God’s Promise to David

Psalm 132:1-18

“If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore,” Psalm 132:12.

 

How often do you ask God to establish and protect your home and prosper your family? When we recognize God’s sovereignty over everything, we understand that He is the reason we experience good, and He knows exactly what is best for us. As we understand God’s grace more and more, it makes sense that we continually go to Him more and more with our petitions.

By the time David drew closer toward the end of his life, he came to understand God’s grace more and more as well. In this Psalm, we observe him requesting God to establish his home and kingdom long after he passes. Of course, God replied with a beautiful and powerful promise to prosper David’s family by setting up his son, Solomon, to rule as king.

After that promise, God said something interesting, He told David that his sons and grandsons after him would be prospered as long as they kept God’s testimonies. This condition is a great reminder that each person is accountable for obeying God’s Word on his own. We cannot expect to receive the manifold blessings of God based solely upon the obedience of our parents or grandparents. Yes, our parents and grandparents may be responsible for many of the blessings of God we enjoy, but there must come a time when we own our faith and walk in obedience to God all on our own.

 

JUST A THOUGHT

Will you own your faith today?

Mark Clements

 

Hebrew – Testimonies

 

‘ēḏāh [and] ‘ēḏût

 

The second name we note for God’s Word is testimonies (or “testimony”). The Hebrew is ‘ēdāh (H5713; or ‘ēḏûṯ, H5715), another feminine noun originally meaning a “testimony, witness, or even a warning sign.” Of its twenty-five appearances, fourteen are in Psalms 119 (‘ēḏût appears sixty times, with nine of those in Psalms 119). We should also interject here that all eight of the synonyms we are examining appear in the first eleven verses of that wondrous psalm, which is devoted to praising the virtues, merits, and sufficiency of the Word of God and demonstrates the psalmist’s total commitment to it.

 

This word, therefore, refers to “testifying to a fact or event.” It first appears, for example, in Gen_21:30, where Abraham’s gift of lambs to Abimelech bore witness to Abraham’s statement concerning the ownership of the well at Beersheba. Even more graphic is Gen_31:52, where Jacob used a pile of stones to bear witness to the agreement between him and Laban concerning land boundaries.

 

It eventually came to be used, then, for a solemn testimony of the will of God, a sober and serious expression of God’s standards for human behavior. In other words, God’s testimonies are not suggestions or optional proposals, rather His absolute standards. It is tremendously significant, in fact, that the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments are called God’s “testimony,” ‘ēḏût (Exo_25:16; Exo_31:18; Exo_32:15), God’s “solemn divine charge or duty.” It was also frequently used of the tabernacle (“tabernacle of testimony”, Exo_38:21; Num_1:50; Num_1:53) and even the Ark of the Covenant (“ark of the testimony,” Exo_25:22; Exo_26:33-34; Exo_30:6; Exo_30:26). Further, it is also used at times to refer to the entire law (February 13–16) of God (Psa_19:7; Psa_119:14; Psa_119:31; Psa_119:36; Psa_119:88; Psa_119:99; Psa_119:111; Psa_119:129; Psa_119:144; Psa_119:157).

 

The definition of right behavior, therefore, is not “up for grabs,” as relativism maintains in our day. It is rather a marked-out standard from God. This standard is also what we should be proclaiming without apology to the world, just as David did “before kings” (Psa_119:46); as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did before the king of Babylon (Dan_3:1-16); as Peter did before the religious leaders (Acts 4); as Stephen did before the council (Act_6:15 to Act_7:54); and as Paul did before Felix (Acts 24), Festus (Acts 25), and Agrippa (Acts 26).

 

Scriptures for Study: What do the verses above in Psalms 19, 119 say about the testimonies of God and our response to them?

 

 

 

 

16 – January 16 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Adorned to please her bridegroom

 

1553 – Felistis Jans Resinx approached the scaffold on which she was burned, adorned in a clean dress and white apron as if to show by her outward dress how purely and uprightly a Christian maiden ought internally to be adorned to please her heavenly bridegroom. Jesus Christ. The testimony and execution of Felistis are recorded from the records deposited with the secretary of the city of Amsterdam, Holland. What was her crime? She had assembled with a sect of Anabaptists and thus doing had separated from the obedience and beliefs of the so called holy (that is Roman) church. She judged erroneously the sacrament of the altar and had entertained and shown hospitality to Anabaptists. She seduced certain people from obedience to the Romish church and was unwilling to forsake her errors. All of these things were opposed to the ordinances of the state church and the proclamations of his imperial majesty. The sentence was that Felistis should be executed by fire and that all her worldly goods should be confiscated to the use of the emperor. While imprisoned, she was condemned to the torture of the rack, which she bore faithfully. She also demonstrated her kind servant spirit by assisting the jailer’s wife in the household. We should also remember Janson another faithful martyr of Christ, who on the same occasion, at the same place, and for the same reason was burned alive and was added to that great number who gave their lives to the truth of God’s Word.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 21-22.

