THE KING AND THE KINGDOM

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 22:1-14
Lesson #37
THE KING AND THE KINGDOM

• Memory verse: Pro 22:11
• “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.” (1)
  • This verse refers to a family name rather than an individual name.
  • It is important for the individual to be concerned about his own reputation and so much more the reputation of his family. Why?
  • If you belong to a family with a good reputation, you will receive “loving favor” from others.
    • Of course, in the past when people lived in small communities and everyone in town knew your family, this proverb was more relevant and more observable.
    • However, even today you have a reputation in the body of Christ as a Christian that you need to maintain because you are a representative of Christ.
• “The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.” (2)
  • God does not show favoritism based on economics. He treats everyone justly with equality.
  • More than that, God dispenses wealth to those He desires.
  • God knows who can handle wealth and who cannot.
  • In God’s family all share equally in the spiritual riches of Christ as co-inheritors of Christ.
• “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (3)
  • Key words: prudent (caution); simple (the unwise).
  • The wise believer in Christ receives warnings by the Holy Spirit so as to avoid evil.
  • This is why it is important for the believer to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit in him so that the believer can be guided by the Spirit to be where God wants him to be.
  • The unwise person is the non-believer that does not have the Holy Spirit to guide him. As he falls into evil in his life, he will discover in the final judgment that he should have been more discerning. He should have received the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart as his personal savior so as to receive God’s guidance.
• “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” (4)
  • Key words: fear of the Lord (awesome reverence).
  • God says that He will exalt the humble. (Mat 5:3; 18:4) Humility is a basic characteristic of God’s kingdom.
  • Only the believer in Jesus Christ has an awesome reverence for God. We have seen in Proverbs that this characteristic is the beginning of all the good things in life including honor.
  • Only the believer in Jesus Christ has eternal life because Jesus said He the resurrection and life. (Joh 11:25)
• “Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.” (5)
  • Key words: froward (disobedient).
  • The disobedient person will discover that his disobedience invites problems (thorns and snares) in his life.
  • Instead, the person that keeps his path on the straight and narrow path obediently following the direction of the Holy Spirit will find that he will avoid the problems that sin brings into his life.
  • Jesus Christ bore the thorns and snares of life for us when he took on himself our sins to make part of his kingdom.
• “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (6)
  • Many Christians use this verse as a promise that if they train their children in the Christian life, they will never depart from it.
  • However, we must remember that the book of Proverbs contains probabilities and not promises.
  • Therefore if you train your child in the Christian life, probably he will not depart from it. But we must keep in mind that every human has his own free will to make his own choice.
  • The believer in Christ has the responsibility before God to train his own children in the ways of God. It is not the responsibility of the church or the Sunday school.
• “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (7)
  • Those who are rich have greater opportunities, greater temptations, and greater responsibilities. He is accountable to God.
    • If he uses his money to lend to the poor but takes advantage of lending by charging high interest rates, the borrower becomes a servant to the lender.
    • In this case the lender becomes oppressive and accountable to God.
  • This verse tells us why it is not a good idea to go heavily into debt. You lose a degree of personal freedom until you pay off the debt. God wants the people of his kingdom free to not owe anything to anyone. (Rom 13:8)
• “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.” (8)
  • Key words: iniquity (sin); vanity (empty).
  • Sin is glamorous for a season because Satan appears as an angel of light. (2Cor 11:14) However, in the end sin is empty of a positive reward and empty of satisfaction.
  • This verse is the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping that goes through the entire Bible.
  • Equally as empty is anger for it never changes another’s opinions and ideas.
• “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.” (9)
  • Blessed is the person that sees another person’s need and out of his own free will proceeds to fulfill that need.
  • We have seen previously in Proverbs that God expects believers to give to the poor.
  • Jesus said we would always have the poor with us but if we give to the poor we are giving to Him. (Mat 25:40) Again this is the principle of sowing and reaping.
  • Jesus, the King, gave his body, represented by bread, to those that need salvation.
• “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.” (10)
  • Key words: scorner (arrogant hater); contention (strife); reproach (censure).
  • The person that hates everyone and everything sees himself as better than others. Therefore, if he is absent from a situation, strife will also be absent.
  • The person that is the arrogant hater will censure everyone that disagrees with him.
  • In Christ’s future kingdom on earth of 1000 years, all those who are evil will be cast out. Peace will reign.
• “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” (11)
  • Pureness of heart is a characteristic of a believer that is covered by the righteousness of Christ.
  • A believer’s conversation will also be pure coming from a pure heart.
  • Because God deals with the believer by grace, the believer will deal with others by grace.
  • Jesus Christ is the King of kings. He is a friend to the believer and the model of a pure heart.
    • Through the book of Proverbs we have seen some proverbs that speak about “the king”. In Pro 21:1 we learned that the heart of the king is in the hand of God. Of course the king of that time was Solomon. However, in the broad perspective the King is Jesus Christ.
