But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Sermons
I. DAVID PROPOSED TO DO SOME GREAT THING FOR HIS GOD. We too often seek to effect great things for ourselves, or for our children, rather than for God. David wished to erect the temple. It was to be (1) an expression of his own gratitude for his election, protection, and exaltation. (2) A memorial to the people of the Divine goodness which had so wondrously constituted them as a nation. (3) A recognition that God was the centre of the nationality, as His temple was of the city. As to it all the tribes should repair, so to Him should all their hearts be turned. Suggest some of the tendencies which hinder men from indulging and accomplishing great purposes for God; e.g., the love of money, self-indulgence, materialism, scepticism. II. DAVID HAD IT IN HIS HEART TO DO MUCH FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS. He lived for his people. He shrunk neither from the perils of war nor the anxieties of rule that they might become a strong and noble nation. He did not wish to build the temple for himself, but for them and their children. Had he been allowed to begin it (when alone he was able to do so) in extreme old age, he would probably never have seen its completion; but he was content that generations yet to come should have that as their place of worship. Rebuke the tendency of men to ignore their responsibility to posterity. Sometimes in national finance, in ecclesiastical arrangements, etc., the fact that the benefit would only lie in the future and not in the present, is enough to check effort and sacrifice. Who has not heard the question, "What has posterity done for us?" Show the fallacy of this reasoning, and its sinfulness, because of the selfishness and ingratitude it reveals. Indicate some of the blessings we enjoy as a nation, and as churches, from the labours and sacrifices of our predecessors who did not count even life dear to them. III. DAVID WAS PREVENTED BY CIRCUMSTANCES FROM FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE. Wars, unsettlement, infirmities of age, etc., were some of these. They were beyond his control, but not beyond God's. Still the purpose was, as we have said, a right one. Give examples from modern life: e.g., (1) The young man who longs to become a minister of God's truth, but is compelled to labour for the support of himself and others. (2) The Christian whose heart goes out with yearning over the lost, who lies a helpless invalid in some solitary room. (3) The child disciple, stirred with noble enthusiasm, with splendid promise of future power in the Lord's kingdom, taken away in youth from the home and the world which seemed so sorely to want him, etc. IV. DAVID MADE IT POSSIBLE FOE OTHERS TO DO WHAT HE COULD NOT DO. See an account given of the treasures he accumulated for the house of the Lord, the musical service he prepared, the plans for the building, etc. How unlike those who say, "if I cannot do this no one else shall;" or, with less selfishness, "I cannot do it, let others take all the burden if they are to have all the honour." Show how we can help others in doing their work, and so indirectly serve our God. It may not be possible for you to go abroad amongst the heathen; but you can support those to whom it is possible. Perhaps you cannot, from want of time, or suitability, teach the children or visit the sick; but you can invite others to do this, or encourage and sustain them in it. V. DAVID'S NOBLE PURPOSE WAS FULFILLED BY HIS SON. This was God's design and promise (ver. 19). (1) Encouragement to parents. We live again in our children. "Instead of the fathers shall be the children," etc. By training a child for God, we may carry out, through him, the wish we could not execute. Parents multiply thus the possibilities of their own lives. Special encouragement here for weak and overburdened mothers. They cannot do public work for Christ, but through their children they can, e.g., Eunice and Monica moved the world through Timothy and Augustine. (2) Lesson to children. What your parents used to do for God, you are to continue; what they could not do, you are to fulfil. VI. DAVID'S UNACCOMPLISHED PURPOSE WAS RECOGNIZED AND RECOMPENSED BY THE LORD. "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart." God knows what is in us of good as well as of evil. He approves the motive even when the effort fails. He sees the issue of every right purpose in all its width and depth. When Mary anointed her Lord she did more than she imagined; for she was the high priest anointing the Priest and King of Israel. In the day of judgment the righteous will be amazed at the issues and the rewards of their humble services, and with astonishment will ask, "Lord, when saw we thee?" etc. "And the king shall answer, and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - A.R.