Twenty years later, after the completion of the temple and Solomon’s palace, Solomon continues to build “and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion” he built! Solomon building up his calvary goes against the Lord’s instructions for kings (Deuteronomy 17:16). The Lord desires for his people to trust Him and not in horses and chariots – “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).

“Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, ‘My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.’” Several commentators concluded that Solomon knew that his pagan wife was unholy and that his marriage to her was not pleasing to the Lord; however, at this time, Solomon is still worshipping the Lord and has not turned to foreign gods. Eventually Solomon will marry many more pagan women which will lead to his downfall. But for now, Solomon is faithful to the religious practices of the Lord at the temple – “Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord that he had built before the vestibule, as the duty of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.”

Solomon raises up a labor force from the people who were left in the land. Solomon doesn’t make the Israelites forced laborers but he uses them to oversee the labor force. However, at some point Solomon puts his people under heavy labor because when Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, becomes the next king, the people are going to ask him to lighten the heavy burden that his father put on them (1 Kings 12:3-5).

“Now when the queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions… So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.” When she sees his wealth and wisdom with her own eyes she professes “Blessed be the Lord your God!” See, this is why the Lord pours out His blessings upon His people; so those around them will take notice and praise Him! Later in the Story, Jesus will rebuke religious leaders with this story of the queen of Sheba when they ask Him to perform a sign to prove Himself. In response, Jesus will say “A evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign… The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:38-42).

The Lord is the One who made Solomon great – “So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” However, Jesus is declaring in His statement to the religious leader that He is greater than Solomon because He is! He is God! The religious leaders will not believe that Jesus is Lord even after He performs numerous miracles. Their request for a sign will just be another attempt to find something on Jesus to bring Him down and Jesus knows this. The story of the queen of Sheba points out the fact that a pagan queen traveled from far away to see the splendor of the Lord. However, Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, will stand right in front of these religious leaders’ faces and yet they will not believe and they will be condemned for it. 

We end the reading with a description of all the silver and gold Solomon acquired for himself as well as the horses, some of which he imported from Egypt for trade. Solomon is disobeying several rules laid out by God for His kings – “But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself” (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). In Solomon’s later years, he will write the Book of Ecclesiastes, which we will soon read, where he will conclude that there is no meaning to be found in worldly pursuits and possessions; it is all meaningless apart from the Lord.

Solomon is just a man, like his father David. Although the Lord anointed them as kings of Israel, the people are still in need of a better King, the perfect sinless King Jesus Christ. Solomon is going to suffer consequences for his own disobedience but Jesus is going to suffer, not for his own disobedience, but for the sins of the world. Soon we will read about the consequences as a result of Solomon’s rebellion against the Lord; but before we get to that part of the Story, tomorrow we begin reading some of Solomon’s writings. So keep reading.

(2 Chronicles 8:1-18, 1 Kings 9:15-10:13, 2 Chronicles 9:1-12, 1 Kings 10:14-29, 2 Chronicles 9:13-28, 2 Chronicles 1:14-17)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

The temple was completed in the eight month of Solomon’s eleventh year reign as king, and the dedication was eleven months later during the Feasts of Booths (also called the Feast of Tabernacle, Feast of Ingathering, Feast of the Lord and Sukkot). During this annual feast, the Israelites live in shelters or booths for seven days as the Lord instructed in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:33-43). This was a great celebration for the Israelites where they gave thanks to God for his current provisions as they remembered His deliverance from Egypt and His provisions during the forty years wilderness journey. The Lord wants His people to remember that He is the One who provides for them. He provided their salvation from Egypt and He is providing eternal salvation for the world through the coming Messiah. 

Solomon says today “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.” 

Solomon requests that the Lord’s favor be upon them so that “all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God.” The Lord’s plans are much bigger than just blessing Israel. He is working His plan through the Israelites to bless all the families of the earth just as God promised their forefather Abraham- “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This blessing will ultimately be fulfilled through Abraham’s coming descendant, Jesus.

