1 Kings 6:11

What a delight it clearly was to God to dwell among His people! … And as He told Moses, so He told Solomon, of His dwelling among His people. While the house was going up, God cheered the king with a promise. If he obeyed, the Lord would dwell among the children of Israel and would not forsake them.

Early in the building work, the Lord spoke again to Solomon. "Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel." Here again is the fatal "if." Everything at that moment depended upon the faithfulness of king and people.

Then in 1 Kings 6:13, He says, "And I will dwell among the children of Israel." The verse before it shows the moral condition which God looks for among His people: "if you will walk in my statutes …" God could not dwell among a lawless, disobedient people.

Yet responsibility fell on Solomon in the building of the house. Like so many others, he failed, and so brought ruin upon his kingdom. "If you will walk in my statutes … I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel." The only condition God set for not forsaking His people was the king's faithfulness. All His blessing depended on Solomon meeting this condition.

God keeps His purpose of grace certain. He keeps His judgments just as certain if the king fails to answer the demands of His holiness. Grace and responsibility are two currents. They flow side by side and never mix.

The account first gives the measurements of the house. Then, after he had built it and built the chambers, the word of the Lord came to Solomon. It told him that God's dwelling among the children of Israel depended upon Solomon's faithfulness. Soon the failure came, and Ezekiel later saw the glory of the Lord leave the temple and leave Jerusalem.

All was soon lost, never to be restored until the day of the Lord Jesus. But "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29), and He will yet fulfill all His promises of grace to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Human nature is so weak and unstable that each one of us must humbly say, "Saved by grace alone; this is all my plea."

While the temple was still going up, God spoke to Solomon. He told him seriously that God's dwelling in the temple would depend on Solomon's obedience to God's statutes, his carrying out God's judgments and keeping His commandments. How different this is from the Church of God, now established as "a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Eph. 2:21-22). God's presence in the Church does not depend on our obedience. It rests on the permanent value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus — a divine work, with no condition of man's work involved at all.