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What does the Bible say about? These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
Next we are told of those in Sharon turning "to the Lord" Acts 9: In 1 Timothy 3: When the apostle Peter went to the house of Cornelius, he said, " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And do this regardless of our prior aspirations and desires.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.
Because I live, you also will live. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
A Song of Ascents. Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord , as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In 1 Kings 8: I believe that the Lord honors the desire of our hearts to serve Him in any ministry, whether or not we actually end up being called by Him to fulfill that ministry.
I think also that David will be rewarded when he gets to heaven for having built the temple for the Lord, just as if he had been the one to build it. This is a great consolation for all of us. Just as with David here, many times in our lives as Christians it is the case that we sow for the Lord but that someone else reaps that fruit that we have labored for. The lineage of Joseph found in Matt.
Also, the scriptures seem to indicate that when Jesus sets up His Millennial kingdom, not only is He going to sit upon the throne of David, but a resurrected David is going to also reign as a regent to Jesus. It is not Solomon who built the temple who will reign as regent to Jesus, but David. Well, not only did the Lord tell David that it was not His will for David to build a house for Him, and thus he was forbidden to do so, but also the Lord indicates that He had always dwelt in a tent among the children of Israel. In other words, it was no big deal to the Lord that He dwelt in a tabernacle instead of a temple.
We can glean several things about this point: After all, knowing the omnipotence of the Lord and how magnificent are and will be all of His creations, we might assume that nothing we with our meager resources could create for the Lord would truly impress Him. What impresses the Lord is a heart that loves and honors Him. The Lord desires that which is internal from His people, not the external stuff. The Lord dwelt in the tabernacle out of His own sovereign choice and desire to humble Himself.
Interestingly, in John chapter 1 there is a long introduction to Christ that details His incarnation God being made flesh , and in John 1: The Lord tells David that David building a house for God simply was not something that the Lord had commanded to be done. The Lord is going to fulfill His plans upon the earth, we are not to seek to get the Lord to fulfill our plans but rather to align ourselves with the plans that He has in mind and has determined for the earth. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.
The Lord took David from being a follower to being a leader, you see. However, He will one day restore Israel as a nation to Himself as they will come to recognize that Christ is indeed their Messiah, and all Israel will be saved Rom. This restoration of Israel will occur during the 7 year Tribulation of the book of Revelation, and it is one of the primary things that the Lord will be accomplishing during the Tribulation. Then, when Christ returns to the earth to setup his Millennial Kingdom , He will set it up with Jerusalem as His capitol along with the church and a restored Jewish nation.
The Davidic Covenant is now given to David by the Lord. This is an incredibly important event, and in fact J. Vernon McGee has written that he believes that this chapter is the most important chapter written thus far in the Old Testament.
This covenant forms the basis upon which all of the prophets spoke and wrote prophetically about the Messiah to come. Also, in the New Testament we find that there are at least 59 references to David, such as: I am the root and the descendant of David , the bright morning star. Abraham, through his descendants, was promised a land, a nation, and a blessing: And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. In several gospel accounts, such as John 5: Some have attempted to explain that what is meant is not that the Messiah himself would sin and thus be corrected, but rather that when the Messiah would take the sins of the world upon himself and thus have iniquity upon himself, then he would encounter the stripes of men.
One translation I have read for this verse actually indicates that this was meant. This is exactly what Isaiah wrote about the Messiah to come in Isaiah And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. Someone has pointed out that this is the only place in the scripture where anyone prays sitting down. David though is sitting before the Lord and is in awe of the goodness and grace that he had received from the Lord.
To think that the Lord would build for him a house and a kingly dynasty that would last for eternity was overwhelming to David, especially after the Lord had reminded David of where David was when the Lord called and chose him to be king of His people. It would be good if we Christians would once in a while just sit before the Lord and contemplate all of the goodness and grace that the Lord has poured out in our life.
Has He not done exceedingly beyond what any of us sinful and rebellious at heart people deserve? All is ascribed to free grace. The greatness of God is apprehended and extolled. The special goodness of God to His people is owned. The covenant of grace is celebrated.
There is a believing pleading of the promises.
His supreme desire is that God might be glorified. There is a final pleading for God to make good His word. Effective prayer always involves pleading the promises of God to be made good for our lives.