This morning I was reminded afresh of the verse in Matt. 1:6 in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus,
And Jesse begot David the king. And David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah.
and I enjoyed the first part of footnote 3 on this verse, on the word, Solomon,
When David committed murder and adultery, he was rebuked by the prophet Nathan, whom God had sent purposely to condemn him (2 Sam. 12:1-12). When David was condemned, he repented. Psalm 51 is the record of his repentance. He repented and God forgave him (2 Sam. 12:13). Then he begot Solomon (2 Sam. 12:24). Hence, Solomon is the issue of man’s transgression and repentance plus God’s forgiveness.
David was a man after God’s heart, and he knew God and His heart. But he also had this major failure when he committed adultery and murder in order to obtain Bathsheba, the one who has been the wife of Uriah.
God came to David and rebuked him, and David repented – God forgave him, but still, he was punished by God(their first child died). Eventually, Solomon was born of the “one who had been the wife of Uriah” – Solomon was the product of a special marriage between David’s transgression plus his repentance joining God’s forgiveness.
He is the issue of a profoundly serious transgression committed by king David, involving adultery and murder. Yes, David was forgiven by God – but he was also governmentally disciplined by Him, and it is then that David prayed the prayer in Psa. 51. Verses 17-18 in this Psalm say,
17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18. Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
There is a connection between David’s prayer and the depths of God’s building. If we are a typical righteous person in ourselves, if we never did anything so bad that we caused the brothers and the sisters to “shake their heads” when they see us / meet us, then we may remain the same “righteous in ourselves” people – unable to be built up with others since only “the righteous ones” can meet our standard.
But for some people in this situation God has a special treatment, a special mercy, which is not GENERAL but it is sometimes allowed by Him – He allows a big failure to come our way, such a failure that even we ourselves don’t even know how did it happen, why did it happen, and what happened.
When this kind of failure happens and we turn our heart to the Lord to ask for His forgiveness, and the gift of repentance is bestowed on us under the penetrating light of the Lord, there is no “superficial repentance” – but the result is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart before the Lord!
Through such an experience, that very thing that hindered us from being built up is being broken into pieces – and Christ as the real Solomon is being formed in us.
When others meet people who have this kind of spirit – not just words, but such a spirit – they realize that they are not measured by us, judged by us, put down by us, but rather: we are UNDER everyone and everything, ready to be the slave of all if needed. The Lord is pleased to dwell with this kind of people who have such a spirit!
This is God’s mercy on us – He touches us, breaks us, even lets us fail, so that for the rest of our life there is a sense of bewilderment – how could THAT happen? Yet this happened, and now we have a contrite heat, a broken spirit, and somehow and for some reason God Himself loves to come and dwell with you!
He is not pleased to dwell with those who are high, proud, whole… In His sovereign arrangement, He may allow things to happen and failures to occur, so that we may be deeply touched by Him. Some of us are too strong, and He has to do it!
He doesn’t CAUSE the failure, but God ALLOWS it to happen – and then He comes in with mercy, grace, tenderness, forgiveness, and we repent even more in response to that kindness!
The kindness of God indeed leads us to repentance! Though it is a failure, when our repentance is added to it under the Lord’s shining light AND God bestows His forgiveness on us, instead of us becoming bitter broken people – something is being formed in us that is good for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Christ as Solomon is being formed in us, and there is something there that is unto the building up of the Body of Christ! It is a “strange” thing, but even our failures plus our repentance, matched with God’s forgiveness – produce something in us that builds up the Body!
[sharing inspired from message 11 of the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2). Read this portion in Spanish also via, ¡Nuestra transgresión más nuestro arrepentimiento junto al perdón de Dios trae como resultado algo para la edificación!]
Lord, do have mercy on us! Don’t let us remain the same, and don’t let us remain righteous in ourselves! Lord, we don’t pray for failures – we pray for Your mercy that something may be produced in us for the building up of Your Body! May Your hand be with us, Lord, and may we advance in Your eyes! Have Your way, dear Lord! Lead us to repentance, and create in us a clean heart! We give ourselves to You for the building up of Your Body – gain us more in this way! Gain in us what You desire to gain!
