Word of Encouragement (03/20/2024)
“Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, 'You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.' 26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.” (1 Kings 8:25-26)
In the previous passage, Solomon praised God for the covenant faithfulness He had shown in the past by allowing Solomon to succeed David’s throne. In this section, Solomon prays for God’s covenant faithfulness to continue into the future: “...keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me’” (v. 25).
Solomon recognized that there was a conditional element to this promise: “...if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.” Does this mean that God’s covenant with David was a covenant of works? Not necessarily. A covenant of works does not allow any mistakes: one strike and you are out. It is true that, when God granted this covenant to David, David had fared quite well: “...if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.” His sins against Bathsheba and Uriah and His sin of taking a census came later. Even so, if it were a covenant of works, God should have revoked His covenant with David. But that was obviously not the case.
Why this conditional statement? A covenant of grace does not do away with the covenant responsibility to live in obedience to God. After all, a covenant of grace binds people with a holy God for intimate communion. How can people live in sin when they are engaged in a covenantal union with the holy God? One is not brought into a covenant relationship with God through his obedience, but he is brought in so he may live in obedience to the Lord.
This conditional statement might have served as a warning to the household of David. While David should not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel before the LORD, an individual king might be removed from the throne if he did not pay close attention to themselves to walk in obedience to God’s will. Even though God is gracious, He is also just: He cannot let sin go unpunished. Forgiveness in the tribunal of God does not mean a free pass out of the civil, criminal court or the court of social relations and history. There is forgiveness even for unfaithful, sinful Christians, but they may be removed from their jobs or go to jail for their sins/crimes.
This conditional statement also points to the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, on the basis of which all the covenants of grace could be granted to fallen sinners. Jesus Christ is the promised (and greater) Son of David. Throughout His life and ministry, He walked before the Father perfectly. At different, critical junctures, the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17 at the baptism; Matt. 17:5 at the Mount of Transfiguration; Rom. 1:4 at His resurrection from the dead). Because of His perfect righteousness, we can be brought into covenant union with God even though we are wretched sinners.
In Jesus Christ, God has kept His covenant to David, Abraham, and Adam and Eve in the post-fall Garden of Eden. Let us give glory to God, who deserves our unflinching trust and eternal praise!