Tag Archives: Covenant

Day 123: David’s eternal throne

2 Samuel 23-24; Luke 21:1-19

This is our last reading from 2 Samuel. Chapter 23 begins with “David’s last words” – a poem reaffirming the Davidic covenant – that his throne would be established forever.

The book ends with David purchasing the threshing floor on which the temple would one day be built…

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings (2 Samuel 24:24-25).

Fast forward to today’s reading in Luke – and there we find Jesus – in the temple – teaching the values of the Kingdom.

Jesus is the son of David standing in the city of David in the temple that was rebuilt on the very site that David sacrificed to the Lord. How amazing is that?

And what was Jesus teaching? That the temple would be destroyed. Consider this… What was the purpose of the temple? The temple was where the priests led the people in worship through the sacrificial system. And the temple was where the presence of God dwelled.

Can you see how Jesus’ final sacrifice and resurrection made the need for the temple obsolete? Do you think David could have imagined the future? The splendor of Solomon’s temple being destroyed and rebuilt and then desecrated by the money changers of Jesus’ day – but that ultimately, David’s heir would sit on the eternal throne and because of His suffering and atoning death – open the way to the Holy of Holies to all people from all nations?

Never could David have imagined anything so terrible and wonderful! And neither can we imagine the wonder of the end of the age when Jesus will come again and make all things new!!! There will be no sun, for his glory will give light to the world. There will be no temple, because the dwelling place of God will be with man. There will be one King – who will reign in peace forever!

Yes, David’s throne is established forever… in Jesus!!!!

Day 116: The glory days!

2 Samuel 7-9; Psalm 60

The Davidic Covenant. It is the promise that God will establish David’s throne forever. It does not replace the Abrahamic covenant – but only clarifies it!

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. …I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever (2 Samuel 7:8-10; 12-13; 16).

David’s response to God’s promises was overwhelming gratitude. David’s prayer recorded in the last half of Chapter 7 is a model of humility and praise. And then we read of the glory of David’s reign…. Chapter 8 chronicles his victories in battle (and we surmise from Psalm 60 that David never presumed upon the Lord’s blessing – but stayed humble and dependent on His help). Chapter 9 describes his respect for Saul’s house as he treats Jonathan’s son as his own.

This is the epitome of godly leadership. David’s attributes of complete dependence on God plus true humility somehow combine to create a fierce warrior and a just leader. His person has been remarkable so far, but, unfortunately, we are about to see a sad turn in David.

Remember how God used the crucible of hardship to mold David’s character? Now that David is enjoying the benefits of blessing, he will be tempted to fall – and fall he does. But we’ll talk about that tomorrow!

Day 82: Intricacy and Goodness

Joshua 6-8; Luke 2:22-52

And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

“Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:7; 13-16).

These are the words that God spoke to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. We have read of Abraham’s descendants moving to Egypt to escape the famine, of the people being enslaved by the Egyptians, of God’s amazing rescue mission. He indeed brought great judgment on Egypt and the people came out with great possessions. We’ve read of the giving of the law, of the building of the tabernacle, of the marching to Canaan, and of the people’s failure to enter the land. We’ve read in Numbers of the 40 years of wandering and we’ve listened to Moses reiterate the law in Deuteronomy.

And now, finally…the people begin to posses the land. The iniquity of the Amorites is complete. You see, God used every circumstance and weaved each failure as he orchestrated the perfect plan to both bless His people and bring judgment on a very sinful people. If Israel had taken the land earlier, it would have not been fair to the Amorites (one of the main peoples who lived in Canaan) for “the iniquity of the Amorites [was] not yet complete” (Gen 15:16).

God’s plans for nations are intricate, complicated and good. But somehow God manages the same intricacy and goodness in His plans for individuals.

Consider Simeon in Luke’s passage. He is but one man. But like all people of faith, he was important to God. God had plans for him. Plans that included seeing the promised Messiah before he died. And God weaved and orchestrated so that Simeon, as an old man, would see Jesus as a 40-day-old infant.

And then God used Simeon, the individual, to prophesy God’s plan for the nations.

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

God’s ways are intricate and complicated. But most of all, they are good.

Day 76: Blessings and Curses

Deuteronomy 27-28; Mark 15:21-47

Blessings for obedience; Curses for disobedience. And the span between the two is wide.

Reading through Deuteronomy 28, I notice that the curses far outweigh the blessings. It’s like God knew that the people would one day walk away from Him. The curses seem to hit too close to home… the fruitlessness of labor, the fear of enemies, the battle with sickness and disease, the sense of purposelessness and anxiety.