After the extended and elaborate celebration, the completion of the house of the Lord, and the completion of his own house, the Lord appears to Solomon a second time. The Lord responds that He has heard Solomon’s prayer and if the people “humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” And the same is true today!

Then the Lord says directly to Solomon, “As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.”

Now we know that David was not a perfect man by any means; however, David loved the Lord and he always desired closeness between him and God. And when his own sin got in the way of their relationship, David would confess, repent, and turn to the Lord for mercy and grace. So the Lord isn’t asking Solomon to do something that is impossible. The Lord is asking Solomon to trust Him, to walk with Him, to obey Him, to repent when he stumbles, and to gaurd his heart from that which will harm him.  

The Lord has poured His blessings upon Solomon. He has given him wisdom, riches, and honor; and now Solomon’s fame is known throughout the world. When the Queen of Sheba hears of Solomon’s fame, she comes to test him with some hard questions. That’s up tomorrow, so keep reading! 

(1 Kings 8:54-66, 2 Chronicles 7:1-10, 1 Kings 9:1-9, 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, 1 Kings 9:10-14)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord and all of the furnishings of the tabernacle to the temple – “Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim… Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” There is no mention of the pot of manna and Aaron’s budding rod which were set before the ark in the wilderness. Some commentaries say that they were placed elsewhere in the temple and others say that the Philistines probably took them when they captured the ark in battle. However, the final destination of the pot of manna and the budding rod is unclear.

When the priest came out of the Most Holy Place, the Levites who were singers began praising the Lord – “indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,’ that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” 🙌

Then Solomon blesses the assembly of Israel – “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David.” The Lord chose Jerusalem as the place to put His name, David and his descendants to rule over His people, and Solomon to build the temple. All that the Lord had spoken is being fulfilled. So Solomon says a prayer dedicating the temple to the Lord:

• “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.”

Although the Lord has a distinct presence in the temple, Solomon knows that God can not be limited by a place; His presence fills the heavens and the earth. Solomon goes on to pray specifically on behalf of the people. He says if anyone sins, because we all sin, may they repent and turn to the Lord for forgiveness and restoration. Solomon cites examples of when the people will need God’s grace and mercy:

• “If anyone sins against his neighbor…”
• “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You…”
• “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You…” Soon in the Story, during the Divided Kingdom Era, the Lord will stop the rain for three and a half years in an effort to get Northern Israel to repent and turn to Him just as Solomon prayed – “that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.”
• “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is…” 
• “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple…”
• “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them…” 

Solomon says after each, if the people turn from their sins, repent, confess His name, and pray toward the temple, may He forgive their sins and restore them. Solomon concludes his prayer saying, “When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.” 

Later in the Story, during the Captivity Era, when the Israelites are taken into captivity by the Babylonians, Daniel will risk his life believing this is true. King Darius will approve an ordinance that says anyone worshipping any god or man besides him for thirty days will be thrown into the den of lions. “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:11). Daniel believes that the Lord will hear the prayers of those who pray toward His temple and that He will deliver them and Daniel is correct! When he is thrown in the lion’s den “no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in God” (Daniel 6:23). 

However, much more unfolds in this Story before we get to the story of Daniel. Tomorrow the Lord responds to Solomon’s prayer and supplication; so keep reading.

(1 Kings 8:1-11, 2 Chronicles 5:1-14, 1 Kings 8:12-21, 2 Chronicles 6:1-11, 1 Kings 8:22-53, 2 Chronicles 6:12-42)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Solomon is a man who loves to build. He took seven years building the temple for the Lord and he took thirteen years to build an elaborate palace for himself. Included in Solomon’s luxurious palace is the House of the Forest of Lebanon which serves as an armory, the Hall of Pillars, the Hall of Judgement where Solomon sits to judge, and two palaces, one for Solomon and one for “Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as wife.” 

For the furningishes of the temple, Solomon hires a bronze expert, Hurman. “He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.” 

