THRU THE BIBLE
EXPOSITION
The Books Of The Chronicles:
God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants
XII. Relying On
God's Deliverance For Challenges Of The New Year
(1 Chronicles 18:1-17)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )
As we believers in Christ prepare to
enter the New Year, we stand in need of help regarding our security:
(1) We need help with our security due
to problems in the executive branch of the federal government: a report to Congress
by U. S. Department of Justice inspector general Michael E. Horowitz shows the
"DOJ and the FBI, which ultimately reported to then-President Barak Obama,
had it in for the Trump campaign. The
misconduct is too glaring and consistent to draw other conclusions," and
the Washington Examiner in its December 18th editorial called the situation
"'horrifying.'" ("FBI
invaded by politics," Republican-American editorial, December 17,
2019, p. 6A)
(2) We need help with our security due
to problems in the legislative branch of the federal government: the editorial,
"Impeachment train rolls on," Ibid., December 20, 2019, p. 10A,
reported that after the vote in the House of Representatives to impeach
President Trump, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan
Turley said on "CBS This Morning" December 18, "'The problem I
have is that . . . judging by how they define these two articles [of
impeachment], you could impeach every living president on this type of
allegations (sic).'"
(3) We need help with our security due
to problems in evangelical leaders: on December 19, 2019, Mark Galli, a
self-professed "'elite' evangelical" and Editor in chief of
Christianity Today magazine that evangelist Billy Graham began decades ago,
wrote an editorial titled, "Trump Should Be Removed From Office." Progressives exulted over the editorial and
the Christianity Today website got so many hits, it crashed. (christianitytoday.com;
Elana Schor, "Evangelicals close ranks around Trump," Ibid., December
23, 2019, p. 6A; Caleb Parke, "Franklin Graham slams Christianity Today
for invoking his father's name in call for Trump's removal," December 20,
2019; foxnews.com)
Billy Graham's son Franklin and
other evangelical leaders closed ranks around the President, supporting him, with
Mr. Graham saying his "father would have been 'disappointed'" by the
editorial, that "'My father knew Donald Trump, believed in Donald Trump,
and in the last election, he voted for Donald Trump.'" (Ibid., Schor; Ibid.,
Parke)
Many evangelicals voted for Mr. Trump
in spite of his imperfections because he better defended religious liberty. However, actions by progressive evangelical
leaders like Mr. Galli unnerves many evangelicals over what their influence can
do to dissolve the President's evangelical political support base just as the Senate
prepares for his impeachment trial and a potential removal of the president with
a possible resulting loss of religious liberties.
Need: So we
ask, "How do we gain the help we need to face our challenges of security
for the New Year?!"
I.
God promised to give Israel security from her
enemies in the Davidic Covenant, 1 Chronicles 17:9.
II.
1 Chronicles 18:1a then notes that "it came
about" (wayehi) "after
this" ('ahare-ken) presentation
of that covenant that several battles occurred in David's reign by which God
began to fulfill His promise of providing national security and rest from
oppression for Israel (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 465):
A.
To
Israel's west, David so greatly defeated Israel's long-time Philistine enemies
that where the Philistines had invaded and occupied Israel's towns even east of
the Jordan in Saul's era (1 Sam. 31:1-7), David defeated Gath and its villages
in the heart of Philistia. (1 Chronicles 18:1b; The MacMillan Bible Atlas,
1968, map 118)
B.
To
Israel's east, David defeated Moab, subjugating the Moabites into paying
him tribute, 1 Chronicles 18:2.
C.
To
Israel's north, David defeated the Arameans on an extensive military campaign,
1 Chronicles 18:3-11:
1.
David
attacked Hadarezer's territory that was located north of Damascus when Hadar ezer
had left for the Euphrates further north to recover lost territory, 1
Chronicles 18:3; Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T. David captured 7,000 of Hadarezer's charioteers,
20,000 of his foot soldiers and 1,000 of
his chariots and David hamstrung all but 100 horses so they could be used only for
farming, not to drive chariots in battle, Ibid.
2.
The king
of Damascus then attacked David while he was up in Hadarezer's land, but David
defeated him, killing 22,000 men and putting garrisons in Damascus and receiving
tribute from it, Ibid.; 1 Chr. 18:5-6a.
3.
In this entire
military campaign in Aramea, David took great amounts of spoil (1 Chronicles
18:7-8) and king Tou of Hamath chose to make peace with David, bringing him
gifts, 1 Chronicles 18:9-11.
D.
To
Israel's south, David's men routed Edom, killing 18,000 and leaving an
occupational force there, v. 12-13a.
III.
To manage this growing empire, David organized it
under capable leaders, 1 Chronicles 18:14, 15-17.
IV.
However, the KEY to all this success is noted in
the repeated phrase in 1 Chronicles 18:6b and 13b KJV, that "the Lord
preserved David whithersoever he went," and we explain (as follows):
A.
