The Bible in 2020

Today’s Reading

I Samuel 30-31; Luke 17:20-37

Selected Verses

Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 1 Samuel 31:6

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:20-21

Reflections

The king is dead! Long live the king! The cry goes out from the subjects who are either grieved or relieved depending on the nature of the king's reign. It happened in Israel on the day of Saul's death.

Saul, the first king of Israel, had a miserable reign thanks to his own foolishness. He failed to obey God, to trust God, and to recognize his sin. He never sought forgiveness. God’s Spirit departed from him. He became paranoid and obsessively chased David around for years trying to kill him. His reign wreaked with his foolish decisions and dissolved in defeat and shame.

What are we to make of this? The then-new kingdom that had started out with some optimism and hope that Israel would be stable and successful ended in failure. A better king was desperately needed if a better realm was to be established. A kingdom will never be better than its king.

God raised up a new king and a new dynasty under David as we shall see in II Samuel. The kingdom of God would come with the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ of the line of David. That is the true and final kingdom, but it would not come immediately during Jesus' earthly ministry which ended in His crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

Think about it

We still await the culmination of the kingdom. But we already know the identity of the King. We know that He is the perfect Son of God. We know much about His kingdom. His rule will be perfect. The people of His realm have been forgiven and will be made perfect when that kingdom comes in its fullness. His kingdom will be eternal.

Let us live for that day, announcing the true King Jesus Christ. His Kingdom is forever!

© 2017 John A Carroll Used by permission

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