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? I. THE TRUTH OF THE ASSERTION ITSELF. That God must of necessity be omnipresent; 'tis to be observed that if being or existence be at all a perfection, it will follow, that in like manner as continuing to exist through larger periods of Time, so also extent of existence through larger portions of space, is the having a greater degree of this Perfection. And as that Being, which is absolutely perfect, must with regard to duration be Eternal; so, in respect of greatness, it must like. wise be immense. Otherwise its perfections will be limited; which is the notion of imperfection; and, by being supposed to be finite in extent, the perfection of its power will as totally be destroyed, as it would be, supposing it to be temporary in duration. For as any Being, which is not always; at the time when it is not, is as if it never was; so whatever Being is not everywhere; in those places where it is not, is as if it had no Being in any place at all. For no being can act where it is not, any more than when it is not. Power, without existence, is but an empty word without any reality; and the scholastic fiction of a being acting in all places without being present in all places, is either making the notion of God an express contradiction, or else a supposing Him so to act by the ministry of others, as not to be Himself present to understand and know what they do. It cannot but be evident, that He who made all things, as He could not but be before the things that He made, so it is not possible but He must be present also, with the things that He made and governs. For things could not be made without the actual presence of the Power that made them; nor can things ever be governed with any certainty, unless the Wisdom that governs them be present with them. Whatever arguments therefore prove the Being of God, and His unerring Providence, must all be understood to prove equally likewise His actual omnipresence. He who exists by necessity of nature, 'tis manifest must exist in all places alike. For absolute necessity is at all times and in all places the same. Whatever can be absent at any time, may be absent at all times; and whatever can be absent from one place, may be absent from another; and consequently can have no necessity of existing at all. He therefore who exists necessarily, must necessarily exist always and everywhere: that is, as he must in duration be eternal, so he must also in immensity be omnipresent.II. TO OFFER SOME PARTICULAR OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS DIVINE ATTRIBUTE. 1. The excellency of the perfections of God does not consist in impossible and contradictory notions, but in true greatness, dignity, majesty, and glory. The eternity of God does not consist in making time past to be still present, and future time to be already come, but it consists in a true proper everlasting duration, without beginning and without end. And in like manner the Immensity of God does not consist in making things to be where they are not, or not to be where they are, but it consists in this; that whereas all finite beings can be present but in one determinate place at once: and corporeal beings even in that one place very imperfectly and unequally, to any purpose of power or activity, only by the successive motion of different members and organs; the Supreme Cause on the contrary, being a uniform Infinite Essence, and comprehending all things perfectly in Himself, is at all times equally present, both in His real essence, and by the immediate and perfect exercise of all His attributes, to every point of the boundless immensity, as if it were all but one single point. 'Tis worthy of observation, that this right notion of the omnipresence of God, will very much assist us to form a just apprehension of the nature of that Providence, which attends to and inspects, not only the great events, but even the minutest circumstances of every the smallest action and event in the world: Even that Providence, without which not a sparrow falls to the ground, and by which the very hairs of our head are all numbered. There is a certain determinate number or quantity of things, which every intelligent creature, according to the proportion of its sphere of power and activity, is able to attend to. And by this we may judge, that as creatures of larger capacities can observe a much greater number of things at one and the same time, than beings of a lower rank can imagine it possible they should, so God, who is present everywhere, can with infinitely greater ease direct and govern all things in the world at once, than we can attend to those few things which fall within the compass of our short observation. 