1Ki 3:1-4 “Win Christ”

[Study Aired August 12, 2021]

1Ki 3:1   And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
1Ki 3:2  Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.
1Ki 3:3  And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1Ki 3:4  And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

Before we come out of Babylon, we have to go into her (2Co 6:17), and in this section of the book of Kings we will look at the typical language of God’s word that informs us how Solomon who is a type of God’s elect “made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David“, which typifies how we bring Babylon into the city of David, Jerusalem that does in the positive sense, typify Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26).

This is all happening “until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about“. This reminds us as God’s people that it is a lifetime of overcoming Babylon within that we are called unto as His kind of firstfruits who are maturing (Jas 1:18), through an experience of evil that God has given us in this life that brings us unto completion through judgment (Ecc 1:13, Luk 13:7, Lev 19:23). It is through that judgment that the elect end up understanding the purpose for being alive, as God fashions and makes us fit vessels of honour to His glory, preparing us in God’s service to be fitly framed into the temple of the Lord that is being made without man’s efforts (Joh 14:3, Rev 19:7, Eph 2:18-22, 1Ki 6:7).

1Ki 6:7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

The building of that part of the temple of God which we each are, is typified by the words: “until he had made an end of building his own house” which is “the house of the LORD” where there is no more night and only peace and security, symbolized by “the wall of Jerusalem round about” that has been built to represent how “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie” (Rev 21:27). This is the positive expression of building your “own house“, and the negative is very clearly expressed in the book of Judges where every man did what is right in his own eyes, which is building your own house, or being found with your own righteousness which does not “win Christ” (Jdg 21:25, Psa 127:1).

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (1Co 10:17).

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

In order for God’s temple to be built, we must be humbled throughout this lifetime of judgment where we will learn of God’s faithfulness to finish this work He has started in us, even telling us in advance how this election of His remnant who are likened to a kind of first fruits, will bring forth fruit that will remain (Luk 14:11, Joh 15:16, Rom 11:5, Jas 1:18).

Luk 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

1Ki 3:1   And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 

It is Christ who is working within us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:12-13), and this includes how our Lord humbles us throughout this life of much tribulation (Act 14:22) in order that we may be exalted in due time.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

That starting point of an experience of being humbled begins, in typical terms, for us on the road to Damascus where we learn that all we thought we knew was just vanity and fodder that God would use going forward to burn out of us the wood, hay and stubble to purify the mind of Christ over time (gold, silver and precious stones) (Job 6:5, Act 9:3-6, 1Co 3:12-14, Php 3:8).

[See also Job 6:1-10 – “Oh That… It Would Please God To Destroy Me!]

Act 9:3  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

[We must fall to the earth (Jer 22:29) which typifies the church in order to hear how we have persecuted Christ and need going forward to be about our Father’s business. The center of that business is being accomplished in our assembly where God’s elect are dragged (Joh 6:44) and admonished to not forsake it (Heb 10:25).]

Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, (Eph 2:6) and go into the city (Jas 4:13), and it shall be told thee what thou must do (Eph 3:10, Php 2:12-13).

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: [winning Christ defined]

Solomon making “affinity^H2859 with Pharaoh king of Egypt” is typical of us not yet being able to let go of the world completely, as we still find ourselves loving the things of the world even to the point of having this affinity with Pharaoh which brings us to take his daughter into Jerusalem, which symbolizes our yet carnal mind that is still wanting to give birth to false doctrines at the hand of the Pharaoh’s daughter who represents the churches of Babylon that God’s elect go into and come out of (1Jn 2:15-17, Rev 18:4). It is that friendship with the world that brings us to take “Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David” like Rachel taking Laban’s idols and hiding them in her own tent (Gen 31:34).

The good news for God’s elect is that this season, which is a lifetime of overcoming the idols of our hearts, is going to come to an end. The member of Christ who we are, “our own house” and the rest of the body we are one with, “the LORD’S house“, is going to be completed and made ready (2Ti 2:21) to do the service of God, which will be to send us as saviours to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21). Those saviours will have been crushed and humbled having gone into Babylon and then dragged out by God (Luk 20:18, Joh 6:44) in this life so that we can be purified through that experience of evil and be found with His righteousness and not our own, and in so doing “win Christ“.

Affinity – H2859 châthan khaw-than’
A primitive root; to give (a daughter) away in marriage; hence (generally) to contract affinity by marriage: – join in affinity, father in law, make marriages, mother in law, son in law.

Luk 20:18  Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

It is in the fourth year of his reign that Solomon begins to build “the house of the Lord” (1Ki 6:1, 1Ki 6:38), which took seven years to build, and then his own house took thirteen years to build (1Ki 7:1), for a total of twenty years, represented by the time that Jacob served Laban, via Leah (type of Babylon), Rachel (type of grace working in our lives now) and the beasts of the field (typical of the life long process of overcoming the beastly flesh of man within and without through a process 6.6.6.) (1Ki 6:1, 1Ki 7:1, 1Ki 6:37-38, Gen 31:41).

