Ⅳ
The forty-one kings of Israel and Judah were in the highest position, but they were not careful in their enjoyment of the good land; not even David enjoyed the good land in full; we should apply their example to ourselves:
A
The root of the evil of the evil kings, like that of the evil of the people of Israel, was their forsaking the very God as the fountain of living waters and their turning away to the pagan idols as broken cisterns that hold no water; these two evils drowned them in the death waters of idolatry and of the indulgence of lusts—Jer. 2:13.
B
Today we are kings who are reigning with Christ in life by receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:10, 17); we should endeavor to follow the pattern of Paul, who could declare that he had been crucified with Christ and that he no longer lived but Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20); he said that he lived Christ for His magnification by receiving the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the supply of the Body (Phil. 1:19-21a).
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.Rom. 5:17 ...By the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The way in which [the kings of Israel] had their being, how they behaved, lived, moved, and acted in their daily living, activities, and careers, paints a full picture of how the elect of God could partake of the God-promised and God-given good land and enjoy all its rights that they could become God’s kingdom on the earth usurped by His enemy Satan. This typifies and signifies how we can partake of the all-inclusive Christ as the portion ordained by God for us and enjoy all the rights in Christ assigned to us by God that we, the people chosen and redeemed by God, can become God’s kingdom in Christ and with Christ on the earth usurped by the evil one, God’s enemy Satan. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 156-157)
Today’s Reading
There were altogether forty-one kings in the history of Israel. The first three, Saul, David, and Solomon, reigned over the entire people of Israel. Of the remaining thirty-eight kings, only eight were comparatively good. Actually, however, they still were self-seeking and self-glorying, somewhat considering the kingdom of God among them something of their monarchies, not knowing God according to the way ordained by God, not denying themselves, their natural man, to live a life and carry out a career absolutely by the Spirit of God.The root of the evil of the evil kings, like that of the evil of the people of Israel, was their forsaking the very God as the fountain of living waters and their turning away to the pagan idols as broken cisterns that hold no water (Jer. 2:13). These two evils drowned them in the death waters of idolatry, of the indulgence of lusts, and of injustice in shedding the blood of the innocent. Their evils offended their God to such an extent that He would not turn His anger from them but cast them off, first into the hands of the Assyrians and then into the hands of the Babylonians, who destroyed and burned the holy temple and the holy city, carried away into captivity the holy people to a pagan land of idol worship, and desolated the holy land for seventy years. Thus, they, as God’s elect, lost the enjoyment of the God-given good land and, instead of remaining the citizens of God’s kingdom in the holy land, they became captives in a heathen land.
The tragic result of such a pitiful history of the kings among God’s chosen and blessed elect should be a serious warning to us, God’s elect in the New Testament age... Just to be one who is according to God’s heart, like David, and just to be partly right and good in the eyes of God, like some honest Christians, do not qualify us to partake of Christ in full and to enjoy all the rights in Him that we may become adequately the church as the Body of Christ and as the kingdom of God and of Christ. Conformity to Christ’s death by the power of His resurrection is required of us, the New Testament overcomers, that we may die to ourselves, our natural man, and live to God in resurrection. A life of living Christ, magnifying Christ, and moving and acting with Christ by the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, doing everything in and according to the Spirit, is indispensable for us, God’s New Testament seekers, to be winners in the racecourse of the divine life that we may fully enjoy Christ as the God-given good land in the church age and be gloriously rewarded to partake of Christ, in the fullest sense, in the kingdom age. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 155-158)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” chs. 4-5