Reading With the People of God #10 KingdomSample

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

The Davidic Covenant - II Samuel 7

Peace had come to Israel by the hand of God. As a magnanimous gesture, Hiram, the King of Tyre, sent materials and skilled labor to build a beautiful palace for King David. David felt guilty and uncomfortable because the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the presence of God in Israel, rested in a tent, and he lived in a palace. Why should a man have a dwelling more prominent than God’s? David went to Nathan, the prophet, with the desire to build God a Temple for the Ark of the Covenant.

Ultimately, God’s word to David was no, 1 Chronicles 22:8 gives the reason. It would not be David but his son Solomon, who would be allowed to build a Temple for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. God had a different, eternal plan for David. David had approached God about building Him a Temple, but God says in verse 11 that He would build David a house. In this, He meant that He would build a heritage for David, an eternal royal dynasty. The Temple that David offered would be temporal, but the House that God offered would be eternal.

Though not called a covenant, here we see in David’s response that he considered it a binding promise from God to His servant David. In David's prayer of praise, he is grasping the idea that for his heritage to be eternal, it has to be part of God’s family. The Jews understood it to mean that the King of the Jews, the promised Messiah, would be from the line of David. This is what the crowds shouted with understanding when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday, and they called Him the Son of David. The Jews knew that one from David’s line would rule once again.

Why was it important for God to tie His kingdom to David’s? It’s the key to the Divine design for history. It lays out the plan for the Messiah to be from David’s house, but He must also be eternal, both God and man. Jesus claimed a legitimate right to the throne of David, and He established His eternal kingdom when He rose from the dead. Jesus is “the Son of the Most High who rules from the throne of His father David.” Luke 1:32

That You May Believe - John 20:19-31

On the Sunday after the crucifixion of Jesus at the insistence of the Jewish religious leaders, His disciples were afraid and met behind locked doors. In confusion they gathered, their conversation focused on the testimony of the women and of Peter and John, all had found an empty tomb where Jesus had been buried and under guard, some even claimed to have seen Jesus.

It is a testimony to their commitment that they didn’t scatter and leave the country. They were trying to determine what the empty tomb meant, the sightings. What would Jesus have them do, He had been their core, their focus. For three years, the disciples faithfully followed Jesus, sitting under His teachings, a witness to His miracles. But without Him what would it mean, who were they without their leader? They were left with stories to tell and teachings to share, but was that enough?

The appearance of Jesus gave the disciples the answers they needed to understand clearly who Jesus was, the purpose of the cross, and the meaning behind His ministry. It brought them to faith in the risen Lord, recognizing Him fully as God, the promised Messiah from the line of David. Verse 31 summarizes the purpose behind His appearances and, in fact, the writing of the entire New Testament; “But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

* Primer contributed by: Jinet Troost