jimbussell

I, like most of the people I know, grew up with a basic concept of our physical world. A tangible world of three measurable dimensions, the length, the height and the depth of something. All the things we can see and can touch have these properties, or these three dimensions. Whether we are aware of it or not, the mathematics that was developed to measure these properties is called Euclidean Geometry, so named after a Greek mathematician that lived in the third century BC.^*1 I also grew up to learn how to tell time and learned the timelines of the history of our physical world. Because of this, I always had difficulty picturing eternity. Sure, I learned that eternity was ‘a lot of time’, but mentally trying to measure something with no beginning and no end using a finite measurement was beyond my understanding. Therefore, eternity to me fell into the faith category; it was something beyond my comprehension but something that was, because the bible said it was.

A little over a hundred years ago Albert Einstein published his Theory of Special Relativity,^*2 which turned the scientific community on it’s ear and began an avalanche of theories and equations which brought Quantum Mechanics*3 hypotheses out of the back room of mathematics where it had resided since the early eighteen hundreds and shoved it into the scientific spotlight where it remains to this day.

One of the central theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics is the linkage of time to the other three dimension to make four knowable and provable dimensions. That’s fine, but what does this have to do with anything, other than Trivia Pursuit?

I learned about all this garbage (as I felt about it at the time) over thirty years ago, how that time changes with it’s surroundings, how that time is affected by the mass or gravity or the speed of an object being observed. Before Einstein had the insight to postulate that time changed with it’s environment, everyone though time was constant. Up until that time, everyone thought time was unchangeable and not affected by the physical world. Since Einstein’s breakthrough, the scientific community realized that time is affected by it’s surroundings and therefore it is a measurable, physical property of our existence. Chuck Missler said in his Introduction to Prophecy, Session One, that the properties of time linking it to our physical world has been proven in over fourteen different way.

Why is this important to any of us as Christians and students of the scriptures?

I suppose the first reason that comes to mind why this is important to us as students of the Word, is the fact that time, mass, acceleration and gravity are all properties of the physical universe that we live in. This basic, simple fact means that time, as we know and observe it, has no bearing on God, the creator of our universe and therefore the creator of all things within it, including time. This also means that eternity is not a ‘long time’ but is something outside of our existence and our time. Eternity was at the beginning, eternity is now and will be in the future because it is a property of God and something we will understand when we become like the creator as John said.

I John 3:2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.(NKJV)

I am on a rediscovery tour of the scriptures after a few decade hiatus and I have became fascinated with the provability of the bible. The more Satan tries to diminish and marginalize the Holy Scripture, the more it is revealed that what the bible has said all along is unquestionably true. In 1905 Einstein put forth his Theory of Special Relativity^*3 proving that we exist in four measurable dimensions. Euclid had said a couple of thousand years ago around 300 BC, that we existed in a world of three measurable dimensions. The Holy Spirit, through Paul told us in the first century, a couple of thousand years before Einstein, in the letter to the Ephesians that we live in a world of four measurable dimensions.

Ephesians 3:17-19 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (NKJV)

Growing up in the Church, I had always been told to take on faith all things I didn’t understand. Therefore this is one of those passages that I would look at, wonder about, shrug and read on…but from a secular point of view, this is an astounding statement. The Holy Spirit is giving us an insight to our physical world that the great minds of the day didn’t have the ability to understand because they hadn’t developed the means to measure the complex, and minute changes in time in relation to it’s environment. This is significant not only because it predates Einstein by a couple of millennium, but it also chalks up another inerrant scientific proof of the veracity of the Word of God.

