God's Judgement on Pride (1 Chronicles 21)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Well, let's turn to God's Word in First Chronicles, Chapter Twenty One and 2 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:18.469 continue reading and preaching through this history of God, this people, first chronicles 3 00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:26.940 twenty one through twenty two, verse one. Then Satan stood against Israel and 4 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:31.780 incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joe AB, as the 5 00:00:31.899 --> 00:00:37.369 commanders and the commanders of the army, go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan 6 00:00:37.850 --> 00:00:42.289 and bring me a report that I may know their number. But Job said, 7 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:46.810 May Jehovah add to his people a hundred times as many as they are. 8 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:51.119 Are They not my Lord, the King, all of them my Lord's 9 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:55.280 servants? Why, then, should my Lord require this? Why should it 10 00:00:55.399 --> 00:01:00.679 be a cause of guilt for Israel? But the king's word prevailed against Joe 11 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.989 AB. So joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem, 12 00:01:06.590 --> 00:01:08.590 and job gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. 13 00:01:10.230 --> 00:01:14.189 In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, 14 00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:18.430 and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand who drew the sword. But 15 00:01:18.549 --> 00:01:22.900 he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering. For the king's command 16 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:27.900 was abhorrent to Joe Ab but God was displeased with this thing and he struck 17 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:33.569 Israel. And David said to God, I have sinned greatly in that I 18 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:37.930 have done this thing, but now please take away the iniquity of your servant, 19 00:01:38.489 --> 00:01:42.730 for I have acted very foolishly. And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David 20 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:49.200 Seer, and saying go say to David, thus says Jehovah, three things 21 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.400 I offer you. Choose one of them that I may do it to you. 22 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.640 So Gad came to David and said to him, thus says Jehovah, 23 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.230 Choose what you will either three years of famine or three months of devastation by 24 00:02:04.269 --> 00:02:07.830 your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three 25 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:13.870 days of the Sword of Jehovah, Pestilence on the land, with the Angel 26 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:19.379 of Jehovah Destroying Throughout all the territory of Israel. Now decide what answer I 27 00:02:19.419 --> 00:02:23.979 shall return to Him who sent me. Then David said to Gad, I 28 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:29.099 am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of Jehovah, for 29 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:32.409 His mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand 30 00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:38.770 of man. So Jehovah sent a pestilence on Israel and seventy thousand men of 31 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:45.800 Israel fell, and God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But 32 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:50.719 as he was about to destroy it, Jehovah saw and he relented from the 33 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:55.039 calamity and he said to the angel who was working destruction, it is enough, 34 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:00.150 now, stay your hand. And the Angel of Jehovah was standing by 35 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:06.189 the threshing floor of Ornand the jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw 36 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:10.949 the angel of Jehovah Standing Between Earth and Heaven and in his hand a drawn 37 00:03:12.150 --> 00:03:17.580 sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, 38 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:23.460 fell upon their faces and David said to God, was it not I 39 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:28.050 who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and 40 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:31.969 done great evil, but these sheep, what have they done? Please let 41 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:38.129 your hand, Oh Jehovah, my God, be against me and against my 42 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:44.280 father's house, but do not let the plague be on your people. Now 43 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:49.039 the angel of Jehovah had Commanded Gad to say to David that David should go 44 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:53.520 up and raise an altar to Jehovah on the threshing floor of ornand the jebusite. 45 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:59.030 So David went up at Gad's word, which he had spoken in the 46 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:03.669 name of Jehovah. Now ornand was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the 47 00:04:03.830 --> 00:04:10.020 angel and his four sons, who were with him, hid themselves as David 48 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:16.100 came to ornand looked day rushing floor and paid homage to David with his face 49 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:21.019 to the round. And David said to orn him, give me the side 50 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:25.649 of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to Jehovah. 