Gen 31:41  Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

These numbers in Genesis 31:41 coincide with this study’s section of scripture that shows a typical blue print for God’s elect, reminding us how we are going to be going through a process of judgment (3) that will complete both our “own house” (1Co 3:8), the “house of the LORD” (Col 3:15, Eph 4:16, 1Th 5:10-11) that will result in “the wall of Jerusalem round about“, which we will need to keep our enemies from overcoming: our gates, our hearts and minds, being ready to “revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled”(Eph 6:13, 1Pe 5:2, 2Co 10:6).

1. “own house”

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

2. “house of the LORD”

Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

3. “the wall of Jerusalem round about”

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

1Ki 3:2  Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

What we do before a house is “built unto the name of the LORD” is sacrifice in “high places” which represents our own earthly attempts to say ‘Lord, Lord’, thinking we have a relationship with God and Christ (Mat 7:21), when in reality He does not ‘know us’ because we are not able at this point to worship God in spirit and in truth, “because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days” (Joh 4:23-24, Joh 17:3).

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

The building of that house represents the start of the church on Pentecost, and it is at this point, when the holy spirit was sent (Act 2:4), that those who are blessed to be dragged to that temple, which is Christ’s body (Joh 6:44), come to see and understand the worthlessness of what “the people sacrifice in high places” (Php 3:8-9).

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

1Ki 3:3  And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

This verse is an early indication of the double-mindedness of Solomon which was later going to manifest and become very apparent in his life. Yes, “Solomon loved the LORD” even “walking in the statutes of David his father“, however he “sacrificed and burnt incense in high places” which as we know is a shadow of not worshipping God in spirit and in truth. People can have the best of intentions, and they do, but unless the Lord builds the house and permits that relationship with Him and his Son to continue (Joh 17:3,  Joh 8:31), there will be no worshipping God in spirit and truth, which is what is being typified in the life of Solomon (Heb 6:1-3, Joh 4:23).

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

It’s easy to love the Lord isn’t it? “Solomon loved the LORD” tells us just that. He appreciated the great God that his father David served. However, Solomon and all of us, do not initially love those who are right in front of our faces even while we conveniently say how much we love God (1Jn 4:20, Mat 5:47).

On the other hand, Christ is teaching us to love our neighbour as ourselves, and to look beyond the wretchedness of man’s flesh (Rom 7:24). Their flesh is our flesh, and we ought to love them as much as Christ loved us from the cross (Luk 23:34). How that can be accomplished is only by the miracle of pentecost as His love is now shed abroad in our hearts making a way to love (Joh 14:15, 1Jn 5:3) where there seem to be no way initially (Rom 5:5, Isa 43:16).

We can be “walking in the statutes of David his father“, knowing all sorts of mysteries, but still be found in a condition where we only “sacrificed and burnt incense in high places“, meaning there was no love being shed abroad in our hearts which makes it possible for us to be a living sacrifice with the knowledge that God had given us (Rom 5:5, 1Co 13:2).

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

1Ki 3:4  And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

It is at “Gibeon^H1391” which means ‘hill city’ that king Solomon came to sacrifice. He sacrificed at “the great high place” and yet we know that these sacrifices are connected to a fleshly relationship of works that do not know God in spirit and truth reflected in the numbers “a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar” (10x10x10) (Psa 50:10, 1Sa 15:22)

Psa 50:10  For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? (Joh 14:15, 1Jn 5:3) Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Mars hill is another place of sacrifice and worship that comes to mind when we think of how we sacrifice to the “UNKNOWN GOD” in our flesh, unable to worship in spirit and truth being yet in ignorance, not knowing God (Act 17:23). Paul was sent to declare our God who was being ignorantly worshiped, representing what happens to each of us in Babylon until and only if we are dragged to the body of Christ and given to clearly see and hear the truth for the first time through the church (Rom 10:14, Eph 3:10). Like these “men of Athens”, we don’t just immediately give up our many idols on Mars hill and start worshipping “THE UNKNOWN GOD”. That relationship takes time, a lifetime of overcoming that results in the gift of eternal life from our Father through Christ as we come to know “the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Joh 17:3).

Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Rom 10:14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at how God is forming within His people a humble and contrite heart (Isa 66:2) by appearing to us in the midst of our dream in Christ, a dream that is one (Gen 41:32), so we can be shown “great mercy” and “great kindness” that enables us to do the right thing in this life, which is to worship God in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23), all being typified by Solomon’s humble request to know how to walk in and out and among so great a people of (1Ki 3:6-9).

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

1Ki 3:6  And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
1Ki 3:8  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
1Ki 3:9  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?