“So Huram finished doing all the work that he was to do for King Solomon for the house of the Lord: the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals which were on top of the pillars; four hundred pomegranates for the two networks (two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals that were on top of the pillars); the ten carts, and ten lavers on the carts; one Sea, and twelve oxen under the Sea; the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.”

The two bronze pillars at the entrance of the temple are named Jachin and Boaz. Jachin means “He will establish” and Boaz means “in Him is strength”, which is a reminder to all that the Lord is sovereign and we are dependent upon Him. The Sea of cast bronze, which Hiram built, is a massive and decorative basin for the priest to use for ceremonial washings. 

Hurman made the articles for the temple of burnished bronze and Solomon made the furnishings out of gold – “Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread; the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary, with the flowers and the lamps and the wick-trimmers of gold; the basins, the trimmers, the bowls, the ladles, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.” And once the work of the temple was complete, Solomon brought in all the things his father, King David, dedicated to the house of the Lord. 

Tomorrow, the glory of the Lord fills the temple… so keep reading. 

(1 Kings 7:1-51, 2 Chronicles 3:15-4:22)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today Solomon’s gift of wisdom shines when two harlots come to him with a dispute. One rolled over her baby during the night killing her son. Then she switched her dead child with the other harlot’s baby. Now both women are standing before Solomon claiming to be the mother of the alive child. 

Solomon uses his wisdom to flush out the liar as he orders the baby to be cut in half and half given to each woman. The real mom is identified as she is the one who pleads for her baby’s life. Solomon returns the child to her. “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.” 

So God uses a dispute between two harlots to bring all of Israel together in agreement over their new king. God could have chosen any way to show the world Solomon’s wisdom but he chose to use these two harlots in His Story. Isn’t that something?! The Lord waste nothing and uses the unlikely to accomplish His purposes! 

Solomon then builds a relationship with Hiram, king of Tyre, as his father, King David, had done. Solomon says to Hiram, “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’” 

Solomon arranges a business deal with Hiram for cedar and cypress logs from Lebanon. And the Lord says to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

“Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.” And seven years later, the temple is complete! 🙌

Tomorrow, Solomon builds his own house and furnishes the temple. Keep reading.

(1 Kings 3:16-28, 1 Kings 5:1-18, 2 Chronicles 2:1-18, 1 Kings 6:1-13, 2 Chronicles 3:1-14, 1 Kings 6:14-38)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Solomon is now on the throne, “So the Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.” One of Solomon’s first acts as king is that he serves justice to the wicked: 1) his brother, Adonijah, for attempting to take the throne, 2) the priest, Abiathar, for supporting Adonijah as the next king instead of the Lord’s chosen king, 3) Joab, for his ruthless murders of Abner and Amasa, and 4) Shimei, for cursing David as fled from his son Absalom.

1. Adonijah, Solomon’s older brother, attempted to take the throne for himself so David quickly gave it to Solomon. Adonijah then feared Solomon but Solomon said nothing would happen to him if he proved to be a worthy man (1 Kings 1:52). Well today Adonijah proves not to be a worthy man as he asks to marry Abishag, the lovely woman who cared for King David in his old age. This was another shot at the kingdom because back then men would make claims to the throne by sleeping with the king’s concubines like Absalom did with his father, King David’s, ten concubines on the rooftop (2 Samuel 16). However, Solomon sees right through to Adonijah’s true wicked motives and has him killed. 

2. Solomon removes Abiathar as priest for supporting Adonijah, “that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh” (1 Samuel 2:27-36, 1 Samuel 3:11-14). Abiathar is the last descendant of Eli’s to be High Priest of Israel. 

3. Solomon has Joab killed per David’s final instructions to him (1 Kings 2). Solomon instructs his servant Benaiah to “strike him down and bury him, that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. So the Lord will return his blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword—Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants forever. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.”

