II Chronicles 6-7

“The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built” (6:18). Solomon led God’s people in the finished temple’s dedication. He recognized that in spite of temple’s splendor, it was only holy because God chose to “put his name there” (6:20). In his dedicatory prayer, Solomon’s repeated refrain was that God would “hear from heaven ... and when you hear, forgive” (6:21, etc).

Because God keeps his “covenant of love” (6:14), we know that he forgives and hears our prayers. Through the final covenant based on Jesus, we can “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace” (Heb 4:16).