Leadership Is Revealed on Earth and From Heaven and Such Leadership Is of the Highest Quality!

King David is dying and orders and instructions are given for his son Solomon to be made king. Solomon is anointed with the oil of anointing. That is what counts in life, and by whom, and by whose authority. It is the author who gives the deed authority.

It is Jesus Christ who anoints men and women for service, and if that is omitted then what is vital and essential has been omitted.

God is the author of Creation, and the author of order. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith.

This news about Solomon is brought to Adonijah who had made certain crucial moves to attempt to become king.

Yes, King David is weak, but he is still able to praise the living God - the God of Israel - and he gives thanks that he has seen his successor take the throne. We read all the glorious details in the first book of Kings and Chapters 1 and 2. Do read it carefully and prayerfully.

Adonijah is terrified, and Solomon wisely makes peace with Adonijah.

He clings to the horn of the altar where he could plead for mercy and be safe, and is told to go to your home and behave yourself, and let there be no meddling in the affairs of state or the kingdom. What more do you expect? Your life has been saved. Adonijah had been such a rascal.

David is now nearer death, but very spiritually aware, as we move into Chapter 2.

David speaks to his son who has become king in his stead. Be Strong. Show yourself to be a man. Observe what the Lord requires. Walk in his ways. Keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements. WHY? So that you may prosper - in all you do and wherever you go! He wants his son to be godly and successful.

David had walked with God and he wanted Solomon to walk with God.

God honoured Solomon and Solomon's words and we have Solomon's wise words in the book of Proverbs.

Today Jesus Christ is King of Israel.

David speaks to Solomon these solemn words. It is a precise and recognisable charge as to how Solomon should conduct his reign and give leadership, and is reminiscent of Moses words to Joshua three hundred years previously.

After he has spoken these words, he dies.

The mighty David who had slain his tens of thousands and the shepherd boy who floored Goliath, dies!

One age is over. One era has come to a close.

But God regards this anointed king highly. So often in Matthew's Gospel Jesus Christ is referred to as Son of David.

We see in this royal household the conflict between grace and evil - between grace and gracelessness. We see here too the faultiness of the people whom God calls.

When a man repents he can continue his service in the kingdom of God.

Remember the full light of God has not yet shone. It would, in Christ, but would not do so for another thousand years.

David should have been stoned to death for his adultery. Where do we read of the first stoning? Is it not Stephen in the book of Acts?

God chooses and selects whom He will.

Whoever would have called Saul of Tarsus, but up there, in the throne room, Jesus says, that is the man I am going to confront and meet and transform and use.

What a word this is. We stand, seeking to remain loyal and faithful to God irrespective of what we may have been like or what we may have done in our past!

David is normal! He was sensitive, impulsive, full of passion, and he could experience mood swings and go up and down. Sometimes he lost it completely, yet Almighty God used him.

David knew God's mercy and he needed God's mercy, as we all do. His sin was forgiven, and each of us needs that.

Later, Jesus Christ came and took our flesh, and redeemed it. He bought it back and today he is able to correct and repair every part of our being, heart, mind and spirit.

Sandy Shaw

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org/ entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.


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