2 Chronicles 7:15–16

The Lord shows that He accepts the worship of Israel and Solomon's prayer. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the sacrifices. His glory fills the house. He also graciously grants the king's requests. He will hear and forgive if the people humble themselves and pray to Him. He will look on that house and be attentive to the prayer that is made in it. And the Lord is as detailed and particular in His answer as was Solomon in his prayer. … Solomon prays for Israel as the Lord's people; he said in his prayer, "Your people." And the Lord owns them as His, and says, "My people."

The extra we see in 2 Chronicles 7 is delightful. Both Solomon and Nehemiah ask that God's eyes and God's ears be attentive, but God adds to that and says, "My heart." This is a blessed thing to see. Not only are God's eyes and ears towards His people — His heart is towards them too.

The Lord then spoke of answering one part of Solomon's prayer in detail. It was about His discipline of Israel in government — withholding rain, or sending locusts or pestilence. If Israel would humble themselves and pray, seeking God's face and turning from the evil of their ways, then God would indeed hear from heaven. He would forgive them and heal their land.

It is clear that Daniel fully knew God's will. He showed it by opening his window towards Jerusalem. When the temple was dedicated, Solomon prayed about a day when the nation might be so unfaithful that it was taken into captivity. If any then prayed towards this temple, God was to hear them, maintain their right, and grant them compassion from those who held them captive. Here we find a man in full possession of that knowledge. He has not forgotten God's word, he has not forgotten that prayer, for God granted Solomon's request. "Yes," He says, "My ear will be towards the temple, and not only My ear but My eye, and My heart continually."

God affirms again that He had chosen the temple and set it apart for Himself. His name would be there forever, His eyes and His heart there perpetually. Yet after this the temple was destroyed and there has been no temple in Jerusalem for centuries! Why is this? Because Israel themselves were guilty of desecrating the temple. It was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, then destroyed again and rebuilt by Herod. Yet before His crucifixion, when His disciples showed Him the buildings of the temple, the Lord Jesus declared, "You see all these things, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

Let us once more widen our view. Let us look past our personal situation to the collective testimony for Him, and to the place where He has set His name. Even Solomon, the king, wanted God to look at this place. … Not only My eyes and My ears, says the Lord, but also My heart is at this place where the saints are gathered to My name. This is surely a thought to revive us in these last days.

He had clearly chosen Jerusalem. He had marked out mount Moriah as the mount of the Lord. Solomon knew of God's choice when he began to build the temple, and after the dedication God assured him of the place He had selected, having sanctified the house so that His name should be there for ever. From this purpose God never went back.

God says again that He had both chosen and sanctified the temple. That is, He had set it apart for Himself, so that His name might be there forever, and His eyes and His heart there always (v. 16). Yet after this the temple was destroyed, and there has been no temple in Jerusalem for centuries! Why is this? Because Israel themselves were guilty of desecrating the temple.

But God anticipated all this even in 2 Chronicles 7, for He speaks conditionally to Solomon in verse 17 and the verses that follow… If Solomon turned away, forsaking the commandments of the Lord and serving and worshipping other gods, he could expect God's serious judgment. God would uproot Israel from the land, cast the temple out of His sight, and make it a proverb and byword among all the nations.

Why does He promise that His eye and His heart shall be in the temple perpetually? Is it not because in the temple there was the witness of His grace? Heaven, the place of angels, gave His eye no such object. Yet angels were more beautiful creatures, and heaven a far more magnificent place, than the priests and the temple at Jerusalem. But angels and heaven did not tell Him of His grace in the way that the temple did. And there lay the attraction.

I take that just as it plainly means. You will tell me, Well, the Gentiles are there now; some of the most wicked of the Gentiles are there now. But faith can wait. It need not be in a hurry… as sure as God has spoken it, Jerusalem will be recovered — not by the power of man, but by the power of God.

The Lord had said of Jerusalem, "My eyes and My heart will be there for all time"; so Daniel would not stop praying towards that blessed centre. The word of the Lord endures for ever, and faith takes its stand on that imperishable foundation.

Today, there is still a place He has chosen to "put His name there", to be present in Person. This is, of course, not a geographical place but a spiritual place. Where two or three are gathered to His name, He would be in the midst of them. Gathered "to" His name is more than "in His name"… they make Him the centre, they give Him the authority… His rights are respected, His will is done.