2 Samuel 7:12-16 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
 
NATHAN, the prophet, spoke to David here. David had inquired of Nathan if the LORD wanted David to build a temple for God. The LORD had other plans.
   As with many prophecies, this passage concerns the near future and the eternal future. God’s immediate future for David’s line is that one of David’s sons will be the next king. That son is Solomon, and Solomon will build the temple. And the LORD declares he will discipline this son as a father disciplines a child. God was saying his chosen heir will sin, and the punishment will be just. This also spoke the future of all Judah’s kings. Many would reject God’s commands. And God’s ultimate punishment against Davids’ “sons” would be exile to Babylon. Even God’s anointed leaders suffer sin’s consequences.
   Through the trouble God will fulfill his promise, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” This is the eternal prophecy that points to Jesus. Even during Israel’s exile to Babylon, Zerubbabel, one of David’s descendants, remained head of the tribe of Judah. He was one who led the Jews back to Jerusalem after the exile. Eventually, though, Judah’s kings were replaced with rulers of foreign powers who conquered the land in succession until Rome claimed it about 75 BC.
     So then, how is God’s promise true? The forever kingdom does not rely on earthly rulers. Even though none of David’s descendants ruled in Judah for about 400 years before Jesus came, God’s kingdom promise ruled over the earth. Matthew 1:1-17 lists many of the generations from Abraham to Joseph, Mary’s husband. The inspired writings confirm God’s Messiah came from a diverse lineage of people in Judah’s line to establish his Lordship over the earth. The Lord Jesus, descended from David, fulfills God’s promise: 1 Peter 3:21d-22 It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. One day Jesus’ church will see: On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:16) Jesus will crush Satan’s authority. God has promised this and his promise is coming true. 

Psalms 142:3, 5, 7 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me…5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
 
DAVID wrote this psalm when he and his men were hiding from Saul in a cave in the Desert of En Gadi. Saul’s 3,000-man army was near David and his men, but they did not know it. (See 1 Samuel 24.) What do you  do when you seem to be in a cave? How do  you respond to overwhelming illness, doubt, despair, envy and many other “armies” that entrap you?
   In this psalm and many others is the understanding that God is “my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” As he did many times in his distress, David prayed to God with expectation the LORD will deliver him from his enemy.
   After all, it is God who knows the way David is to go, to be king and much more. So David confesses his faith God will show him the way out of the cave and into his future. “Set me free from my prison.” He prayed. He wanted to be free not only for his own sake but to praise God’s name. And David wanted to live among the righteous, those who love God and obey his commands. It is good to live with people who worship the Lord.
   David calls on God’s goodness to protect him and deliver him to safety. Only the LORD can do it. And the LORD does it. Through a fascinating confrontation between the two foes, Saul realizes for a time that he is in error. Saul departs in peace. David and his men are safe. God’s promise to David continues to move forward.
   But the hard question comes when we ask, “What if God’s plan is for me to remain in the “cave”? What if the threats to our safety remain? Can we still confess to God, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living?” Can we still praise his name and live among the righteous?
   If we claim, “I have faith in in Jesus Christ.” where else can we go but to God’s promise? David experienced remarkable victories, and he knew great hardships in his pathway to rule Israel. He may have wondered if Samuel’s anointing was real. Still God granted him a faith to pursue his destiny against great odds. He made mistakes, and he did good. His life is as your life, believing God but wondering sometimes where God is when the hard days come.
   In many psalms David expressed his hope and confidence in the LORD. He called on God to defeat his enemies and protect him from their snares. He rejoiced and praised God in his victories. And he wept in his distress. Throughout his life David understood he belonged to the LORD of heaven and earth. Nothing could remove him from that relationship.
   And that’s where your faith must be each day. If there is some dark “cave” holding you hostage, trust God’s promise. He is your refuge and portion in the land of the living. Make it a habit to join with the righteous to praise his name because he anointed you to your destiny in heaven.
 