The more advanced, voracious and complex Satan’s attempts to discredit the bible become, the more the Holy Spirit is able to give proof and evidence using the tools of mathematics and science. I feel as we as humans progress in our humanistic endeavors, with Satan’s nod, to create and evolve our new religions called science and math, the Holy Spirit is patiently waiting to use the more advanced tools and knowledge of the secular world to prove even more insights that have yet to be unlocked in the Holy Word. I get like a kid with a puzzle when I read the Word of God sometimes, and at those times I want to become as a king to search for the hidden treasures still locked within the scriptures as Solomon conveyed in Proverbs,

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.(NKJV)

God Bless, Jim Bussell

12-15-10

*1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_geometry

*2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity

*3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

(note) I wrote two different pieces on science, math and the bible for Koinonia Institute, an online seminary I am attending, and even though I borrowed a couple of paragraphs from one to use as filler for the other, they are thoughts on the same subject from two different angles so I segregated the topics on time  into two parts. This is part 1.

Jim

This is a potentially fun subject for me because I have always been fascinated by science…so lets look at it and see where it leads.

I was taught, as most of us were, that time is linear, that time is virtually one continuous and constant stream that flows from beginning to end. My teachers spoke of time as impervious to changes in our environment. Therefore, I grew up attempting to grasp the concept of eternity as it relates to my concept of time. Obviously, it is almost impossible to under stand such an enormous amount of time as eternity. I ended up relegating eternity to the ‘I can’t understand or grasp it, therefore I will take it on faith’ category to be filed away until I go to heaven as we are told in John.

I John 3:2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.(NKJV)

But, hold on. What if we could begin to understand eternity? What if we could get a little insight into God, the creator of all things? What if we could rub clear a tiny spot in the window of obscurity that has plagued mankind since we first read the scriptures and peek outside of our little chunk of reality…wouldn’t that be ultra cool? I believe we can do just that, thanks to our pagan brothers in the scientific community that worship at the altars of silliness*1.

For millennium, time had been viewed as linear and absolute without relation to our physical universe. We that are older than 30 grew up with this concept and, whether we knew it or not, we followed Euclidean Geometry*2 which taught us there are three physical dimensions that we deal with: width, depth and height.

A little over a hundred years ago Albert Einstein published his Theory of Special Relativity,*3 which turned the scientific community on it’s ear and began an avalanche of theories and equations which brought the Quantum Mechanics*4 hypotheses out of the back room of mathematics where it had resided since the early eighteen hundreds and shoved it into the scientific spotlight where it remains to this day.

One of the central theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics is the linkage of time to the other three dimension to make four knowable and provable dimensions. Interestingly, whether Paul understood actually what he was writing or not, the Holy Spirit in the book of Ephesians told us that very thing a couple of thousand years before the scientific community figured it out.

Ephesians 3:17-19 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (NKJV)

That’s cool, right, but what does this have to do with anything, other than Trivia Pursuit?

I learned all this garbage about physics and time dilation (as I felt about it at the time) over thirty years ago, how that time changes with it’s surroundings, how that time is affected by the mass or gravity or the speed of an object being observed. Before Einstein had the insight to postulate that time changed with it’s environment, most everyone though time was constant. Up until that time, science thought time was unchangeable and not affected by the physical world. Since Einstein’s breakthrough, the scientific community realized that time is affected by it’s surroundings and therefore it is a measurable, physical property of our existence, or to look at it from another angle, time is just a factor of our local reality. What does this mean to God? Absolutely nothing, in the sense that he is affected or limited by the constraints of time. This little tidbit of science has completely and drastically altered our understanding of the physical universe. Biblically it is just as drastic because it exponentially increases our ability to understand that because time is a property of the universe God created, time has no bearing on God, because it is one of the things he created when he created us.

I believe the Lord has constructed the Holy Scriptures and also constructed the time-lines of mankind to work in conjunction with each other as some sort of infinite, well oiled and balanced clockwork mechanism. With the advance of understanding of our universe through science and mathematics there is another spiritual lock in this infinite clockwork that tripped open at just the right time to allow science to prove the veracity and timeliness of the Holy Word and of the Creation at the time it comes under ever increasing attacks by a fast growing paganistic world with a sole purpose of marginalizing and destroying the credibility of God and Christ and ‘The People of the Book’ as we are called by the Islamic world*5. Whenever Satan finds new ways to use the tools of mankind to try and thwart the will of our Lord, God uses the same tools to block Satan in this sort of spiritual chess match between good and evil. It seems increasingly with the events of the last few weeks that we in the end game portion of the match.