We live in a fallen world. We desperately need a Savior. Someone to lift us up out of the mire and give us a purpose and hope. Someone to make sense of our suffering and pain. We need our minds opened to see life through an eternal lens – to know deeply – that our lives count for something – that we are worth something… that we are valuable.

Have you considered how Jesus’ death proves your worth to God? Read through today’s passage in Mark – and meditate on the death of our Lord – and know that He endured the cross to ransom a people. He endured the cross to save you from eternal curses.

His death guarantees that those who believe in His name –  to those that have been given the right to be called children of God – that they will receive eternal blessings! Read the first paragraph of Deuteronomy 28 and consider that these blessings are just a foretaste of the eternal blessings awaiting the believer in heaven!!

Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out (Deuteronomy 28:3-6).

Day 72: A lesson in Covenant

Deuteronomy 16-18; Mark 14:1-25

Moses continues his review of the law by following a loose pattern of the 10 commandments. Today’s reading includes instructions concerning festivals (chapt. 16) – which is loosely patterned after the 4th commandment (keep the Sabbath holy) – as well as laws concerning various leaders (chapt. 17-18) – which is patterned after the 5th commandment (honor your parents).

In today’s reading in Mark, we see Jesus eat his last meal before He is betrayed. Listen to His words…

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14: 22-24).

He alludes to “the blood of the covenant.” This echoes Moses’ words in Exodus after the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai…

Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:7-8).

Notice that the covenant Moses institutes at Mt. Sinai is a covenant of works. The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant. God promises to bless the people but only if they obey the law. The new covenant that Jesus institutes is an unconditional covenant – a covenant of grace. Jesus fulfills all the requirements of the old covenant – perfectly – and then offers to transfer his perfect record to us. This is grace.

Many Christians wonder why God gave the law if He planned to replace it with a new covenant. But the law wasn’t replaced… it was fulfilled. The law was necessary to teach us the holy standard of God. If there were no law, there would not be a need for grace!

Both the Old and New covenants flow from the unconditional promises found in the covenant God made with Abraham – that He would make for himself a great nation and through Abraham’s descendants, all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3) – and that He would be our God, and we would be His people (Leviticus 26:13).

We are covenant breakers, but God is the covenant keeper. We are blessed because of the promise made to Abraham which finds its fulfillment in the work of Christ. Jesus is the ultimate fulfiller. Moses prophesies of Jesus in Deuteronomy 18…

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him (Deuteronomy 18:18).

Because of Jesus, we can call God “our God” and He can call us “His people.” For this, I am grateful :)

Day 68: The love of God is set.

Deuteronomy 4:44-7:26; Mark 12:1-27

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you… Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations… (Deuteronomy 7:7; 9). 

How could the Israelite nation fall from such esteem? They were the chosen race. The Lord had set His love on this people. Moses implored them to pass on the covenant promises and the law down to each generation…

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

But the nation would fail to preserve the law, and the subsequent generations would fall away from the Lord. We find Jesus comparing the contemporary religious leaders to murderous tenants. Jesus warns: “He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Mark 12:9).

Despite the failure of the nation, the plan of God was not thwarted. The promised Savior did come from the line of Abraham, through Judah, through David and down to Mary and Joseph. He has now thrown open the door of the Kingdom to the nations! All are welcome, Jew and non-Jew alike. And somehow, his word has been preserved for thousands of years so that we might know that God… has set His love… on us!

Day 66: Israel’s beginning and end

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:11; Mark 11:1-19

Today we begin Deuteronomy.  The ‘experts’ say that it is structured similarly to ancient treaty documents. (I’ve never read an ancient treaty, so I wouldn’t know!)

In any case, Deuteronomy is important because it contains the final words of Moses. We will watch as he recounts their history, reminds the people of the law and implores them passionately to obey all that the Lord has commanded. It’s a powerful book, rich in theology and insight into the character of God.

Deuteronomy begins with the people just east of the Jordan river. They are poised to cross the Jordan and take the land. The promised land. Moses begins his final treatise by recounting the last 40+ years – beginning at Mt. Sinai (Horeb) and following the Israelites through the wilderness, to their failure to obey and take the land – to their 38 years of wanderings – on to their recent victories over King Sihon and King Og.

It has been a long journey – a journey which began hundreds of years earlier with God giving the covenant to Abraham…

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

We are on the brink of all the promises being fulfilled…all except one: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” We know that this promise is fulfilled in Jesus – the Savior that comes from Abraham’s family line.

