Word of Encouragement (11/21/2024)

Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: "Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. (1 Chron. 29:10-13)

David begins this prayer by praising God: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.” He addresses God as “LORD, the God of Israel our father.” What did he mean by “our father”? Was he referring to God or Israel (Jacob)? It is now normal for us, who are under the new covenant in Jesus Christ, to address God as “our Father” because of our union with the Son of God. But this was not common under the old covenant. Even when God was addressed as Israel’s Father, the Jews could not have thought what we think of our adoption as God’s children in Jesus Christ.

By “our father” here, David could have meant God on account of His promise: “He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever” (1 Chron. 22:10). Maybe that was why he addressed God as “our father.” But there, God was distinguishing David’s son from David since it was in the context of the LORD rejecting David’s offer to build a house for Him and giving the privilege to his son. Maybe it would have been presumptuous on David’s part to include himself in this father-son relationship about which God was speaking.

It is more likely that “our father” here refers to Israel (Jacob). Why? John Gill suggests in agreement with some Jewish rabbis that this was because Jacob was “the first that spoke of building a house for God.” He is, of course, referring to the vow Jacob made after he had the vision in his dream of a ladder that reached heaven, on which the angels of God were ascending and descending (Gen. 28:12). After he woke up, he exclaimed, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). He called that place “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” He prophesied, “...this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house” (Gen. 28:22). The prophecy was being fulfilled by Jacob’s descendant, David’s son.

But Solomon was not the One. Solomon would go on to build a beautiful and magnificent temple for God. When the temple was completed, the glory cloud from heaven descended on it. But that temple was obviously not the ladder that reached heaven. It was later leveled to the ground by the Babylonians. But Jesus did say to Nathaniel, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). And later, Jesus said to the Jews at the (second) temple, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). The Jews asked in disbelief, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days” (2:20)? John comments, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” So, through Jesus Christ, let us draw near to the throne of grace in heaven (Heb. 4:16) as His beloved children!

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