1
Chronicles 28-29
We haven't read what is in these two chapters. It is
recorded only here and must have been a part of other records and documents. My
tendency is to read what David said to Solomon and begin to lament because I
know what Solomon will do. Ezra is trying to move the hearts of that generation
returning to Israel after the exile, by emphasizing the words that David spoke
to Israel and to Solomon. Few of these people remember the former days of
Israel. Many or most of them had been born in Babylon and know "Israel"
only because of what has been handed down to them. In these chapters Ezra is
directing this final charge of David to the hearts of these men and women, who
had returned to Jerusalem and to this entire generation.
As you read these chapters, try to imagine you are one of
these returnees. Because of David's heart and love for God, it's easy to be
inspired by what he says here.
1 Chronicles 28
Vs. 1-8 After David hastily had Solomon crowned king in 1
Kings 1, there was another ceremony recorded here. First Chronicles 29:22
confirms this. This chapter must have taken place between 1 Kings 1 and 2.
David had been frightfully awakened out of whatever he had been ailing under
and called upon his last strength to set in motion all that he had been
preparing over the past several years.
Notice that David explains all of what is happening as God’s
will by virtue of the choices God Himself made. Notice also how David’s passion
to build the temple became a directive of God. God chose the builder to be
Solomon. That adds a lot of perspective to God’s choice and purpose for
Solomon. It also shows that the actions of Adonijah, Abiathar and Joab (1 Kings
2) to make one final effort to take the throne from Solomon, after David was
gone, was very deserving of death.
V. 7 is interesting to think about. God promised He would
establish Solomon’s kingdom or line of rulers forever if Solomon faithfully
followed the Lord. Solomon didn’t and the kingdom of Israel was divided after
his death. Not only that, one of the kings in the line of Solomon, Jehoiachin,
will be told by Jeremiah (Jer. 22:30) and God that none of his sons will ever
sit on the throne of Israel. Matthew traced Jesus’ genealogy back through
Joseph, through Jehoiachin, through Solomon to David. According to Jeremiah 22:30,
Jesus couldn’t sit on the throne of David. But Joseph was Jesus’ legal father,
not His physical father. Luke traced Jesus’ genealogy back through Mary to
David through David’s son Nathan, another son of Bathsheba. So actually,
neither Jehoiachin nor Solomon is in the physical blood line to Jesus. This
means that this conditional promise to Solomon was made void when Solomon
became a worshiper of idols later in his life. Solomon’s bloodline of kings
ended with the sons of Josiah at the Babylonian captivity.
V. 8 This charge was to all of Israel, and Solomon failed
here. By his own actions, he left the nation and its next generation damaged by
injecting the poison of idolatry into its veins.
Vs. 9-10 This was a very clear promise and warning to
Solomon. Solomon did succeed in building the temple and securing the Lord’s
promise to always dwell in Jerusalem. That would “stick,” but nothing else did.
Vs. 11-19 Notice that David gave Solomon written plans and
that these plans came from the Lord. Reading 1 Kings, you would just think this
all came from Solomon. It makes Solomon even more suspect, when he dedicates
the temple and keeps saying, that I have
built. Ezra is showing that David is the one who had the passion for the
temple of God among the people. God spoke to David and gave him the detailed
plans for the temple. It is interesting that God apparently took as much
interest in the building of the temple as He did in the design and building of
the tabernacle.
Vs. 20-21 Isn't it interesting how often God tells someone
to be strong and courageous? I have to admit that all of what we are reading
here really elevates David in my estimation. What a guy.
1 Chronicles 29
What an amazing chapter of the Bible.
Vs. 1-5 Beyond the massive personal investment David had
already made, he left the rest of his personal fortune to the building of the
temple. You can figure out the weight of all of this. A talent was 75 pounds
and a daric was a fourth of an ounce. We are talking tons of precious metals.
Vs. 6-9 Verse 9 shows that leadership and passion are more
often caught than taught. The people were moved with David’s total love and
devotion to the Lord. Again, we are talking tons of metals here.
Vs. 10-19 These are some of the final words of David and
what a testimony they are to his heart and love for God. It is definitely more
inspiring to think of these as David's last words than to think that his last
words were to Solomon telling him to make sure that Joab and Shimei went to
their graves in blood. (See 1 Kings 2.)
Notice that David knew that all things came from God, so
that what they were offering to Him for the building of the temple was really
from Him. There is a lot of spiritual insight and maturity expressed in this
prayer.
Vs. 18-19 In my mind, the only prayer that God can’t answer
is the one that would demand Him to overpower someone’s will to make them love
Him and follow Him.
Vs. 20-22 David led them in worship; and at the end, for the
second time, they made Solomon the king.
Vs. 23-25 David probably reigned together with Solomon, as
co-regents. Considering David's health, that probably wasn't a long time. This
is a summary of the effect of this day both before the people and before the
Lord.
Vs. 26-30 Ezra doesn't record anything negative about David
except for the census, which resulted in the finding of the location for the
temple. Since the nation had just returned from exile, they themselves knew
enough about sin and what effect it had had on them. Since 2 Samuel has the
record of David's mistakes, Ezra is showing here that David recovered and
became a model of spiritual leadership and a model for how God can take a
sinful man (or nation) and restore them to become a blessing for others.
Good thoughts for us too as disciples. We will slip and
fall, but knowing these stories and knowing the incredible grace of our Savior,
we get up and follow Him in the harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples,
who make disciples.
