Who Keeps Your Covenant Of Love

2 Chronicles 6:14-16 – He said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today. “Now, Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’

Exodus 15:11 – Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

1 Kings 8:22-23 – Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

2 Samuel 7:15 – But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

Application:

• ·         The Lord, who tolerates no rivals, has defeated all the gods of Egypt and their worshipers.
• ·         No other god has acted in history as has the God of Israel, performing great miracles and directing the course of events so that His long-range covenant promises are fulfilled.
• ·         “My love” is God’s special and unfailing favor.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Knelt Down

2 Chronicle 6:12-13 – Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

1 Kings 8:22-23,27 – Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way…“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

Psalm 95:6-9 – Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

Application:

• ·         No other god has acted in history as has the God of Israel, performing great miracles and directing the course of events so that His long-range covenant promises are fulfilled.
• ·         Solomon confessed that even though God had chosen to dwell among His people in a special and localized way, He far transcended being limited by anything in all creation.
• ·         Both as Creator of all things and as Israel’s Redeemer, He has made them what they are: the people of the Lord in the earth.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Covenant

2 Chronicles 6:1-11 – Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.” While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’ “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’ “The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”

Psalm 25:10 – All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.

Application:

• ·         The ways of the Lord are the Lord’s benevolent dealings with those who are true to His ways.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Cloud...Glory Of The Lord

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 – The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

Exodus 40:34 – Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Ezekiel 43:1-2,5 – Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory…Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

Application:

• ·         The glory cloud represented the presence of God.
• ·         With the glory of the Lord entering the tabernacle, the great series of events that began with the birth of Moses and his rescue from the Nile, foreshadowing the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, comes to a grand climax.
• ·         “I saw the glory” was the high point. In the book of Ezekiel God’s glory is always active.
• ·         God’s visible glory is frequently described as being very bright.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Ark

2 Chronicles 5:7-14 – The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

Revelation 11:19 – Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Genesis 3:24 – After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Psalm 100:5 – For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Exodus 40:34 – Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Application:

• ·         The Old Testament ark, a chest of acacia wood, symbolized the throne of the presence of God among His people.
• ·         Cherubim were similar to the statues of winged figures that stood guard at the entrances to palaces and temples in ancient Mesopotamia.
• ·         The Lord is good in that His love-and-faithfulness are unfailing through all time.
• ·         With the glory of the Lord entering the tabernacle, the great series of events that began with the birth of Moses and his rescue from the Nile, foreshadowing the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, comes to a grand climax.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Tables

2 Chronicles 4:18-5:6 – All these things that Solomon made amounted to so much that the weight of the bronze could not be calculated. Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple: the golden altar; the tables on which was the bread of the Presence; the lampstands of pure gold with their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed; the gold floral work and lamps and tongs (they were solid gold); the pure gold wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the main hall. When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple. Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. And all the Israelites came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The Levitical priests carried them up; and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

Exodus 25:30 – Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.

Application:

• ·         The bread represented a perpetual offering to the Lord by which the Israelites declared that they consecrated to God the fruits of their labors and by which the nation at the same time acknowledged that all such fruit had been provided only by God’s blessing.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Ten Tables

2 Chronicles 4:8-17 – He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls. He made the courtyard of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner. And Huram also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of God: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars); the stands with their basins; the Sea and the twelve bulls under it; the pots, shovels, meat forks and all related articles. All the objects that Huram-Abi made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of polished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan.

Exodus 25:30 – Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.

1 Samuel 21:4 – But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

Application:

• ·         The bread represented a perpetual offering to the Lord by which the Israelites declared that they consecrated to God the fruits of their labors and by which the nation at the same time acknowledged that all such fruit had been provided only by God’s blessing.
• ·         Although the bread was to be eaten only by the priests, Ahimelek agreed to give it to David and his men on the condition that they were ceremonially clean. Jesus uses this incident to illustrate the principle that the ceremonial law was not to be viewed in a legalistic manner. He also teaches that it is always lawful to do good and to save life. Such compassionate acts are within the true spirit of the law.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV