Spiritual Blindness

³⁵When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
³⁶The man answered, "Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him!"
³⁷Jesus said to him, "You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now."
³⁸"I believe, Lord!" the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.
³⁹Jesus said, "I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind."
⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this and asked him, "Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?"
⁴¹Jesus answered, "If you were blind, then you would not be guilty; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are still guilty."

The Dedication of the Temple
(1 Kings 8.62-66)

2 Chronicles 7 When King Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been offered, and the dazzling light of the LORD's presence filled the Temple. ²Because the Temple was full of the dazzling light, the priests could not enter it. ³When the people of Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the light fill the Temple, they fell face downward on the pavement, worshiping God and praising him for his goodness and his eternal love. ⁴Then Solomon and all the people offered sacrifices to the LORD. ⁵He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings. And so he and all the people dedicated the Temple. ⁶The priests stood in the places that were assigned to them, and facing them stood the Levites, praising the LORD with the musical instruments that King David had provided and singing the hymn, "His Love Is Eternal!" as they had been commissioned by David. The priests blew trumpets while all the people stood.
⁷Solomon consecrated the central part of the courtyard, the area in front of the Temple, and then offered there the sacrifices burned whole, the grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar which he had made was too small for all these offerings.
⁸Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the Egyptian border in the south. ⁹They had spent seven days for the dedication of the altar and then seven more days for the festival. On the last day they had a closing celebration, ¹⁰and on the following day, the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people home. They were happy about all the blessings that the LORD had given to his people Israel, to David, and to Solomon.

God Appears to Solomon Again
(1 Kings 9.1-9)

¹¹After King Solomon had finished the Temple and the palace, successfully completing all his plans for them, ¹²the LORD appeared to him at night. He said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and I accept this Temple as the place where sacrifices are to be offered to me. ¹³Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people, ¹⁴if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again. ¹⁵I will watch over this Temple and be ready to hear all the prayers that are offered here, ¹⁶because I have chosen it and consecrated it as the place where I will be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. ¹⁷If you serve me faithfully as your father David did, obeying my laws and doing everything I have commanded you, ¹⁸I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. ¹⁹But if you and your people ever disobey the laws and commands I have given you and worship other gods, ²⁰then I will remove you from the land that I gave you, and I will abandon this Temple that I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule it and treat it with contempt.
²¹"The Temple is now greatly honored, but then everyone who passes by it will be amazed and will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this Temple?' ²²People will answer, 'It is because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the LORD has brought this disaster on them.'"

The Day of the LORD Is Coming

Malachi 4 The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them. ²But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall. ³On the day when I act, you will overcome the wicked, and they will be like dust under your feet.
⁴"Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the laws and commands which I gave him at Mount Sinai for all the people of Israel to obey.
⁵"But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah. ⁶He will bring fathers and children together again; otherwise I would have to come and destroy your country."