4. Shimei, from the clan of Saul, cursed David while on the run from Absalom, so David instructed Solomon not to allow Shimei to die in peace (1 Kings 2). Solomon first shows mercy to Shimei by telling him he would live if he didn’t leave Jerusalem. However, Shimei breaks their agreement and Solomon has him killed. 

Solomon places Benaiah over the army in place of Joab and Zadok as the priest in place of Abiathar. Once “the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon,” Solomon makes a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and marries his daughter; “then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.”

Remember, the Lord has given Israel five rules for kings (Deuteronomy 17:14-20):

1. Shall not be a foreigner 
2. Shall not multiply horses for himself or return to Egypt to multiply horses
3. Shall not have multiple wives, lest his heart turn from God
4. Shall not multiply silver and gold for himself 
5. Shall write his own copy of the Book of the Law and read it all the days of his life so that he does not elevate himself above his brethren. 

Solomon is on a slippery slope by making a treaty with Egypt and acquiring more wives, foreign wives who worship false gods. However, at this time Solomon is worshipping the Lord extravagantly by offering a thousand burnt offerings to Him at Gibeon. The Lord tolerates the worship on the high place at Gideon because this is where the tent to the tabernacle of meeting with God is currently located. After the temple is built and Solomon moves the tabernacle to the temple, along with the ark of the covenant which is currently in Jerusalem, the worship at Gideon will not be acceptable. The temple will be the one place that the Lord chose for His people to worship Him (Deuteronomy 12).

After the corporate worship, the Lord appears to Solomon in a dream and says, “Ask! What shall I give you?” Solomon humbly responds, “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 

Solomon knows the responsibilities of a king are too much for him to handle on his own; he needs help from a higher power! This request pleases the Lord so much that He not only gives him wisdom but also riches and honor; then He says to Solomon, “there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 

How will Solomon steward the gifts and promises he has received from the Lord? Keep reading to find out. 

( Psalm 83, 1 Chronicles 29:23-25, 2 Chronicles 1:1, 1 Kings 2:13-3:4, 2 Chronicles 1:2-6, 1 Kings 3:5-15, 2 Chronicles 1:7-13)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Psalm 81 is a festival psalm where God is praised for His faithfulness. The trumpet is blown and the people are gathered together to worship the Lord and to remember His lovingkindness:

• “Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob. This He established in Joseph as a testimony, when He went throughout the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not understand” (Psalm 81:3-5).

The Lord is reminding His people of how He liberated them from Egypt, where they were once enslaved, and He gave them the Law in the wilderness so that they would be people set apart to Him. The Lord delivered them from a land emersed in the worship of false gods and brought them into the wilderness to teach them how to walk with Him, to trust Him, and to obey Him. The Lord commanded them time and time again not to live like the people around them who were steeped in idolatry: 

• “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you! O Israel, if you will listen to Me! There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:8-10).

However, the Israelites continued to reject the Lord in spite of the marvelous works He performed on their behalf. The Lord longed to pour out His blessings upon His people as He says “open your mouth wide, and I will fill it”, but the people lacked faith; therefore, the Lord gave them over to themselves:

• “But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels” (Psalm 81:11-12).

The Lord’s warnings were ignored by the Israelites and their hearts went after the idols of the nations around them, so the Lord gave them over to “their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels”. Being left to ourselves is a death sentence. Jeremiah will later say, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). An unrestrained person acting out of the lust of his own heart will always default to evil and wickedness. The Lord knows this and that is why He pleads for His people to obey His good commandments because He knows what is best for them:

• “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you” (Psalm 81:13-16)

The Lord wants only good for His people – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). However, we must cooperate with the Lord as Paul will later say, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In order to be transformed, we must spend time in the presence of the Lord and in His Word; we must be people of discipline and self restraint.

Tomorrow, Solomon sits on the throne as the new king of Israel. Just as the Lord has warned His people against idolatry and commanded them to walk in obedience all throughout the Story, He will soon give the same charge to King Solomon – “Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples” (1 Kings 9:4-7).

