Wed.’s Devo - Justice Establishes the Kingdom

Read: 1 Kings 2:1-3:2; Acts 5:1-42; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 16:25 Before David died he charged Solomon to be courageous and observe all the requirements of God. If he followed all God’s ways and kept his laws written in the Law of Moses, he would be successful in all he did and wherever he went. God asked him to bring justice on Joab who killed his two army officers Abner and Amasa in a time of peace because they had killed his brothers in a time of war. *** David told Solomon to reward Barzillai with food from his table because he had supplied David and his men food from his table when they were fleeing Absalom. *** Solomon was also to find a way to legally kill Shemei who had cursed David. *** Remember yesterday when we talked about David’s desire to have the man who took the lamb repay fourfold. Well, here we see the fourth son of David having to die. Adonijah went to Bathsheba to ask her to get permission from Solomon for him to marry Abishag. Abishag was the beautiful girl who had been brought to keep David warm at night. Solomon saw this request as a crafty way to work his way to the throne. Solomon ordered him to be put to death for this. Solomon also knew that Joab had something to do with this scheme. Sure enough, when he had Adonijah put to death, Joab ran and grabbed the horns of the altar in the Temple for mercy. Solomon had his men kill him right there. *** Solomon put Shimei on house arrest where he could not leave Jerusalem or he would be put to death. Three years later, Shimei’s slaves escaped and he went after them to Gaza. He brought them back but it cost him his death. *** Now, that Solomon had rid his kingdom of the “Deep State”of his time, the kingdom was established in his hands. He then made an alliance with the king of Egypt and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the city of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple. *** Solomon married a Gentile bride - one out of bondage (Egypt) and made her his bride. He prepared a place for her just as Jesus is preparing a place for us, his Gentile bride. *** In Acts we read of the seriousness and the joy of the times they were living in. While everyone was giving to the Lord, A couple named Ananias and Sapphire sold some of their property and gave some of it to the Lord. Then they lied and said that they were giving all of the proceeds to the Lord. The Holy Spirit showed Peter that they were lying and they both died. *** The disciples continued teaching and healing people at the Temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. The high priest and officials were jealous of their popularity and power so they arrested the apostles and put them in jail. That night, an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the jail and brought them out. He told them to go back to the Temple and preach. *** When the high priest convened to their judgement seats, they called for the apostles to be brought from prison. They found that they were not there but their guards were and the prison was locked. Then they learned that the apostles were back preaching at the Temple. They brought them back in and questioned them as to why they were still preaching when they were ordered not to. They said that they had to obey God over them. The high priest was furious and wanted to kill them, but Gamaliel stood up for them. Gamaliel reasoned with the high priest that the movement of Jesus’ disciples would die by itself if it was not of God, but if it was and they tried to stop it, they would be fighting against God himself. *** Instead of killing them, they had the disciples flogged and set them free. The disciples rejoiced to be worthy to suffer for Christ. The Church continued to grow, but moved to the houses to meet. *** Lord, may we see that we are moving toward Solomon’s reign on the earth. May we be bold and not bow down to the fear the world would like us to be under. May we see that we are about to win and they are about to experience the judgment of God. Give us great courage and resolve to stand for truth and justice.