My Name Shall Be There

In his temple dedicatory prayer, Solomon asked God to honor a promise He had made many years earlier:

That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.
And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.

1 Kings 8:29-30

When did God say that His name would be in the temple, and what did He mean by it? Before the children of Israel had entered the promised land, Moses had explained that their life and their worship would now be different. During their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness, their worship had centered on a movable tent, the tabernacle, where they would offer sacrifices to God. Now, once they were settled and had “rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety,” he said:

Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord:

Deuteronomy 12:10-11; emphasis added

After the public dedication was complete, God appeared to King Solomon to answer Solomon’s prayer:

I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

1 Kings 9:3

But He went on to offer conditional promises. If Solomon and his people would walk before Him in integrity of heart, He would establish their kingdom forever. But if they turned away from Him, then He would cut them off, remove them from the land, “and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight” (1 Kings 9:7).

Israel later did turn their hearts away from God. They were carried into captivity by the Babylonians, and their temple was destroyed (2 Kings 25:1-17), just as the Lord had warned.

But that tragedy did not invalidate the Lord’s earlier promise to put His name in the temple forever. To understand that promise better, let’s turn to another king, who called his people together at another temple, in the land of Zarahemla, in order to give them “a name that never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression” (Mosiah 1:12).

King Benjamin’s people gathered around the temple to hear him speak to them from a tower that had been constructed for the occasion. He reported to them on his reign and urged them to serve one another and to keep God’s commandments (Mosiah 2). Then, he prophesied that the Son of God would come to save them, and His name would be Jesus Christ. Benjamin taught the importance of the Savior’s name:

There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

Mosiah 3:17

The people prayed and received a remission of their sins (Mosiah 4:1-3). They responded by entering a covenant to serve God for the rest of their lives (Mosiah 5:2-5). Benjamin explained that the Savior’s name had now become part of them. Because of their changed hearts and their covenant, they had become His sons and daughters. They would therefore be known forever after by His name (Mosiah 5:7-8). Benjamin said:

This is the name that I said I should give unto you that never should be blotted out, except it be through transgression; therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress, that the name be not blotted out of your hearts.

Mosiah 5:11

So God’s name was never intended to reside within an empty building. The purpose of the building was to get God’s name into the people’s hearts. The promise of His name being in the temple perpetually was a promise that the people who worshipped there could enter a deeper relationship with Him, taking upon themselves His name forever if they chose to remain faithful to Him.

Today I will be grateful for sacred places where we can deepen our relationship with God. I will remember that God accepts His temples, placing His name and His heart there, so that we can be changed by Him and become His sons and His daughters forever.