King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Chapters: 1 CHRONICLES 6
Study: Born To Serve
Hello My Friend,
A birth certificate is a piece of paper with a seal that gives proof that you were born, where you were born, what country you are born, and who your birth parents are, at least, the mother. Without that record there is no documentation that proves who you say that you are. The Old Testament of the Bible was not only written to give testimony to God dealing with Israel before Jesus came here in the flesh, it is a record book of the Jews as well as Gentiles. In fact, if we studied through our own ancestry, we would discover that too can be traced back to our father, Noah, and even further, to Adam. A birth record is very important, without it we do not exist, and we would not be able to receive the rights given to us, [Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. – Luke 10:19-20]
Yes, all born again believers, through Jesus Christ, have their names written in heaven. Yes, we do need to be born again in order for our names to be written in heaven, and the only way that is possible is through Jesus, [Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. – John 3:4-5]
And yes, all born again believers, through Jesus Christ, have to power to tread on serpents, scorpions, and Satan himself. I do not recommend you go stomping on deadly snakes and scorpions to prove this, as that would be tempting God, and He will not go for that. I do recommend that we use our power to preach the Gospel, and show the world that there is hope beyond this power of evil, all led by Satan himself. Now, as we return to the reading of 1 Chronicles, we are given an account of the descendants of Levi, up until their being taken captive to Babylon.
[The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Eleazar begat Phinehas, Phinehas begat Abishua, And Ahitub begat Zadok, and Zadok begat Ahimaaz, And Ahimaaz begat Azariah, and Azariah begat Johanan, And Johanan begat Azariah, (he it is that executed the priest’s office in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem:) And Azariah begat Seraiah, and Seraiah begat Jehozadak, And Jehozadak went into captivity, when the LORD carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. – 1 Chronicles 6:1-4,8-10,14-15]
[executed the priest’s office in the temple that Solomon built] The priests and Levites were more concerned than any of the other tribes about preserving their ancestry and being able to prove it. Why? Since God was their inheritance, all honors and privileges of their office depended upon their descent. We read of those who were children of the priests, yet, because they could not find the register of their genealogies, nor make out their descent by any authentic record, they were put out from the priesthood.
[Of Gershom; Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeaterai his son. The sons of Kohath; Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son, As for Elkanah: the sons of Elkanah; Zophai his son, and Nahath his son, Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn Vashni, and Abiah. – 1 Chronicles 6:20-23,26-28]
[Elkanah his son. And the sons of Samuel;] Elkanah is the father of Samuel, by whom Hannah, his mother had prayed to God for a son and said that she would give him to God. Samuel’s lineage did not go any further because his sons were wicked, and used their heritage as a means to manipulate and bribe the people, plus they were rather conspicuous, [And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. – 1 Samuel 8:1-3]
This is proof that one, you can raise up a child in the ways of God and they still be influenced by the world, and two, we must all given an account of ourselves before Jesus, [For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. – Romans 14:9-12]
While not everyone is chosen to be a pastor or an evangelist, many are chosen to be a part of the church, janitorial work, babysitting, teaching, singing, or even a pastor’s wife, every skill is given by God to enable them to be used in His ministry, and every one of them is honorable to God. Now, an account is given to the sons of Merari, from whom Asaph would descend. Many of the Psalms, we learned, are attributed to Asaph.
[The sons of Merari; Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzza his son, Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son. And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order. And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel, The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berachiah, the son of Shimea, – 1 Chronicles 6:29-33,38-39]
[and then they waited on their office according to their order.] These were waiting for the temple to be built by Solomon so they could fulfill their duties appointed by David. It was their sole job to sing all the Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that are written in the Book of Psalms. Music is very important in our walk with Christ, but needs to be the right music as we want to lift our spirit in song, and not our flesh, [This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. – Galatians 5:16-18]
David also appointed those who would do other services, but it was Aaron’s sons who would be appointed as high priests and priests according to God’s commands. An account is also given to the cities that each tribe had given them to dwell on, remember, God was their inheritance so they did not receive any land of their own.
[And their brethren the sons of Merari stood on the left hand: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, The son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, The son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shamer, The son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. Their brethren also the Levites were appointed unto all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God. But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. And these are the sons of Aaron; Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, – 1 Chronicles 6:44-50]
[or all the work of the place most holy,] I imagine Levi, who was the third child of Jacob, never thought that he or his descendants would be ministers of God. And yet, right after Aaron had helped the people build the golden calf and it was dismantled that God had chose him and his descendants to serve him as priests, [And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. – Exodus 32:2-5]
[And these are the sons of Aaron; Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son,] Aaron’s son Eleazar, was devoted to his calling as a priest, but his two oldest sons Nadab and Abihu were struck dead when they ignored commands of God and offered strange fire up to Him, which is why you do not see their names here, [And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. – Leviticus 10:1-3]
This brings up the point that not everyone who appears to be of God is true, which is why we have to make sure that any man of God is living by the Word of God in and out of the church and instills that teaching upon his congregation, [If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. – 2 John 1:10-11]
Now, we come to the towns the Levites were given to live from the other tribes as they were not given any specifically for themselves. Since God was their inheritance, it was God that took care of them, and made sure that every other tribe provided for them.
[Now these are their dwelling places throughout their castles in their coasts, of the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites: for theirs was the lot. And they gave them Hebron in the land of Judah, and the suburbs thereof round about it. But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of Judah, namely, Hebron, the city of refuge, and Libnah with her suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa, with their suburbs, And Hilen with her suburbs, Debir with her suburbs, – 1 Chronicles 6:54-58]
[And they gave them Hebron in the land of Judah,] It is interesting that David chose to live in the city of refuge for seven years as king of Judah. This was a town where the accused of murder could hide out and not be hunted and killed until it was proven whether or not it was by accident or intentional. They were allowed to remain there until they were proven innocent or while the high priest was alive. While we are not all murderers on the run, we are all sinners, and have a death warrant out on us. However, there is a way for us to be pardoned, and that is Jesus Christ, [But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. – Romans 5:8-10]
As you can clearly see, God’s people are no where near perfect, and that while blessings do come through obedience, even more come by His mercies. Amen! And perhaps the reason He does use the least likely to succeed is to show all of us that while we are the chiefest of sinners, we are still His faithful witnesses, [This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. – 1 Timothy 1:15-16]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for saving me, cleansing me, and making me one of Yours. You have given me many skills and talents over the years and while I do not understand all the uses for them, I do understand that You have a reason and purpose for them. You have given us an example on how we are to live as not only a testimony of Your great sacrifice for saving my soul from hell, but as a reflection of You. Lord, lead me and guide me, show me how and where to use the skills, talents, and gifts that You have given me to be used for Your glory. Never let me forget that it is not how much I serve You or even where I serve You that matters most to You, it is serving You with my whole heart, and leading the lost to You through my own testimony. I love You and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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