Don't miss it.

Lest we miss it in this journey of realization, I would want to calibrate our minds back to what is going on as we read.

Most of the time, if we are not careful, it is easy to fall back into the “just reading” posture, or the “word for the moment” mentality where we open the Bible looking for something to address the season of life we are currently in. There is nothing wrong with receiving a word for our season, but there is something much bigger happening in this journey.

As earlier noted, we are now studying through the books of Kings and Chronicles with inserts of the prophetic books at the intervals they're believed to fit in. These are, in many ways, the tales of the kings: how they led, how they bled, how they made decisions, how they succeeded and failed, and, through the Chronicles(diaries), a deeper look into their records and the history surrounding their reigns.

But there is something we can easily miss if we only read them as historical accounts for there is another story running underneath these stories.

God created humanity to bear His image and to exercise His authority over the earth He had created. From the beginning, God chose to work through man. The heavens are His and the Earth He gave to men. The assignment given to Adam in Eden was not merely to exist in the garden. He was to represent God, exercise dominion and faithfully carry the purposes of the One who had created him. The test run happened in a small section of the whole. A garden planted in the East of Eden.

Adam failed.

He broke God's command, hid from God's presence and was eventually driven out of Eden. Then the story continues.

Abraham(test run 2) is called from Ur. Isaac follows, then Jacob, Joseph and patriarch after patriarch becomes part of God's unfolding story, yet each carries the marks of fallen humanity.

Then come the judges. Men and women are raised by God to deliver His people, but the period eventually descends into one of the darkest observations in Scripture: everyone did what was right in his own eyes, but wrong before God.

Then come the priests. They were meant to represent God before the people and the people before God, yet many of them failed in their calling. Eli and Samuel, same wozzap. They served well but never mentored their successors well.

Then the prophets. They faithfully spoke God's word, sometimes at great personal cost, but even the prophets could proclaim God's will without being able to permanently change the hearts of the people.

Then comes the elders and leaders of the people. They were all over!

Finally, Israel asks for a king. Perhaps, then, this is the answer. Perhaps what God's people need is a man who can lead them well.

So God gives them kings, and this is where Kings and Chronicles become particularly fascinating.

As we read the accounts of these kings, we are not simply reading the biographies of men who happened to sit on a throne. We are watching another chapter in a much older question.

Can a human being faithfully carry God's rule?

Saul fails.

David comes, and there is hope. Here is a man after God's own heart. Perhaps this is the one.

David also falls.

Solomon comes with extraordinary wisdom. He builds the temple. Israel experiences unprecedented prosperity and glory.

Solomon also turns away.

Then the kingdom divides and now we begin to move through king after king. Some are better than others. Some reform worship. Some destroy it. Some seek God. Others lead the nation deeper into rebellion. Some begin well and finish badly. Others hardly begin well at all and as we read their chronicles, we see something unfold before our eyes... Humanity has been given another opportunity to carry God's purposes, and once again, humanity is failing.

The Bible even refers us to other records of these events—the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the Book of Jashar, the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and other historical records. The biblical writers are not pretending that these are the only records that existed. They are giving us the account we need for the larger story God is telling.

From Adam to the patriarchs, from judges to priests, from prophets to kings, the same problem keeps appearing. The people God entrusts with His purposes keep failing to faithfully carry them.

Meanwhile, Israel is developing a consciousness that is worth noting: They are the chosen ones. It is God's son, His firstborn and a people set apart from the nations. 

This is an important details to note.

Although they think thus, the goal was never merely that Israel would enjoy being chosen. The firstborn was supposed to carry the Father's purposes. God had chosen one nation so that, through that nation, His purposes would eventually reach the nations.

But the firstborn keeps failing.

By the time we arrive at Malachi, the problem is painfully obvious. Israel has had centuries of revelation, prophets, priests, kings, laws, temples and miracles, and yet the heart of the problem remained.

They have not understood the Father's heart. He said, “if I am a father, where's the honor due to me?”

They have not faithfully carried His vision. Malachi closes the Old Testament story with an atmosphere of waiting. Then, after Malachi, the prophetic voice goes silent for centuries.

Four hundred years.

It is almost as though heaven pauses. Prophets cease, priests do religion and people go through the motions. Then comes the most extraordinary twist.

What if the problem is not that humanity needs another instruction?

What if the problem is not that Israel needs another king?

What if the problem is that the kind of man God is looking for cannot be produced by the systems humanity has set up?

So God does something that is almost impossible for the human mind to comprehend. The One who had been looking for faithful humanity comes Himself.

God becomes man.

The King puts on flesh.

The eternal enters time.

The immortal becomes mortal.

Not because He has ceased to be God, but because He has chosen to become fully human and for approximately thirty-three years, God walks among us as a man.

He is tempted, yet He does not sin.

He is hungry, yet He remains faithful.

He is rejected, yet He remains faithful.

He is opposed, yet He remains faithful.

He is given every opportunity to abandon the Father's will, yet He does not.

The enemy who had access to Adam encounters another man—and this time, the man does not fall.

Where Adam failed, Jesus remains faithful.

Where Israel failed, Jesus remains faithful.

Where the kings failed, Jesus remains faithful.

He becomes what humanity was always meant to be.

The faithful man.

The true Son.

The righteous King.

Perhaps this is one of the things we should begin to see as we journey through Kings and Chronicles. We are not simply waiting for a better king. We are being prepared to recognize the King.

But there is still another problem.

If Jesus is the faithful man, what happens to the rest of us?

Because God cannot simply solve the human problem by PRODUCING one faithful human being and leaving everyone else unchanged. This is where the words of the prophets begin to become even more significant.

Isaiah had spoken.

Jeremiah had spoken.

Ezekiel had spoken.

Joel had spoken.

They had all pointed toward something beyond another temple, another king or another external command. God was going to do something inside His people.

He would give them a new heart.

He would put His Spirit within them.

He would write His law within them.

He would pour out His Spirit.

The solution, therefore, was never merely to find a man who could live differently. God was preparing to create a people who could live differently because His presence would be with them and, ultimately, within them. Suddenly, the story we have been reading begins to come together.

Adam had God's presence in Eden.

Israel had God's presence in the tabernacle and temple.

The kings were supposed to rule under God's authority.

The prophets announced God's coming intervention.

In Jesus, God Himself comes to dwell among humanity.

After Jesus, through the Spirit, God comes to dwell within His people.

So perhaps as we continue reading Kings and Chronicles, we should resist the temptation to simply ask, “What can I learn from this king today?”

There may be a better question.

What is this story revealing about God, humanity, leadership, sin, faithfulness and the kind of King we ultimately need?

Because these chronicles are not merely telling us what happened to Israel. They are helping us understand why we need Jesus. The more kings we meet, the more we should long for the King who never failed.