Word of Encouragement (01/15/2025)

“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, ³³ hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. (2 Chron. 6:32-33)

In this petition, Solomon does something shocking. He asks God to hear the prayers of the foreigners who come to the temple to pray in the name of the LORD. This is quite shocking because we are more familiar with the notion of intense animosity between Jews and Gentiles. But it was not so much a racial issue as a religious issue. The LORD warned the Israelites before they entered the land, “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods...” (Deut. 7:3-4).

So, the LORD repeatedly commanded the Israelites to treat those who chose to live among the people of Israel with kindness: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt”; “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 22:21; 23:9). The LORD even allowed “the strangers” who sojourn among the Israelites to sacrifice offerings to the LORD (Lev. 17:9-10). In fact, when the Israelites came out of Egypt, many foreigners, including the Egyptians, joined them (“a mixed multitude, Ex. 12:38) after seeing the power of YHWH through the signs and wonders He performed against Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Let’s not forget how Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, and Ruth, a Moabite widow, were welcomed into the covenant community of Israel. As long as these Gentiles were willing to accept the LORD as their God, they were welcome.

Solomon’s petition reflected the heart of God, who desired that people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people should come to know Him and worship Him. God chose Abraham not only to bless him and his descendants but also all the families of the earth through him and his Offspring (Gen. 12:3, 22:18). God accomplished His purpose by extending His grace to the whole world in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have seen the gospel go forth and bring hundreds of millions of people from all over the world into the kingdom of God. There will come a day when His elect people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will be all joined together to sing a new song to the praise of their wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let us remember that one of the greatest blessings we have as God’s people is the privilege to pray and the assurance that He will hear us. This is because we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Solomon felt so honored that “this house that I have built is called by your name” (v. 33). But Jesus said, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here” (Matt. 12:6). Jesus also said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Reporting how they responded with doubt and suspicion, John adds, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21). Indeed, Jesus is the true temple where the name of the LORD dwells forever. When we pray in the name of the One, who is the true temple and the LORD, how certain is our assurance that God will hear us!