Therefore, since a portion of Satan’s minions, commonly referred to as scientists, have expanded our knowledge of our universe it allows us to better understand the scriptures. I have a technical mind and I strive for knowledge and I believe the more advanced, voracious and complex Satan’s attempts to discredit the bible become, the more the Holy Spirit is able to give proof and evidence using the tools of mathematics and science. I feel as we as humans progress in our humanistic endeavors, with Satan’s nod, to create and evolve our new religions called science and math (the altars of silliness), the Holy Spirit is patiently waiting to use the more advanced tools and knowledge of the secular world to prove even more insights that have yet to be unlocked in the Holy Word. I get like a kid with a puzzle when I read the Word of God sometimes, and at those times I want to become as a king to search for the hidden treasures still locked within the scriptures as Solomon conveyed in Proverbs,

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.(NKJV)

So, to answer the question, No. God does not have ‘lots of time’ since he created the physical property that we call time. God however, does fully understand time and tells us that our time upon this Earth is limited and in Job he implies that we are basically people existing here temporarily in strife on the way to our ‘retirement’ home in heaven is the way I understand his passage there.

Job 7:1Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? (NKJV)

I believe this topic is an experiment of human understanding and the history of man proves that we as human attempt to discount as fantasy, myth, lore or legend things that we don’t understand. We as human have a tendency to place God, and even more tragically, Satan in a comfortable box of understanding. When we do that we virtually create limitations on them that can be deadly to us spiritually. To marginalize God means that we create situation where we don’t trust in him, because “he can’t possibly do that, using our understanding of thing, right?”…wrong. God understands us and has compassion on our human failings.

In my opinion, what is even more tragic and deadly is when we put Satan in a box. When we do that, when we begin to believe that Satan is limited by constraints that we can understand relating to our existence, we suddenly find ourselves completely underestimating our enemy. It would be analogous to a primitive tribe with archaic weapons going against an enemy with tactical nuclear capability alone, without help. The primitive tribe doesn’t understand the modern concept of nuclear physics, therefore they can’t understand the weapons available to their opponent. They don’t have to understand the weapons of their opponent, though, if they understand they can’t win against them alone and they ally themselves with a power greater than their enemy. That is where we stand. We are the primitives, without understanding of the abilities of our foe, our enemy Satan, and the only hope of winning is to allow The Lord to stand in front of us in the heat of the battle that we are embroiled in. The battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil that want  to consume and overwhelm us, a battle ultimately between the hosts of our Lord and of our opponent, Satan.

God Bless, Jim

12-11-10

*1Altars of silliness…with the advanced understandings of Quantum Mechanics, came the increase in the understanding that the current theories were horribly unprovable and incorrect. That is when science grudgingly pinned the title ‘Intelligent Design’ to explain the beginning of all things. When the religious community accepted the title and ran with it you could almost see the scientific community running around in a panicked and frantic state attempting to debunk the ‘intelligent design’ explanation because it means CREATION! They can’t have that at all. The notion that science is proving God is causing fits and spastic attacks and already they are attempting (without a lot of success) to rearrange the mathematics. At this point the best they can do is to ignore the elephant in the room and back away from the provable ‘intelligent design’ and fall back on randomness and evolution. Satan’s…sorry, I meant science’s…unprovable, but comfortable disinformation campaign.

*2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_geometry

*3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity

*4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

*5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book

I was asked to describe which of the following times makes you most appreciate the Psalms.

a. When you go through dark times
b. When you want to sing praises to God
c. When you want a more powerful prayer life
d. When you need Biblical insight

All of them.