Solomon, like everyone else, will have a choice to make…obey the Lord and walk in His ways or don’t. Keep reading to see the life of King Solomon unfold.

(Psalm 79-82)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

In a time of trouble and despair, Asaph begins to question the Lord:

• “Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” (Psalm 77:7-9).

Asaph’s questioning leads him to remembering the Lord’s past faithfulness:

• “And I said, ‘This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds” (Psalms 77:10-12).

Remembering what the Lord has done in the past allows us to trust Him in the present. And you can’t remember the faithfulness of the Lord unless you know His Story. Asaph is a man who knows the Story of the Lord as he recounts it Psalm 78:

• “Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers” (Psalm 78:12-16).
• “Had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full” (Psalm 78:24-25).
• “He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas; and He let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings” (Psalm 78:27-28).

The Lord’s Story not only highlight His faithfulness, but also exposes mankind’s disobedience and lack of faith:

• “In spite of this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear” (Psalm 78:33-33).
• “How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy, when He worked His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the field of Zoan” (Psalm 78:40-43).

Of course God’s power can not be restrained; however, we can limit the Lord’s activity through our own lives by not surrendering to Him. When Jesus arrives on the scene, He will be rejected in His own home town. Matthew will write about how Jesus’ works were limited there because of the people’s lack of faith – “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). The Lord desires to bless us and to lead us, but we must give Him full access to our lives. 

Asaph goes on to say that not only did the people rebel against the Lord in the wilderness but also when He brought them into the promised land:

• “He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies” (Psalm 78:55-56). 
• “When God heard this, He was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had placed among men, and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand. He also gave His people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance” (Psalm 78:59-62).

However, despite the people’s lack of faith, the Lord was still faithful as he defeated the Philistines, brought the tabernacle back to Israel, and gave them a leader who was after His own heart, King David:

• “But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has established forever. He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands” (Psalm 78:68-72).

The Lord is still faithful today in spite of man’s disobedience and lack of faith – “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). God is sending a better David to rescue and lead His people. This entire Story is about the Lord’s Son Jesus Christ who is coming to live a sinless life we can’t live and die a horrific death that we deserve; so that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ shall be deemed righteous, not based on our own merit but His, and restored to the Father. Today, right this moment, God is still working to bring salvation to anyone who believes. Anyone…it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done…anyone who prays a prayer of genuine repentance and ask Jesus to be Lord over their life will be grafted into His Kingdom – “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world… So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13,19).

We have an awesome God with an incredible Story of how He sent His Son to save the world! God commands His people to know His Story and pass it down from generation to generation to remind them of the Lord’s faithfulness and to encourage them to walk in the ways of the Lord:

• “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done” (Psalm 78:1-4). 

It only takes one generation not knowing the Lord and His ways to lead future generations away from God and into full blown idolatry as we saw in the Judges Era (Judges 2:10). May we be a generation that knows the Lord and His Story and passes it down. 

We have one more day of reading the psalms and then we will jump into the life of King Solomon… so keep reading.

(Psalms 75-78)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Psalm 50:4-6 – “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people: ‘Gather My saints together to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.’ Let the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.”

• There will come a day when we all will stand before the Lord. Christians will not be judged in terms of their eternal salvation because that is secure in Christ; nor will we be judged for our sins because Jesus bore those for us on the cross. However, Christians will stand before the judgement seat of Christ (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10); and we will be judged for how we spent our time here on earth with our works and our motives behind our works. For our good works, we will receive an award; however, there will be a loss for those works that did not glorify the Lord. 

Psalm 50:12-15 – “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

• The Lord is rebuking His people who are just going through the motions of offering sacrifices to the Lord without a heart surrendered to Him. God is not in need of animal sacrifices or anything for that matter from us. He is not impressed with someone performing public religious displays but ignoring all His commandments in their personal life. The Lord desires for His people to give thanks to Him, obey Him, and trust that He is for them.

