Hold Up - Don't Fold Up

Not long after becoming a Christian, I was determined to read the entire Bible from front to back. I thought that this would be the best way to become familiar with the Scriptures and so I set out to achieve my goal. Everything was fine until I got to the history section of the Old Testament, Ezra, Nehemiah and I and II Chronicles. In all three of these books there are lists of names. The book of I Chronicles begins with eight chapters of lists of names. As we will see, this is very important. However, if you are like me, and not used to pronouncing the names of ancient Jews, you may find it takes a pain-takingly long time to read through those chapters. It's sort of like slogging through a swamp wearing boots one half size too big for your feet. I became so frustrated that I decided to just skip over those chapters and move on to the narrative part which begins with chapter 9.

So much for reading through the entire Bible. Perhaps you've experienced the same thing that I have, you want to read through the Bible, but find the Old Testament way more difficult than the New Testament to read through. Perhaps you have thought "I'm a New Testament Christian, so I don't need to read through the Old Testament, that was for the Jews. The New Testament is for New Testament Christians. I'm sure God will be okay with me skipping over the hard parts." Rest assured that the Lord is not going to be angry or punish you If you do not read through the entire Bible. You will however miss out on some very rich truth if you do skip parts of it.

Many theologians and Bible students refer to the Christian Scriptures as "special revelation."  In other words, the Bible tells us things about God that we could not know if He decided not to reveal them. You may have always believed that there had to be a creator or first cause for the creation of the universe. Let's face it, when we study the universe, we realize that there is a logical reason and order for everything. Certainly this could never have happened by random chance. While the universe may inform us that there is a creator, it doesn't tell us anything about this creator. The Lord God graciously gave us the Scriptures, His very word, so that we could know Him in all of His glory and love. Here is something to think about, the one, true, living God who has created everything seen and unseen and sits as king and judge over all things wants you to know Him just as He knows you. If this fact doesn't humble and excite you at the same time, you may have a problem.

So, what does this have to do with reading and understanding I Chronicles chs. 1-8. As we take the time to read and think about God's Word, one of the questions that should be asked is this, "What does this tell me about God?" If the Scriptures are given to us primarily so that we can know God then it makes sense to always have this question before us. Surely there are many things that we can learn about God from these chapters also, however, one sticks out like a sore thumb - Yahweh keeps His Word. Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen?" Yahweh's relationship with Israel was and is based on three covenants, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and most importantly, the Davidic covenant.

Each new covenant incorporated and built upon the ones that preceded it. All three made it clear that Israel, Abraham's seed, of all the nations in the world was, is, and always will be Yahweh's chosen people. The Babylonian exile began in 597 B. C. and completely ended by 400 B. C. During that time, many Jews believed that God had given up on them completely despite what He promised (Jeremiah 30:18 - 31:1.) In the first chapters of Chronicles, the writer reminds his readers of Yahweh's promise that Israel would always be His special people and they were living proof of it according to these genealogies.

Yes, Yahweh did discipline His people by driving them from the land and making them live under the rule of a foreign nation, which was another promise that He made and kept (Deut. chs. 28, 29), but that didn't mean He had abandoned them. Far from it! Yahweh continued to work for Israel's benefit by causing them to thrive, despite their rebellion and its consequences, even though they may not have realized it. The second illustration of God keeping His promise is found in the fact that more genealogical information is given about the tribe of Judah and particularly David's family. 2 Sam. 7: 1-17 says that Yahweh promised David "'Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanentʼ” (vs. 15). The genealogies assure God's people that His covenant promise to David would also come about. The writer's point is clear, God has kept His promises to Israel up to this point in history so, He can be trusted to continue to keep His covenant promises to them.

The same, simple, foundational truth applies to those who confess Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. When each one of us are saved, we enter into a covenant with God through Jesus (Luke 22: 14-20). We become recipients of God's covenant love and no one can take that away. Read John 6: 35-40 and the entire chapter 8 of Romans.)

So what? "How does any of this have anything to do with me", you might ask? First, you can count on the Lord to be consistent in that He always tells the truth and always keeps His promises (Heb. 13: 8). This points to a huge difference between Christianity and all other religions. The gods worshiped in these other religions are vindictive, they lie, and they do whatever suits them even if it hurts their followers. Second, despite your past or present circumstances, whether good or bad, and despite what your feelings may be telling you, our Lord does love you and He cares for you.

Hebrews 13: 5,6 reads, "Your conduct must be free from the love of money and you must be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you and I will never abandon you.' So we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'” Your feelings will lie to you. God will not. It would be good for all of us to trust His promises and think carefully about their truth daily.