Was the Old Covenant written on stone and stored in the sacred chest, conditional upon obedience? Is the New Covenant better? Let’s begin in 2 Chronicles 7.
Did God reveal His approval at the dedication of the Temple? How did the people react?
When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests were not able to enter the Lord’s temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord: For He is good, for His faithful love endures forever. (2 Chr 7:1-3 HCSB)
Did the offering reveal the people’s dedication? What do we offer God?
Then the king and all the people kept on offering sacrifices in the presence of the Lord. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, which is how the king and all of the people dedicated God’s Temple. The priests stood in waiting at their assigned places, along with the descendants of Levi who carried musical instruments used in service to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—because his gracious love is eternal—whenever David, accompanied by priests sounding trumpets, offered praises while all of Israel stood in the assembly. (2 Chr 7:4-6 ISV)
Were the festivals of the 7th month extended due to the joy of dedicating the Temple?
Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat offerings, and the fat. Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. (2 Chr 7:7-11 KJV)
Did God make conditional promises to Solomon, if he and the nation would turn from their evil ways?
Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. So now I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’ (2 Chr 7:12-18 LSB)
What if they should turn away and abandon obedience to God?
But if you [plural] turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight; and I will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done these things to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’ (2 Chr 7:19-22 NASB)
Is the Old Covenant written on stone now obsolete?
By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. (Heb 8:13 NIV)
What was the blood of the New Covenant to remit or forgive?
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mat 26:28 NKJV)
Was the Old Covenant written on stone and stored in the sacred chest, conditional upon obedience? Is the New Covenant better? You decide!
