Reading With the People of God #10 Kingdomنموونە

Focus of the month: (Kingdom)

7 Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, 8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, 10 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”.

- 1 Chronicles 17:7-14

Our Sovereign LORD - II Samuel 24:1-15

This chapter begins with the anger of the LORD aimed at Israel. What follows has to be seen in this context and understood that this anger is not aimed at David, but he is definitely caught up in it, and it may be part of the “sword” brought down on him. We read in verse 1 that God incited David against Israel. We are not told specifically why God is angry with Israel but we may speculate that many in Israel were caught up in support of Absalom’s rebellion against God’s anointed, David.

There are two questions raised in this passage. Why was the census a sin? The answer to this question is easy; Israel’s faith must be in God’s sufficiency and not the size of the army, they were to put their entire trust in God. A census was a sign of unbelief.

The question, did God incite David to sin, is much more complex. We have to understand that the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself, His plans, and purposes. This passage reveals an intricate side of God’s sovereignty.

Did God cause David to sin? No. God may put a thought in our head and our sinful nature will take it and choose to go against what we know is right. I John 2:16 tells us the world, with its allure, may entice us to sin. There are other times when temptation comes from evil, as Jesus warned Peter when Satan wanted to sift him like wheat, Luke 22:31.

A truth that may be difficult is that even in our sinful decisions, we can do nothing other than what the LORD has determined. The LORD controls us, the world, and the devil. It must be so. God is sovereign; His purposes will be accomplished. The LORD determined to punish Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died. David was still under the sword of the Lord and bore the shame of his decision and the loss of his countrymen with deep sorrow.

The LORD brought good from this judgment by drawing David to the threshing floor of Araunah to make a sacrifice to end the plague. It was on the site of this threshing floor that Solomon would build the Lord’s temple.

The Baptism of Jesus - Matthew 3

When Mary went to visit her expectant relative, Elizabeth, the Bible says that John leaped into his mother’s womb. It seems even in his embryonic state John reacted to his calling by recognizing Jesus.

God had not spoken to Israel through a prophet for four hundred years. When John the Baptist began a ministry of repentance and cleansing, the people recognized that God was speaking to His people once again and flocked to him. The three synoptic gospels quote Isaiah 40:3 to show that John was indeed that prophesied forerunner of the Messiah, with the purpose of announcing His arrival among the people. John was the last prophet under the Old Covenant.

John’s baptism of Jesus was full of meaning and purpose. It was a transition point in Jesus’ life, an inauguration of sorts, His public emergence. At that baptism, the Holy Spirit came with a visible, powerful anointing for His ministry as God's own voice announced Jesus as His Chosen One. Jesus' ministry was launched.

John was hesitant to baptize Jesus because he was baptized as a symbol of the washing away of sin, and he recognized Jesus as having no sin. People came to John because they were conscious of their sins and wanted to be cleansed, leaving their sins symbolically in the Jordan River. What John did not realize is that his baptism of Jesus was a picture of the gospel message. Jesus came to bring sinners to righteousness and this baptism would picture that purpose.

When Jesus entered the Jordan, He visually and symbolically entered the sin-polluted water, full of the sins of those who came to repent. He was baptized in their sin. In Mark 10:38 Jesus is saying that He still must be baptized with a baptism. He is speaking of the cross, where He will be immersed in the sins of the people He came to save. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God, II Corinthians 5:21.

* Primer contributed by Jinet Troost