 
 
 
  

1 Samuel 16:12-13 So Samuel sent and had David brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
 
THE scene shifts from Obed and Ruth to the home of their grandson Jesse, who had eight sons. At this point, Israel is under Saul’s kingship. He is of the tribe of Benjamin. God is displeased with Saul’s lack of devotion to his commands. So he instructs Samuel, the head priest and first prophet of Israel: “Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (1 Samuel 16:1)
   What do you do when God chooses you? Try to put yourself in David’s place. You are tending to your father’s sheep because you are the youngest in the family. You have no standing among your father and brothers. You do the work they don’t want to do. And the general culture considered shepherding as the lowest of occupations. Then suddenly a brother or servant comes to tell you, “Come home! Samuel wants to see you.” Maybe David was afraid. Samuel’s reputation in Israel is that he demands absolute obedience to God’s law. When Samuel arrived in a town as he did in Bethlehem that day, people want to know, “Do you come in peace?”
   What is a shepherd boy to do? He is to do what he has been doing – obey the authority in the house. He submits to Samuel, who anointed him with a full horn of oil – an extravagant demonstration of God’s plan for David. And then Samuel went home. That was it. There was no physical crown for David that day. It’s likely he returned to his sheep.
   But from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. The Bible is very clear. God’s choosing is the beginning of a new pathway into your future. And as with Abraham and others, it would be a difficult pathway for David.
   The remainder of 1 Samuel is the slow, challenging progression of David’s life into Israel’s kingship. He’s a gifted musician who soothes Saul’s anguish with his harp. David demonstrates a love and devotion for God in his victory over Goliath. He honors Saul as God’s servant even as Saul was determined to kill him. David gains a reputation for military success and develops a loyal band of followers. The Spirit’s power is apparent as God protects his anointed one, and he becomes a well-known leader in Israel. It was a long journey from the sheep fold to Israel’s throne.
   When you read the Bible, know you are reading about real people with real life challenges. Distress and doubt tempted their hearts to turn from God. But those who trusted in the real God of heaven and earth found victory through the trials. Several psalms express David’s faith and joy in the LORD through that time. This is God’s promise to you, too. “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46) 

Ruth 4:12-14, 16-17 “Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!...16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
 
THESE five verses tell us much about Jesus’ ancestry and God’s generosity. From Judah and Tamar came Perez. (See Genesis 38. Once more God’s sovereign grace overcomes human sin.) From Perez came the lineage that led to Boaz. Boaz and Ruth marry. They are David’s great grandparents.
   Ruth is another powerful story of God’s redemptive work. Like Rahab, Ruth was not an Israelite. She was born in Moab, the nation that began in the sin of Lot and his elder daughter. Balak, king of Moab, sent Balaam to curse the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Moab and Israel were generational enemies, and God often used Moab to judge Israel’s sins. But out of this pagan nation God raised up Ruth to be a faithful daughter-in-law to Naomi. As Rahab confessed God’s power, Ruth also confessed her allegiance to Naomi, Israel and God: Ruth 1:15-17 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”  Ruth became a new creation under God’s power. During the time of  the Judges when everyone did as he saw fit (Judges 21:25), God anointed this young woman to please the LORD.
   Naomi and Ruth lived in Bethlehem. Ruth worked to feed her mother-in-law by harvesting grain on the edge of the barley fields during harvest as God’s law commanded (Leviticus 23:32). Ruth found safety in Obed’s fields and earned a reputation of integrity as she worked diligently, learned Bethlehem’s customs and listened to Naomi’s instructions. Obed was a wealthy landowner who favored Ruth’s devotion.
   In the Jews’ law there is the rule of kinsman-redeemer. When a man died and his widow wanted to sell his land to relieve any debt, his closest kin had the option to purchase the land to redeem the debt. Boaz, a close relative to Naomi’s husband, purchased the land. And he also married Ruth to redeem her from widowhood.
   In a like manner, Jesus is your kinsman-redeemer. With his blood, Jesus redeems sin’s debt from your soul. You become a new creation as Christ’s bride when you confess he is your Savior. Out of sin’s foreign territory you enter his eternal kingdom to live under his gracious care.  
   Ruth’s story is a story of redemption. It reveals God’s mercy and love to transform lives into the truth of his commands.
  

Joshua 2:17-18 The men said to Rahab, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.”
 
