‘Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.'” (2 Chronicles 6:1 ESV)

Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the Temple opened with an acknowledgement that God was already present. For as the Lord had manifested His presence in the form of a cloud to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness (Lev.16:2), so had His glorious presence filled the Temple at its dedication. Solomon’s detailed attention to the building of the Temple, its furnishings and implements, showed his intimate knowledge of the Scriptures concerning these things. The acknowledgment of the cloud as the manifest presence of the Lord in his prayer further proved his Bible knowledge. The cloud was God’s way of showing His approval of Solomon’s Temple by indwelling it with His glory. Today, the Lord indwells those whose body has become His temple through faith in Christ (1 Cor. 6:19-20).