Solomon was given a great heritage and legacy from his father David. David handed over the kingdom to him with great spiritual momentum. For many years Solomon continued to love God and lead the people to do so. He built the temple, and led Israel in its time of greatest prosperity and peace. His name means peace, and was given to him from God (2Sam 12:24, 1Chr 22:9). When he grew old, his pagan wives turned his heart from God, and it was to the point he build idols for them within view of the very temple he built for God (1Ki 11). This provoked the judgment of God, but the Lord told Solomon He would not do it in his days because David was his father. It would happen in the days of his son Rehoboam (1Ki 12). The judgment God sent was not of the usual variety (war, famine, pestilience, etc.) It was division. The nation of Israel would be divided into two nations. The northern ten tribes became the kingdom of Israel, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin became the nation of Judah. They never recovered from this. Both kingdoms eventually fell. God promised that when He restored them He would remove the judgment of division so they could again prosper as one nation (Eze 37). Unity brings power, and division brings destruction.
God spoke to me 17 years ago and told me that America was going to get more and more divided the closer we get to His return. The stark division that exists in the spiritual world would be reflected in the natural world. We have seen each election cycle show this more and more. America has never been perfect. Even Abraham Lincoln had his haters and detractors in his day. We must remember that America literally divided in his day. About 620,000 people died in the war between the states, more than all other wars put together until the Vietnam War. Yet we have not seen such a caustic, hateful, and divisive atmosphere in our lifetimes; and it is getting worse.
God never does anything without a purpose, even judgment. Except for the final judgment at the end of our lives or the end of the world, whichever comes first, even God's judgments have the purpose of turning us from our sins to Him. There is division in the land, not just in America, but all over the world. Yet God has a purpose in this . It is to turn souls to Him. God operates on the small and large scale simultaneously. He can orchestrate situations for one soul, or for nations. The devil wants us to think that he is in control, but he is nothing more than a pawn in God's hands. He is also under God's authority. He always has been and always will be. God is working, even in places where man thinks he has outlawed Him. Isaiah prophesied that Israel would be destroyed, but that even then He would orchestrate international affairs to reveal Himself and restore His people (Is 25). He said, "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations (Is 25:7)" The next verse (verse 28) is quoted in 1Cor 15:54, Rev 7:17, and Rev 21:4. This shows that Isaiah's prophecy not only related to the restoration of Israel after the destructions which occurred in 7th and 8th centuries B.C., but it also relates to the second coming of Christ.
Light always overcomes darkness. Darkness cannot overcome light. As the world seems to be getting darker, that only means the light will shine that much brighter. Isaiah also predicted this in conjunction with the restoration of Israel and the coming of Messiah (Is 9:1-6). This was fulfilled in the first coming (Mt 4:16), and it is happening again as we near the second coming. Israel has been restored. God is revealing Himself all over the world. Isaiah prophesied that God will "destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations (Is 25:7). This mountain refers to Israel. Whatever happens to Israel has worldwide implications. The word covering here means presence, face, or countenance. According to Gesenius' Hebrew lexicon it means the face of God as in Genesis 32:30. The word covering here is the word lote which is where Lot got his name. According to Genesius it has the meaning of the veil that keeps our hearts from God. So Isaiah is talking about a veil that covers our hearts and keeps us from perceiving the revelation of God.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai his face shined with the glory of God, so he put a veil over his face when he was with the people (Ex 34:33-35). In the tabernacle (and later the temple), there was a thick veil that separated the people from the presence of God (Ex 26:31-35). That veil was symbolic of the flesh of Jesus Christ (Heb 10:20). "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor 4:6)." Jesus is the "express image" of the substance of the Godhead (Heb 1:3). There is no greater revelation of manifestation of God than Jesus Christ. He is the heavenly Father in human form (Jn 1:1-3 & 14, Jn 14:7-11, 2Cor 5:19, Col 2:9, 1Tim 3:16). In this time of division God, will show His true identity to many individuals, and nations will see the kingdom of God manifested like never before. Whole congregations and even whole denominations will be delivered from their traditional understanding of God to the glorious revelation "beyond the veil" of who Jesus really is. God "in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords (1Tim 6:15)."