3. As the beams of the sun are not at all soiled by the matter they shine upon, and as the purity and holiness of the Divine nature is not in the least diminished by beholding all the wickedness and moral impurity which is acted in the world, so the omnipresent Essence of God is not at all affected, by any natural impurity of things or places whatsoever; it being the superlative excellency and prerogative of His nature, to act always upon all things everywhere, and itself to be acted upon by nothing. All the sensible qualities of matter are merely relative to us in our present state, depending on the frame of our bodily organs, and not being anything really inherent in the things themselves. We behold only the outward surfaces of things, and are affected only by the various motions and figures of certain small parts of matter, which, by the help of microscopes, appear even to us to be really very different in themselves from what our senses represent them; and to a spirit, which sees the inward real essences of things, and not the external sensible images which affect us, they have no similitude at all with our imaginations. 4. The true meaning therefore of God's being in heaven, is to express His height and dignity, not in place, but in power: It being only a similitude drawn into common speech, from the situation of things in nature. As the heavenly bodies, the sun and stars, are high above us in place, and all earthly blessings depend on the sun and rain and the descent of kindly influences literally from above, so, by an easy figure of speech, whatsoever is above us in power, we are from hence used to represent as being above us in place. III. SOME USEFUL INFERENCES FROM WHAT HAS BEEN SAID. 1. By this character of omnipresence, the true God of the universe is distinguished from all false deities; and the vanity of idolatry, made plainly to appear. The gods of the nations pretended to be but gods of particular countries; as the gods of Henah, Ivah, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 18:34). Or, of particular parts of the same country; as gods of the hills, and not of the valleys (1 Kings 20:28). 2. If God is omnipresent, from hence it follows that he is to be worshipped and reverenced everywhere, in private as well as in public. Honour is to be paid Him, not only by angels before His throne in heaven, and by the congregation publicly in His Temple on earth, but also by every man singly in his most private retirements. 3. From the consideration of God's being omnipresent, it follows that His power (as well as knowledge) is unlimited; to Be everywhere relied on by good men, and to be feared by bad. As there is no time, so neither is there any place, where He is not at hand to protect His servants (Psalm 46:1). (S. Clarke, D. D.) (Quiver.) People David, Israelites, Levites, SolomonPlaces Brook of Egypt, Egypt, Holy Place, Horeb, Jerusalem, Lebo-hamath, Most Holy Place, ZionTopics Behold, Builded, Built, Can't, Contain, Deed, Dwell, Dwelleth, Heaven, Heavens, Highest, Housed, Indeed, Less, Possible, Resting-place, Temple, Truly, Truth, WideOutline 1. The feast of the temple12. Solomon's blessing 22. Solomon's prayer 54. Solomon's blessing 62. His sacrifice of peace offerings Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Kings 8:27 1110 God, present everywhere Library 'The Matter of a Day in Its Day''At all times, as the matter shall require.'--1 KINGS viii. 59. I have ventured to diverge from my usual custom, and take this fragment of a text because, in the forcible language of the original, it carries some very important lessons. The margin of our Bible gives the literal reading of the Hebrew; the sense, but not the vigorous idiom, of which is conveyed in the paraphrase in our version. 'At all times, as the matter shall require,' is, literally, 'the thing of a day in its day'; and that is … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The King 'Blessing' his People Blighted Blossoms The Next Words Are, which Art in Heaven. ... In the Dungeon of Giant Discourager Whether the Old Law Enjoined Fitting Precepts Concerning Rulers? Sanctification. The New Temple and Its Worship The Law Given, not to Retain a People for Itself, but to Keep Alive the Hope of Salvation in Christ Until his Advent. "If we Confess Our Sins, He is Faithful and Just to Forgive us Our Sins, and to Cleanse us from all Unrighteousness. If we Say We Entire Sanctification The Whole Heart The Gospel of John Scriptural Types. Its Meaning The Promises of the Law and the Gospel Reconciled. The Fact of the Redeemer's Return had a Spectacular Setting Forth on the Mount of Transfiguration. How to Make Use of Christ for Taking the Guilt of Our Daily Out-Breakings Away. The Doctrine of God Every Thing Proceeding from the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable. The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, The Song of Solomon. The Fact of the Redeemer's Return was Typified in the Lives of Joseph and Solomon. 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