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.
And all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah upon the house, and bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and thanked Jehovah For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
Solomon has just finished praying at the temple's dedication, and God answers with fire and glory. The whole nation falls face-down on the pavement and sings of His goodness — why does this sight bring worship, and why that song?
The fire showed that God accepted the sacrifice already offered. Commentators read this as a picture of what God later did with Christ.
The burnt offering was offered up, and God showed He accepted it by sending fire down from heaven. That was a picture of Christ offering Himself as the true burnt offering. God has shown that He accepts it and delights in it by putting Christ at His own right hand in glory.
Faith sees God Himself at work in this scene.
We see God here, and how He acts toward the sacrifice. This is what faith sees above all in the cross of Christ, when the Spirit has taught a soul and convicted it of sin. People know the outward facts of the crucifixion. But until they see God at work there, dealing with His own Son as the sin-bearer, they find no real ground of peace and rest. 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, and He condemns sin in the flesh.
Sacrifice comes first, and glory follows. That order carries a promise.
Notice next that fire from heaven consumed the sacrifices, and then glory followed. We are told that "the glory of the LORD filled the house." Does this not teach us what a sure title to glory the blood of the cross is? There is a most blessed link between "the sacrifice" and "the glory." Like the torn veil, the death of Christ removes every obstacle to going into God's presence at once. Glory must follow. Right now we stand between the cross and the glory, free to enter the holiest place by faith.
Why did the people fall on their faces? Seeing what God has done leaves no room for self.
Nothing humbles us like knowing what God has done for us in Christ. It leaves no room for self-praise. It is a finished work... So it is by sharing God's mind about the glories of Christ, and about the unsearchable value of His work on the cross, that the heart is emptied of self and of earth and filled with praise and thanks to God. We are taken up with God, and we delight to tell God what He is. This is worship.
Worship answers what God has revealed of Himself, and its form can be very simple.
In its true and simplest sense, worship is giving glory to God in the sanctuary, according to what He has revealed about Himself. Many other things may gather around it, but they are not worship in that true and simple sense. Abel worshipped when he laid his lamb on the altar. That was very simple, but it was enough, because he met God in the appointed way and owned His glory.
The words they sing are not new that day. The same refrain runs through Israel's history and on into its future.
David proclaimed this refrain in his day, and the whole congregation with him (1 Chron. 16:34). Years later Solomon echoed it, and the people said it with him (2 Chron. 5:13; 7:3). The returning remnant, in all their weakness, said it when the foundations of the Temple were laid again (Ezra 3:11). One day the people of Israel, brought back and fully delivered, will confirm it in full chorus. Language that suited them nearly three thousand years ago will suit Israel forever.
Commentators look past Solomon's reign here and read the scene as a picture of the age when Christ rules Israel and the world.
The next major event we notice is the building and dedication of the temple. The glory of Jehovah fills it. It is a picture of the millennium... Grace will restore the nation to the rule and glory of Christ. And because it is grace, it will not stop with Israel: God will display the glory to the world.
The same pattern reaches into our own day.
In the same way, Christ presented Himself to God as an offering and sacrifice, with a sweet fragrance. God the Father showed that He accepted it by raising Him from the dead and setting Him at His own right hand. He showed it too by sending down the Holy Spirit, who filled the Church of God with the glory of His presence (Acts 2:1-4).
- Fire first. God answered Solomon's prayer with fire, showing He accepted the offering. He showed the same about Christ by seating Him at His own right hand.
- Then glory. Glory followed the sacrifice, never preceded it; the blood of the cross is what gives a believer title to glory.
- Then bowing. Seeing a finished work empties the heart of self; being taken up with God and telling Him what He is — that is worship.
- Then the song. The people sang David's own refrain, and a restored Israel will sing it again: "His steadfast love endures forever" — words fit for eternity.
- Then the future. The filled house previews the day when grace restores the nation and the glory reaches beyond Israel to the world.