1 Kings 8:44-45

1 Kings 8:44-45

There is something very observable in its being "in heaven" that we ask that our prayers may be heard.

I. Heaven is supposed to be the place in which, in some extraordinary and by us unimaginable mode, God is pleased to disclose His magnificent perfections to the higher orders of created intelligence. It is not that God can be more present in heaven than on earth; it is only that His presence is made more manifest, His glory more displayed or rendered more apparent. The representation of heaven as our place of audience lifts us from our degradation and places us at once on a level with loftier orders of being.

II. Whatever else may be supposed to give fixedness to heaven, or to make it, according to our common ideas, a definite place, there can be no doubt that it is the residence of Christ's glorified humanity, and that this humanity, like our own, can only be in one spot at once. To desire that our prayers may be heard in heaven is to desire that they may be heard where alone they can be heard with acceptance. We can obtain nothing from God except for Christ's sake and through Christ's intercession. Tell the humble suppliant that heaven is the abode of the "Man Christ Jesus," that in heaven this Mediator carries on the work which He began on earth, and he will quickly realise that heaven, and heaven alone, is the place where human petitions may be expected to prevail.

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2326.

References: 1 Kings 8:46 . Bishop How, Plain Words to Children, p. 102. 1 Kings 8:53 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1232. 1 Kings 8:57 . C. Garrett, Loving Counsels, p. 69; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 265. 1 Kings 8:62 . E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. i., p. 46. 1 Kings 8:0 Parker, vol. vii., p. 305. 1 Kings 9:3 . C. Wordsworth, Sermons Preached at Harrow School, p. 10. 1 Kings 9:0 Parker, vol. vii., p. 316.