God promised Abraham a land for his offspring and family. “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). Fulfillment came when “Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.…For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates” (1 Kings 4:21, 24).

In the meantime, God promised David, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13).

Note the following connection and likeness between King David and King Jesus:

When the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus, he promised Mary, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32). In other words, God’s promise to King David looked forward to King Jesus.

David was established as king over all of Judah and Israel. “At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years” (2 Sam. 5:5). Scripture testifies, “the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul” (2 Sam. 22:1). In this, David foreshadows Christ. “When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet” (Heb. 10:12-13). As the Apostle Peter teaches, quoting Psalm 110:1, “David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool”’” (Acts 2:33-36). The Apostle Paul affirms the present reign of Christ with a reference to Psalm 110💯 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25).

Continuing the Davidic kingdom, Solomon built the Temple (1 Kings 6-7). Note the connection and likeness between Solomon’s Temple and Christ’s Church. The Temple foreshadows the Church.

At the dedication of the Temple, “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:11). The Temple became the special dwelling place of God in the Spirit. It was the direct fulfillment of God’s covenant promise to His people (Lev. 26:11-12; Ex. 29:45-46). The Apostle Paul calls the church at Corinth God’s temple. He affirms this truth by quoting Leviticus 26:12. “We are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Cor. 6:16). Further, Paul teaches that our individual congregations “are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).

The Old Testament accounts about David and Solomon continue to be of value to you and me because they foreshadow Christ and His Church. We can learn much from them about life in the church today. “They were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

Dennis J. Prutow | reformedvoice.com/rptsprof