Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem.

 

Thursday, September 28, 2023


Psalm 71

1 Kings 14:19-15:8

Matthew 7:24-8:4


Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem.


How much of our understanding of salvation comes from our culture, and how much comes from the Bible? The lone soul – the one who was lost, and is now found – answers the call and walks up to the altar of the Lord and declares themselves as a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist would be pleased, and indeed, there is rejoicing in heaven. (Luke 15:7) But when John was baptising in the Jordan, the individuals he was calling to repentance would have been scandalised, because their culture defined salvation as something that happened to the group, not the individual.


They would not have been out of place in that thinking, either. Abijam, despite the sins of himself and his father, was allowed by God to rule, and was buried in the graveyard of kings. It was Abijam’s connection to the group, the family of David, that gained for himself the blessing of God.


The Bible does not allow us to call it one way or the other. We must be faithful to the words of scripture and say that there is a relationship between the individual and the group which is born when those individuals come together. St Paul has this idea at the front of his mind; we read him often using the imagery of the body to describe the church; individual members that are in themselves indispensable for the health of the group.


How often is our own pilgrimage helped by the ministry and prayers of other Christians? How much help is our own ministry and prayers towards our brothers and sisters in their walk with the Lord? Who is in our past, who for their sake the Lord gives us a lamp? Who is getting a lamp of their own from the Lord because of us? Christ bled and died on the cross to win a bride for Himself, a body of people He can call His own, made up of innumerable individuals each loving each other selflessly. This is our responsibility; it is also God’s gift to us.


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