      • God has given us through the Bible the concept of “the Kingdom”.
      • In the New Testament, we see Jesus present the theme of the Kingdom in the Gospels directly or through parables.
      • The gospel of Matthew speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mat 3:2)
      • The gospels of Mark, Luke, and John speak of the Kingdom of God (Mar 1:14 Luk 4:43 Joh 3:3)
    • Various aspects of the “Kingdom” are scattered through the Old Testament including the book of Proverbs. Even though Proverbs never uses the word, “kingdom”, it has much to say about the King.
    • For example, you cannot have a kingdom without a king who has authority, without a territory over which to rule, and/or without a people over which to reign.
      • These aspects of the Kingdom of God occur in time from the beginning of God’s dealings with man.
      • God gave man authority over the earth in Genesis with Adam and Eve.
      • Israel wanted a king like all other nations and God said He was their King. (Isa 43:15)
      • But in God’s permissive will He gave them King Saul. But Saul was not a good king.
      • Then God, in His perfect timing, gave Israel King David to be a prefigure of the kingdom of God with Jesus Christ as the King reigning over His people.
      • After King David, King Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs and talks about the ideal king. (Pro 21:1)
    • Therefore, at times the kingdom is spiritually present on earth and at other times it is physically present:
      • Spiritual Manifestation of the Kingdom
        • For Israel, God said He was their king when they demanded an actual king. (1Sam 8:6-7)
        • In this age of grace today, Jesus Christ rules in the hearts of the believers in Jesus Christ.
      • Physical Manifestation of the Kingdom on earth
        • The kingdom of David was to be a physical prefigure of Christ’s eternal kingdom.
        • The kingdom was present on earth when Christ came the first time. John the Baptist said that the kingdom is at hand. (Mat 3:2) The Kingdom is where the King is present.
        • The kingdom will be present on earth when Christ comes the second time to establish His Kingdom on earth for 1000 years.
        • The millennial kingdom will become the eternal kingdom with Christ in eternity.
• “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.” (12)
  • Key words: preserve (defend); knowledge (power to know truth); transgressor (lawbreaker).
  • Because God’s basic character is truth, He is interested in preserving the power to know the truth. The truth has power.
    • The transgressor is the sinner, but in the broad perspective the transgressor is Satan, who is the father of liars. (Joh 8:44)
    • To defeat the enemy in the wilderness temptation, Jesus quoted the Word of God.
    • Truth has power. Because of that the believer in Christ should know and use the truth of the Word of God.
• “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.” (13)
  • Key words: slothful (inactive).
  • His reason for not leaving his home to go to work is the lion outside. He has too much fear.
    • Fear will always keep you from doing what God wants you to do, whether it is to physically go to work to earn a living or whether it is accomplishing anything for God that extends the Kingdom of God in this world.
    • Fear is the opposite of faith.
  • The lion in this verse represents Satan and his opposition to God and God’s Kingdom. (1Pet 5:8)
• “The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.” (14)
  • Key words: strange women (prostitute).
  • In the book of Proverbs the strange woman refers to actual physical prostitution or to spiritual prostitution which is false religions. Because it refers to both physical and spiritual conditions of either immorality or idolatry, it is a deep pit.
  • The end of this verse is often misunderstood. It seems to say that the person that God hates will fall into this pit. However, God never condemns anyone to eternal hell. It is better to say that God hates both physical and spiritual prostitution so that when people fall into this pit they fall under God’s hatred.
  • Scripture is clear to tell us that man chooses who he will serve and into which kingdom he will fall. He will serve Satan and fall into Satan’s kingdom, or he will serve God and fall into God’s Kingdom.
  • God has given man free will to make his choice. God will never violate this gift that He has given to man.
• Summary and application:
  • The title of the theme of our lesson is the King and the Kingdom.
  • Therefore we see some of the characteristics and attitudes of God’s Kingdom mentioned in this section of Proverbs:
    • The value of a good reputation with man and with God. (1)
    • The value of obedience to supreme authority (2)
    • The value of caution in life’s decisions so as to be directed by the Holy Spirit (3)
    • The value of humility and fear of the Lord. (4)
    • The value of man’s eternal soul that God desires to save for His Kingdom. (5)
    • The value of good teaching of truth that brings people to follow the Lord. (6)
    • The value of using your money wisely to extend the Kingdom of God. (7)
    • The value of living a pure life in Christ through the forgiveness of sin. (8)
    • The value of giving to the poor. (9)
    • The value of being a peacemaker. (10)
    • The value of a pure heart in Jesus Christ. (11)
    • The value of having a teachable spirit so as to know and use the power of truth. (12)
    • The value of faith that overcomes fear so as to please God. (13) (Heb 11:6)
    • The value of knowing the right path of God and staying on it. (14)

Homework
Proverbs 22:15-29

• Application of Pro 22:1-14
  • In thinking about your position in the Kingdom of God, What is it from this section of scripture that speaks to you about what you can do to better:
    • Represent the Kingdom of God to a lost world.
    • Extend the Kingdom of God in a lost world.
• Preparation for Pro 22:15-29
  • Read Pro 22:15-29
    • What does the rod of correction extract from the child? (1) What does that mean? (Remember your Proverbs dictionary).
    • What does it mean to “bow down the ear”? (17)
    • What does verse 20 mean? (use your Proverbs dictionary)
    • What are we supposed to do with what we learn from God? (21)
• Memory Verse: Pro 22:17