A Very Public Father-Son Talk about God’s Sovereignty
October 3, 2023 at 2:35 pm | Posted in I Chronicles | 1 CommentTags: 1 Chronicles 28, 2 Samuel 7, building the Temple, commentary on 1 Chronicles, David and Solomon, divine sovereignty, sovereignty of God, Sunday School lessons on 1 Chronicles
After listing the names of the Levites and their assigned responsibilities concerning Temple worship, and the responsibilities given to the other tribes in charge of the military and the administration of the government under David’s (soon to be Solomon’s) reign, the final two chapters of I Chronicles are primarily made up of addresses by David to Solomon and to the people in general and to Solomon in front of his council of leaders. David had spoken to Solomon about his responsibilities to build the Temple back in Chapter 22.
And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem.
I Chronicles 28:1
This speech was directed to his most trusted advisers, the most important and prominent people, politically and militarily, in the nation. The changes in who is being addressed don’t always leap out and make it obvious, but the first speech basically goes on down through Verse 10. Some of it is repetitive – especially the part about how David had it in mind to build the Temple but God made sure to let him to know that it would be Solomon instead. That’s the first thing he mentions, and it might seem to us that it’s still something of a sore spot for David, but what was really happening was that David was letting everyone know – especially anyone who might feel loyal to David to the extent that they would question why David wasn’t getting to build the Temple himself – that this really was God’s plan, not David’s or Solomon’s or anyone else’s.
Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
I Chronicles 28:2
This language about the house of “rest” and about the “footstool” is new, compared to the account in II Samuel 7 – unique to Chronicles – and it is important because it points to God’s arrangement of the Temple and this time and place for building it in referencing the way God rested upon the completion of creation, and the way the people were now to cease from striving for power and acquisition, and to rest in Him. It also conjured the image of a king placing his feet on a footstool beneath his throne, and the rest/satisfaction He Himself would take in receiving worship from such a people, and in blessing and protecting and ruling them as they obeyed and found delight in Him. There are strong notes of God’s sovereignty in these speeches, and of His sovereign choosing, that can not be ignored.
Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:
I Chronicles 28:4 (emphasis added)
Hear David’s emphasis here. This idea of God’s sovereign selection is not new to the New Testament, as some suppose. It is highlighted throughout the Bible, and David does not say it with pride. He says it with humility and amazement. He knew he was not chosen because of his worth, merit, wisdom, strength, or cunning.
And of all my sons, (for the Lord hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
I Chronicles 28:5
Why Solomon rather than one of David’s other sons? We can speculate, but only God knows.
And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
I Chronicles 28:6 (emphasis added)
If you are a Christian, God can say that about you, without any fear of being wrong. What a blessing this is – not only for Solomon himself, but for all the people – but there is a condition that must be met in order to reap the benefit of this blessing (which also applies to us):
Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.
I Chronicles 28:8
This was part of the same address, but turning now directly to Solomon, in front of everybody:
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
I Chronicles 28:9
How could David be so sure that Solomon would find God if he searched for Him? Because Solomon wouldn’t have done it if God hadn’t chosen him. Verse 10 sums it up:
Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.
I Chronicles 28:10
God acts, then we have a responsibility to respond, and the response is to put all our effort into doing what we could never do on our own, and then realize that God is doing it through us.
Your Lot in Life
April 2, 2021 at 12:45 pm | Posted in Joshua | 3 CommentsTags: Canaan, casting lots, commentary on Joshua, fate, Joshua 18, randomness, sovereignty of God, Sunday School lessons on Joshua, the promised land
Have you ever resigned yourself to some less-than-ideal circumstance by sighing, “I guess this is just my lot in life?” Your “lot in life” is a common expression used to express the idea that “fate” or “destiny” or “chance” has assisgned certain places, circumstances, and even people for you to deal with, whether you like it or not. As Christians, however, we ought to know that a loving, all-wise, and sovereign God (not fate, destiny, chance, or luck) is supremely in control of all the details of our existence, and that, whether we say “that’s just the way the cookie crumbles” or “it is what it is” with a grin, a groan, a grimace, or glee, God’s assingment of our lot in life is always serving His ultimate glory and our ultimate good.
Joshua 18 and 19 give us some principles that we can learn from the lots that determined the boundaries and sections of the tribes of Israel in the land of Canaan.
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.
Joshua 18:1
We can tell from the opening verse in Chapter 18 that there is going to be a theme of unity. If you belong to a local Christian church you may from time to time feel a sense of frustration at the dividing-up of various groups according to age or status in life: the “children’s ministry;” “the teen group;” “the senior saints;” “the men’s activity;” “the young married class;” “the college and career singles;” and so on. Sometimes we wish there were more occasions when “the whole congregation” of our local church would assemble together.
