Finishing Well: The Sum of a Godly Reign Text: 1 Chronicles 29:26-30
Introduction: The Final Audit
Every man's life is a story, and every story has an ending. The great tragedy of our modern, secular age is that it has forgotten how to think about endings. It is an entire civilization dedicated to the proposition of endless distraction, so that no one has to consider the final chapter, the final accounting. But the Scriptures are relentlessly realistic. They do not just tell us how to begin, but they show us what it means to finish. They are full of biographies, and they are honest biographies. We see men who start well and end poorly, like Saul. We see men who start poorly and end well, like Manasseh. And we see men like David, who, despite grievous stumbles and profound sins, are brought by the grace of God to a good and honorable end.
The book of Chronicles is a post-exilic book. It was written for the people of God after they had returned from the discipline of Babylon. They were a remnant, a shadow of their former glory, and they needed to be reminded of who they were. They needed their story retold to them, not to puff them up with nostalgia, but to re-establish their identity in the covenant promises of God. And at the heart of that story is the reign of David. The Chronicler, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is giving them the authorized, divine commentary on their own history. He is teaching them what matters.
And so, as we come to the end of this account of David's life, we are given a summary statement. It is a divine epitaph. It is God's final audit of the man who was, for all his flaws, a man after His own heart. In these few verses, we are taught what constitutes a successful life in the sight of God. It is not a life without sin, but a life defined by repentance. It is not a life without struggle, but a life that ends in victory. It is a life that establishes the next generation on a foundation of faithfulness. This is not just history; it is a pattern for every believer who desires to finish well.
The Text
Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the time which he reigned over Israel was forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years and in Jerusalem thirty-three years. Then he died in a good old age, full of days, riches and glory; and his son Solomon became king in his place. Now the acts of King David, from first to last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the chronicles of Gad the seer, with all his reign, his might, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands.
(1 Chronicles 29:26-30 LSB)
The Scope of the Kingdom (v. 26-27)
We begin with the simple, declarative summary of his reign.
"Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the time which he reigned over Israel was forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years and in Jerusalem thirty-three years." (1 Chronicles 29:26-27)
First, notice the emphasis: David reigned over "all Israel." This was his great, unifying accomplishment. He took the fractured, bickering, tribal confederacy that was constantly harassed by its neighbors and forged it into a unified, powerful kingdom. He inherited a mess from Saul and established an empire. This was not a political achievement born of raw ambition; it was a covenantal achievement. God had promised this land to Abraham's seed, and David was the instrument God used to secure those borders and establish that promise in history. He brought all twelve tribes under one head, a foreshadowing of that greater Son of David who would gather a people for Himself from every tribe and tongue and nation.
The mention of his origins, "son of Jesse," is also significant. It reminds us that he did not come from a royal line. He was a shepherd boy from an unremarkable family in a small town. His entire reign was a testimony to God's sovereign grace. God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. God delights in taking the humble things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things to shame the strong. David's throne was established not by blue blood, but by divine anointing.
The forty-year reign is a significant number in Scripture. It is the number of testing, trial, and completion. Moses was on the mountain forty days. Israel wandered for forty years. Jesus was tempted for forty days. A forty-year reign signifies a complete, generational period of rule. David's time was not cut short. God gave him a full measure of years to accomplish the work he was given to do. The division between Hebron and Jerusalem is also a reminder of the process. His reign did not begin in glory. It began with a contested claim, ruling over just his own tribe of Judah. Only after seven years of patience and proving his faithfulness in a small thing was he given rule over the whole nation. This is God's pattern: faithfulness in little leads to authority over much.
The Quality of His Death (v. 28)
Verse 28 gives us the divine assessment of his life's end.
"Then he died in a good old age, full of days, riches and glory; and his son Solomon became king in his place." (1 Chronicles 29:28)
To die "in a good old age" is a covenant blessing. It is the opposite of being cut off in judgment. It speaks of a life that has reached its natural, God-ordained conclusion. He was "full of days," which is more than just saying he was old. It means his life was packed with meaning, purpose, and substance. It was not an empty existence. He had lived. He had fought, loved, sinned, repented, ruled, and worshipped. His life was not a long, slow fade into irrelevance; it was a cup filled to the brim.
