Leading Like A King

We are reading through the Bible as a family this year using "The MacArthur Daily Bible" and today was one of those special days where the Old Testament tied into the New Testament in a way that made my heart go "WOW" and stand in awe of the Author the those very books!

Part of our Old Testament reading was Deuteronomy 17, where God is speaking through Moses and giving the Israelites commands to obey as they get ready to enter into the Promise Land. Verses 14-20 are specifically talking about a future king, and here is what God says:

"When he (the king) is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes." (vs. 18-19)

Just think about that. The first "duty" of a new king was not to hold feasts in his own honor or parade around town showing off his new crown, robe, and chariot. His first responsibility was to painstakingly write out a large chunk of (at least based on the text) Deuteronomy, so that he might have his own copy of God's Word to read each and every day. In doing so, there would be no room for pride as he daily learned to fear the Lord and walk in His ways, and then lead the people to do the same.

God commanded this of each and every king.

We found ourselves in Luke 4 for our New Testament reading. Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. And, with each temptation thrown at Jesus, He replied by quoting the Scriptures. All three Scriptures came from the same book....can you guess which one?!

DEUTERONOMY!

Maybe there is no real connection...and maybe there is. I'm not going to write a book on it. :) But, either way, King Jesus is the "King of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19:16). He is the only one who has or will ever receive the praises given in 1 Timothy 1:17, "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever." He is the ultimate King of Israel and the church. He also came to fulfill the law. Jesus said in Mathew 5:17-18 "Don't assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished." And, just maybe, that even included the commands in Deuteronomy 17!

We may not be called to be kings (or queens!), and there is only One who is King of kings...but may we be those who follow the command God gave to them thousands of years ago.  May we, daily, open the Bible and read it, meditate on it, and live it out in such a way that we might faithfully lead...faithfully lead others to the feet of Jesus!




Comments