God Bless, Jim

I could have ended it there because every one of those descriptions have there high points in my appreciation of this wonderfully, devotional book. I think Psalms is the most precious of all the books because of the power it has to dive into your soul. Bob Dylan in the song, “Tangled Up In Blue” wrote these words:

And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you*1

That’s what I think of when I think of Psalms. I had read a few of the Psalms as a child, especially Psalms 118 to fulfill the ‘chapter of the bible reading requirement’ enforced by my mother. I, of course, was familiar with Psalm 23 but the Psalms really held no significance to me until my rediscovery tour of the bible started a couple of years ago. Last fall and winter I listened to Chuck Missler’s commentary on the book of Psalms and was totally blown away and astounded with this wonderful book. I have had a compelling desire to write down a book or more of the bible. Deuteronomy tells us that the Kings of Israel were to write their own copy of the Torah as one of their first acts as a ruler of God’s chosen people. We are told we are kings and priests in the order of Melchizedek and Christ. So I reason, we as kings have a duty to know the text we derive our lives, present and future from. I decided to start scribing my own copy of the bible and the first one that came to mind was Psalms. I am only ten chapters into it, for I am still struggling with developing and setting up a devotional schedule.

Lets look at the question categories again. I have listed a Psalm or two that I think jumps out at you in each one of the emotional areas we all experience.

a. When you go through dark times Psalm 18
b. When you want to sing praises to God Psalm 48, 138
c. When you want a more powerful prayer life Psalm 59
d. When you need Biblical insight Psalm 2, 20, 22

Psalm 171 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
3 Thou has proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.(KJV)

Psalm 48 1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
5 They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
9 We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.
10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.(KJV)

Psalm 1381 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
6 Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. (KJV)

Psalm 591 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.
4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
5 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
8 But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy. (KJV)

The last category about biblical insight has three Psalms listed. Two of them are considered Messianic Psalms. The other one, Psalm 20 is a little jewel I included that is not considered a messianic Psalm but is definitely one in my thinking. The Tanach is full of rich, messianic prophecy from beginning to end and Psalms is no exception.

Psalm 201 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call. (KJV)

We need to remember the one that sits on the right hand of God is none other than Our Lord Jesus the Christ who is mentioned as a Savior and also a warrior that kicks the butts of the wicked. Psalm 48 could also be included in this category because it has end times written all through it.

God Bless, Jim

4-17-11 for Koinonia Institute

*1 Tangled Up In Blue, Songwriters: Bob Dylan

The book of Job is a well known story of piety, strength, faith and endurance through adversity as well as the good times.

As we look at the three friends of Job and read of their attitude and advice throughout these plights of Job’s we see that they are models and types of us, as we interact and deal with our friends, family members and fellow christians.

Job’s three friends had heard of his sufferings and came together to be with him. So far it sounds like a gathering of good friends, but after Job starts a discourse where he goes on about wishing he had never been born and wishing he could die, not only because he is in so much pain and discomfort from not only serious stuff, but also because they were his worst nightmares of pain as we find out in chapter 3, verse 25 So it wasn’t just some random sicknesses that afflicted him, but apparently, the afflictions that he had feared most in his life were hitting him and hitting him hard.

Job 3:25  For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. (NKJV)

After hearing him through his pain and suffering, his buddies decided they would chime in and put in their two cents worth of advice (which is usually about what it’s worth).

The first friend, Eliphaz, looks upon what’s happening to Job and makes assumptions and judgments about why these terrible things are happening to him based on his observations of others that fell on hard times, apparently and therefore believes, using his logic, that Job must have really hit the homerun of sins to be punished this badly for it.

Job’s answer to Eliphaz gives some insights, it seems that Job understood nothing evil or bad could happen to him without the Lord’s approval. Even though he understood this and didn’t understand why the Lord was allowing this to happen to him, he still believed in His Lord and remained faithful.

Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. (NKJV)

The second friend on the scene, Bildad, also has to offer his reason why this is happening to Job and decides that God has turned his back on Job, therefore Job wasn’t actually upright and pure but was playing a shell game with the favors of the Lord and it finally caught up to him.

The third friend, Zophar not only ridicules Job but does everything but slap him in the face with his words:

Job 11:3-6Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. (NKJV)

Finally Job has all; he can take and blasts them with his collective reply in chapter 12 and they duke it out with word for the next few chapters with an eloquent summary of what he thinks of their bedside manners in chapter 16.