51 00:04:26.329 --> 00:04:30.810 Give it to me at its full price, that the plague may be averted 52 00:04:30.009 --> 00:04:34.009 from the people. The norn end said to David, take it and let 53 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:38.680 the Lord. Can't the king do what seems good to him? See, 54 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:43.360 I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and 55 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.759 the wheat for a grain offering. I give it all the king. David 56 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:51.160 said to Ornon, no, but I will buy them for the full price. 57 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:57.589 I Will Not Take for Jehovah What Is Yours, nor offer burnt offerings 58 00:04:57.670 --> 00:05:01.470 that cost me nothing. So David paid or an on six hundred shekels of 59 00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:06.300 gold by the weight or by weight for the sight. And David built there 60 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:12.819 an altar to Jehovah and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on Jehovah, 61 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:16.939 and Jehovah answered him with Fire From Heaven upon the Altar of the of 62 00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:23.810 burnt offering. Then Jehovah Command of the Angel and he put his sword back 63 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:29.689 into his sheath. At that time, when David saw that Jehovah had answered 64 00:05:29.730 --> 00:05:32.009 him, at the threshing floor of orn and the Jebu side, he sacrificed 65 00:05:32.129 --> 00:05:38.319 there for the Tabernacle of Jehovah which Moses had made in the Wilderness, and 66 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.959 the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place that Gibbeon, 67 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.199 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he 68 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:50.670 was afraid of the Sword of the Angel of Jehovah. Then David said, 69 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:56.990 here shall be the House of Jehovah, God, and here the altar of 70 00:05:57.069 --> 00:06:25.129 burnt offering for Israel. You may be seated. Up to this point in 71 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:30.649 the book of chronicles, things have been going rather swimmingly for David. Things 72 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:36.120 have been going very well. He's been moving forward, conquering person or people 73 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.920 after people, King after King, anyone who stands up against him. He's 74 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:46.199 able to put down very well from the time where he conceived the the idea 75 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:50.430 to bring the Ark into Jerusalem, his coronation, the Covenant God that makes 76 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:57.589 with him these military battles, with the one hiccup of the arc a few 77 00:06:57.629 --> 00:07:01.019 chapters back in the handling of it. Other than that, of things have 78 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:09.139 been going very well for David, especially recently. But this chapter reminds us 79 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:15.490 that David was no Shoein as king and that God was not along for the 80 00:07:15.569 --> 00:07:19.970 ride. This has been the point all along. This is the thing that 81 00:07:20.170 --> 00:07:28.129 saw for God and that David has often, but not here a remembered that 82 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:31.839 God is the one who's king over Israel. God is the one who's establishing 83 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:40.879 his kingdom, and then earthly king is his under shepherd king ruling in his 84 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:47.230 place. So many other kings of the ancient world often treated God and, 85 00:07:47.589 --> 00:07:55.949 as they thought of it, the Gods, as a something that was an 86 00:07:56.029 --> 00:07:59.620 external validation, we might say, for the things that they were doing. 87 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:05.420 Right, you go and you conquer a thing and then you offer sacrifices to 88 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:11.180 some God to show that you are invested with a kind of religious power as 89 00:08:11.300 --> 00:08:15.769 well as political, as a way of kind of shoring up your kingdom. 90 00:08:16.009 --> 00:08:22.850 But not so for David. This was for David Yahway's place in Israel was 91 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:28.759 true. He was the one who was leading his people. It was David 92 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.120 who was in the back seat, a lesson that he would learn again through 93 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:41.279 these events here. So what happens in this chapter? Let's do a basic 94 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:46.590 outline of the story. The first thing that we read is that Satan stands 95 00:08:46.629 --> 00:08:54.429 against Israel and incites David to sin. This is a reminder that Satan does 96 00:08:54.710 --> 00:09:00.580 desire, I'm to thwart God's kingdom, to destroy it, to take it 97 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:07.379 down. David has been having success after success and and Satan wants none of 98 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:11.850 it. He incites David. Now David, of course, has a choice 99 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:13.809 in this. As Joe, ABB is commander, puts to him. He 100 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:20.049 says, don't do this thing. This is obviously a bad thing, and 101 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:24.759 David and decides to do it anyway. What is it that he does? 102 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:31.720 Well, the easiest thing to say is that he he takes the census. 