1 Kings 9:9

The Lord appeared to him the second time. He did not come to say once more, "Ask what I shall give you." He came to assure him that He would keep His promise made to David, and that his throne would be established if he stayed faithful. Then He warns against disobedience. If he serves other gods, Israel was to be cut off from the land and the house would be forsaken.

God reminds Solomon of his own responsibility. God had given him the kingdom, and its continuing hung on his own faithfulness. God says, "If you," and adds, "if you all turn away," because the people were sure to follow their king. The resulting judgment would fall — and did fall — on all Israel. Even the house called by His own name would become a reproach. But the nations would know why God had dealt with them this way.

Such evil is to come upon them and upon the land that the stranger from a far land will ask about it. Seeing the plagues on that land, he will say: "Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?" This prediction has come true. Strangers from far lands, tourists and pilgrims, have visited Palestine. They saw the sad state of that land, and they often asked these questions and knew the answer. "Then people will say, 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.'"

It is a terrible thing when something from the world lodges in the heart and takes control of it. It turns a person's affections away from their only object and towards things that are vile, shameful and guilty. These things did not arise suddenly in the life of this man of faith, or at least their consequences did not develop all at once. For "when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods." This sowing to the flesh needed time to bear its fruit. Who would have believed that this man would become an idol-worshipper? He was the Solomon of the temple, once on his knees, spreading out his hands toward God in front of all the people.

In the space of two verses God declares unconditionally that His eyes and His heart will forever be on this house, and that He will cast it out of His sight! Does God contradict Himself? Certainly not. The conditional warning has come true to the letter. The unconditional promise will come true to the letter too, when the true king after God's heart has built Him a house — a temple on earth far more glorious than Solomon's.

How different this is from what we have now! The Church of God is 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 lasting value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus — a divine work, with no condition of man's work involved at all.