THE men are two spies Joshua sent to Jericho to prepare for Israel’s conquest. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho who confessed a greater faith and understanding of God’s power than many in Israel: “For the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11)
   In a proper fear of God, Rahab submitted to the LORD’s purpose. She sheltered the spies. And the spies rewarded her. The red cord would signal to Israel’s army that Rahab’s household was to be redeemed from death. Rahab became an Israelite, and God brought her into the lineage of Jesus’ physical ancestors.
   But it wasn’t the cord that saved Rahab and her family, was it? Rahab’s faith in God and submission to his army’s instructions saved them. The scarlet cord may have commonly been used to mark Rahab’s house as one of prostitution. But it became a mark of safety when Rahab entrusted her life to God’s warriors. What was meant for evil became a means of redemption.
   The scarlet cord illustrates God’s redemptive power for you. Hear God promises in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Jesus’ blood bleaches the sin from our hearts.
   At his trial Jesus wore a scarlet robe: Matthew 27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. Scarlet was the clothing of a king. The Father placed the robe on the King of Glory to illustrate God’s unstoppable power to save those who believe in the name of Jesus. Rahab submitted to God’s sovereign power over the earth, sky and sea. God calls the world to submit to his sovereign power over sin. Jesus conquers all with the triumph of his resurrection.
   The scarlet cord represents the redeemed life. God is calling each sinner to look through this cord of grace that ties God’s promises to God’s salvation. Submit to his power to safely place you in his saving care. He wants the foreigner – those outside the kingdom of God – to wholeheartedly join him. He calls each of us to become active, vibrant warriors, joining with others to advance his kingdom into the world.  
 
 

Genesis 49:9-12 You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness – who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. 
 
JUDAH is one of Jacob’s 12 sons we mentioned in the previous lesson. When his mother Leah gave birth to her fourth son, she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. (Genesis 29:35c) In the Hebrew language, Judah sounds like words that point to praise and joy. God planned this birth to point to Jesus.
   The Scripture here is Jacob’s prophecy of Judah’s lineage. It is an exclamation of God’s promise to deliver the Messiah from the line of Judah. From Judah will come rulers over Israel. The scepter of the King’s rule will remain in Judah’s line until the Messiah comes to rule the nations.
   The prophecy also promises the agricultural bounty of the new heaven and earth in Messiah’s rule. One will tether his donkey to a vine because grapevines will be so plentiful they will be used as hitching posts. Wine will be as bountiful as wash water. Teeth will be white from a great quantity of milk from large herds of goats and cows.
   This abundant prophecy of the new heaven and earth is repeated in several scriptures, including Isaiah 61:7 You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. And Zechariah 3:10 “In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree, declares the Lord Almighty.”
   In Jerusalem, the capital of Judah’s descendants, the joy of Jesus’ salvation was first declared. The gospel’s bountiful fruit has spread throughout the entire world to deliver the good news of salvation. One day God’s people will joyfully dwell in the physical and spiritual richness of his eternal land.

Genesis 12:1-3 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
 
WE continue God’s promises that point to Jesus. When the LORD promises, he usually requires us to wait, even through trials. And he certainly wants us to be faithful to his Word. This was true for Abraham. He was 75 years old. Sarah, his wife, was 65 years old and barren when God promised a great nation would come from them. How could that be?
   Abraham and Sarah thought they had a good idea. Sarah offered her servant Hagar to Abraham to father a child. The result was Ishmael. But this son was born outside of God’s promise. Ishmael is the father of those who would form the Islam religion and other nations that have historically opposed Israel. Receiving God’s promises requires believing his Word. Your faith must empower you to wait for his promises to come true.
   Ultimately, God delayed his promise to Abraham and Sarah for 25 years! And about 16 years after their son Isaac was born, God told Abraham to take Isaac to a mountain to sacrifice him! But the LORD withheld Abraham’s hand. God provided a substitute ram for Isaac (Genesis 22). This is a clear illustration of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross for your sin. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21-22)
    Eleven times in Genesis, God spoke his promise of a great nation to Abraham, Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob. Abraham had one son in the promise. Isaac had two. Then Jacob had 12 sons through marriage to his cousins Leah and Rachel and their maidservants Zilpah and Bilhah. (See Genesis 29 for this complex story.) From these sons born amid trial and division came Israel’s 12 tribes.
   But again God waited. There was great strife in this family. It would take more than a generation for these men to begin raising families who would eventually become the great nation Israel even under trial in Egypt: Exodus 1:7 the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Eventually God would go to Egypt through Moses to free them, so they could become a great nation obedient to the LORD.
   Israel’s promise is your promise. In Christ, you receive God’s blessing to become great in God’s sight. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
   In faith, you must know God’s promises are sure and eternal. You must be persistent, patient and open-eyed to see his promises become your way of life. 