He was also full of "riches and glory." In our pietistic age, we are often suspicious of such things. But the Bible is not. Wealth and honor, when they are received as gifts from God and used for His purposes, are covenant blessings. David did not hoard his wealth; he dedicated a massive portion of it to the building of the temple. He did not seek glory for himself, but for the God of Israel. The glory he had was the honor that comes from a life of faithful service. This is not the prosperity gospel, which teaches that godliness is a means to get rich. This is the covenant gospel, which teaches that a life of faithful, productive, dominion-oriented work under the blessing of God will often result in tangible fruitfulness. Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
And then we see the capstone of a successful life: "and his son Solomon became king in his place." This is covenant succession. David's last great act was not a battle, but a peaceful transfer of power. He had prepared his son, instructed him, and secured the throne for him. He passed the baton. A man who builds a great enterprise but fails to prepare the next generation to carry it on has, in the end, failed. David finished well because he ensured that the work of God's kingdom would continue after him. He understood that his life was one chapter in a much larger story. This is the goal of all godly parenting and discipleship: to raise up those who will be more faithful and more effective than we were.
The Source of the Story (v. 29-30)
Finally, the Chronicler tells us where this information comes from, and in doing so, teaches us how to view history.
"Now the acts of King David, from first to last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the chronicles of Gad the seer, with all his reign, his might, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands." (1 Chronicles 29:29-30)
The official record of David's reign is not a secular court history written by political scribes. It is a prophetic history. The definitive account of his life was written by prophets: Samuel, who anointed him; Nathan, who confronted him over his sin with Bathsheba; and Gad, who was with him during his outlaw years. This is a profoundly important point. It tells us that history is not, at bottom, about economics or politics or social forces. History is the unfolding of God's Word. The prophets are the authorized interpreters of events.
To understand a man's life, or the life of a nation, you must have the prophetic record. You must have God's perspective. A secular historian can tell you what happened. A prophet can tell you what it meant. The modern world believes in brute, un-interpreted facts. The Bible teaches that there are no such things. All facts are created facts, and they all have meaning within the story that God is telling. This is why we must read the historical books of the Bible not as mere annals, but as theological sermons. God is teaching us through the lives of these men.
And notice the scope of this prophetic history. It includes "all his reign, his might, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands." The prophetic worldview is comprehensive. It doesn't just deal with the "spiritual" parts of David's life, like his psalms. It deals with his might, his wars, his politics. It deals with the circumstances that affected not only Israel, but also the surrounding pagan nations. God's Word speaks to all of life. There is no corner of human existence, from personal piety to international relations, that falls outside the purview of God's sovereign decree and His prophetic interpretation. All of history is His story.
David's End and Our Beginning
So what does the end of David's story mean for us? It means that a life of faith is a marathon, not a sprint, and God is faithful to bring His runners to the finish line. David's life was a mess in many ways. He was an adulterer, a murderer, and a failure as a father. And yet, the final summary of his life is one of honor, fullness, and covenantal success. Why? Because David was a man of repentance. When the prophet Nathan confronted him, he did not make excuses. He said, "I have sinned against the Lord." And in that repentance, he found grace.
David's story is our story. We are all full of sin and failure. We have all made a royal mess of things. But David's hope is our hope. His hope was not in his own righteousness, but in the righteousness of another. His psalms are saturated with cries for a salvation he knew he could not earn. He was looking forward to his own Greater Son.
Jesus Christ is the true "son of Jesse," the humble shoot who came from a forgotten line. He is the one who reigned for a complete time, His thirty-three years on earth, and established a kingdom over "all Israel," a new spiritual Israel gathered from all nations. He died, not in a good old age, but cut off in the prime of His life, precisely so that we might be granted fullness of days. He forsook all riches and glory, becoming poor that we might become rich. And His death secured a covenant succession, birthing a generation of sons and daughters who would reign with Him.
The story of David is written in the chronicles of the prophets. The story of Jesus is the fulfillment of everything those prophets wrote. He is the subject of the whole book. Because of His finished work, we too can hope to finish well. We can aim to die in a good old age, full of days, having passed on a legacy of faith to our children. We can face our final audit not with fear, but with confidence, knowing that our sins have been dealt with by the Son of David, and our lives, like his, are recorded not in the books of men, but in the Lamb's Book of Life.