Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-10-11
THANKSGIVING OF DAVID.
LESSON III, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATiONAL SERIES, OCT. 20.


init Verses as. 29-Goiden Text, I Thess.
W is-Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per-
mission Of II. s Hoffman, publisher Philadel.
pha.
lS "Then went King David in, and sat be-
fore the Lord" The word "then" takes us
back to the first verses of this chapter where
we read that the Lord having given David
rest round about from all his enemies. his
thoughts turn to the Ark of God dwelling
within curtains, while he dwells in a house
of cedar, and the prophet Nathan encourages
him in his purpose to build an house for the
Ark; this leads to message from the Lord
to David in which he is told that not he but
his son shall build the house, and that through
this son Davids house and kingdom and
throne shall be established (R. ", made sure)
for ever. SO, with the assurance from God
of n wonderful Son and an eternal kingdom,
he sits before the Lord and says, "Who am l,
| q Lord Godf and what my house that Thou
hast brought me hithertoW
49, Thou hast spoken also of thy servants
house for great while to come" Not only
was David amazed at the past goodness of
God to him in taking him from the sheep
cote and from following the sheep to be the
ruler over Gods people Israel w. viii, but
he was overwhelmed by the revelation now
made to him of the future glory and sta
bility of his house and kingdom. "And is this
the manner Of man, o Lord GodF There
is no doubt some reference to Solomon In
this description of the future glory of the
house of David, but there is more decided
reference to the Son Of David of Matt. i, /;
/ xxit 81 . l,,.,.l
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of
His father David, and He shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever; and of His king
dom there shall be no end" luke i, 81, 3d.
Our lesson today is undoubtedly concern
ing that covenant which Isaiah calls The
sure mercies of David" and which Paul tells
us shall be fulfilled only in the resurrection
lisa. lv, 3; Acts xiii, 81
20. And what can David say more unto
theei for Thou, Lord God, knowest Thy SER
want" lnasmuch God knew all about
David before ever He began to lead Him out,
he felt that there was nothing more for him
to say.
81. For Thy Words sake, and according
to Thine own heart, hast Thou done all these
great things to make Thy servant know
them In Ezekiel xxxvi, % ~, speaking of
this very kingdom when Israel shall be re-
stored and cleansed from all their sins the Lord
says that He will do it, not for their sakes,
but for His Holy Names sake When we re-
member that one of the precious names of
Jesus, Son of David, is The Word of God"
John |, Rev xix, 49,, then we understand
that 'for Jesus sake" He will accomplish all
things concerning his elect church, and His
elect nation Israel according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord" Eph iii, H.
22 Wherefore, Thou art great, o Lord
God: for there is none like Thee" "Who is
like unto Thee, o Lord. among the godsl'
sang Moses after the Egyptians had been
overthrow in the Red sea lex XIV, III.
There is none like unto Thee o Lord; Thou
art great, and Thy name is great in might"
says Jeremiah as he talks of the True and
Living Cod king of nations. king of eter
nifty. der. x, 6-l0l
23 And what one nation In the earth is
like Thy people, even like Israel,
which Thou redeemedst to Thee from Egypt
from the nations and their godsf Is
rael alone of all the nations was thus honored
of God, and surely He had a right to expect
from them great things in the way of obedi-
ence, in return for the great things which He
had done for them. The church Of Christ,
composed of believers gathered out of all
nations, has been redeemed by His precious
blood that she may make Him name on this
earth, and He has q right to expect from
every one thus redeemed holy life and a
whole hearted devotion to Himself in His
present great work Of preaching the Gospel to
every creature,
"a Thou hast confirmed to thyself thy
people Israel, to be people unto thee for
ever, and thou Lord art become their God"
Il know that whatsoever God doeth it shall
be forever" tEccl ill., IA. The SUM- moon and
stars as We look upon them in the heavens are
sign To us that Israel shall never cease to be
IA nation before God,
25 And now, o Lord God, do
as Thou hast said" David follows up his
heartfelt thanksgiving by placing himself ell
tlrely in the will of God aud at His disposal;
like Mary when she said: behold the hand
maid of the Lord; be it unto me according to
Thy word" luke i, 49,,
26 And let Thy name be lnagnfied for
ever" David seeks not his own glory nor the
glory of Israel, but that through him or his
house or his people the name of Jehovah may
be magnified- In Ps Xix, 80 he says, Il will
magnify Him with thanksgiving" and that
is what he is doing in this lesson Hear him
repeatedly saying, Let the Lord be magni-
fed" FPS xxxv, ~; xl, 10; Xxx, a, and call
hiS ul'h eho pcOpio W IldpnlIy UDe lSOTu
with him and exalt His name together (Ps
xxxiv, 81
27 For Thou, o Lord of Hosts, God of Is
rael, hast revealed to Thy servant, saying, |
will build thee an house, and therefore Da-
vid prayed this prayer This is the right
thing to do with all the revelations which
God makes TO us in His word concerning His
great goodness towards us, and His purposes
not yet fulfilled, just receive them grateful
ly, eat them joyfully and pray for them with
expectation.
% And now, o Lord God, Thou art that
God, and Thy words be true and Thou hast
promised this goodness unto Thy servant"
He here acknowledges that he firmly believes
that all Gods words are true and he simply
pleads His promises This is what we need
today on the part Of Christians; to lay hold
OF Gods promises and plead them with the
same confidence with which we would present
check at bank for payment; but as the
check will not be paid till we indorse it, so
we need not expect promise to be fulfilled
till we indorse it-that is, write our own
faeas IL -