June 4, 2025 - 1 Kings 8:35, 36 - "Repentance Toward God"

1 Kings 8:35,36

"When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance."

Solomon is here praying at the dedication of the temple, pleading with the LORD for mercy and restoration in times of chastening. He acknowledges that when the heavens are shut up and there is no rain—God’s judgment upon the land for sin—the only hope lies in turning back to the LORD with repentant hearts and looking toward His appointed place of grace. This passage reveals how even judgment is under God’s sovereign hand, and how restoration comes only through His mercy. It points us forward to Christ, Who is the true Temple, the One in Whom God hears, forgives, teaches, and gives rain upon His inheritance.

This portion of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple is rich with gospel truth when seen through the lens of God's sovereign grace in the LORD Jesus Christ. Solomon, standing before God’s people, acknowledges the reality of sin and its dreadful consequences: heaven shut up, no rain, and the land parched under divine chastisement. The root cause is not merely environmental—it is biblical. “Because they have sinned against thee.” "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2)

Here is a vivid reminder that sin separates from God. It is not merely an external disruption but a spiritual breach. The heavens shut up are but a picture of the heart shut off from God by transgression. Yet even here, we are not left in despair. The prayer points us to Hope—not in man’s effort or reform, but in confession, in turning, and in intercession at the place God appointed. This is the language of grace in the Person and work of the LORD Jesus. Every aspect of the temple pertaining to the LORD Jesus, and Solomon also a type of the LORD Jesus in interceding on behalf of His chosen people.

We see then that it is God Himself Who afflicts, but also God Who teaches, forgives, and restores. “That thou teach them the Good Way, wherein they should walk.” The Good Way is not a set of rules or moral improvements—it is Christ. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). God teaches His people the Way, not by commands alone, but by drawing them to Christ by His Spirit.

The prayer declares that God is sovereign in both mercy and judgment. It is He Who withholds the rain and He Who gives it. The inheritance spoken of—“the land which thou hast given to thy people”—is a shadow of that eternal inheritance given to the elect in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:11). The land is a type, but the Substance is Christ (Colossians 2:17). These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. For these types, pictures, and persons in the Old Testament are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality.

This passage, particularly teaches us that the afflictions we face as God's children are not random. They are fatherly corrections designed to bring us to Christ in repentance and renewed dependence on Him. The place of prayer and confession is no longer a temple made with hands, but Christ Himself—“in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

In prayer then we are not to turn merely toward a place, but unto a Person—the LORD Jesus Christ, our great High Priest and Advocate. May we always remember that all mercy flows from God's throne of sovereign grace, through the finished work of Christ, and not because of our repentance or prayer, but because “he ever liveth to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). When heaven is shut up and the soul is parched and barren, let us look unto Him Who hath opened heaven by His own blood. Christ is that Rain from above, the Word made flesh, the unspeakable Gift of God unto His chosen. Through Him the Father does hear, forgive, instruct, and restore. Blessed be the LORD for His sovereign grace in Christ Jesus!