Job 12:1-4 Then Job answered and said: “No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? “I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. (NKJV)

Job 16:1-2Then Job answered and said: “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! (NKJV)

So what do we have here? We see three friends of Job who were so busy making assumptions and passing judgments, probably simply to elevate their own self-worth and stature when faced with an infirmed Job, who was most likely an imposing and important person in the land of Uz, that they couldn’t see that they were most likely passing judgment upon Job for things, that conceivably, were simply reflections of their own actions and attitudes. All of us could take a lesson, not only from the faithfulness of Job, but also from the carelessness and seeming bitter resentment of his ‘so called’ friends toward one perhaps better off than they. Instead of being good listeners, his friends decided to assume the worst and therefore passed judgment on their sick, bewildered friend who never faltered, despite their best efforts to make him renounce his faith in the Lord.

God Bless, Jim

4-11-11 for Koinonia Institute

I’m sure this isn’t a topic that will keep you awake at night, but I have been curious why The Lord didn’t want David to build the Temple so I decided to go to the source and look it up. II Samuel 7:5-17“Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? “For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. “Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ‘ “Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. “And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. “Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, (11) “since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a house. “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. “I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. “But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ‘(16) “According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. (NKJV)

When I first read this I was a little confused by the context because I expected this to be the passage about Christ being the lineage of David. It is…but not in the way that I expected. To really get a feel for the text I had to read the previous chapter. II Samuel 6 opens with the new king David who had just routed the Philistines (Palestinians) gathering his men to move the Ark of the Covenant from it’s resting place in the house of Abinadad to the fresh, new City of David. Uzzah, a son of Abinadad reached to steady the Ark as it was being bounced going up a hill and was struck down by The Lord, which fairly well shook every one up, so the left the Ark at this location for three months , but eventually brought it into the City of David with much celebration, fanfare, dancing and great hooplah.

In II Samuel chapter 7 David started reflecting that The Lord had blessed him with a City and solid roof over his head so he figured that the Ark of the Covenant, where The Lord dwelt, should have a permanent temple also but The Lord had other plans and told the prophet Nathan to squelch David’s plan for a temple. He also instructed Nathan to remind David that his ascent to the throne was by the will of The Lord.

OK, that was the contextual lead-in to the passages covered in the discussion question. As I said previously, when I first read it I was a little confused because I didn’t understand the context the passages were lifted from, but it seems clear now.

The Lord continued in verse 11 to remind David where he came from and where is and what is in store for the future of David and his lineage. The Lord told David he wasn’t to build a temple, but his son that followed would build a temple to The Lord and even though he would falter and fall, The Lord promised that he wouldn’t turn his back on him as he did to Saul, which must have given David comfort. In verse 16 The Lord gave David some comforting words here when he promised that he would bless the house, the kingdom and the throne of David forever, which is a Messianic prophecy. Also, the word forever must be a foreign concept to a lot that read it, because they seem to not understand that forever means…forever.

When I first read this I initially took the promise in verse 16 almost as some sort of consolation prize for not getting to be able to build a temple…but I don’t think that is it. Chuck Missler has alluded to David not being able to build the temple to some disobedience and there may be support for that elsewhere in the scriptures…but I don’t think that’s it either.

I personally think that The Lord didn’t allow David to build a temple to The Lord, because if he had built a temple, that is what he would be remembered for in posterity…it would have been David’s Temple, instead of Solomon’s Temple. Luke reminds us in Acts that The Lord said David was a man after his own heart and I think that is what The Lord wanted to make sure that is what David is remembered for…not a bunch of massive stones.

Acts 13:22“And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ (NKJV)

If you search a concordance you will find positive reference after positive reference after positive reference about David and I think The Lord wanted to make sure the historical references and legends passed down about the most famous ancestor of Christ that would be remembered and talked about wouldn’t be muddied by our human nature to elevate those who achieve great feats, such as Solomon with his majestic temple. Therefore I believe The Lord wanted the historical record of David to be about the person, the family the throne and the promises and not about his personal achievements.

God Bless, Jim

4-8-11