Hear in 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.
– 1 Kings 8:43
Oh, this is such an important verse. This is Solomon praying at the dedication of the temple, and he prays all throughout this dedication for God’s blessing on his people, the people of Israel in the Old Testament, as this temple would be the center of the people’s worship and their lives.
1 Kings 8:43 shows us God’s heart for the nations.
But what I love about 1 Kings 8:43 is this is a point in this dedication where Solomon is interceding for foreigners, for people outside the people of Israel.
And he says, “here in this dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order that so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel”. This is why we read in other places in the Old Testament about how the temple was designed by God to be a house of prayer for all the nations. It wasn’t just a place for the people of Israel to come and behold the glory of God. It was a place for all the peoples, all the nations to come and behold the glory of God.
Now, connect that with what we prayed about in light of 1 Kings 6, that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. So don’t miss the major shift that happens in light of that reality in the New Testament because now the nations today don’t come to a particular place to see the glory of God like they did in the Old Testament.
That’s what Solomon was praying. Bring them here to see your glory. No. Now we are the temple, and we go to the nations. This is the Great Commission. This is Jesus saying to his followers, temples of his Holy Spirit. Now you go and make disciples of all the nations. You spread my glory to the nations, not bring the nations to see my glory in a particular place. No, you spread my glory to all the nations by you going to all the places, all the peoples of the earth.
1 Kings 8:43 challenges us to live for God’s glory among the nations.
This is why we pray every day on this podcast for the spread of the gospel to people groups who’ve yet to hear about the grace and the glory of our God because this is the mission we’ve been given. This is the purpose of our lives on this planet. It’s not just for a few missionaries over here to care about.
This is what drives us as the people of God who have the Spirit of God in us. We’re temples of his Holy Spirit. Think about this. The Spirit of God wants all the nations for the glory of God. Therefore, if the Spirit of God lives in us, then what do we want? Every one of us wants all the nations for the glory of God. It’s what drives our praying and our living and our use of every resource God entrusts to us. We want to live for the spread of his glory. Yes, right where we live. That’s what we’re doing today. May we live well, let’s just start praying.
Oh God, as temples of your Holy Spirit, the place where your glory dwells. We pray that today, wherever we go, we would spread your glory. We pray in a Matthew 5 kind of way that we would shine your light as salt and light, that we would show your character in the way we love others as ourselves, and we pray that you would, by your Spirit in us, empower us to share the gospel with people today, to lead people to eternal life, to spread your glory today, tomorrow, right where we live.
Prayer for the Jhojha People
And God, we want to see your glory spread to the ends of the earth, to all the peoples, all the nations, all the tribes, all the languages including the Jhojha people of India, 194,000 Hindu men, women, children, who’ve yet to hear the good news of your love for them in Jesus. God, we pray that your glory would spread to the Jhojha people and thousands of other people, groups like them.
And God, we pray that you would help us and our lives and our families, and our churches to do whatever you call us to do, to spend our lives, our resources, our time, our money, our prayers like we’re doing right now for the spread of your glory in order that all the peoples of the earth, 1 Kings 8:43, may know your name and fear you. God, help us to live for this. Help us to spend our lives spreading your glory right where we live, wherever you lead us, until all the nations know your Name and fear you. We pray this straight from your Word in 1 Kings 8:43. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
