2 Chronicles 7:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is the gracious answer God gave Solomon’s prayer right away. Fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice (2 Chronicles 7:1). In this way, God showed his acceptance of Moses (Leviticus 9:24), Gideon (Judges 6:21), David (1 Chronicles 21:26), and Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). In the Hebrew way of speaking, to accept a burnt offering is to turn it to ashes (Psalm 20:3). Here, the fire came not at the killing of the sacrifices, but at the praying of the prayer.

This fire showed that God was glorious in himself, for our God is a consuming fire. He is even terrible in his holy places. The fire likely broke out of the thick darkness, which made it even more frightening, as it did on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:16, 17). The sinners in Zion had good reason to tremble and ask, “Who among us can live near this devouring fire?” (Isaiah 33:14). Yet it also showed that God was gracious to Israel. The fire, which could justly have consumed them, fell on the sacrifice offered in their place and consumed that instead. So God showed that he accepted their offerings and that his anger had turned away from them.

We can apply this to the suffering of Christ. When it pleased the Lord to crush him and put him to grief, God was showing his goodwill toward people, because he laid on Christ the sin of us all. Christ’s death became our life, and he was made sin and a curse so that we might receive righteousness and a blessing. That sacrifice was consumed so we could escape. “Here I am, let these go their way.”

We can also apply it to the work of the Holy Spirit, who comes like fire. He burns up our sinful desires and corrupt habits, those things that must be sacrificed or we are lost. He also kindles a holy fire in our souls, stirring up godly love and devotion that should keep burning on the altar of the heart. The surest sign that God has accepted our prayers is when his holy fire comes upon us. “Did our hearts not burn within us?” (Luke 24:32). As another sign that God accepted Solomon’s prayer, the glory of the Lord still filled the house. The heart that is filled with holy awe before God’s glory, and with a sense of his greatness and goodness, is shown to be a living temple.

The people then gave God a thankful response to this gracious sign of his favor. They worshiped and praised him (2 Chronicles 7:3). When they saw God’s fire come down from heaven, they did not run away in fear. They stayed in the Lord’s courts and used the moment to honor God. They bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped. This showed their deep reverence for God’s majesty, their willing submission to his authority, and their sense that they were unworthy to come before him and unable to stand against his wrath. They also thanked him for his goodness. Even when the fire of the Lord came down, they praised him, saying, “He is good, for his mercy endures forever.” That song is always fitting, and our hearts and voices should never be out of tune with it. Whatever else is true, God is good. When he appears as a consuming fire to sinners, his people can still rejoice in him as their light. They had good reason to say that God was good in this. It is by the Lord’s mercies that they were not consumed, but the sacrifice was consumed in their place, and that called for great thankfulness.

The king and all the people then offered many sacrifices (2 Chronicles 7:4, 5). By these offerings, they welcomed the holy fire to the altar. They had offered sacrifices before, but now they increased them. When God shows us his favor, our hearts should grow larger in his service, and we should keep doing more and more for him. The king’s example stirred up the people. Good work is most likely to continue when leaders go first. There were so many sacrifices that the altar could not hold them all. So, rather than turn any of them away, the flesh of the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings were burned in the middle of the court (2 Chronicles 7:7). Solomon had either set that place apart for the purpose, or it became holy through use. In a time of need, even the pavement could serve as an altar.

The priests did their part, waiting on their duties, and the singers and musicians did theirs also (2 Chronicles 7:6). They used the instruments David had made, and the song David had given them to sing, as some understand it from 1 Chronicles 16:7. Or, as the wording may also mean, David praised God through their ministry. He directed them, encouraged them, and made use of them in praising God, so their work was counted as his act.

The whole crowd showed great joy and satisfaction. They kept the feast for the dedication of the altar seven days, from the second day to the ninth. The tenth day was the Day of Atonement, when they were to humble themselves for sin, and that was fitting even in the middle of their joy. On the fifteenth day, the Feast of Tabernacles began and lasted until the twenty-second day, so they did not leave until the twenty-third. We should never grudge the time we spend in God’s worship and fellowship, and we should not think it too long or grow tired of it.

Solomon kept going with his work and successfully finished everything he planned for the beauty of both God’s house and his own (2 Chronicles 7:11). Those who begin with the service of God are likely to do well in their own affairs too. Solomon’s credit was that he carried out what he started, and it was by God’s grace that he prospered.