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What Portion Do We Have in David?

An heir to his grandfather’s and father’s big legacies, Reheboam had a choice if he would seek God like they did or lean on his own understanding.  Just as we cannot get to heaven on the coattails of another’s faith, the new king should have tapped into what had made David and Solomon’s forty-year reigns great in the first place.

I.  1 Kings 12:1-5.  Born sometime, no doubt, in the spiritual decline of his father’s reign into a chaotic household of 999 stepmothers or “aunts” who worshiped a variety of gods, Reheboam might argue today that he was a victim of a lost world plunged into sin and relative morality.  And yet, he was on the waning edge of Israel’s golden age and knew the covenants God had made with his grandfather.  His dad built the temple!  At the moment of his crowning, however, Reheboam had a choice to make.  Would he include God in his decision-making (Joshua 24:14-15) or would he lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6)?

II.  1 Kings 12:6-17.  He had at least heard of his father’s wisdom given to him by God (1 Kings 3:10-13) if not seen those coming to the palace seeking it (1 Kings 10:21-27). But, he seemed to have forgotten the important ‘if’ attached to the gift (1 Kings 3:14) and the reason for the spiritual decline of the kingdom because his father had ignored it too (1 Kings 11:1-4).  So, when forced to choose between relying on those who had advised his dad and stepping out on his own, he chose the counsel of the young men who had grown up with him.  The result was that he did get to establish his own legacy–that of splitting God’s kingdom!

III.  John 5:19-23.  Jesus lived to be his Father’s Son as well … except that His Father was God!  He went around doing good (Acts 10:38), spent regular time in prayer (Mark 1:35), insisted on others knowing the Scriptures as He did (Mark 12:24), and was an example for us to live up to (John 13:15).  His dying on a cross and rising from the dead empowered us to be our Father’s children as well (John 20:17).  So, we must seek wisdom (James 1:5-8), answer with gentle words (Proverbs 15:1-5), seek advice from godly counselors (Proverbs 24:6) who follow God’s Word (Psalm 119:24), and live as an imitation of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Oh, how things might have turned out differently if Reheboam had chosen differently!

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Amen to All the Covenant

Thinking of Deuteronomy 27

Before the hill of Calvary, Amen
I say to all the covenant, and when
Declared the Twelve Curses with shout and voice
On those who fail to keep your words by choice.

For we have crossed the river’s rushing current,
Have raised the whitened stones with words transparent;
We’ve now become your people among the nations,
Who are blessed with solid hope and firm foundations.

We hear, O Lord, the curse on those who change
The gospel word, who offer doctrines strange
And dark, to add the works of man, remove
The all-sufficient Cross, your sign of love.

Amen, we say, as to ourselves a warning,
Remembered washing in the early morning,
Of word and water, sins you carried away —
We pledge that in your saving grace we’ll stay.

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New Covenant in My Blood

Apparently in the religious world at large, some suggest that Jesus’ plans to establish His Kingdom were thwarted by wicked men who put Him on the cross, and so He had to establish His church instead.  Ridiculous on so many levels, this false idea is easily refuted through a look at the new covenant that Jesus said He was establishing through His blood.

I. Acts 2:22-24.  How would you ever surprise an omniscient and omnipresent God with a surprise party?  Yet, at the base of this false teaching is the idea that man somehow tricked God, that the One who breathed everything into existence was derailed by wicked men who were too clever for Him.  The cross was done through God’s purpose and foreknowledge as evidenced by how often Jesus spoke of His impending death.

II. Luke 24:25-27.  What a Bible study the two disciples must have had when the resurrected Christ revealed ALL the Old Testament scriptures that spoke about His suffering, death, and resurrection!  Among them must have been the fulfillment of the Passover (Exodus 12:5-11) and the eyewitness-like descriptions of Him on the cross in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 recorded centuries before He came in the flesh.

III. Jeremiah 31:31-34.  Perhaps the most convincing was the prophet’s description of the new covenant that God would make with His people, its hallmark forgiveness of sins and knowing God.  Jesus announces that that is what is being established at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19-22) with plenty of time to avoid the cross if that truly indeed was what God was trying to do.  Indeed, the new covenant, as with the old one, was established through blood (Hebrews 9:16-28).

Many passages use Kingdom and church interchangeably, but the establishment of the new covenant through the blood of the perfect Lamb truly shows that the church is His Kingdom on earth.  Have you entered the new covenant with God through Jesus’ blood being shed for you?

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We Ask in Joy

Before you, Lord, a day of prayer and fasting,
We humble ourselves, we praise and plead and bow;
You are our God, the Sovereign everlasting,
You work your powerful will, we not know how;
Oh, hear us, Savior, relieve our anguish soon,
We ask in joy: fulfill your covenant vow,
That in your grace your people might commune.