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: Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Chapters: I CHRONICLES 23, PSALMS 108-110
Study: The Eternal Things
Hello My Friend,
I spent an hour reading through Scripture looking up verses that related to Christ reigning as King after reading this Psalm, [Psalms 110:1-4 A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.]
[Sit thou at my right hand,] Jesus, in all His power and majesty as King of all kings and Priest forever, sits at the right hand of our heavenly Father (those whom have trusted Christ as their Saviour), exercising the same government over angels and man, ruling with great authority and honor upon the same throne as His Father, [1 Corinthians 15:23-26 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.]
[rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.] Christ has His enemies, and all the enemies of His people are His, He has overcome some of them such as sin, Satan, the Jews and the world, but not all things are put under his feet yet. He still has a few enemies that will show up, such as the Antichrist, the beast and false prophet who will be taken and cast into the lake of fire, along with the one who started it all, Satan, but the very last enemy to be destroyed will be death, [Revelation 20:10,13-15 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.]
[Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.] Christ, having done His work in not only giving His own life for the souls of man, but also in giving us an example to follow, enjoying the presence of His Father, at whose His right hand are pleasures for evermore. Jesus, now set down at the right hand of God, being entered into His rest, and having ceased from His work and labor, continues to set His kingdom in order for the day that He returns to earth to reign as both KING and High priest forever, [Hebrews 5:5,8-10 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.]
Melchizedek, was a king and a priest during the time of Abraham, and is a representation of Christ’s priesthood before any of this began. [Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.] God, did not minimize His power to just the Jews nor did He deny any person, regardless of what earthly family they were born into, the opportunity to get saved and live a life blessed by and through Him. He basically used the Jews to show the rest of the world that there is only one living God who is their Creator and blesses those who do come to Him willingly. There were plenty of Jews and still are who are in hell right now because they rejected Him and Christ. Now, after centuries of God using a tent to have a place that anyone who wanted to come to Him and make atonement and peace with Him, a temple would be built. As we continue in the reading of 1 Chronicles, David sets the kingdom in order for Solomon to reign in his stead, making sure that everything would be ready for him to build the very first temple for God.
[1 Chronicles 23:1-5 So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3 Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand. 4 Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges: 5 Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.]
[and four thousand praised the LORD] David, even went as far as to appoint all of the Levites for their service after the temple was built, he even set up a choir. Can you imagine a choir of four thousand people? Well, it was actually an orchestra, equipped with harps, flutes, recorders, and guitars, all playing as the people are signing for the LORD. Can you hear this orchestra play and sing this song?
[Psalms 108:1-6 A Song or Psalm of David. O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. 2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. 4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; 6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.]
[Be thou exalted, O God,] As I attempt to put music to the words and imagine how the song is played, I can see verses five and six as being the chorus. Of course, there are more verses to the song, but the whole song is a powerful reminder that God is in control of all things and people, and yet with all that great power, He still manages to give every one the freewill to choose Him. No one who is true to their faith in Christ has been forced to believe in Him, and likewise, those who believe the false religions. We are free to choose what we believe, even if it is not true, but always remember, that Christ has already chosen us before we have chosen Him, [John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.]
Do you realize that none of the disciples that walked with Jesus were saved until after He resurrected? [John 13:7,18-19 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.]
Yes, Jesus chooses us first because He already knows our faith, and sometimes it does take a while before we recognize that fact, well, I should say for Him to prepare us to be able to fulfill our duties. I was thirty-three before I discovered the whole truth about Christ and officially asked Him to save me, but it was not until I was thirty-five that I dedicated my life to Him and got baptized to prove it. Well, at least I am not eighty like Moses was when God started using him. And speaking of Moses, David continues to appoint the Levites for their services, he even appoints descendants of Moses’s sons.
[1 Chronicles 23:13-17 The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever. 14 Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer. 16 Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief. 17 And the sons of Eliezer were, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.]
[The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer.] Well, Moses’s sons were half Jews because his wife was of Midian, that was the place were he had ran and hid for forty years until God called him to go free His people, only when they started crying out to Him, [Exodus 2:21-23 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. 23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. Exodus 18:4 And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:]
God raised Moses to be a prophet, a lawgiver, and the ruler and guide of the Israelites under Him as they traveled through the wilderness to the promised land. Although Moses never got to step foot onto the promised land, he was still honored and recognized as the only man on earth to see God face to face, [Deuteronomy 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,]
Moses had no desire to be more than what God had appointed him to be, he sought no honor or glory for his sons, in fact, the civil government was left to Joshua, and the priesthood to Aaron, b God’s appointment of course, but he was just fine with that. Man, is the one who wants to label people and discount them because of the family they are born into and even their wealth, but it is God who sees past all that. Why do you think that God puts us in the families that are a little hard to handle? Look at David’s sons, very few of them followed the LORD and yet, who did God choose to send His Son? Solomon, who was born of David and Bathsheba, the ones who were once guilty of committing adultery. God discounts no one and appoints everyone where they need to be. The very last thing that David did before he got sick and could not really do much more was appoint the Levites for their duties, even before the temple was built.
[1 Chronicles 23:24-28 These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward. 25 For David said, The LORD God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever: 26 And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof. 27 For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above: 28 Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God;]
[Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service] The sons of Aaron would be the priests and high priests, they would be the ones to perform the services as they would have in the tabernacle. Since the temple would stay in its place, there was no need for the other Levites to put everything together and take it all down as they use to, and that is why David had given them new positions. Never say that you are too old to serve Him or that God is done with you, God is never done with us until He brings us home, that is unless we have lost our savor and become as Jesus would put it, salt that has lost its saltiness, [Mark 9:49-50 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.].
Sadly, many have lost their saltiness and God can no longer use them because they stopped serving Him faithfully. And as I keep trying to end this devotion as to not let it get too long, God keeps pointing out things that the Psalms reveal. We know that Jesus stands on the right hand of God, but did you know that Satan has people on his right hand? Well, David thought so.
[Psalms 109:1-7 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. 7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.]
[and fought against me without a cause.] When I read this Psalm before I even wrote any of this, the first person that I thought of is my oldest nephew, he was born the year that the twin towers were struck and his journey to get where he is now was not an easy one. Still today, he works hard, has such a kind heart and does his best to please everyone, while he is just trying to please God, and yet even among his peers he is often treated badly. God, definitely has a special place for him and is preparing him for great things to come, and as for those who fight against him without cause, God, will not bless or hear their prayers for that matter. You do not mess with His faithful! [2 Corinthians 4:15-18 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, There is something comforting and quite exciting to know that You belong to me, not by my works of righteousness, but my faith in Your finished work. You took me in and made me Yours, and now, I belong to You and You belong to me, and there is nothing or no one that can change that. Lord, I think about the life I lived before You and although I struggle today, it does not compare to what I struggled with back then. Your grace truly carried me through some very dark times, and that alone keeps me singing praises to You. I never want to spend another day in darkness, and while I may be afflicted, get chastened, or be subjected to the evils of this world, I know You are with me and will help me not only endure, but delver me through each and every one of them as my faith and trust is in You alone. Lord, Lead me and guide me, fill me with Your mercy, and grace to suffice these infirmities. Work a great work in me, and let me lead as a Godly example of the wonderful and blessed life You have given me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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