II CHRON. 6-12 And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of ls'rael, and spread forth his hands:

13 For Sol'o-mon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of ls'ra-el, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,

14 And said, 0 LORD God of ls'rael, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:

15 Thou which hast kept with thy servant Da'vid my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.

16 Now therefore, 0 LORD God of Is'ra-el, keep with thy servant Da'vid my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Is'ra-el; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

17 Now then, 0 LORD God of Is'ra-el, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant Da'vid.

LUKE 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Mo'ses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Je-ru'salem.

48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jeru'salem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

HEART OF THE LESSON Shortly after Solomon assumed the throne of Israel following his father's death, he instructed that work on the temple of the Lord should begin. When that great task was completed and the ark of God had been installed in the temple, Solomon assembled the people for the consecration of the edifice.

This week's lesson includes Solomon's prayer of dedication on that occasion as well as a New Testament passage in which Jesus spoke of the fulfillment of Scripture.

1. God's nature: promise keeping (II Chron. 6:12-17). Kneeling before the temple's altar and in full sight of the assembly, Solomon praised God as the One who keeps His promises. Specifically, Solomon referred to the promises God had made to David and fulfilled in his life. Solomon was not just saying that God had kept certain promises. He was saying that keeping promises was God's very nature. Thus, Solomon declared, "There is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant" (11 Chron. 6:14). That God's nature is to keep His promises is critical to our trusting Him today. The testimony of the Bible as well as of Christians through the ages is that God is the great promise keeper. This reality of kept promises is vital to understanding anything at all about God. In fact, without the idea of promise, God would be an impersonal Creator, not someone to whom we mere humans could relate. We can approach God only because of the promises He has extended to us. To a large extent, the Bible is a record of humans breaking their promises and God keeping His. The two major divisions of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, are essentially other terms for the old (or first) promise, the one made through the Mosaic law, and the new promise, the one made through the sacrifice of Christ. Yet from God's side, they are the same promise - He will be our God. "Old" and "new" refer to how we connect with God's promises. Under the Old Testament, God's rules and the sacrificial system showed us how deficient we were. Under the New Testament, Jesus Christ made up that deficiency. In his prayer, Solomon next expressed that he himself was relying on a promise God had made to David that a descendant of David would always occupy Israel's throne. In effect, Solomon was asking for God's blessing as he ruled Israel.

2. Another promise fulfilled and extended (Luke 24:44-49). These verses quote Jesus as He spoke to His disciples during a postresurrection appearance. Jesus told His followers that His resurrection fulfilled what had been written concerning Him "in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms," that is, the Hebrew Scriptures. Possibly Jesus was referring to such verses as Psalm 16:10-"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption and Hosea 6:2-"In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." But if Jesus had specific verses such as those in mind, He most likely was also of the oft-repeated promise of God in Scripture to send a Messiah for the salvation of Israel. What is more, Jesus broadened the promise so that now it applies not only to Israel but also to "all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). That promise includes us!

QUESTIONS 1. How long had it taken to build the temple?

2. What did Solomon stand on during the dedication?

3. What did Solomon do after he addressed the assembly and praised God for fulfilling His promises to his father, David?

4. What parts of Scripture did Jesus refer to in describing how He was fulfilling them?

(Reprinted by permission of The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society and Union Gospel Press, P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio, 44101)