103 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.480 That's obvious. Why is that a sin? Is perhaps not so obvious. 104 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.590 There are some hints in the text and there are some various reasons that might 105 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:46.429 be true why this is so offensive to God. But it seems to me 106 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:52.379 that the chief reason is that this sensus is about David's personal pride as opposed 107 00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:58.700 to God's work. Censuses, if I don't know if you can make that 108 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:01.820 plural in that way, but we will for the moment. The these countings 109 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:07.809 are not in and of themselves sinful. God in a number of times throughout 110 00:10:07.809 --> 00:10:15.289 the Old Testament commands them for purposes of sanctuary, taxation or military things or 111 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:22.639 population issues. There's various reasons that God commands census has to be taken, 112 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:26.960 but we don't hear of anything them, of them here in this chapter, 113 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.519 and that's one reason. It seems to indicate to me that this sensus is 114 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:37.350 not about doing the Lord's work but about David and his pride. Another reason 115 00:10:37.950 --> 00:10:43.429 to believe that this is something of what's going on here is in Joe Ebbs 116 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:48.429 appeal to David, he says in verse three, are they not my Lord, 117 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:52.860 the king, all of them, the Lord's servants? Do you really 118 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:56.620 need to go out and exercise this kind of political pressure on the people? 119 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:01.740 Are They not loyal? Do you not have enough this sense? What seems 120 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:07.769 to be going on here is David is using this very powerful political tool to 121 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:16.289 achieve something for himself in Israel. But what reason, what possible reason, 122 00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:20.440 would he need to have this? God has promised him everything, God has 123 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:26.679 given him everything. There seems to be something of David's personal pride at work 124 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:35.190 here and not God's work. David wants something for himself. He wants to 125 00:11:35.309 --> 00:11:41.669 do wants to perhaps see this kingdom established in his name as opposed to the 126 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:48.700 Lord's. And so we this is this is his sin. He does the 127 00:11:48.940 --> 00:12:00.500 Census and clearly God is displeased and he judges David for this. David commits 128 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:03.450 the Sin Anyway, despite the warnings of Joe Ebb. It kindles God Ang 129 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:11.129 a God's anger, and he then punishes David. We read of God sending 130 00:12:11.889 --> 00:12:18.120 the Angel of the Lord to bring about this pestilence on the people of Israel. 131 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:22.480 This is great irony that David goes out to count the people as a 132 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:28.000 way to sort of shore up his power, but ends up losing seventyzero men 133 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.629 as a result. The numbers decrease as opposed to increase, because of his 134 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:41.309 pride, God is often very fitting in his judgments. A second thing to 135 00:12:41.470 --> 00:12:48.980 notice to here is who it is that brings this judgment. Earlier we read 136 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:54.299 this section from Matthew and we read that an angel of the Lord appeared to 137 00:12:54.659 --> 00:13:00.929 Joseph, but here we do not read that an an, an angel of 138 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:05.370 the Lord, appeared to Joseph, but the angel of the Lord appeared to 139 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:11.490 Joseph. Well, what's the difference? Well, it's quite a big difference. 