solomon is preparing to build the temple, he notes the greatness and transcendence of God. He declares, “The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?” Again, in 6:18, Solomon declares, “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!”
See, Solomon understands that though he’s building the temple for God to dwell in, it is simply God showing himself and his presence there. After all, it’s not like God can be contained by a building (no matter how great and glorious the building is). In fact, Solomon notes, not even the heavens themselves can contain God, since he is greater and beyond all of creation. He is, in the words of Hiram, king of Tyre, “The LORD God . . . who made heaven and earth” (2:12). He alone is the Creator. He alone is uncreated.
So, this is who our God is. He is great and glorious and beyond anything we can imagine. Even the most glorious aspect of creation is not on the same plane as the Lord as a basis of comparison. He is beyond all of creation, as he alone is the glorious Creator.
Now, the reason I want us to keep in mind who are God is as the transcendent creator of all things is because these next few aspects of the Lord’s nature and actions will only appear as glorious as they should in light of his transcendence. So, what has God done, what is he like, and what does he now do according to these chapters? This is what I want us to see. First:
The reason Solomon constructs the temple in these chapters is so that the Lord might come and reveal himself to his people there. And that’s what happens. At the end of chapter 5, as the trumpeters, singers, and those playing the cymbals and other instruments gathered and offered a song to the Lord, we read, “the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God” (5:13).
Again, after Solomon offers his prayer of dedication in chapter 6, we read in 7:1-2, “As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house.”
What we’re to understand here is that God was condescending to dwell with his people, to be in their midst. God was with them. Now, this doesn’t mean that God is made up of a cloud of smoke or the like, since that is what filled the temple. Rather, we should understand that God is using this glory cloud simply to reveal or manifest that he is with them. He is greater than any cloud, as we have seen, but the glory cloud showed the people that God was with them. The temple was therefore rightly seen as God’s dwelling place among his people. This is why they praised God and celebrated and offered so many sacrifices they couldn’t count them. God was condescended to dwell among them. That cloud in the temple showed them it was true.
But as much as this rightly caused them to rejoice and worship the Lord, consider what we know happened years later in the person of Christ. God the Son took on a complete human nature, becoming both God and man (the God-man) so that he could come and dwell with us. This is why John could say in 1 John 1:1 that “we have heard . . . we have seen with our eyes . . . we looked upon and have touched with our hands” God the Son incarnate. This is why Jesus was rightly called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” This why John writes in John 2:18-22, “So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
The transcendent God took on flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. God came and dwelt among us in the person of Christ, the God-man. That is what the temple was always pointing toward. And if Israel worshiped because of the cloud filling the temple, how much more should we rejoice that God the Son took on flesh and lived among us?
But that’s not all we see the Lord doing in these chapters. We also see that:
In chapter 6, after the completion of the building of the temple, Solomon offers a prayer of dedication. It is a long prayer. It begins in 6:14 and concludes in 6:42. But note how many times Solomon’s prayer revolves around asking the Lord to listen to or hear the prayers and pleas of his people.
He begins on this note in 6:19-21, “Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prayers before you, that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
This language of asking the LORD to listen to and hear the prayers of his people continues in verses 23-27, 29-30, 32-35, and 37-40. The focus of Solomon’s prayer is to ask the Lord to hear and listen to the prayers of his people. And the Lord answers in 7:14-15, “If my people who are called by my name humbled 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. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
Now, again, consider the glory of that statement. The Lord is the one who created all things, is above all things, and reigns over all things. Nothing can thwart his hand. And he says to Solomon that when his people pray, he’ll listen and hear. He tells Solomon that his eyes will be open and ears attentive to the prayer that is made in the temple. Can you imagine how encouraging that must have been to hear? The transcendent God of the universe listens and hears when you pray.
Well, I know I’m stating the obvious when I say that this is true for us as well. That is, that wasn’t some kind of temporary commitment God made to his people, that he’ll hear their prayers. We can pray to the Lord because after the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, he went to the right hand of God so that we now have a high priest interceding for us. Our prayers come to the Lord in the name and authority of our high priest, Jesus Christ.