The verb
the KJV renders "preserved" in this phrase is yasha', it actually means "salvation, deliverance,"
and applied to Israel's wars meant victory as the delivering work of God. (B.
D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 446-447; H. A. W., Theol.
Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1982, vol. I, p. 414-415; cf. Deuteronomy 20:1-4)
B.
Accordingly,
David's great and repeat victories and his taking of vast spoils of war in
every direction he turned, be it west, east, north or south, was God's work to deliver David from defeat and
thus fulfill the Lord's Davidic Covenant promise to provide Israel security
from her enemies, 1 Chronicles 17:9.
Lesson: After stating His Davidic Covenant
promise to give Israel security from her foes, God began to save David from
defeat in battle wherever he turned, be it west, east, north or south, all in
fulfillment of that Covenant.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for
salvation, John 3:16. (2) In view of the
security issues we face in the New Year, may we heed God's promise to deliver
US in OUR era, what we explain in our "Conclusion" below!
Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )
(1) We before noted that
Christ's prophecy on our era of Church History at Revelation 3:21 implies we
will face rulers in the world who function in intrigue and oppress. We know this since Christ offers to set the
overcomer(s) "in" (The N. T. Greek term is en, U.
B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 845) His earthly Davidic throne, which preposition
is used of Christ Who is "in" (also en, Ibid.) His
Father's heavenly throne, and in that position, Christ will nurture believers with
the truth as they come out of the Great Tribulation where antichrist oppressed
them, Rev. 7:17.
Thus, just as Christ's
coming rule on earth in His earthly Davidic throne will be worldwide in
influence, so the overcomer(s) in our era being similarly seated "in"
His earthly throne will have huge, nurturing influence via Bible exposition for
those oppressed by rulers in the world religio-economico-politico-governmental complex.
This all implies two realities
for our era: (a) oppression will continue and possibly increase from the evil world
complex, but (b) God will preserve some order for believers in Christ amid the
oppression of such leaders for the overcomer(s) in the true Church to be able
to nurture needy people through Bible exposition.
We are thus left with
the following applications relative to the issue of our need for security:
(i) First,
we believers need to handle the afflictions we face from the threats to our
security that arise from godless leaders
in the world complex by immersing our minds and hearts in Scripture's
teachings. For example, Psalm 1:1-6
notes the blessings of the man who separates from godless counsel, from godless
theological stands and from godless offices, but who meditates in the Word of
God as a way of life: he will be "transplanted" (shatal,
Ibid., B. D. B., p. 1060; Psalm 1:3) onto a garden of "irrigation ditches
of water" (palge mayim) by Scripture's Author, God, and live
immune to the spiritual defeats the world faces like a tree that keeps its foliage
even in drought, Psalm 1:3.
(ii)
Second, we must live affirmatively with a positive outlook
grounded in a spiritual rest and trust in God that can direct and encourage
troubled people who come our way to find peace in Christ, Matthew 11:28-30.
(iii)
Third, we must trust God's Matthew 16:18 promise that Christ will keep building
His true Church regardless of opposition from the gates of Hades against
it.
(iv)
Fourth, we must trust the power of the Holy Spirit in us believers and Who is
active in the world to be greater than the power of Satan, the god of this
world, 1 John 4:4b with 2 Corinthians 4:4a.
The Spirit of God will continue to keep life a workable, livable
experience in our last era of Church History until the rapture of the Church!
(2) As for Mark Galli,
Editor in chief of Christianity Today and author of the "Trump Should Be Removed From
Office" editorial, he wrote another Christianity Today editorial on July
15, 2010 titled, "Divine Drama Queen" where he stated, "This
[Scripture's] God knows nothing about being a non-anxious presence. This is a very anxious God indeed. I'd rather have a God who takes sin in stride
. . . Why can't God almighty chill out and realize we're just human? . . . He's
such a drama queen." (David J. Stewart, "Christianity Today Accuses
God of Being a 'Divine Drama Queen,'" jesus-is-lord.com, citing
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/julyweb-only/38-41.0.html) This created a backlash of charges of
blasphemy, so Mr. Galli withdrew that editorial from the magazine's website, and
in its place asserted he had been misunderstood, a fact one can currently verify
by looking up the site cited above. (Ibid.)
Thus, Mark Galli and
Christianity Today magazine no longer speak for conservative evangelical
Christians!
(3) On the other hand,
we must recall that President Trump's marital record and character weaknesses show
we cannot follow him as a spiritual leader of the Church, but rather support
him as an elected secular official who has best among others in power in
the current era displayed protective concern regarding our religious liberties.
The Scriptural basis
for supporting the best man out of an imperfect field of
options is Nehemiah 7:2-3 where Nehemiah put Hananiah in charge of Jerusalem because
he was faithful and he revered God more than many others.
May we trust in
Christ for salvation. May believe and
heed God's Word regarding issues of security.