In today’s reading from Mark, we see Him enter Jerusalem as their King. On the surface, it is a joyous entry, but His entry is a sad shadow of his future glory. He enters Jerusalem to find her spiritually dead. The fig tree, a symbol of Israel, has no fruit and Jesus curses the tree as a symbolic cursing of the fruitlessness of the Jews. He enters his temple to find it corrupt and defiled. He is King – but His people are unworthy. They need a savior – a priest to make peace between them and God. And only after the sacrifice is offered can the final promise be fulfilled – all the people’s of the earth are blessed because of Abraham’s family line – because of Jesus – our priest and King – who gave His life as a ransom for many!

Day 59: On the move

Numbers 20-21; Mark 7:24-37

Three days ago we read at the end of Numbers 14… that because of unbelief, the people would have to wait 40 years to enter the land. Numbers 15 begins with, “When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you…” In other words, God is gracious and reaffirms that despite the 40 year delay, He will, in fact, give the people the land.

The next 5 chapters (15-19) describe how the Israelites should observe the law – in the land. Their life in the promised land would be different from life in the wilderness – the changes in the law reflected this change.

Now we come to Numbers 20. And the 40 years are almost complete. The people gather together in the wilderness of Zin – which is just south of Canaan and happens to be the same area the spies first crossed on their way into Canaan years earlier. But that generation has passed away and we see that their children – though still rebellious, are not quite as bad as their fathers… Rather, the focus switches to Moses’ and Aaron’s rebellion. The consequences for their disobedience are severe, as Aaron dies and Moses is prohibited from entering the land.

We also read of the Israelites marching northward through the Transjordan (the land East of the Jordan River) and we see God’s favor return to His people as they defeat the kings of the Transjordan.

It’s an exciting time :) We are on the verge of seeing God fulfill a promise He first made to Abraham hundreds of years earlier!

But ultimately, all of God’s promises are fulfilled in the person of Jesus – who we find traveling to Jews in the outer most regions of Tyre, Sidon and the Decapolis in today’s reading from Mark. This may sound trite, but I love Jesus. I love watching his movements and actions. I LOVE reading about his healings. I can almost imagine myself being pressed on all sides by the crowds – hoping to catch just the glance of his eye…  When I read Mark’s gospel, I feel like I’m watching personified compassion on the move :)

Until tomorrow… when the plot thickens ;)

Day 43: The story of all stories

Leviticus 16; Matthew 26:57-75

Leviticus 16 describes the Day of Atonement. It was this day, only once a year, that the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place and make atonement for himself and for the people. The sins of the people were ceremonially transferred to a goat, the scapegoat, and it carried the iniquity of the people away to the wilderness.

The temple, the ceremonies, the High Priest… all of it pointed forward to the Messiah. But the people didn’t expect the Messiah, their Savior, to be a suffering servant. Even Peter, compelled by fear and crushed by the grief of unmet expectations, denied knowing Jesus in the end. And ironically, it is the High Priest, the appointed mediator between God and the people, that sentences the Messiah to death. Christ is left alone to accomplish what He alone could do.

John Bloom writes from the September 18, 2010 entry of the Desiring God blog: “Jesus turned out to be far more than the Messiah had been expected to be. He was the consummate temple, Passover lamb, sacrificed goat, scapegoat, high priest, prophet and the King of kings.

God can write a story! God is the ultimate author, originating all literary techniques such as irony, foreshadowing and symbolism. And to think… we are actually characters in His story. Amazing…

But when Christ came as the high priest of the good things we now have, he entered the greater and more perfect tent. It is not made by humans and does not belong to this world. Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood, and by it he set us free from sin forever. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean, and this makes their bodies clean again. How much more is done by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:11-14. NCV).

Day 42: Cleanliness Laws

Leviticus 11-15

A brief word about this section of Leviticus as the reading is long. It is important to understand the meaning of clean vs. unclean. It was not a hygienic term, nor did it refer to moral standing. It simply referred to a ritual state. The ESV Study Bible compares ritual cleanness to being registered to vote. If you’re registered, you can vote. Similarly, if you are ritually clean, you are permitted in the camp – or community. If you are ritually unclean, you must stay outside the camp until which time you are made ritually clean.

This concept is foreign to us because the cleanliness laws have been made obsolete by the new covenant. The purpose of these laws was to set Israel apart as a holy nation, different than the surrounding nations. Now that the new covenant has made the gospel available to all nations, the need for laws that make the Israelite nation unique is no longer needed. (For a New Testament example, see Acts 10, the story of Peter and Cornelius.)

So, enjoy today’s reading ;)