140 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:18.600 Throughout the Old Testament there is this angel, the angel of the Lord, 141 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:26.750 who is remarkably different and distinguished from the other angels. Angel simply means 142 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:33.549 a minister, one who is sent to Minister or to do God's work. 143 00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:41.899 But this angel is described in different terms throughout the Old Testament. For example, 144 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:46.860 in Genesis Forty Eight, versus fifteen and sixteen and Malachi three one, 145 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:52.259 he's called the angel of the Covenant. I'm he's given this very prominent status 146 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:58.289 and terms of Israel's legal relationship with God. On in Genesis one hundred and 147 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:05.129 thirteen, in speaking to Jacob, the Angel says I am the God of 148 00:14:05.289 --> 00:14:11.039 Bethel. In Genesis Forty Eight, we read that Jacob says the speaks of 149 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:16.320 this angel in parallel with God and says this is the angel who redeemed me. 150 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.879 In next it is thirty two, the burning Bush with Moses. We 151 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:28.830 read that the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire 152 00:14:28.149 --> 00:14:33.309 out of the midst of the Bush. That's in verse two of Exodus Three. 153 00:14:33.629 --> 00:14:37.070 Then in verse four we read that God called to him out of the 154 00:14:37.230 --> 00:14:41.740 Bush. I am the Lord You, I am the Lord, or I'm 155 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:46.659 sorry, I am the God, the Angel says, of Your Father, 156 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:50.740 the God of Abraham, the God of Isa Isaac, the God of Jacob. 157 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.090 We read there an exodus three that Moses hid his face for he was 158 00:14:54.129 --> 00:15:00.970 afraid to look at God. So who is the angel of the Lord? 159 00:15:01.970 --> 00:15:05.889 On the one hand, he's distinguished from God and that as he comes to 160 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:09.679 do God's work, he often will speak of God in the third person. 161 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:16.240 God says this. God says that there is something distinguished between the person of 162 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.240 the angel and the one who sends him. And yet at the same time 163 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.230 there is a unity in which, in various places this angel is worshiped, 164 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:28.870 this angel is called God, this angel, who appears to people, is 165 00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:35.299 called, is called and worshiped as God. So who is this angel? 166 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:43.460 Well, as Herman Bobbing puts it succinctly, a true personal revelation and appearance 167 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:50.049 of God. It is God, the Son I'm appearing in this particular form. 168 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:54.450 Later on in the scriptures we read that he took takes on not the 169 00:15:54.889 --> 00:16:02.450 form of an angel but the form of man. Very remarkable thing. I 170 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:07.440 say all this to point out something quite significant, as will see a little 171 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:12.000 bit later. God, in sending the angel of the Lord, in the 172 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:18.200 son of God, as this great angel of judgment, is coming to do 173 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:22.350 the will of the father. In this great and powerful way. He is 174 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:29.029 called the Lord of hosts, the the ruler or the one who commands thousands, 175 00:16:29.149 --> 00:16:34.620 myriads of and this angelic army. But yet he himself is strong in 176 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:45.940 himself to destroy this entire city. This is whom God sends. What happens 177 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:56.690 then? David calls out to God, he begs him for mercy, and 178 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:04.400 God holds back his hand a momentarily and reveals to him, reveals to Jay 179 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:10.519 David on the fullness of this coming judgment. This is the moment when David 180 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:15.829 and the elders see this angel. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be 181 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:21.910 to look up and be able to see in the space between heaven and earth, 182 00:17:22.349 --> 00:17:25.470 somehow they are in the sky, we might think, up above the 183 00:17:25.630 --> 00:17:32.299 city, the angel of the Lord's Standing Ready, and not just standing there 184 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:38.140 with all of his awesomeness and power, but with a sword unsheathed, standing 185 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:45.609 over Jerusalem. The meaning of this is clear. God is about to destroy 186 00:17:45.769 --> 00:17:52.130 his people. This same angel, which has gone out and destroyed other people's 187 00:17:52.569 --> 00:18:00.079 is now standing there over Jerusalem, over God's people. And at this moment 188 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.920 when God reveals the fullness of coming judgment, he then reveals a second thing. 189 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:17.349 He sends this Prophet Gad and tells David to go and prepare a sacrifice, 190 00:18:18.829 --> 00:18:22.950 and he does this. He's he goes to the place where the angel 191 00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:30.380 is, he goes to Ornan, the JEBUSITE, and he buys at sacrifice 192 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.420 to himself, this threshing floor in the oxen, and he prepares a sacrifice. 