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Explore the Bible Lesson for June 17: Celebrated
Logan Sides, local missions director, Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem
May 28, 2018
2 MIN READ TIME

Explore the Bible Lesson for June 17: Celebrated

Explore the Bible Lesson for June 17: Celebrated
Logan Sides, local missions director, Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem
May 28, 2018

Focal passages: 2 Samuel 5:9-12; 6:12-19

Jerusalem is one of the most important cities in the Bible and continues to receive much attention in the world today. After King David is recognized before all Israel, the story transitions quickly to how he captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. His success is attributed to the fact that “the Lord God Almighty was with him” (2 Samuel 5:10).

A neighboring nation recognizes David by sending supplies and laborers to construct a palace in Jerusalem. This picture of strength and security drives home the truth that God was providing the resources for accomplishing His plans.

God’s works through David are on full display, and those actions reveal His character.
He works in our lives, both in the ups and downs, to bring us closer to Him in our personal relationship with Him. Human beings are designed for the purpose of spiritual relationship with God, so it is no surprise that God intervenes in so many ways to relate to us. Our relationship with God is strengthened further when we worship Him in the ways He prescribes.

David joyfully brings the ark of God to his city because that was the place where people could come near to God’s presence (6:12).

The people celebrate God by bringing offerings and making sacrifices before the Lord (6:17). Through their dancing, singing and giving of gifts they express their great thankfulness for God’s blessings to them.

After hundreds of years of pursuing the Promised Land and longing for a Messiah, they are finally getting a foretaste of God’s ultimate salvation. The essence of true worship is not found in where you are geographically, the clothes you wear (or don’t wear in David’s case, 6:20), or the words you say. Worship is about drawing near to God’s presence “in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).

Believers can worship God with more joy in their hearts, because they have seen God’s love demonstrated even more clearly in the final sacrifice for sins and the promise of an eternal dwelling with God.