But I wonder if we’ve let ourselves be moved by the great blessing that God hears our prayers. Perhaps it’s become simply an unappreciated assumption on our part. Maybe one way to test it is to look at our prayer life. Are we moved to pray? Are we moved to pray consistently? When we look at situations in life bigger than us, do we pray? Do we sometimes fast and pray because we’re so desperate for God to move in prayer? Or, do we treat prayer like it’s something less than the Creator willingly hearing us and acting on our behalf? God graciously hears the prayers of his people. And even that’s not all. We also see:
You probably saw in our references to the Lord hearing his people’s prayer the theme of forgiveness as well. In 6:21, Solomon says, ‘Listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” Again, in 6:25, “Hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel.” Again in 6:27, “Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants.” In 6:30, “hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive.” Finally, in 6:39, ‘Then hear from heaven you dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.”
Solomon is so geared toward asking the Lord to forgive the sins of his people you might think that Solomon is certain that Israel will sin. And that is exactly right. Solomon actually says in 6:36, “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin.” Solomon knows the people will sin, so he knows that their only hope is that God will forgive them. Therefore, when the Lord promises in 7:14 that when his people humbled themselves, pray, and seek his face that he will forgive their sin, it is a message of gracious hope. Were God not to forgive, there would simply be no hope. Again, how overwhelmed Israel must have been to hear this.
But again, this is true for us. We have numerous promises that God will forgive us of our sins. We are told in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. We are told in 1 John 2:1-2 that if anyone sins, we can know that we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ, who died as the propitiation of our sins.
You see, the reason we can be forgiven of our sins is the same reason a believing Israelite in Solomon’s day could be forgiven. And it wasn’t because the blood of bulls and goats could remove sins. They couldn’t. It’s because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was coming and has already come to shed his blood for us as a payment for our sins. He paid the penalty our sins deserved so that we no longer have to bear the condemnation our sins deserve. Therefore, this morning, if you’ve come in with your sin ever before you, then repent, confess your sin, and realize that you’re forgiven because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The transcendent God who made heaven and earth rejoices in forgiving you. That’s news that sounds too good to be true, yet it is indeed true.
And let me note one other thing.
One thing that Solomon returns to again and again in these chapters is that God is faithful and continually shows love to his people. Interestingly, the two explicit statements in the chapters that God loves his people come from non-Israelites. First, the king of Tyre, Hiram, says to Solomon in 2:11, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.” Then the queen of Sheba says to Solomon in 9:8, “Because your god loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
Now, it’s one thing to say that someone has shown love to you by doing something. But we’re fickle aren’t we? How many of us have been in a relationship where you think, “Man, he (or she) really likes me because look what they did for me” only to hear a week later that they’re no longer no longer interested in you? Surely many have.
And there could be an idea that God might be like that as well. He loved them when he gave them Solomon, but his love could come to an end. However, there’s another note in the text that keeps us from thinking that way. In 5:13 we read, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Again, in 6:14 Solomon proclaims, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.” And again, in 7:3, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” and in 7:6, “For his steadfast love endures forever.”
The Lord doesn’t love today and not love tomorrow. He is one who loves steadfastly. But, let’s ask a question. What if we’ve really messed up? What if we’ve really sinned? Is there hope for us then? After all, yes, God showed his love for Israel, but he also told them in 7:17-22 that they better not turn away from him. He would judge them. So, is there a point where the Lord says, “If had enough. That sin was too great or committed for too many times”?
That’s an important question, isn’t it? After all, we all have sinned multiple times in terrible ways. The answer is that no one is beyond the Lord’s forgiving mercy. But it’s not because God will decide your sins aren’t that big of a deal or that you don’t really deserve punishment. It’s rather because Jesus Christ’s perfect obedience and penalty-bearing death counts for you if your faith is in Christ. The reason God can demand perfect obedience and yet promise steadfast love to us is because Christ has perfectly obeyed for us.
In fact, all of these glorious truths of the transcendent God are wrapped up in the work of Christ. God has dwelt with us by sending his Son to dwell with us and by sending his Spirit after Jesus was raised. God hears our prayers because Jesus lived, died, was raised, and is now at the Father’s right hand interceding for us. God forgives us of our sins and remains just because Jesus Christ lived, died, and was raised for us. And the Lord shows his love for us forever because Christ’s perfect righteousness counts for us so that we can dwell with the holy God forever.
Therefore, as we gather this Easter Sunday morning to delight in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us exult in the fact that the transcendent God who created heaven and earth dwells with us through his Holy Spirit, hears our prayers, forgives us of our sins, and loves us (and will love us) forever. This is reason to devote our lives to him, which is what we will now visibly proclaim as we come to the table. Amen.