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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
2 Sam. 24, 1 Chron. 21
The thought that entered my mind when reading this story this morning is that David was more like Adam than like Christ in this particular situation. Though it was David who sinned, it was the people who suffered the consequences of that sin. So, as it was with Adam – one man’s sin brought death to many. This was not the case with Jesus, though. His crucifixion was the one and only time when one man’s death took the sins from many. Maybe that is part of the reason for this census story. God made and fulfilled His Messianic covenant through David, and He used David’s life in many ways to reveal things about His promised Messiah. However, David was just a man like any other. The Promise was made to and through David. But David was not the Promise.
1 Chron. 22
I have commented in the past that maybe part of the reason that God used both Moses and Joshua to bring His people into the Promised Land was to show us that Jesus would not complete His saving work all at one time. I am now wondering if God didn’t allow David to build His temple for the same reason.
We know that Jesus is the Temple of God, which He rebuilt in three days after the Jewish leaders tore Him down. However we also know that the Bible is full of layered meaning and symbolism. As such we, too, as Christ’s body of believers, are God’s Temple, of which Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus laid that cornerstone and made preparations for the building of God’s house with His first coming, even as David did for the Temple that Solomon built. He is now, through the Holy Spirit, doing the work of building God’s Temple, as Solomon did. When His work is complete, He will return and bring God’s full presence to us.
Ps. 30
“What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit?” (Ps. 30:9a). Because God lifted up Jesus Christ, bringing Him out of the realm of the dead and sparing Him from the Pit, there is now gain for us in Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus is now able to do for us what God did for Him. He lifts us up, heals us, and brings joy to replace our weeping. He turns our lament and sadness into dancing and joy. The Enemy is now powerless against us. What better reason for us to exalt our God, proclaiming His truth and praising His mighty name forever?