It’s one thing to be a church member or to have a church home, but it’s another thing to be actively involved in service. Shiloh would be the new center for worship for God’s people in Canaan. It was time for them to stop being a nomadic nation. They were divided by tribes, and the tribes were assigned separate sections of land, but they were still supposed to be unified in their singular worship of Yahweh.
Joshua 18:1 says that the land was subdued before them, but this means that the Canaanite resistance had been broken, not that the conquest was complete. Clean-up operations still needed to be done and settlements needed to be established, even though this could be done by individual tribes in their own inheritance-sectors without the need for all of Israel to fight together against large Canaanite coalitions.
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?
Joshua 18:2
This was said in love, but it was – make no mistake about it – a scolding, and a reminder for us, too, not to get lax. Praise the Lord for faithfulness on the part of His people (the habitual practice of Christian diligence). Praise Him for security and the assurance that, as Christians, we belong to Him, and, hopefully, to a local church. Praise Him for the joy of kept promises. But do not get “slack” in continuing to act on those promises and in seeking new challenges and in continuing the work of accomplishing victory for God’s Kingdom.
21 men (three from each of the remaining seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been specified) surveyed the land and made a map. Then, notice how the sections were chosen for the particular tribes.
Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.
Joshua 18:6 (emphasis added)
And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh.
Joshua 18:8 (emphasis added)
And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
Joshua 18:10 (emphasis added)
This selection by apparently “random” (although “random” is a misnomer when we are talking about the providence and/or sovereign decrees of God) lots was important for a couple of reasons. First, it would have seemed more fair to the people. It would have cut off allegations of favoritism. Second, it reminded them that God was in charge and that this whole operation of conquering and taking Canaan had been designed and carried out under His perfect supervision, and that this oversight would not cease as they occupied the land.
We must remember this, too. God’s salvation sought you and bought you without any merit on your own part. Likewise, there is nothing really random about your birthdate, the selection of your spouse, your job, your ministry calling, your address, or your church home.
Birth or Belief?
August 17, 2020 at 12:18 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: faith, faith alone, free will, grace alone, order of salvation, regeneration, Salvation, sovereignty of God, will of God
Question: Which comes first, regeneration or faith?
Answer: Regeneration means being born again (John 3:3-7; I Peter 1:23), so you are talking about saving faith, not just faith in general. A person is saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), so faith is necessary for salvation, but the precise chronological order is a topic that has been greatly debated throughout Christian history. The predominant and classical “Reformed,” “Protestant,” and “Puritan” views, for the most part, hold that regeneration must precede saving faith, under the following reasoning: Human beings come into the world as sinners, alienated and separated from God, and they lack the ability (Romans 8:7) to trust Christ on their own. Therefore, God must regenerate a person by supernatural grace in order to make that person a new creature who is willing and able to exercise saving faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.
One opposing view says that there is a tiny island of goodness within a lost person that enables him to cooperate with God’s grace, and, freely of his own will, exercise enough faith to be saved, and at that point he is regenerated.
I don’t know that we will ever know the true “timing” of how it works, since God’s thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9; Deuteronomy 29:29). Maybe in Heaven we will be able to comprehend more about it. I know that we experience salvation personally as something we choose, but our feelings are not the decisive factor. Certainly God is powerful enough to regenerate us prior to us realizing it or consciously experiencing it, but I don’t see any reason why He couldn’t create the gift of saving faith in every believer, and transfer it to each one strictly by His own unassisted power at the very moment of regeneration.
I would say that I do not (Romans 3:10-11) hold the view that says there is a little bit of goodness in people that causes them to seek God apart from His grace prior to salvation. I also think the Bible makes clear that we do not contribute anything to salvation, including our independent decision (John 1:12-13). All the glory for salvation, from beginning to end, and everything having to do with it is to God’s glory and because of His love and grace. It is nothing we deserve (Jonah 2:9; Ephesians 2:9) and nothing for which we get any credit at all.
Was Jesus Late?
July 10, 2020 at 1:59 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 5 CommentsTags: birth of Jesus, Ephesians 1, Galatians 4, God's timing, good timing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, perfect timing, sovereignty of God, time
Question: While everybody was singing along, I was reading the words to “Hark the Herald Angels” up on the screen, and one of the lines bothered me. It said, “Late in time, behold Him come, offspring of a virgin’s womb.” This is talking about Jesus’s birth, obviously, but why does it say, “Late in time?” What about the Bible verse that says God is always right on time?
