GOD’S ECONOMY
SERIES THIRTEEN
GOD’S ECONOMY IN ALL THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
God’s Economy as Revealed in the Old Testament
Message Eleven
God’s Economy as Revealed in Kings
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 2:45, 2 Kings 24:18, 12:3, 14:3-4, 15:3-4, 34-35, Gen. 12:2, 13:15-16, Josh. 1:2, Col. 2:9, Eph. 1:23
I. There were altogether forty-one kings in the history of Israel; the way in which these forty-one kings had their being, how they behaved, lived, and acted in their daily living, activities, and careers, paints a full picture of how the elect of God could partake of the God-promised and God-given good land and enjoy all its rights that they could become God’s kingdom on the earth usurped by His enemy Satan—1 Kings 2:45, 2 Kings 24:18. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 2 Kings 24:18, footnote 1, Life-study of Kings, msg. 23)
II. In the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel are seen the rise and fall of the kings being dependent on their relationship with God, and God’s forbearance, endurance, and righteous judgment toward them—12:3, 14:3-4, 15:3-4, 34-35: (Truth Lessons, level 1, vol. 1, ch. 11)
A. The histories of the kings of Israel: nineteen, from Jeroboam to Hoshea, reigned over Israel in the north; the people of Israel, especially the kings, forsook God, turned to the idols, and set up centers of worship other than Jerusalem; that offended God to the uttermost—1 Kings 22:53, 2 Kings 21:7. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 2 Kings 24:18, footnote 1; Life-study of Chronicles, msg. 12)
B. The histories of the kings of Judah: There were nineteen kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Zedekiah; eight of the kings were proper, doing what was right in the eyes of Jehovah; they removed the idols made by their fathers; but the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, except in the times of Hezekiah; they never fully returned to the unique place of God’s choice to serve God—12:3, 14:3-4, 15:3-4, 34-35. (Truth Lessons, level 1, vol. 1, ch. 11)
C. When they feared God, their nation prospered, and when they departed from God, their nation declined; whenever God perceived that the kings and the people rebelled against Him and left Him to serve the abominable Gentile idols, He was always kind and enduring; He would send His prophets to warn them in hope of their repentance and return to Himself; it was when the people failed to listen that God’s righteous judgment would come upon them—Deut. 5:29, 2 Kings 1:6. (Truth Lessons, level 1, vol. 1, ch. 11)
D. The tragic result of such a pitiful history of the kings among God’s chosen and blessed elect should be a serious warning to us, God’s elect in the New Testament age—24:18, footnote 1. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 2 Kings 24:18, footnote 1)
III. All the kings should have had a thorough realization that they were to be kings who ruled not for their own interest and prosperity but for God’s eternal economy, that God could have a nation on the earth to keep the land of Immanuel for Christ’s reign and a people for a genealogy to bring Christ to the Earth—Isa. 8:8, 2 Kings 24:18 footnote 1: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 2 Kings 24:18, footnote 1)
A. This typifies and signifies how we can partake of the all- inclusive Christ as the portion ordained by God for us and enjoy all the rights in Christ assigned to us by God that we, the people chosen and redeemed by God, can become God’s kingdom in Christ and with Christ on the earth usurped by the evil one, God’s enemy Satan—v. 18, 2 Chron. 28:8. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 23)
B. For this purpose they had to be a Nazarite to take God as their Head, their authority, and submit themselves to Him as His servants, and abandon all the pleasures (wines) of the world; but all the kings failed God in this, including David, the best one among them; thus, they did not fulfill God’s purpose for His economy; rather, they lost their reign in God’s kingdom, which is the top portion of the enjoyment of the good land (the all-inclusive Christ)—2 Kings 24:18, Judg. 13:7. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 23)
IV. The kings of Judah attained to a position where they could enjoy the good land of Canaan in their kingship; they were kings to enjoy the good land; our pursuing of Christ and our faithfulness to Him determine how much we enjoy Him; to have the highest attainment in pursuing Christ is to reign with Him as kings in His divine life—Phil. 3:13-14, Rom. 5:17b, 21b: (Life-study of Chronicles, msg. 8)
A. In the eternal economy of God, the Father has allotted the Son, the all-inclusive Christ typified by the good land, to us as our eternal portion and has transferred us into Him that we may partake of Him—2 Chron. 33:9, footnote 1. (2 Chron. 33:9, footnote 1)
B. We have been regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life; this life enables us to reign as kings; in practice, to reign in life is to be under the ruling of the divine life—John 3:3-6. (2016 WT, msg. 8)
C. To reign in life is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves, all kinds of insubordination, and all the environmental circumstances;【未改 越接受洋溢之恩】 if we would reign in life, we need to continually receive the abundance of grace, the fullness of the enjoyment of God—1:16, Rom. 5:17, 21. (2016 WT, msg. 8)
D. God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness—v. 17, 21. (2016 WT, msg. 8)
E. We need to learn from the example of the kings of Judah to have a God-man living in all the details of our daily life, a living in which you are crucified in our natural life to live by the divine life within us—Gal. 2:20, Phil. 1:21. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 2 Chon. 16:12, footnote 1)
V. The intrinsic revelation of the history according to the record from Joshua to Esther—Gen. 12:2, 13:15-16, Josh. 1:2, Col. 2:9, Eph. 1:23: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
