Second Chronicles 1-5

God’s message to me: Find what God wants me to do, follow God’s plan for doing it, look for God’s result(it’s normally easy to spot).

Promises: It is not difficult to know when what your doing pleases God. When the Temple was dedicated, the cloud descended into it just as it had on the Tabernacle of Meeting in the wilderness to show that God was present there. When the church has done well in following God’s mandates we see great revivals in which Christians prosper, many are converted and the church itself finds great prestige and prosperity.

Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and never got sick. He survived stoning, shipwrecks and other disasters. Other Apostles healed the sick, raised the dead and did other great works that showed God’s favor. Today is no different. If you want to see God’s power, do what God asks.

Commands: Find the best person for the job. When you are serving God the goal is to give Him your best. Because of that fact it is best to find the best people to do the jobs that need to be done. Solomon hired the best woodcutters, lumberjacks, jewelers, tailors, and other workers to do each of the jobs in building the temple.

Timeless principles: God has placed His name in a place, a city and a nation for all time and no Christian should ever turn from that fact. The Temple is the place, Jerusalem is the city and Israel is the nation and the Jews are God’s people in which He placed his name. No Christian has the right to undermine this fact. We must support the Jews, we must support the Nation of Israel, we must support Jerusalem as the home of the temple and the capital of Israel and we must support the Temple mount as the place in which God placed his name and the home of the Temple of God. No matter how politically correct and open minded it may appear to recognize these places as the home of Judaism, Christianity and Islam this idea is false. Christianity is the descendant of Judaism and should never be seen as separate. God made a blood covenant with the Patriarchs of Israel which can never be broken and no other people will ever replace the Jews as God’s chosen people. Christians are the adopted children of Israel and joint heirs not replacements. Islam did not exist until around 600 AD and the “Al Aqusa mosque” in Jerusalem wasn’t built until 691AD. The true Al Aqusa Mosque is in Mecca and dates to the time of Mohammad. Jerusalem was never said to be a holy sight in Islam until Israel was reborn as a nation and the Muslims needed an excuse to fight that outsiders might support.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Consider the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The disciples and Apostles watched as Christ ascended into heaven then returned to an upper room in Jerusalem where they prayed and studied and fellowshipped in the word for a month until the Holy Spirit came upon them. They walked out immediately into the city and preached in languages they didn’t even understand but were understood by others. 3000 people were added to the church that day. What was the formula? They prayed for 30 days, preached for 30 minutes and 3000 people were added to the church.

more to learn for in-depth study: 2 Chronicles 5:9 this is written while the temple is intact and the Ark of the Covenant is in the Holy of Holies in the Temple.

tomorrow: Second Chronicles 6-8

First Chronicles 28-29

God’s message to me: God has already prepared a way. When David became king he had already made all the contacts he would need with neighboring kingdoms while he was running from Saul. When Solomon became king he had all David’s contacts and everything David prepared for him to accomplish the building of the temple. When Solomon died he left behind great treasuries that would provide for Israel’s rescue from trouble in multiple occasions over the next several hundred years.

Promises: When God has something for you to do you may rest assured that He has already prepared the way. It was Solomon’s job to build the temple. Just as God told Moses the exact details of the construction of the Tabernacle of Meeting, He provided David with the exact details of the Temple of God (mistakenly called the temple of Solomon by historians). When Solomon began the project he had a detailed written plan for every aspect of the temple and it’s contents, he had more supplies than he needed to do the job, all the money needed to pay the workers, exact details down to the weight of the metals to be used in each item, workers ready to do the job, and everything else he needed. All he needed to do was start the job.

Commands: Prepare the way for what God tells you will happen. Charity is a wonderful thing but so is passing along an inheritance. God provides the ability to gain great things and for some it is a means to do charity and for others it is a path for future generations to gain security. Next time you’re tempted to believe that the guy on TV telling you it’s evil to leave an inheritance and all your wealth should go to charity, remember how many biblical characters left their estates to charity (none, though several left large estates as well as large amounts given to the temple and/or national treasuries) and how many left large estates to their heirs(almost all of them though some died without heirs or without an estate) MAN’S WAY MAY SEEM RIGHT BUT GOD’S WAY IS RIGHT.

Timeless principles: God expects us to do the jobs He assigns. David was not to build the temple but he was given the plans and the requirements. David took what he knew and prepared for the building project by making certain all the supplies were ready, the plans were laid out, the people were in place and the job was assigned to the man who God wanted in charge of it, Solomon, before he left the throne and then died.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Judge everything deemed a virtue by the measure of God’s word. There are many fine sounding ideas in this world that most would deem virtuous but God would find offensive. The stories of David show us several. Leaving an inheritance, securing your land and your nation, weapons in a place of worship, arming ministers, and so on. given the rest of this post this portion may seem out of place but, this is what I got from the text. What did you get?

more to learn for in-depth study: The end of First Chronicles tells us where we can learn more of David. The books of Samuel are found among the scriptures and the books of Gad and Nathan would be found among historic documents like the Talmud.

I have been asked who decides what goes into the bible. The answer is, God decides and showed early leaders of the Israelites and of the early church what should and shouldn’t be there. Many books that didn’t make it into scripture are still found in the Talmud. They have history important to the Jews. Some are books of prophecy that applied only to the time. Some are books of history and legend that provide insight into the times but are not useful for teaching doctrine. Others are simply not from reputable sources. The reason that the books of the Apocrypha didn’t make it into protestant bibles is simple. When the King James bible was translated, the Rabbi’s who passed along the scripture pointed out that parts of the document were not scripture but merely history and legend. This doesn’t make them worthless it just means they should not be a source for doctrine and deciding how God wants us to live our lives.

tomorrow: Second Chronicles 1-5