God’s Glory Through Kings Part Two
1 Kings 3:3-15, 11:1-8, 1 Kings 12:1-24, 1 King 16:29-34, Mark 1:15, 15:2
The books 1 and 2 Kings make up a comprehensive account of Israel’s monarchy following King David’s death. This account was originally written as one continuous story, but our Bibles break this historic account into two books, hence 1 and 2 Kings. 1 Kings begins with David on his deathbed, giving his parting words of wisdom and devising a political strategy with his son Solomon. Solomon, following in his father’s footsteps, is a man after God’s heart and humbly asks for wisdom so he can govern his people well. God graciously bestows on Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breadth of mind (1 King 4:29-34). Even with this gift, Solomon begins ignoring God’s wisdom and makes costly decisions that eventually lead him away from God. He marries the daughters of other kings and they influence him to follow their false gods. Slowly he is corrupted by sex, power, and money; some of the very things he warns against in Proverbs. His life begins to no longer glorify God, but glorify himself and his flesh. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, follows in his father’s footsteps and ignores wise counsel from his elders and goes with the favorable opinion of his peers. At the end of Rehoboam’s reign, the kingdom that David had once united is divided into the North (Israel) and South (Judah). In Israel’s kingdom, king after king (19 of them to be exact) turn away from God and no longer glorify God in their kingship as they continue to choose sin, folly, and the worship of other false gods. Eventually the sins of these kings leads to Israel’s suffering and exile to Babylon.
Despite the shortcomings and failures of Israel’s kings to follow God and yield to His ways, God does not withdraw His promise from them. God had promised that Jesus would come through David’s lineage (2 Samuel 7:12-14). The promise of Jesus being a descendant of David points to the greater promise of a better King and his name is Jesus. God’s reign is forever, and we learn that the kings of Israel and Judah are but a shadow of Jesus to come. That is why we rejoice during this Christmas season - our King has come.
It’s often said that it is darkest before dawn and here in 1 Kings, it’s dark. We end the book with the reign of Ahaziah who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 22:52). The depravity and wickedness that we see in 1 Kings stands in such stark contrast to the glory we see in our King Jesus. Yet in the darkness is where we see God’s glory displayed. In the darkness of Israel’s monarchy, God kept His promise of a Savior King through David’s lineage. In the darkness of afternoon, as nails pierced Jesus’ skin and bones, Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to us and he bore the weight of our sin and the wrath of God. God’s glory is on display as he keeps and fulfills His promise to save us through Jesus and establish his Kingdom here and now. Now, we can repent and be restored to God’s kingdom so that we may bow down in worship as our King sits on a throne of glory.
Wonder:
Do you struggle to believe this reality?
If so, is there a false narrative, a lie, a fear, a past or current sin that is keeping you from believing this truth?
Can you see God’s glory in the dark parts of your story?