A. God promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants Canaan as the good land; through Moses He brought Israel as a people out of Egypt; after Moses, Joshua was used by God to bring His elect into the good land He had promised to them—Gen. 12:2, Josh. 1:2. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
B. The intrinsic revelation of the history according to the record from Joshua to Esther is to unveil to us how the eternal economy of God was carried out by His elect on the earth; the eternal economy of God is altogether concerning Christ and for Christ, mainly in the person of Christ and the kingdom of Christ—Ruth 4:17-22, Gen. 12:2: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
1. Regarding the person of Christ, the record of history in the Old Testament keeps a lineage of the genealogy of Christ for His coming through His incarnation to be a man—Ruth 4:17-22. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
2. Regarding the kingdom of Christ, the Old Testament history keeps a line on the kingdom of God for Christ to establish His divine kingdom on the earth.—Gen. 12:2. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
3. These two items form the governing line of the divine revelation in the books of the history of Israel; now in 1 and 2 Kings this governing line must be realized by us for our study and understanding of these two books—Ruth 24:45. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
C. For the carrying out of His economy, God needs a people and a land; for Christ’s person, there is the need of a people to be the lineage of His genealogy to bring Him into humanity; for Christ’s kingdom, there is the need of a land; thus, God uses His people to gain a part of the Satan-usurped earth to serve as a “beachhead” for Him to set up His kingdom—13:15-16. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
D. The Bible is not a book of history; the Bible is the record of the divine revelation concerning God’s eternal economy, of which Christ is the center and reality; Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the church is the organic Body of Christ; these two items are the basic structure of the Bible—Col. 2:9, Eph. 1:23. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
E. The first two kings, David and Solomon, are important types of Christ in two aspects—Col. 2:17, 1 Sam. 17:15, 28, 1 Kings 4:29-30: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
1. The first aspect is that of His suffering on earth, before His resurrection—Ruth 2:16, 1 Sam. 17:15, 28: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
a. From the time of His birth, He suffered; His life began in a manger in the lowest estate and ended in His being crucified on the cross; the manger and the cross were the two ends of His suffering life—Luke 2:16. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
b. David typifies this suffering Christ; David also suffered from his youth; yet his suffering was for the conquering of the usurping enemies and the gaining of the good land, the ground for God’s building—1 Sam. 17:15, 28. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
2. Solomon typifies the Christ glorified in the kingdom of God and its splendor; Solomon was glorified in the kingdom of Israel with the splendor of that kingdom; this is a prefigure of Christ in the millennium—1 Kings 4:29-30. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
3. These two types are strong evidences that the history of the kings of Israel is related to God’s eternal economy, which concerns Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the organic Body of Christ—Col. 2:19, Eph. 1:23. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
VI. The two books of Kings present us a full picture of the details by which God’s elect remained in and participated in the good land—1 Kings 15:1-3, 11, 26, 34, 2 Kings 18:11, 20:18: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
A. The main striking point of these historical books concerning Israel is to show us in detail, in the way of typology, how to experience Christ as the good land given to us by God as our portion—Col. 1:12, Deut. 8:7 footnote 1: (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
1. First, the book of Joshua shows us how to gain, to take possession of, and to keep the good land—v. 2. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
2. Then the books of Judges, Ruth, and 1 and 2 Samuel give us pictures of certain persons, showing us how they remained in the good land and enjoyed the good land after they took possession of it—1 Kings 1:1 footnote 1. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
B. It depicts, as an x ray, in detail, the character, the intention, the preferences, the habits, the morality, and the actions of all the kings as the descendants of David the king—15:1-3, 11, 26, 34. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
C. This picture concerning Israel ends with a tragedy of all the kings who were put into the blessed situation of the Davidic kingship and who were not faithful to God and did not take good care of their inheritance: they lost the good land and were carried away as captives to the idol-worshipping world; this should be a solemn alarm and warning to us in our relationship with Christ—2 King 18:11, 20:18. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
D. The record of the first two chapters of 1 Kings could be considered a conclusion of the history of David recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel; this is strong evidence that the historical books in the Old Testament were written in the way of unveiling God’s economy, not merely in the way of the history of Israel—Eph. 3:9, 1:10. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)
E. The entire Bible, although written by more than forty authors in sixty-six books, unveils to us only the unique economy of God, that is, to have Himself expressed and enlarged through Christ in His Divine Trinity; such an accomplishment of God is more involved with the church in the New Testament than with Israel, God’s elect, in the Old Testament and will consummate in the New Jerusalem—v. 10, Eph. 1:22, Rev. 22:1. (Life-study of Kings, msg. 1)