God gave him a lamp
“Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.” (1 Kings 15:4)
Christ, who came to the world as the son of man, was born a descendant of David. David is a righteous man approved public in the Bible. Even so, he was never a complete righteous person. The birth of Christ was made according to the providential promise of God long time ago. Since it is a human life that has no choice but to sin, God has proceeded with providence to rescue people. David was the foundation used in the preparing process for the birth of Christ in history. Christmas is coming this year, too. What should we do to be used as a happy tool suitable for the birth of Christ truly?
Enjoying Christmas as a common holiday is not a true way to be available happy the soul. In these days to Christmas, we should think deep of Christ who had come to participate in the hardships of man. It is not easy to understand that God the Almighty, who had created all things from nothing, was born into a human body. If it says that He had been born from egg like Park-Hyuk-Geo-Seh, the founder of Shilla dynasty, it might seem rather mysterious. People often glorify their own ancestors and like to promote authority with mythical tales. In truth, there must have been many supernatural ways for Christ to appear to the world without being born as a baby Jesus. Nevertheless, He became man, as well as He was born in a shabby stable. That is for giving display to us the existential appearance of God the savior, who had become a man and stayed with people in the reality.
Isn’t one of the best righteous persons in the world, if it had been recognized to be righteous by God in the Bible? There were also righteous people like Enoch who had accompanied God for 300 years, and there would be many famous or unknown righteous people who had risked their lives for the gospel of Christ. No matter what shape we live in, if we are recognized by God, it would be a great blessing above anything else. About certain person who had regarded as a great person for long time, in a moment you found his weaknesses even a little, you get disappointed and disliked immediately. If David's position is like that case, he could never been able to be recognized as the righteousness from critical people. However the Lord admitted him. Therefore, we would have to avoid judging and disliking people if possible.
The birth of Christ was not an occurred event accidentally. It was a realized historical event of what had been scheduled from a long time ago for human salvation. When Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning, God’s salvation was needed for them already. For the person who had been created for the purpose of making God glorify while living with God left God’s arms. So Christ, the Son of God, came to the world to attract people into His arms again. To see in history, the people of Israel and Judah had been almost always biased toward idol worship and injustice. Elijah, a prophet in the time of Ahab the king of Israel, proposed 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to compete for true faith on Mount Carmel. Since the king and the whole people served idols at that time, it needed for them to realize God’s grace and salvation. God destroyed injustice and enlightened people by showing the abilities through Elijah.
God promised to give a lamp of hope in Jerusalem for David. In the kingdom of Judah, only two tribes among all Israelite tribes, Judah and Benjamin, had belonged. And the territory of Judah was much smaller than that of Israel the northern kingdom. Nevertheless, the reign of David’s descendants was maintained until the end of Judah kingdom. On the other hand, the royal sway of northern Israel has repeatedly changed because of numerous insurgencies. The preservation of Judah a small country and the maintenance of the capital Jerusalem and King David’s lineage were to ensure that Christ was born through David’s lineage according to the promise of the hopeful lamp. It is written in 1 Kings 15:5, “For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” Thus, David had been already blessed through the descendants by birth of Christ. Likewise, will you please not to dedicate yourself in order to be displayed the gospel of Christ through you?
Don’t be preoccupied with these issues, such as what to eat, what to wear. Jesus said clearly
that those are things that Gentiles seek. Change mind of yourself to devote only into the gospel of Christ. Jerusalem is the eternal city of Christ, and the church of Christ is the eternal Jerusalem. Spiritual happiness living as the body of holy church cannot be exchanged for anything else on the earth. Let’s realize the grace and salvation of Jesus, the light of the world, and obey Him with joy.
(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Dec 19th 2021)