Psalm 50:16-23 – “But to the wicked God says: ‘What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver: Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”

• The people are performing the religious duty of the animal sacrifice yet living lives consenting with thieves, partaking in adultery, lying, and slandering others. This blatant neglect of God’s law exposes a heart issue. A heart that loves the Lord will desire obedience and will delight in praising Him. The idea of your heart being exposed through your obedience to the Word of God is not just an Old Testament concept. We will see this same rebuke given in the New Testament:
  • “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:20-21).
  • “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
  • “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).
  • “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:4-6).
  • “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:18-20).

Works do not save us as Paul will explain in his letter to Titus – “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). We are saved by grace through faith; however, our faith is exhibited through our works. And it’s not about going through the religious motions; it’s about a heart that loves the Lord and out of love for Him, our deeds are evidence to the world that we belong to Christ.

No one can fool God with religious activity. He is the one that sees the heart and knows all motives behind each action. Therefore, we can rest assured that the Lord sees the ones who truly belong to Him, and one day those who are His and who steward their time well here on earth will stand before Christ and hear these words – “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).  Keep reading. 

(Psalm 50, Psalms 73-74)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Psalm 89:3-4 – “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: ‘Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’”

Psalm 89:19-21 – “Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and said: ‘I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand shall be established; also My arm shall strengthen him.’” 

• Ethan, the psalmist of Psalm 89, writes about the Lord’s everlasting mercies and faithfulness as he remembers the covenant that the Lord made with King David. David was chosen, exalted, anointed, established, and strengthened by the Lord as king of His people. Partial fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant is through David’s son Solomon; however, it will be perfectly fulfilled through the Lord’s son, Jesus Christ. Jesus’s mother, Mary, will descend from the lineage of King David’s son, Nathan; and Mary’s husband, Joseph, will descend from the lineage of King David’s son, Solomon. When we get to the Book of Matthew, we will see that Matthew calls Jesus the Son of David before listing His genealogy (Matthew 1:1). 

Psalm 89:27-29 – “Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.”

• The Lord took Jesse’s youngest son, David, and made Him His firstborn son. God already said through the Patriarch Jacob, while he was on his deathbed in Egypt, that a king would come from the lineage of his son, Judah, and he would have an everlasting kingdom (Genesis 49:10). David was chosen by God as this firstborn king from the line of Judah. However, David’s life is just a foreshadow of the coming King, King Jesus. Paul will later call Jesus Christ the firstborn – “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). Jesus is coming to die so that we may have life. After Jesus is crucified, He will rise from the grave three days later making Him the firstborn of many. Therefore, anyone who trust in Christ can have hope that they too will rise from the dead. 

Psalm 89:30-37- “If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.”

• When we read about the life of King Solomon and David’s descendants, we will discover that they will forsake the law and neglect the ways of the Lord; and there will be consequences because of their disobedience. However, the Lord will never break His covenant with King David. This seed that shall endure forever is the seed that the Lord promised to send back in the garden after the serpent deceived Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent instead of the voice of the Lord, sin entered the world. However, God didn’t leave them in their sin state without hope. The Lord promised to send a seed of a woman who would come and crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). That seed is Jesus Christ who is coming from the outside as God and will be born by Mary, a descendant of King David. Jesus will come once and defeat death but He will come back one day for ultimate victory over Satan. Satan will be bound and thrown into the lake of fire along with anyone who rejects Christ; but for those who accept Jesus as their Savior, they shall never perish (Revelation 20-21).

So when Ethan says, “What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?” (Psalm 89:48)… We know the answer! Jesus Christ! And since Jesus defeated death, we can live our lives with hope that there is way more in store for us than what this shattered world has to offer. We can look with anticipation to the Day that we will stand face to face with our Lord and Creator. 

Therefore, just as Paul will later write from prison to his disciple Timothy, we too can suffer for a moment knowing that one day the Lord will take us home – “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:8-12).

May we live our lives with our focus on that Day, the Day we stand before the Lord. Keep reading.

(Psalms 144-145, Psalms 88-89)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching