INTERESTING FACTS : PATRICK HENRY, REVOLUTIONARY GENERAL; LEGISLATOR; "THE VOICE OF LIBERTY"; RATIFIER OF THE U. S. CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA

 

"BEING A CHRISTIAN... IS A CHARACTER WHICH I PRIZE FAR ABOVE ALL THIS WORLD HAS OR CAN BOAST." "THE BIBLE... IS A BOOK WORTH MORE THAN ALL THE OTHER BOOKS THAT WERE EVER PRINTED."

 

"RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE CAN EXALT AMERICA AS A NATION. WHOEVER THOU ART, REMEMBER THIS; AND IN THY SPHERE PRACTICE VIRTUE THYSELF, AND ENCOURAGE IT IN OTHERS."

 

DAILY READING : 1 CHRONICLES 28 - 2 CHRONICLES 1

 

TEXT : 1Ch 28:12  And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: 1Ch 28:19  All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. 1Ch 28:20  And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

 

THEME : INSPIRATION

 

We finish 1st Chronicles with the record of David's preparation to build the Temple, and his charge to Solomon to do the work. Being a man of war, God forbade him to build the Temple, yet it was in his heart to do so. Still, he made the necessary preparations, and then handed the task to Solomon. In this, we see the cooperation between God and man in God's grand plan of history. Foster, writing on a historical anecdote about Napoleon, states the following.  "It is said, that, on the eve of Napoleon's departure on his Russian campaign, he detailed his schemes to a noble lady with such arrogant positiveness, that she tried to check him saying, "Sir, man proposes; but God disposes." "Madam, I propose and dispose too," the emperor haughtily replied. A few months after, the disastrous retreat, and the loss of his crown, army, and liberty, vindicated the power of God." Thus, we see the truth of Proverbs_16:9 in the life of Napoleon and David - "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." It is a mystery no doubt, and one not easily understood. Nevertheless there is a relationship between God's actions and Man's plans. Yet, in the end, it is God's decision that abides.

 

For example, we read in 1st Chronicles 29  - 

 

1Ch 29:11  Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. 1Ch 29:12  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. 1Ch 29:13  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. 1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. 1Ch 29:15  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. 1Ch 29:16  O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.

 

Here in verses 11, 12, 14 and 16 we see that even when Man gives, he only gives what belongs to God anyway. This is humbling. We give to God what belongs to God. Therefore, our reward is simply one of the heart, namely our faith. For we cannot truly give God anything. First, He is God and does not need anything. Second, all we possess belongs to Him. Even the soul, the innermost part of every man and woman alive, or that has ever lived, or will live, belongs to God "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel_18:4 

 

Therefore, it is God's prerogative to do what pleases Him, though man still has his own will. The difficulty with this reality is found in trying to describe precisely how everything works. That is, trying to ascertain the correlation between man's will and God approving, or man's decision and God overriding is one fraught with intellectual difficulties. Happy is the man or woman that trusts God through His Word and Spirit, prays, seeks His face, and then goes about their life.

 

When applying this correlation between God and Man to eternal life and salvation, there is no end of the controversy. While one says it all of God, the other says it involves the will of Man as well. Perhaps, the mystery of God working His will through Man is resolved with the example of a coin. Though possessing two sides with different symbols or inscriptions, it is nevertheless one and the same. If a person describes one side - no matter how thoroughly, he has only one side of the coin in mind. On the other hand, if someone else does the same, they have the same half view. It is not until we see that a coin having two sides is nevertheless one, that we come closer to the mystery of salvation and eternal life. Though we cannot fully appreciate the correspondence between God's will [that ultimately prevails] and Man's, we nonetheless see both in the Bible. David in his desire and preparation to build the Temple illustrates this perfectly. He proposed, God disposed. David had the desire, God had the design. Thus, we see the people of God's own choosing in a cooperative relation with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

 

TRUTH FOR TODAY : "THE BIBLE IS GOD'S BOOK, NOT MAN'S!"

