5/11/25 Weekly Bible Lesson: God is Supreme

2 Chronicles 7:1-11 NKJV 

Background of Text — The temple which David had made provisions for was completed by Solomon. He called the people of Israel together for the dedication. As the ark of the covenant was brought to the temple, they sacrificed to the Lord. After they placed the ark in its place, the temple was filled with the glory of the Lord by a cloud. 

In Chapter 6, Solomon offered a prayer of dedication and began by saying, “There is no God in heaven or on earth like You.” Later he asked, “Will God indeed dwell with men on earth?” He then exclaimed, “Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” He recognized God could not be contained in any one specific place. He recognized the supremacy of Jehovah God. His supremacy deserves our worship. 

Our lesson text shows how God was pleased with their worship and what we too can incorporate into our worship. 

First, sacrifice. We do not sacrifice animals as our sacrifice would take on a different meaning than theirs. Remember, sacrifice will cost you something: your time, talents, or possessions. The cost for David was 600 shekels of gold. Proper worship does not take into consideration what it is going to cost. Because God is worthy of worship, the cost of our sacrifice will never become a factor. 

We worship through our giving. When our offerings truly cost us something, we sacrifice to the Kingdom. We need to remember that it is His to begin with, and an offering is simply giving back to Him what is already His. 

When congregations provide funds for other ministries, that too, is sacrifice and worship to God. Helping others to fulfill their ministries, giving in times of need, helping fund organizations who bring the gospel to others around the world—what do congregations receive from that? Could they have used that money to better their own situations? Of course—but corporate giving is sacrificing ourselves for the benefit of others and the Kingdom. 

Worship is being involved in God’s Kingdom. The priests and the Levites mentioned were the spiritual leaders. It was their “duty” to tend to the things of the Lord. On this occasion, however, the nation was together for fourteen days, and all were involved in the proceedings.  

Too often the work of the Lord is only left to the “spiritual leaders.” We should all be involved in Kingdom work. In what ministries can you be involved? How is that worship? You are not doing it for yourself, but for the benefit of others and for the glory of the Lord. 

Worship is praise. Often, we associate praise with singing and instruments. You may have heard it said, “They were singing your praises.” That means they were saying something great about you. To speak highly of someone is to give them praise. We praise people all the time for a job well done. We don’t sing to them.  

Thus, praise does not necessarily have to be singing or music. Verse 3 says they, “worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.’” Worship is when we praise God for who He is and for what He has done. “His mercy endures forever” is praise for His actions. 

Praise in many cases involves music. Imagine how loud it was considering 2 Chronicles 5:12. They had cymbals, stringed instruments, harps, and trumpets. In this chapter, we have those in the ministry of music. On one side were those who played stringed instruments, and opposite them were the trumpeters. They played music with all their hearts. Why? Because God is supreme, and He is worthy of praise. Throughout the week or when we come together, we worship in praise because He is worthy. 

Worship is fellowship. The people were together for two weeks. Solomon incorporated the Feast of Tabernacles with the dedication service: seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Feast of Tabernacles. The Israelites came to Jerusalem from across the land for one common cause. After two weeks of celebration, there was one final assembly from which the people were sent on their way rejoicing. 

Could we get along for two weeks together? What would happen if we fellowshipped for fourteen days? Would we go on our way rejoicing? Each Lord’s Day we come together for fellowship. One of the ways we fellowship is to encourage one another towards love and good works—and that’s worship. 

Another way we worship in fellowship is when we come together as the body of Christ and partake of the Lord’s Supper. This specific fellowship of the brethren is worship to our God who is supreme. He has given us a way to enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of His Son, not with the blood of bulls and goats. We have Someone worth fellowshipping over—Jesus Christ.