Foundations

The books of Chronicles cover the same period of history that the books of Samuel and Kings cover. Chronicles means "Things Omitted." The books spotlight God's divine perspective on Hebrew history and the kings who were instrumental in bringing about revival, restoration, and reformation. The key to understanding the Chronicles is this: God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

We will learn valuable lessons from Israel's history that will give hope and encourage endurance, especially when encountering spiritual failures. In spite of the nation's idolatry, God was very patient with His people. Every time the work of God ran into an obstacle, God raised up a prophet. Being God's instrument to remove obstacles that blocked the work of God was a chief role or function of the prophets.

The history books of Kings and Chronicles tell us about what resulted from Israel not wanting God to be their king. In these books, we will find awesome warnings in the lives of the wicked kings, and we find great examples in the lives of godly prophets like Elijah and Elisha. In 1 Kings, we learn about the division of that human kingdom. In 2 Kings, we learn the details of their sad captivities and God's grace and patience.

We learn much from the power of sin in King David's life. Like black velvet against which a jeweler displays his diamonds, sin's dark penalty, power, and price make the three facts of salvation shine brighter. First, Jesus Christ has removed the penalty of sin. Second, the Holy Spirit is more powerful than the power of sin. The third fact of salvation is that in the sight of God the stains of sin are washed away by forgiveness.

God restored King David's soul and kingdom even though he had failed morally and spiritually. But the blessing of experiencing God's forgiveness and restoration only came after David walked in the paths of righteousness by confessing his sin, repenting of it, and committing himself to follow the Lord's way. Like David, we all have a guilt problem. God's solution to our guilt problem is His forgiveness.

Through the life of King David we can learn to succeed through failure. For much of his life, David was a shining example. But in one season of David's life, he committed the sins of adultery and murder; for a whole year, he tried to cover up his sin. His sins show us even godly people may give in to temptation if they are not careful. David's life teaches us the important thing is how we respond when we fail.

Saul, Israel's first king, was disobedient and caused the Lord to cast him away. The dominating characteristic of David's life was obedience, he would do all God's will. Real success is usually best discovered in the private places of our hearts. Israel's greatest king, David, was a shepherd, a musician, a warrior, a leader, and a friend. Most important of all, he is described as a man after God's own heart.

The books of Samuel communicate God's truth to us in the form of short biographies, focusing on three people in particular. According to the scriptures, Samuel, Saul and David and all the things that happened to them are for our warning and for our example. David is the best king Israel ever had, and judging from the amount of space the Holy Spirit gave to his story, he is one of the most important characters in the Bible.

What is the Kingdom of God? In the Old Testament, God's kingdom was a literal, historical and geographical realm over which God was sovereign, with God Himself wanting to be the only ruler. The people, however, rejected God as their king and asked for human kings, which they got. The result was often tragic. This gives us insight into the concept of the Kingdom of God and how it relates to the New Testament and our lives.

The book of Ruth is a profound allegory illustrating redemption. To redeem means "to buy back" and "to bring back." Boaz redeemed Ruth; first he bought her back when he paid all her debts, then he established a relationship with her that brought her back into the family of God. Learn how in the same way we must decide we want Jesus to be our redeemer, to buy us back and to bring us back into the family of God.