“Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed.” (2 Chron. 1:9)
Expanded Passage: 2 Chronicles 1:7-12; 1 Kings 4:29-34; 11:1-8
“Big History” is the name of a current project in education that sets the history of humanity within the larger framework of the history of the planet and universe. Before you learn about the formation of modern nation-states, you learn about the formation of continents and galaxies. Along with studying the rise of early civilizations along the Nile and Indus Rivers, you study how those rivers arose. The goal is to see everything as part of a single unfolding narrative.
The Bible has its own big history. God had promised David an everlasting royal line (2 Sam. 7). When Solomon began his reign, he recognized that God was keeping his promise (2 Chron. 1:8–9). Tragically, though, Solomon didn’t keep his commitment to God like David had; he chased other gods and suffered God’s punishment (1 Kings 11:4, 6, 11). Yet God preserved his promise by sparing a tribe for David’s dynasty to rule (1 Kings 11:12–13). Later still, the monarchy ended in exile, but God maintained the line of heirs to the throne.
Matthew’s Gospel opened with Jesus’ genealogy and announced him as the long-awaited Messiah, the one who finally fulfilled God’s promise to David (Matt. 1). He was greater and more faithful than Solomon, and his kingdom filled the world (Matt. 12:42; 28:18–20). And he invites us to set our life stories within his big story.
Trust God—who was faithful to David—to be faithful to you.
Jerome Van Kuiken is a professor of Christian thought at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and the author of The Judas We Never Knew (Seedbed, 2023).
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