193 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:38.019 What do we see in this? We see God's revelation of two things. 194 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:47.089 One, his coming judgment, but also the possibility for propitiation, for 195 00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:52.250 atonement, for forgiveness through sacrifice. It's not David who comes up with this 196 00:18:52.450 --> 00:18:56.559 idea. Yes, David appeals to the Lord, but it's the Lord who 197 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:03.039 provides the solution. He gives David this opportunity and he takes it. And 198 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:10.390 as a result of these sacrifices, of the iniquity being forgiven, of the 199 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:18.029 sins being propitiated, we read in Verse Twenty seven that Yahwi Commands the Angel 200 00:19:18.069 --> 00:19:26.539 Lenny put his sword back into his sheath, and when he saw this, 201 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:34.339 this was confirmation that this is where the temple would be. This is where 202 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:41.130 the Temple of God would be built, here on this threshing floor, here 203 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:48.009 we are, judgment and mercy come together in this perfect witness. For All 204 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:55.000 time, this place would be a mark that God will withheld judgment over his 205 00:19:55.160 --> 00:20:00.400 people because of sacrifice, and it's there that sacrifices would be given again and 206 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:03.920 again. In a tone, it would be made that in the temple and 207 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:11.950 in the Ark, God would live and dwell with his people. So in 208 00:20:12.069 --> 00:20:18.789 all this, God says, I am King, and I am King in 209 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:26.380 a very particular way. I'm establishing a Kingdom of grace, a kingdom of 210 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:33.180 mercy, a kingdom in which the very place of my throne is a reminder 211 00:20:34.140 --> 00:20:41.130 that your sins have been forgiven that I belong to you, not because of 212 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:44.970 your great works, not because of the things you have done, but because 213 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:52.039 I have turned judgment away. This is not about David he is no shoe 214 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:57.720 and he's no great military leader who just happened to have enough charisma and good 215 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:06.069 looks and strength to rally a people together for the good of God. Know 216 00:21:06.509 --> 00:21:12.269 there are powers at work against the Kingdom of God, and God will overcome 217 00:21:12.349 --> 00:21:18.900 them. There are satanic powers. It is Satan who incites this. It's 218 00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:23.940 Satan who tempts, tempts David Justice. He tempted Adam in the guard and 219 00:21:25.099 --> 00:21:30.019 just as he tempted Jesus and the Wilderness. Satan seeking to take this anointed 220 00:21:30.180 --> 00:21:36.849 one of God and keep him from his temple building. He wants to take 221 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:41.329 these chosen ones of God and keep them from doing the work that God has 222 00:21:41.450 --> 00:21:48.319 called them to do. There is this very real threat in Satan, and 223 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:53.599 then there is this very real threat in sin, in which not only Satan 224 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:59.880 but man himself rises up against God and says, not your will, but 225 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.829 mine be done. I will do things in my own way, I will 226 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:10.990 establish things in my own power, but God says no, but instead of 227 00:22:11.150 --> 00:22:22.740 just smiting everything, he offers sacrifice, he gives us his mercy. Satan 228 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:27.819 would seek to undo this, sin would seek to undo this, but God 229 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:33.049 rules over them both. God is king, is righteous in destroying his enemy, 230 00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:40.529 and David a confess but David confesses and leans on something else that is 231 00:22:40.609 --> 00:22:45.240 true of God. David Appeals to God's mercy. You see, this is 232 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:51.000 all. This is the mark of someone who has been marked and chosen by 233 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:55.160 God. It's someone who, in the time, I am of their great 234 00:22:55.160 --> 00:23:00.950 sin, does not only look to the Lord in his Justice and confesses that 235 00:23:00.069 --> 00:23:06.789 he is righteous in in bringing about justice, but also knows and sees the 236 00:23:06.869 --> 00:23:12.380 mercy of God and calls out to him. And this is what David does 237 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:21.900 well. In all of this we have great reminders about ourselves as the church, 238 00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:29.329 foreshadowings of and lessons about who we are. The church today is one, 239 00:23:29.410 --> 00:23:33.490 with Israel having been grafted in, and as much as that is true 240 00:23:33.930 --> 00:23:41.009 that we are an administration of God's kingdom, but at its core, as 241 00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:45.759 with this kingdom we call we belong to and are under God by that same 242 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:53.240 principle of mercy. Just like Israel was established here, Jerusalem and the temple. 