The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 90

turies the chosen place and method of Divine manifestation. It was : 1. The sacred place, "chose~ and sanctified" of God, the recognized Rpot where God was to be approached, where his presence WM markedly and peculiarly felt, where sacrifice and prayer were to be offered t-0 him, and where pardon and grace were to be gained from him, 2. The place of revekitt'.on, where the nature and the character of the Su~reme was to be known, and whence it W!\ll to be made known. God's" Name rwa.s to beJ there for ever." 'l'here he was to be known a.s the one Divine Spirit, as the Holy One, the Just One, the Merciful One; there he revealed himself in such wise that his worshippers "knew the Lord;" knew him so that they could truly honour him, obediently and acceptably serve him, attain towards his own character and spirit. 3. 'l'he place where God manifested himself in peculiar kindness. "Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." Not, indeed, that this is not applicable, in a very true sense, everywhere. For" the eyes of the Lord are in every place," and there are none of his children or of his creatur~ in whom he is not interested. But upon his people worshipping him in his house he would look down with peculiar kindness ; and towards them, as they reverently and obediently poured forth their praises or brought their grateful offerings, his heart of love would lean. II. THE ONE GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE, who yet was the Temple of the Lord in his day. For Jesus Christ was he in whom and through whom God manifested himself to mankind, in whom he dwelt and from whom his glory shone. 1. Whoso approached him drew nigh to God and stood in the Divine presence. 2. He made known "the Name" of God, for he revealed the Father unto the human race; has caused us all t-0 know and to feel that God is, above everything else, ihe Divine Father, who cares for all his children, and who, whatever their wanderings may be, earnestly remembers them still and is seeking their return. 3. He was the One toward whom "the eyes and the heart" of God were peculiarly directed, the "beloved Son in whom he was well pleased," and for whose sake his eye of pity and his heart of love are directed to man- kind. Not the magnificent Herodian structure on Zion, but that Son of man who often walked about its courts, was the Object in which, in whom, God was to be sought and found. III. OunsELVES THE TEMPLES OF THE LORD. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" (1 Cor. iii. 16). What Christ was when he was in the world, that we are to be now. He was the Light of the world, and he said to us, " Ye are the light of the world;" so he was the temple of God, the One in whom God dwelt, and through whom his Name (his character and his purpose) was made known; and now he charges us to be the "temples of the Holy Ghost;" as men regard us and our life they should be reminded of the Divine, of the truth and the spirit and the character that are of God. We lihould be living to make God known to all whom we can anywise reach and tea.eh. Upon us bis eyes are fixed, and toward us his heart is going in all Divine teno.arness and love. We do not fulfil the end of our Christian life except it be true of us that we are the temples of the living God. Not to any sacred place or any consecrated building need men go to find the truth and the Spirit of God; it is (or it should be) enongh that they approach the nearest Christian man; they will find what they seek in his words, his bearing, his character, his life.-C. Vers. 17-22.-The Divine promise. Thie is very large and generous, but it is always conditional. God never makes a promise which is absolutely u~conditional. We can readily see that it is morally impossible for him to do so ; it would be unrighteous, unwise, and, in the end, unkind so to do. He must and does say," If ••• then I will; if not . . . then I will wt!' So was it (or so is it) with- I. THE ROYAL FAMILY. God's promise to David and to Solomon that the royal house should be established and should continue to reign was conditional on their allegiance to himself (1 Chron. xxii. 13; xxviii. 7): "If thou wilt walk before me," etc. (ver. 17). The melancholy illsue proved only too well that there was no possibility of the fulfilment of the hope apart from obedience to the will of God. II. THE NATION, God's promises to Israel were great, but they were conditional on its fidclity. In this passage the possibility of forfeiture is very fully stated (vers. 19-22). A1,d ill the long exile which the Jews suffered in Babylon, and in the terrible dispersion afl.er the destruction of Jerusalem and the extinction of Israel as a. nation, we find a tm. vu. 1-22.) THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 91