Read: 1 Chronicles 22:1-10; Hebrews 4:9-11
Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. (1 Chron. 22:9)
Recently in Sunday worship, we had a reverse offering. Instead of putting something in the offering plate, we were invited to take out a card printed with a word to consider. My card read “success,” which led my wife and I to discuss what it means for each of us to be successful.
For the writer of Chronicles, among all of David’s accomplishments the most important was the building of the temple. The irony is that he himself could not complete it because he was a man of war (v. 8). That privilege would go to his son Solomon, a man of rest, or peace. The Hebrew word here is shalom. Solomon, which sounds like shalom, is a man of rest or peace.
Just as Abraham and Sarah could not reside permanently in the land, and Moses could only survey the Promised Land from the mountain top, so David would not live to see the completion of the temple. Even for Solomon, the man of rest, his temple in all its grandeur did not survive the Babylonian invasion and exile. The First Temple and Second Temple are a foreshadowing of the eternal sabbath rest or peace (Heb. 4:9). We look to Jesus Christ, who brings rest for our souls (Matt. 11:28-30). Success is not the money we make or our status in life but a relationship with Jesus Christ, now and into eternity. For the Christian, this is success.
As you pray, ask God to redefine success as a relationship with Christ, now and into eternity.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
