“Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to…the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out his promise which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel” (2:3-4).
So God made a very conditional promise to his king concerning what the king’s children must do to establish his reign forever.
Today, in this bitter period of American history, we should ask who our king is, what his commandments are, and what he promises if we obey his commandments.
Well, the everlasting lineage of David is alive and well and our king is a direct descendant of David. His name is Jesus, the Son of God, and his conditional promise to us can be summarized this way:
“But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
That’s right; we who have invited Jesus into our hearts are God’s anointed heirs to his kingdom! What, then, are his commandments?
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
As David charged Solomon his heir under God’s commandments to Moses, Jesus charges his heirs today with the fulfillment of God’s commands to love one another in perfect unity with God.
As Solomon’s reign begins in 1 Kings 2 with exacting judgment on Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei through execution and death, Jesus reigns with never-ending love, having paid for all our sins once and for all!. He accepts God’s judgment himself so that we can be restored and live free with him as heirs eternal.
Take courage from a great Christian song, “Kings & Queens” by Audio Adrenaline:
Boys become kings; girls will be queens, wrapped in your majesty.
When we love, when we love the least of these
Then they will be brave and free.