This week’s Old Testament readings, chapters 1-7 of 2 Chronicles, mark the shift from David’s reign to Solomon’s, and with that, the focus on Solomon actually constructing the Temple that David had it in his heart to build.  Just as God’s glory filled the Tabernacle after it had been built in the wilderness, so too here God’s glory fills the Temple.  Chapters 6 and 7 culminate this section, with Solomon’s sermon and prayer.  In reading this, it is important to keep in mind that the original readers were tasked with rebuilding a temple to replace that which had been destroyed only a couple of generations earlier.  This provides necessary context to the 2 Chronicles 7:14, a verse today that is often quoted as a general blessing: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  This would have been a promise for God’s people to cling to as they sought to be reconstituted as a people and a nation.  Repentance would be necessary for the nation to be restored.

The New Testament readings consist of the Apostle Paul’s entire second letter to the Thessalonians.  Paul continues many of the themes he laid out in 1 Thessalonians, including exhortations to the church to be faithful and to live mindful of the judgment that will come upon the world.  This is the context behind Paul’s eschatological remarks, including with regard to a coming Anti-Christ.

The Psalm readings go through Psalms 49-54 and the readings in the Westminster Standards cover the Fifth Commandment.