 

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Glorified in His Saints

 

2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

 

“When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day,” 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

 

 

If you are a parent then you have probably experienced moments of extreme pride in your children. When your child learns to walk, learns to read, excels in a sport, graduates, or achieves significant recognition, these are moments when moms and dads can be seen beaming with pride, grinning from ear to ear. These are moments when parents proudly claim ownership of their child because, in many respects, a child’s success reflects honor to his parents. Most of the time, when a child is successful, it is because of diligent parents, and moments of success symbolize a return on an investment.

 

God has made a significant investment in His children: His Son, Jesus. He has diligently and faithfully arranged our future and, as a perfect Father, provided everything necessary for us to experience success. We don’t always reflect honor back to God. There are times, I am sure, when God is not pleased with the way His children behave. But, there is coming a day when Jesus will return to earth and claim His children. On that day, God will transform us as His children into the perfect image of His Son and give us glorified bodies. Then, God will look upon us as His children with the utmost pride because we will most perfectly embody and reflect His image. Jesus invested His life into purchasing this glory for us, so He is worthy of our eternal praise.

 

JUST A THOUGHT

 

Will you thank God today for being your perfect Father?

 

Mark Clements

 

 

 

33 – Feb. 02 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

They were given four days to prepare for trial
 The trial of Veniamin Markevich, the pastor of the independent Baptist church in Ordzhonikidze, Russia took began Jan. 24, 1983 and ended on Feb. 2nd.  The other two pastors on trial with him were Veniamin Chistyakov, and Vasily Mikhin.  They were given four days to prepare for trial.  The testimony of witnesses made it clear why the KGB had to silence them.  One teacher said, “Our school has a great atheistic program, but because of the activities of the defendants, practically nothing comes from it.”  Of course as these cases went in the past, the outcome was already determined and the sentences pre-set, and the elderly judge ready to rubber stamp the verdict.  Politically, an important change had just taken place in Russia.  Leonid Brezhnev, leader for 18 years had just died, and the central committee had just appointed Yuri Andropov as General Secretary.  He had been the head of the KGB, and in speeches had lashed out at the Western powers, and he had called for a stronger show of force and this was a part of this effort internally.  Pastor Mikhin received three years, Pastor Chistyakov four, and Pastor Markevich received five.  It took one-hundred days to transport Pastor Markevich from the Caucasus to Yakutia in Siberia.  Somehow his wife was able to find his location and traveled 600 miles to see him.  She was allowed thirty minutes with him.  However their families learned to trust God and continue with their lives under these trying circumstances.  He learned that his daughter was to wed Pastor Chistyakov’s son.  He was moved from time to time to different prisons, but by the grace of God he was released eight months early in Feb. 1987.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 67-68.

333 – Nov. 29 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

“A bold patient Sufferer for ye Lord Jesus”
November 29, 1685 – George Fownes died in the Gloucester, England jail. The faithful clerk of the Broadmead Church in Bristol inserted the event into the records of the church in the following words, “…having been kept there for Two years and about 9 months a Prisoner, unjustly and maliciously, for ye Testimony of Jesus and preaching ye Gospel, Fownes dyed. He was a man of great learning, of  a sound Judgment, an able Preacher, having great knowledge in Divinity, Law, Physic, & c.; a bold patient Sufferer for ye Lord Jesus, and ye Gospel he preacht.” From the Broadmead records we discover that Pastors Thomas Ewins, Tomas Hardcastle, and George Fownes were all imprisoned unjustly for the cause of Christ. But many other Baptist ministers endured imprisonments, and some died in jail merely because of their convictions. Francis Bamfield suffered for eight years in Dorchester jail. Thomas Delaune suffered in Newgate prison. John Miller was a prisoner for ten years in Newgate. Henry Forty was incarcerated for twelve years at Exeter. Joseph Wright, a man of great piety and learning, pastored at Maidstone but was imprisoned in the common jail there for twenty years. Thomas Helwys fled to Amsterdam but in time became convinced that he and the others had been wrong to flee persecution. Believing it was his duty to return to England and witness of the truth, he went to London in 1611 with 12 of his followers and settled at Spitalfields. He appealed to the King to grant liberty of conscience and for his convictions “Newgate Prison” became his home. He died in Newgate, barely forty years of age. The Broadmead church was founded by John Canne. He was the first to prepare and publish the English Bible with marginal references.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins /Thompson/, pp. 497-98.