Genesis 3:17-19 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
 
GOD promises judgment on the man he entrusted to uphold his image in the perfect Garden of Eden – heaven on earth. As with the previous lesson, this scripture is not a direct promise of Jesus to come. But it points to the need for Jesus to come.1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
   Because Adam sinned, God cursed the ground and he cursed Adam with painful toil. “Painful” is the same word to describe the woman’s pain in childbearing. The marriage partners equally shared God’s justice.
   How tragic to disregard God’s goodness. God created the plants and gave them to Adam and Eve for their food and pleasure: Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”
   The fruit became thorns and thistles. Bountiful food delivered with God’s hand became bare subsistence living by Adam’s hand. Hard work and an unyielding ground would remind Adam of his fatal desire to be as God.   
   Then comes the judgment to plague all our lives: “For dust you are and to dust you will return.” Death will come to mankind. God warned of this in his command to Adam: Genesis 2:17 “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” God’s Word is true. If we ignore or reject the truth, we will suffer.
   God’s punishment on Satan, Eve and Adam is God’s avenging justice. “Adam and Eve sinned by eating. They would suffer in order to eat. Eve manipulated her husband. She would be mastered by Adam. The devil destroyed the human race. He will be destroyed.” (from Bible Knowledge Commentary)
   Adam and Eve sought to be as God. The Bible marks them forever as Satan’s agents to destroy God’s perfection. Adam and Eve’s desire for glory caused the Son of God to depart from his glory to the suffering cross to save us.
     The LORD is good to promise a Savior. The world has no hope without him. Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  

Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
 
THE LORD now addresses Eve. Remember as we began to learn of God’s promises, we discussed he sometimes promised judgment. There seems only a bleak future for Eve and all who follow her.
   God had mandated that child-bearing was essential for his new world: Genesis 1:28a God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” This was God’s assurance and promise to Adam and Eve of a wonderful, perfect relationship with him and with each other. The couple created in his image was to perfectly bear his creation image as they produced offspring. This would be a blessed, joyful work for the couple.
   Furthermore, Eve was created out of Adam’s rib. God made her to be an equal helpmate to her husband. They were to rule the earth together in submission to God and in communion with each other.
   But sin corrupted God’s holy relationship with the couple and it marred the holy marriage union. Now the pain of childbearing would be a constant reminder of sin’s penalty. The woman’s desire for the husband is considered to be a desire to rule over the man. Eve ruled over Adam in the Fall. This disrupted the equality and freedom of their God-ordained relationship. Now God decreed the man to rule the woman, but she will desire to rule over him.
   The sin nature causes a natural conflict in a marriage. A husband and wife must understand that when they enter into marriage, they will need to fight against Satan’s desires to destroy their relationship. What was an easy, free unioin between husband and wife became an imprisoning struggle for control over one another. The promise that “he will rule over you." defines more of a governing authority than a loving relationship.
   This is why marriages require consistent devotion to God’s Word and to each other. The sin nature competes for control. The desie to rule disrupts effective communication in a marriage.
   The promise of this scripture is to know God’s plan to redeem marriage. The only way to restore the broken marriage relationship is for a couple to move toward God together. Marriage is God’s plan to unite people toward a common love relationship founded in the image of his love.  
   The hope for the marriage union to overcome the curse is, of course, in Jesus. A husband and wife must each be devoted to the Savior, who points the way to a redeemed relationship. As each is more closely united with Christ, they will become more closely united with each other. The desire to rule over one another will become a desire to be equal in God’s purpose. When a husband and wife set their minds on God’s will, they will discover the joy of Jesus’ promise: John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
          May the desire of your marriage be a longing to love God and love one another.