If you use Facebook, we are posting these each day on our page there, and we will also post these here each day. We welcome your thoughts here or on Facebook.
Day 221 – Thru the Bible
Today we continue First Chronicles.
1 Chronicles 11 – David’s accession to the throne establishes the royal line of Judah, the line through which the eternal King of God’s people would one day come. In this account, the prophecy of Jacob’s ancient blessing begins to find fulfillment: the acclaim of David by his brothers (the tribes of Israel), the subjugation of his enemies, and his royal dominion (Genesis 49:8–10).
What is David’s honor to inaugurate is Jesus’ greater honor to consummate as the true and better Shepherd King (Ezekiel 37:24; Matthew 2:2; Mark 15:2; John 10:14; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 7:17; 19:16). May God’s people find rest by seeing this aspect of the great plan of redemption faithfully being established by God throughout history, from Genesis to Malachi and then from Matthew to Revelation!
1 Chronicles 12 – Just as the tribes of Israel brought abundant provisions (supplied by God) for the celebration of David’s kingship in Jerusalem, so will all the nations one day bring forth glorious provisions to a new Jerusalem for an eternal celebration of the kingdom of Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom promises (Romans 1:3; Revelation 21:22–26).
1 Chronicles 13 & 14 – In the account of Chronicles, David’s first concern as king is to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. This is significant because the ark of God represented the rule of Yahweh in the midst of His people (Psalm 132:7) as the one “who sits enthroned above the cherubim.” By bringing the ark of the covenant to the royal city, David was submitting his own kingship to the Lord. In this way, David demonstrated that he was a temporary and secondary (vassal) king over Israel. David’s great son, the true and final King, was yet to come (2 Samuel 7:12–13; Matthew 1:1; 9:7; Romans 1:1–3; Acts 2:29–36).
Chapters 13:9–12; 15:12–13 describe the death of Uzzah and the resulting fear of David remind us of God’s awesome holiness and the danger of inappropriate worship. Recall the catastrophe of the golden calf in Exodus 32 or the deaths of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. Remember Saul’s unlawful sacrifice in 1 Samuel 13, which resulted in the removal of his royal dynasty. When it came to worship in the Old Testament, God demanded perfection.
In the New Testament this standard remains, but it has been met, perfectly and eternally, once for all in Jesus (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10). We now rest in the finished work of our faithful High Priest, and so “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). In the new covenant, fear of not fulfilling our obligations perfectly is not the motivating factor in worship. Rather, we now come with confidence that is rooted in the very grace and mercy of God because of Jesus’ perfect and completed work on our behalf.
How does this lead you to worship in freedom, not fear?
What other thoughts or questions does today’s reading bring up?
Some of these notes are from the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible study notes. We highly recommend this study Bible.
Videos produced by www.TheGospelProject.com.
All links you need to be a part of this are here – Thru the Bible in 2018.