243 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:57.309 It is also through atonement that the wrath of God is turned away and 244 00:23:57.430 --> 00:24:03.109 that we stand as citizens in the Kingdom of God. It is that reason 245 00:24:03.269 --> 00:24:10.980 that the angels minister to our needs, as Hebrews says, rather than strike 246 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:17.980 us down for our sins. This is an amazing thing that the angel of 247 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:23.410 the Lord who stood over Jerusalem here are ready to destroy them, would one 248 00:24:23.410 --> 00:24:30.529 day become incarnate and take on the form of man and be destroyed by the 249 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:34.410 people in Jerusalem. But he would do so that he would take down that 250 00:24:36.130 --> 00:24:41.960 temporary temple and build another one, a permanent one, one that each of 251 00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:47.559 us would belong to. And how much better is that? The temple, 252 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:51.319 as it has, as it is to day, has no sight, no 253 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:57.589 specific place, no found geographic foundation, because it is spiritual, it is 254 00:24:57.710 --> 00:25:04.430 universal and located in Jesus himself, in Heaven, and that is good news 255 00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:10.859 because it means that it can't be destroyed, it can't be undone. The 256 00:25:11.019 --> 00:25:15.259 temple that David Built, the temple that Solomon built, would be destroyed, 257 00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:21.730 and the temple after that, but not this one, because this temple that 258 00:25:21.930 --> 00:25:29.529 is founded not on a fallible king but on God himself, it means that 259 00:25:29.690 --> 00:25:33.609 the Kingdom of God, the Temple and the people have already passed through judgment 260 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:40.079 because of the sacrifice, an atonement of Jesus Christ. It means that the 261 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:44.079 temple and we, as his people, belong to the age to come, 262 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:49.309 founded on cry least. There is therefore no king, no church leader, 263 00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:55.349 no secular power that can undo us, and this is just as true in 264 00:25:55.509 --> 00:26:00.829 our individual lives as it is in our corporate lives. God, who has 265 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:07.740 come, has founded us in a permanent and saving way. So as we 266 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:14.940 conclude, we can remember this that, as with David in Jesus, God 267 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:19.490 has established his Kingdom of grace with us. We belong to it because of 268 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:26.089 that same principle of mercy, but we belong to it in a permanent way. 269 00:26:26.130 --> 00:26:30.329 Before, the sacrifices in the temple were offered over and over and over 270 00:26:30.450 --> 00:26:36.200 and over again, year after year, the priesthood being established again and again 271 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:40.359 and again, or rather continuing on priest after priest, because they kept dying. 272 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.960 But we have a priest who lives forever, who offered a sacrifice that 273 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:51.869 atones for our sins forever, that established a kingdom that cannot be shaken forever, 274 00:26:52.829 --> 00:26:59.670 so unlike David. This is all true because our king is also God 275 00:27:00.029 --> 00:27:06.460 in in that we need to never fear that our king might sin or fail 276 00:27:06.579 --> 00:27:11.940 in every any way. As those who are established in God's kingdom through Jesus, 277 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:15.930 the king, this son of David, we don't need to worry that 278 00:27:15.609 --> 00:27:22.049 Jesus might mess up and Seventyzero of US might die. That's good news. 279 00:27:23.250 --> 00:27:29.210 Jesus is a permanent king, a good king, a perfectly righteous king, 280 00:27:29.490 --> 00:27:34.359 and he rules in that way. The Angel of the Lord has sheathed his 281 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:45.029 sword for us and we are under him by grace, and so let us 282 00:27:45.349 --> 00:27:49.829 worship him and stand in him and have courage in him and be confident in 283 00:27:49.950 --> 00:27:56.029 him. Earlier we sing saying several hymns about the work of Satan in this 284 00:27:56.190 --> 00:28:00.380 world and the powers that are there. We don't need to fear these. 285 00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:06.859 We don't need to fear that Satan might incite Jesus to some great sin, 286 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:15.970 because he tried already and he completely and utterly failed. Jesus is our great 287 00:28:15.009 --> 00:28:21.849 king and he rules and reigns forever on our behalf. Let us praise God 288 00:28:22.049 --> 00:28:26.930 for this and when we sin, let us remember the forgiveness that he offers 289 00:28:26.970 --> 00:28:32.440 to us in Christ, the sacrifice that he has made, this perfect sacrifice 290 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:37.000 that forever turns away his wrath. Let us pray