Answer: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is the most theologically-rich of the popular Christmas hymns, and we will miss out on one of the greatest purposes (Colossians 3:16) of these hymns if we just sing along mindlessly without focusing on the truths being expressed, so I want to commend you for paying close attention to the lyrics. Far too many Christian songs (including Christmas songs) these days have words that are simply vapid.
To answer your question, I agree that God was not “late” concerning the timing of the birth of Jesus in the way we use the word “late.” In other words, God was not tardy in the sense that He wanted, but failed, to accomplish the timing of Jesus’s birth at an earlier date. While “God is always right on time,” is not really a Bible verse, and is really more of a Christian cliche’ that is likely to be printed on a coffee mug or social media meme, it is a statement that does happen to be Biblically correct. God, Who is immutable, is not really subject to “time,” which is a measurement of change. Therefore, when He ordains, controls, decrees, orchestrates, and intervenes in the events of the world, He always does so in a way that is perfectly sovereign and impeccably timed.
What I think the author of the song (Charles Wesley) was probably trying to express, though, was the idea found in Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10. The incarnation of Christ occurred at a pivotal point in history, and it was an event for which God had been preparing the world since its foundation. Think of it like this: When we are waiting for a vessel to be filled with water, the very last thing that happens before it overflows is that it reaches its maximum “fullness;” it is “filled” only “late” in the time of filling.
The birth of the Savior happened many hundreds of years after its prophecies had been pronounced and its preparations had been planned, and in that sense, it was “late in time.”
A Reminder of Recompense
October 25, 2019 at 10:53 am | Posted in Jeremiah | 4 CommentsTags: Babylon, Babylonian captivity, commentary on Jeremiah, Jeremiah 50, Jeremiah 51, Persia, return from exile, sovereignty of God, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah
When reading through the Book of Jeremiah, by the time you get to Chapter 50, it might seem to a casual reader as if Jeremiah has been speaking of Babylon in a positive light for a long time, but, remember, the Babylonians were not God’s people. He was using their own evil disposition and desire for conquest and power as His tool to ultimately punish and chasten His people. The Babylonians did not realize it, but, although they were in God’s hands, they were still accountable for their own sins.
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
Jeremiah 50:1-3
Just as Babylon had come from the north to conquer Judah, now the Medes and Persians would come from the north to conquer Babylon. There are many statements in the prophecies in Jeremiah 50-51 that had a then-contemporary element in Judah, Babylon, and Persia, but that have an ultimate fulfillment in Revelation Chapters 17 and 18.
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
Jeremiah 50:17-20
God could use the nation of Babylon but He would not truly bless it, because of its chief sin: its pride.
Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
Jeremiah 50:31-32
God allowed the oppression of His own people because He truly loved them. When God allows your oppression, humble yourself. Do not starting announcing your own strength and perseverance and pride.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:33-34
God wants glory for himself, not for us apart from Him.
When Cyrus, King of Persia, conquered Babylon, he would (by God’s decree) show favor to the Judeans in exile in Babylon and allow them to go home and rebuild (which is what Ezra and Nehemiah are primarily about). Just as God had warned people to submit to Nebuchadnezzar so they could leave Jerusalem, He now commanded them to be ready to leave Babylon when Cyrus gave them that opportunity.
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
Jeremiah 51:6
The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 51:10
God wanted them to be firm in their resolve to leave. Fleeing a city of destruction should be an easy choice, but He knew how rebellious their hearts could be, and how wavering and frightened. He didn’t want them to be paralyzed by fear in a time of change and upheaval.
My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
Jeremiah 51:45-46
We, too, must remember that God is in control, and not let our hearts be swayed by rumors or “fake news” that tells us God was wrong about something.
Does God Allow Evil?
August 17, 2018 at 11:56 am | Posted in Q&A | 2 CommentsTags: evil, Franklin Graham, Satan, sovereignty of God, Texas church shooter, Texas church shooting, theodicy
Question: I saw on TV where Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, said that God did not allow the Texas church shooter to shoot and kill all those people. He said the devil is the “god of this age” and that he’s the one in control. Does this mean that God is not really in control of what happens? Or is He only in control of some things? Or only good things?
Answer: I think I found the interview you are talking about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSpdT_NPOrA. If anyone doesn’t want to watch the whole thing, you can skip to the 2:00 mark where the lady asks him, “If God is all-knowing and in control, why would He allow something like this to happen?”
