As we turn to 2 Chronicles, the Chronicler continues his record of Judah, starting with the record of King Solomon’s reign. As we move through 2 Chronicles the Chronicler recounts Judah’s fall into sin, and the resulting consequences. In 2 Chronicles 1, we read of King Solomon presenting a 1,000 burnt offerings at Gibeon. Then Solomon has a vision of the LORD in a dream, and in it the LORD asks Solomon what he would like to receive from Him. When Solomon asks for wisdom to rule the people, rather than riches or military victory, the LORD promises to give Solomon all three! Finally, we read about Solomon’s wealth, and to give us an idea of how wealthy Solomon was, we’re told during his reign gold was as common as stones during that time.
Throughout the Old Testament we read of the LORD blessing the obedience of His people through giving them wealth, good health, and victory over their enemies. We find times when this “rule” doesn’t hold, such as in the life of Job, but typically it does. As we turn to New Testament, we will see that obedience isn’t always blessed this way. God’s people often face obstacles, and Jesus, the Son of God, Himself faces death after a life of complete and total obedience. The reward of obedience shifts from nearly always being seen in this life, to being the promise of heaven.
In 2 Chronicles 2 & 3 we read of Solomon’s preparation for building the Temple, and of its construction. As we read the detail of all the materials collected for the Temple, let’s remember much of the material was collected by King David, and left for Solomon, his son, to use for the Temple’s construction. David’s vision was fulfilled by his son.
As we turn to Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable of a landowner who hires workers throughout the course of a day. He promised the ones he hired first a denarius, which was a fair day’s wages. Each of the other workers he promised to give “what was right.” At the end of the day, the landowner paid those who had only worked one hour a denarius. Those who had worked all day assumed they would receive more, but the landowner gave them the denarius he had promised. Those workers grumbled, but the landowner pointed out he had treated them fairly, because he paid them what he promised. Then he asked a vital question: “Are you angry because I am generous?” The workers had seen the landowners’ action from their perspective, not his. He was generous to the last workers and fair to the first. As we follow Jesus, we are not to compare our work with that of others who started before or after us, but submit ourselves to His authority, knowing He is generous and will reward us according to that generosity.
Next, Jesus tells the disciples again He is going to be arrested, tried, convicted, and crucified. He tells them not to worry, because He will rise from the dead. After this, the mother of James and John comes and asks Jesus if He will do her the favor of setting her sons at His right and left hands (the positions of greatest power) when He comes in His glory. (Mark tells us the sons came on their own.) Jesus tells the mother (and the sons) the position isn’t His to give. When the rest of the disciples hear about this, they become indignant, but Jesus reminds them all the greatest among them is the one who serves the most. He concludes by reminding them that He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. We must always remember this in our lives as Jesus’ followers. We aren’t to push or pull to get “ahead” as God’s people. We ware to live as faithful servants, knowing we are also His children, and He has saved us to share that blessing with everyone we can. The world tells us the positions of “honor” are to be the goal of our lives. Jesus tells us serving others is the greatest honor we can experience.
Finally, Matthew tells us two blind men cried out from the crowd for Jesus to heal them. Jesus called them to come to Him and asked what they wanted. When they said they wanted to see, Jesus told them their faith had healed them and they received their sight. They immediately started following Jesus. As we look at the many healings Jesus performed during His ministry, we see that sometimes it is the faith of the one to be healed, which Jesus points to as the reason for their healing. At other times it is the faith of the ones requesting the healing for another, as in the case of the healing of the paralytic brought to Jesus by four friends. At times Jesus heals and no mention is made of whose faith was involved. The point is: Jesus healed people, because that’s the nature of the Kingdom of God–people are well and whole. Faith is always a component of the Kingdom of God, because as the Apostle Paul will remind us in 1 Corinthians 13, faith, hope, and love are three attributes that “remain” in God’s Kingdom. As we live this day, let’s remember to exercise our faith, because it is the stuff of which miracles come!