And when Solomon had ended praying, the fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house.
Solomon has just finished praying at the dedication of the temple, and God answers in front of the whole nation. The scene raises two questions: what did the fire mean, and what about worshippers who are given no such sign?
The fire falls at the exact moment Solomon stops speaking. One writer places this answer next to God's answer to David, and shows how both later gave Elijah his confidence.
God had answered Solomon by sending fire down from heaven. He had answered David in the same way, when a time of chastening was over and David had offered a sacrifice — see 2 Chronicles 7:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:26. So Elijah proposed an answer by fire as the test, and his confidence was not misplaced. His prayer was answered.
The fire and the glory were public. Everyone present saw them, and one writer explains what that did for the nation's standing with God.
The public acceptance of the sacrifice is what sets the people in open connection with God. It makes them confess that the LORD is good, and that His mercy endures for ever.
The fire came from God's side, not from human hands. One writer reads the scene as a picture of what a soul must see at the cross before it can rest.
Here we see God, and how He acts towards the sacrifice. This is what a soul taught by the Spirit and convicted of sin sees above all in the cross of Christ. Such people know the outward facts of the crucifixion. But they find no real ground of peace and rest until they see God acting in that scene — until they see God there dealing with His own Son as the sin-bearer. In the cross of Christ, faith sees the invisible God searching the victim. He tests and weighs its worth by the fire of His uncompromising holiness.
One writer reads the fire on the burnt offering as God's sign of acceptance. He then points to how God has answered the offering of Christ.
Here the burnt offering was offered up, and God showed His acceptance of it by sending fire down from heaven. That was a picture of Christ offering Himself as the true burnt offering. God has shown His acceptance of that offering, and His delight in it, by putting Christ at His own right hand in glory.
That acceptance shapes worship now. As another writer puts it, knowing that God has accepted Christ and His offering for us "stirs our affections, and fills our lips with praise." Our worship, he adds, "exceeds in spiritual intelligence anything that was possible for the people of God in the age of types and shadows" (W. W. Fereday).
One writer notes what this chapter adds to the account in Kings, and where it points.
First the cloud had appeared. Now the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house… The book of Kings says nothing about this answer by fire on the sacrifices. And now all the people of Israel saw the fire and the glory of the Lord, and they bowed down and worshipped… In the same way, all Israel will one day see the glory of the Lord, and the Lord coming in glory, and will worship Him (Zech. 12:10).
A later house replaced Solomon's temple, and no fire fell on it. One writer treats that silence as a lesson.
This house took the place of the one Solomon had built. But there were important differences. No cloud and no glory of the Lord filled it, as they had filled the tabernacle and the first temple. No fire came down from heaven to consume their sacrifices, as it had for Moses (Lev. 9:24) and for Solomon (2 Chr. 7:1)… Thomas believed when he saw, but the Lord spoke of the blessing of those who believe without seeing (John 20). That was the position of this small company, and it is ours too. For them, God's acceptance of their sacrifices and His dwelling in His house was a matter of faith alone — faith resting on God's word.
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- Prayer — The fire fell the moment Solomon finished praying. Elijah later asked for the same sign, and his confidence was not misplaced.
- Fire — What came down was God's own action on the sacrifice. Faith looks past the outward event and sees God dealing with His own Son as the sin-bearer.
- Acceptance — The consumed burnt offering pictures Christ. God's answer now is Christ seated at His right hand in glory.
- Glory — The public acceptance placed the whole nation in open connection with God. It drew out their confession that He is good and that His mercy endures forever.
- Faith — Later builders saw no fire and no cloud, yet God still dwelt in His house. Their acceptance rested on His word, and so does ours.
And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house.
Solomon's prayer has just ended, and God answers twice: fire falls on the sacrifices, and His glory fills the house until the priests themselves are shut out. So what is this "glory," and why does God's presence keep His own servants outside?
This is the second time the house fills and the priests must stand back. One writer traces both moments:
There seem to be two occasions when the glory filled the house so that the priests could not minister. The first (2 Chron. 5:11-14) is before Solomon's prayer... the cloud appears as an answer to their shout of praise. The second was after Solomon had finished praying (2 Chron. 7:3). Fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The same two facts are recorded as on the first occasion. The priests could not enter the temple because of the glory. And the people worship and repeat the same words: "For He is good; for His mercy endures forever."... This scene is the high point of their blessedness, the very heart of their glory. From then on the glory declines; the fine gold grows dim.
The glory follows fire falling on an offering. One writer sees in that a picture of something later:
There was the burnt offering offered up, and God signified His acceptance of it by sending fire down from heaven. That was a picture of Christ offering Himself as the true burnt offering. God has shown His acceptance of it, and His delight in it, by putting Christ at His own right hand in glory.
The word is not decoration. It is God Himself, made visible:
God has always filled His house with glory. He did it with the tabernacle set up in the wilderness (Ex. 40), the temple in the kingdom (2 Chr. 5:14), and the church at Pentecost (Acts 2)... But what makes up the "glory"? It is the Lord's own presence — the sign of which was the cloud, both in the tabernacle and Solomon's temple. The glory of the Lord is the display of what He is, of the sum and excellence of all His attributes, whether seen with the eye or seen by faith. And so He fills His house with every perfection of His own spiritual being made visible.
The verse turns on a negative: the priests could not enter. One writer reads this as the limit of the whole system Solomon served under:
A striking picture of what no one could reach, even under the law at its most glorious. God's presence excluded that of the priests. In the heavenly sanctuary the priests are able to stand in the presence of His glory, to dwell there, and to have their part there. And indeed what we already have in spirit now cannot be matched in the temple of the thousand-year reign.
Another writer compares the temple with the tabernacle, starting from the temple's innermost room, the most holy place:
I have looked into how these two buildings worked, and so far I have not found a record of a priest serving in the most holy place in the temple. When Solomon had dedicated the temple and the cloud covered it, this is what was said: "And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house" (2 Chr. 7:2). It strengthens the thought that the temple was more for the display of the glory of the LORD... while the tabernacle has approach to God more in view.
The glory faded after that day. Another writer looks ahead to the day it returns:
When the Temple of God is built in the thousand-year reign... then the glory of God will once more fill the house. The LORD will be in His holy Temple; His glory will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.
The chapter's order — sacrifice, then united praise, then glory — is a pattern for today, not just history:
So now, if we want the house of God filled with the glory of God, we must keep the lessons taught here. These things are foundation principles. A crucified, risen, and glorified Christ. Christ holding His own proper place of authority, in gathering and in rule. The hearts of His people as one in giving thanksgiving, praise, and blessing. Then the glory of the presence of the Lord will be known among us.
- Sacrifice first. The glory does not fall on an empty house — fire consumes the offering, and only then does God fill the place.
- Glory means Presence. The cloud is not scenery; it is the display of everything God is, all His perfections made visible in His own house.
- Shut out. The priests could not enter. That closed door shows the limit of the law at its most glorious.
- Display, not access. One writer reads the temple as built to display God's glory; the tabernacle pictures drawing near to Him.
- Still to come. What Solomon saw is a preview: the glory will fill God's house again, and all flesh will see it together.