 

Further, we see a corresponding example in God's writing the Bible. It may be said the Bible is Man's Book. Yet, in the end it is God's Book. Similar to the nature of Christ, in that He is 100% man, and 100% God, so is the Bible.  Jesus is not half God and half Man. Rather, He is fully God and fully Man. Thus, it is with the Bible. It is fully God and fully Man, not half Man and half God. The Bible retains a variety of [writing] styles, where we see the personality of the writer bleed through the pages of Scripture. Yet, the ultimate source of the Bible is God.  Men wrote as they were "moved" by the Holy Spirit. Yet, they wrote with their own unique personality. Obviously, it pleased God to enter into a cooperative relation with His own creation - Man, and used Man to fulfill His will in writing His Word.

 

Concerning 1st Chronicles verse 19, in David's preparing for the Temple's construction, John Gill writes -

 

"Either by an impulse of his Spirit on him, whereby it was as it were written on his mind, and as clearly represented to him, as if he had it in writing before him; though the Jews think that all was first made known to Samuel, or some other prophet, who delivered it to David in writing, as from the Lord: but I see not why it may not be understood that David had the pattern of the temple, and all things relative to it, by an handwriting from the Lord himself, through the ministry of angels, as Moses received the two tables, the handwriting of the Lord, from himself; for the words, as they lie in order in the Hebrew text, are, the whole of this "in writing from the hand of the Lord, unto me, he made me to understand: even all the works of this pattern"; the particulars of which are given before."

 

Adam Clarke adds -

 

"In some vision of ecstasy he had seen a regularly sketched out plan, which had made so deep an impression on his mind that he could readily describe it to his son. "That the architecture of the temple," says Dr. Delaney, "was of Divine origin, I, for my part, am fully satisfied from this passage, and am confirmed in this opinion by finding from Vilalpandas that the Roman, at least the Greek, architecture is derived from this, as from its fountain; and in my humble opinion even an infidel may easily believe these to be of Divine original, inasmuch as they are, at least the latter is, found perfect in the earliest models; nor hath the utmost reach of human wisdom, invention, and industry, been ever able to improve it, or alter it but to disadvantage, through the course of so many ages."

 

Here we see how God works through David to fulfill His will, though it was in David's heart to do this work [i.e. building the Temple]. When David first announced his plan to build the Temple, Nathan told him to go ahead because God was with him. Yet, that night, God reveals to Nathan that David is not to build it but Solomon. Now, the question is - why did Nathan first give David approval? He is a prophet. He knows the voice of God. Yet, he learns that God approves of the building of the Temple, but not by David. Further, we learn that God caused David to know "by writing" what the design of the Temple was, how it should be built, and by whom [Solomon].

 

Then, after the Temple is finished, Solomon announces -

 

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" 1Kings 8:27 

 

Further, God Himself says through Isaiah -

 

"Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Isa 66:1 - 2

 

When we put these thoughts together, knowing all Scriptures is inspired, we see the following.

 

David desired to build a Temple for God.

Nathan tells him God approves.

God tells Nathan the Temple will be built but not by David.

When Solomon is finished he questions how can God "fit" into such a small, confined area.

God concurs through Isaiah that the heavens are [merely ] His throne, the earth [like] His footstool inferring no [one] place can contain Him.

Then, in Isaiah 66:2, we come full circle as God reiterates what David said - everything belongs to Him!

The Bible is God's Book, not Man's. Yet, it pleased God to use Man to fulfill His purposes. Great is the mystery of God's Book. For in it we learn that God created Man to have fellowship with him. Moreover, in so doing, God enters into a cooperative fellowship where Man has the will to choose as well as the intellect to imagine, analyze, compute, and process his thoughts. Yet, in the end, God's will prevails. Perhaps it is a mystery without a full and satisfactory explanation and understanding in this life. However, you should be comforted to know you have the privilege of cooperating with God in fulfilling His will for you and for the entire world!

 

"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." Acts_5:32 

 

It was always God's desire and disposition to make Man His Temple, whose Temple we are!

 

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1Co 6:19 - 20