And hooray, you just finished 1 Chronicles.
Romans
5:6-21
In reading a letter like Romans, one reading doesn't really
do it. Reading Romans once a year in The One Year Bible is helpful, but
you still forget a lot. If you were studying Romans without a commentary, you
would read through it several times getting the main arguments and divisions
set in your mind. Then you would work through understanding why Paul goes on
from one thought to the next and how they fit together. That would be more than
you'd get from most commentaries. If you were doing your own study of Romans,
you would only go to a commentary for a particular question or after you had
familiarized yourself with the book so well that you could talk your way
through it, chapter by chapter.
For our purposes here, since it is unlikely that you're
going to go back and study Romans, I'm going to fill in some detail about where
I think Paul is going with his argument before he gets there. Hopefully it will
be helpful.
Vs. 6-11 This really belongs to the reading from yesterday.
The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Understanding that love is what the Holy Spirit helps us to do; this then is
the fuller description of that love.
Notice the reference to being saved from wrath. This fits
nicely with v. 11. We can only rejoice in God, because of what Christ did for
us. Many people have happy "god thoughts." There will be no happy
meeting with God without the blood of Christ covering them, having been made a
new spiritual creation in Christ. People mistake their warm feelings and
imaginations for reality. At the end of life, without Christ, there is only
wrath and judgment, not some jovial bearded old man smoking a pipe, welcoming
us home.
Vs. 12-21 In this section Paul shows what Jesus did in
contrast to the way sin has ruined mankind in relationship to God.
Vs. 12-14 Sin came into the world, into the human race
through Adam. It seems that since Adam was the first man and became maimed and
sick spiritually, in whatever way the life and spirit of man is passed on in
the reproductive process, everyone since Adam has been born with that same
spiritual sickness. Just as bodily defects can be passed on, this spiritual
disease called sin has been passed on causing us to be born spiritually dead.
The result of spiritual death is physical death.
Death is separation. Physical death is the separation of the
spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God.
Spiritual death results in physical death because the physical is dependent on
us being spiritually connected to God. It's like cutting a flower. The second
it is cut from the root it dies, but it appears to live for a while. The same
is true with us. Because of spiritual separation from God, our body is born
sick and dying.
Paul is about to talk about the effects of sin vs. the
effect of the free gift; but what Paul is working toward is that this body is
joined to the sinful spiritual nature. The physical is not evil, but this body
has been contaminated by this sin within us. This body must die or be recreated
at the rapture. There is no cure for the "body of death" in this
life. In salvation, we are given a new spiritual life (new creation, new
nature) that dwells in this body along with that old spiritually sick spiritual
nature. It is a class "A" miracle. In the resurrection, for those who
are saved in Christ, the newly created spiritual life and nature is put in the
resurrection body. The old nature dies with the old body since it has been
judged in Christ. For those who are not saved by Christ, they too are
resurrected with a new body, but one that will be indwelt by that sick,
rebellious nature, and will therefore have to live in separation from God. At
that point, that union becomes permanent, like the angels, and unable to be
changed. Sin is a very big deal, and really, an incurable sickness in this
body. God does not and cannot change the sinful nature. He judges the old and
gives us a new nature in Christ. Sin is a spiritual disease and still beyond
our comprehension.
Vs. 15-19 Notice how each verse alternates between death and
life and condemnation and justification. Verses 15 and 17 are parallel, and vs.
16 and 18 are parallel. Verse 19 is an all inclusive summary of sorts.
Vs. 20-21 is the purpose of God explained in the long
unfolding plan of redemption. When we get to the closing verses of Romans where
Paul mentions the mystery that was kept
secret for long ages, this is a part of what he's referring to. Part of the
reason the law was given was to increase the reaction of sin to make it more
visible and more understandable in its power and effect. The law causes sin to
go nuts and we remain under God’s judgment. Grace made it possible to become
forgiven and righteous before God by faith in Christ. The Lord’s righteousness
imparted to us leads to eternal life.
Again, hooray! And this is what we get to share in the
harvest. It’s the best news in the world!
Psalm
15
David had been pursued by men who wanted him dead. Lies had
been circulated around the nation regarding David to justify Saul's bitterness,
murder and threats. But what made David the man he was is that he really had
only one ambition, to be at the feet of God, in His presence, before this mercy
seat and throne. It must have hit David as he thought of wanting to be before
God, that those who were pursuing him couldn't come before God because of their
hearts. David had to live away from the tabernacle of God; yet in exile, he
lived at God's feet. Those who pursued David could stand in the tabernacle, but
their hearts were far from God. It isn't "doing" that makes you acceptable
to God; it is the heart of faith responding to Him. Later David will put it
simply in Psalm 51:17, A broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Is it any wonder that David’s
life ambition was to build a temple so he could be near the Lord?
V. 1 This is the great question, but for most people, even
in David’s time, it wasn’t really the true desire of their hearts. Most people
are fine with God, if He will just leave them alone. Someday He will.
Vs.
2-5 Now, you could read this as earning God’s favor by doing religious stuff.
But it is really the intent to dwell in God’s presence and to honor Him. At the
heart of obedience to God is love and faith. Abraham was righteous by faith,
and out of love and faith he obeyed. Whoever
has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me
will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
(John 14:21)
Proverbs
19:18-19
Read this along with Luke 15:11-24, and you'll see this is
not only a mark of the Father, but a mark of a disciple of Jesus in the
harvest.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ
and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will
grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and
encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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