May 21st | 1 Kings 6

“If you clean up your room, then you can go outside and play with your friends.”

These words are common at our house. It is called a conditional statement: IF you do this thing, THEN you will get a reward. We make conditional statements all the time, and we understand that the conditions for the reward are based upon your ability to do something to earn that reward. God also understands conditional statements and gives them repeatedly in the Scriptures. 

In 1 Kings 6, King Solomon desires to build a temple for the Lord. After he declares this, God gives him a conditional statement. 

1 Kings 6:11-13, “11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

What a promise! God would dwell with and not forsake the people of Israel. Earlier in chapter five, we see that God has blessed Israel and King Solomon. Things are great for Israel; this is a picture of the future peace we will experience in heaven. All Solomon has to do is obey and keep God’s commandments. How hard could that be, right?

It isn’t just hard but impossible. Just a few chapters later, we will see that Solomon is pulled away from God to worship false gods and idols. He broke the covenant, and God’s people would not experience the dwelling presence of the Lord in their midst. We could scoff at Solomon for failing to uphold the covenant agreement with God, but we have failed to uphold God’s covenant agreement. 

Romans 3:23, “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” 

Throughout the rest of the Book of Kings, we will see kings come and go. Some do well, some do poorly, but the truth is, none of them can keep God’s law perfectly. None can obey and keep the covenant, and that means that God’s blessings cannot be poured out onto His people as He fully intended. 

While this can be devastating news, the reality of the book of Kings points us to our need for a true and better King. In Christ, we have a King who did not fail like Solomon, but a king who perfectly kept God’s law. Jesus never sinned and fulfilled the covenant. While we fail to meet the demands of the covenant promise, Jesus succeeded. And now, Jesus affords us the blessings of God through His blood. We receive the benefits of Jesus keeping the covenant, even though we failed!

Next time you make a conditional statement like “If… then….,” let it remind you of Jesus's grace, which allows us to receive God's blessings through His obedience.