I don’t want to sound too critical of Mr. Graham. If you watch the whole thing, he said several good things about Jesus, and I’m thankful for someone who would talk about Him and His salvation on national television. I also don’t want to make it sound like Mr. Graham is not very knowledgeable about God and the Bible. I’m sure he’s way better at answering questions about them than I am. HOWEVER, he did get the part about God not allowing bad things very wrong. I will assume he just misspoke or maybe misunderstood the question. There is no doubt that God is in control of everything that happens (I Chronicles 29:11, Job 42:2, Psalm 135:6; Proverbs 16:4) and that He definitely could have stopped this shooting from happening if He had wanted to. We don’t know why He didn’t stop it, but, as horrible as it was, we have to admit that if God allowed it (and He did), then His allowance of it must have been the right thing to do in some way that we can not understand.
I do think it is highly likely that the devil motivated or caused an evil, vile, professed atheist murderer to shoot and kill a church full of worshiping Christians, and it is grievous to even think about it. There is a sense in which the devil is the “god of this world,” (II Corinthians 4:4) and that he is being allowed by God to do vast evil, but we must not lie about God and take away from people who are suffering the assurance that God is ultimately in control and is working all things together (including horribly evil things) for some greater good than we can imagine.
The Real Emancipation Proclamation
March 9, 2018 at 2:04 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 8 CommentsTags: commentary on Exodus, Exodus 33, Moses, proclamation of Christ, Proverbs 20, self-promotion, serving others, sovereignty of God, Sunday School lessons on Exodus
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
Proverbs 20:6
We have a strong tendency to promote ourselves. The Hebrew word translated as “proclaim” in Proverbs 20:6 is qara. It is from a root word meaning to stop someone and accost them. Most of us are willing to go out of our way – to insert ourselves into someone else’s path if necessary, to stop them in their tracks, to grab hold of them – and in some way try to cause them to think well of us as individuals. We are like traveling salesmen or street-corner hucksters, distributing a good opinion of ourselves and seeking our own glory.
This category, “most men,” is contrasted with the “faithful man.” The rhetorical question, “Who can find one?” emphasizes the scarcity of faithful people, but it also draws a sharp distinction between the self-promoter – the one who accosts people to tell them of his own goodness – and the faithful person who is literally hard to find. Why is he hard to find? Because he’s not trying to be found. He’s too busy serving other people.
In the Book of Exodus God spoke with Moses face to face, in a sense. He spoke to him as a friend, and assured him that He had favor with God. This prompted Moses to ask for a huge request. Knowing that ordinarily no man could see God with His glory unveiled and live, Moses asked for a special dispensation: “Lord, show me your glory.”
God agreed to a partial granting of this request:
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Exodus 33:19 (emphasis added)
God, like the boastful men of Proverbs 20:6, proclaims, too, but this is a different type of proclaiming. This is an announcement not tinged with a desperate need for acceptance. This is a bold, straightforward, official proclamation of Who God is – according to God Himself! And he told Moses flat-out: “I will decide on My own – without anyone else’s help or input – who will receive grace and who will receive mercy.”
As Christians, we are commanded to serve. Part of our service is to proclaim the truth about God, and part of that truth is that the results are up to Him, not us. Our part is to be faithful – to walk humbly with God, and to obey His Word. Our accosting of other people on God’s behalf may be successful or unsuccessful according to our estimation, but we should find comfort and hope and the resolve not to quit in knowing that the distribution of God’s grace and mercy to those to whom we minister is in His hands.
The Deep End 
Closing in Prayer
October 17, 2023 at 1:30 pm | Posted in Biblical prayer, Ephesians | 1 CommentTags: Biblical prayer, commentary on Ephesians, Ephesians 6, God's grace, prayer, sovereignty of God, Sunday School lessons on Ephesians
Ephesians 6:18
A general definition for prayer is that it is simply speaking to God. Supplication is asking God to supply what is missing: “wants” or needs. “All prayer” would include intercessions (praying for others), praise, thanksgiving, and confession and request for repentance.
Ephesians 6:19
Paul knew he needed prayer. We should should pray that God would help us to evangelize boldly and to speak correctly.
Ephesians 6:20
The last few verses in the Book of Ephesians are the closing of the letter, but they are also intended as encouragement. Encouragement is very important in the Christian life. Just as the sovereign God chooses to work through armor and prayer, He also provides the assignments He commands us to do, and He knows the things we need.
Ephesians 6:23 (emphasis added)
Peace is God’s gift. Love is God’s gift. Faith is God’s gift. They are “FROM” God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are provided by God’s grace. No one can love God with sincerity apart from God’s enabling grace.
Ephesians 6:24
This comes back to the idea that the power to live a Spirit-filled life must come from the Lord.
Ephesians 6:10