Conditions of Covenant
1/6/25 Bible Thought (1 Kings 2)
While God is gracious and merciful beyond our comprehension, He does still care about the lives that His people lead.
A Look at 1 Kings 2
As we look at today’s chapter, we see David’s closing exhortation to his son Solomon, charging him to serve the Lord.
With this, we see that there are both unconditional and conditional parts to God’s covenant with David, which can be a bit confusing. In essence, it appears that while the dynasty was inevitable due to God’s unshakeable promise, specific kings would only experience covenantal blessings as they were faithful to Yahweh.
This is similar to the concept of blessing and cursing that is outlined in Deuteronomy 28.
God chose Israel by grace, and not their own merit (see Deut. 7:7-8). God then saved them out of Egyptian bondage because He is kind, not because they deserved it. It was only then that they were given God’s law. The law of God applied to the people of God, but they were first redeemed from slavery and brought out as a people before they were expected to keep the law.
The law was then the proof in the pudding that they actually belonged to the living God. They were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:6). This was to be evidenced by their loyalty to God’s commandments.
In the same way, David admonished Solomon:
I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn (1 Kings 2:2-3).
We will see throughout the two books of Kings that God kept His Word. God preserved a Davidic line because of His gracious promise to David. Nevertheless, the blessings of the covenant were only enjoyed by the kings who walked in God’s ways. Those who rebelled against Him or served other gods had their reigns cut short.
Bringing it Home
This in mind, let us remember that as new covenant believers God has likewise saved us by grace. It is not because we have earned salvation at all.
However, just because we cannot sin ourselves out of the Father’s hand doesn’t mean that we should treat Christian living flippantly. There can frequently still be natural consequences for sin, even if it is forgiven by God. Even more, we can grieve God’s Holy Spirit by how we live (see Eph. 4:30).
Let us then be incredibly careful to respond to God’s grace not with presumptuous living (see Rom. 2:4), but with a heart posture that is eager to follow His Word. While upright Christian living doesn’t guarantee a life of health, wealth, or prosperity, we must likewise understand that it is silly to expect blessings from God’s hand if we are walking in rebellion against Him.
Our heart’s desire ought to be to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord (see 2 Cor. 5:9). Remember, the same grace that saves is a grace that shapes (see Titus 2:11-14).
A Historical Conclusion
For now, we see that the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon (1 Kings 2:12, 46b. Surely, this is the main historical takeaway from this chapter. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of those covenantal blessings would hinge upon whether Solomon would walk faithfully before the Lord. That remains to be seen.
Challenge for Today: Do I ever find myself misusing the grace of God and shrugging off sinful behavior? The Lord Jesus invites us to come as we are, but no one is expected to remain as they were.