Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, let's turn to God's Word
in First Chronicles, Chapter Twenty One and
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continue reading and preaching through this history
of God, this people, first chronicles
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twenty one through twenty two, verse
one. Then Satan stood against Israel and
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incited David to number Israel. So
David said to Joe AB, as the
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commanders and the commanders of the army, go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan
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and bring me a report that I
may know their number. But Job said,
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May Jehovah add to his people a
hundred times as many as they are.
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Are They not my Lord, the
King, all of them my Lord's
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servants? Why, then, should
my Lord require this? Why should it
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be a cause of guilt for Israel? But the king's word prevailed against Joe
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AB. So joab departed and went
throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem,
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and job gave the sum of the
numbering of the people to David.
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In all Israel there were one million
one hundred thousand men who drew the sword,
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and in Judah four hundred and seventy
thousand who drew the sword. But
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he did not include Levi and Benjamin
in the numbering. For the king's command
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was abhorrent to Joe Ab but God
was displeased with this thing and he struck
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Israel. And David said to God, I have sinned greatly in that I
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have done this thing, but now
please take away the iniquity of your servant,
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for I have acted very foolishly.
And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David
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Seer, and saying go say to
David, thus says Jehovah, three things
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I offer you. Choose one of
them that I may do it to you.
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So Gad came to David and said
to him, thus says Jehovah,
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Choose what you will either three years
of famine or three months of devastation by
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your foes, while the sword of
your enemies overtakes you, or else three
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days of the Sword of Jehovah,
Pestilence on the land, with the Angel
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of Jehovah Destroying Throughout all the territory
of Israel. Now decide what answer I
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shall return to Him who sent me. Then David said to Gad, I
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am in great distress. Let me
fall into the hand of Jehovah, for
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His mercy is very great, but
do not let me fall into the hand
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of man. So Jehovah sent a
pestilence on Israel and seventy thousand men of
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Israel fell, and God sent the
angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But
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as he was about to destroy it, Jehovah saw and he relented from the
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calamity and he said to the angel
who was working destruction, it is enough,
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now, stay your hand. And
the Angel of Jehovah was standing by
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the threshing floor of Ornand the jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw
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the angel of Jehovah Standing Between Earth
and Heaven and in his hand a drawn
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sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then
David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth,
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fell upon their faces and David said
to God, was it not I
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who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and
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done great evil, but these sheep, what have they done? Please let
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your hand, Oh Jehovah, my
God, be against me and against my
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father's house, but do not let
the plague be on your people. Now
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the angel of Jehovah had Commanded Gad
to say to David that David should go
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up and raise an altar to Jehovah
on the threshing floor of ornand the jebusite.
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So David went up at Gad's word, which he had spoken in the
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name of Jehovah. Now ornand was
threshing wheat. He turned and saw the
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angel and his four sons, who
were with him, hid themselves as David
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came to ornand looked day rushing floor
and paid homage to David with his face
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to the round. And David said
to orn him, give me the side
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of the threshing floor that I may
build on it an altar to Jehovah.
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Give it to me at its full
price, that the plague may be averted
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from the people. The norn end
said to David, take it and let
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the Lord. Can't the king do
what seems good to him? See,
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I give the oxen for burnt offerings
and the threshing sledges for the wood and
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the wheat for a grain offering.
I give it all the king. David
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said to Ornon, no, but
I will buy them for the full price.
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I Will Not Take for Jehovah What
Is Yours, nor offer burnt offerings
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that cost me nothing. So David
paid or an on six hundred shekels of
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gold by the weight or by weight
for the sight. And David built there
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an altar to Jehovah and presented burnt
offerings and peace offerings and called on Jehovah,
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and Jehovah answered him with Fire From
Heaven upon the Altar of the of
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burnt offering. Then Jehovah Command of
the Angel and he put his sword back
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into his sheath. At that time, when David saw that Jehovah had answered
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him, at the threshing floor of
orn and the Jebu side, he sacrificed
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there for the Tabernacle of Jehovah which
Moses had made in the Wilderness, and
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the altar of burnt offering were at
that time in the high place that Gibbeon,
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but David could not go before it
to inquire of God, for he
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was afraid of the Sword of the
Angel of Jehovah. Then David said,
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here shall be the House of Jehovah, God, and here the altar of
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burnt offering for Israel. You may
be seated. Up to this point in
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the book of chronicles, things have
been going rather swimmingly for David. Things
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have been going very well. He's
been moving forward, conquering person or people
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after people, King after King,
anyone who stands up against him. He's
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able to put down very well from
the time where he conceived the the idea
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to bring the Ark into Jerusalem,
his coronation, the Covenant God that makes
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with him these military battles, with
the one hiccup of the arc a few
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chapters back in the handling of it. Other than that, of things have
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been going very well for David,
especially recently. But this chapter reminds us
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that David was no Shoein as king
and that God was not along for the
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ride. This has been the point
all along. This is the thing that
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saw for God and that David has
often, but not here a remembered that
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God is the one who's king over
Israel. God is the one who's establishing
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his kingdom, and then earthly king
is his under shepherd king ruling in his
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place. So many other kings of
the ancient world often treated God and,
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as they thought of it, the
Gods, as a something that was an
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external validation, we might say,
for the things that they were doing.
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Right, you go and you conquer
a thing and then you offer sacrifices to
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some God to show that you are
invested with a kind of religious power as
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well as political, as a way
of kind of shoring up your kingdom.
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But not so for David. This
was for David Yahway's place in Israel was
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true. He was the one who
was leading his people. It was David
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who was in the back seat,
a lesson that he would learn again through
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these events here. So what happens
in this chapter? Let's do a basic
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outline of the story. The first
thing that we read is that Satan stands
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against Israel and incites David to sin. This is a reminder that Satan does
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desire, I'm to thwart God's kingdom, to destroy it, to take it
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down. David has been having success
after success and and Satan wants none of
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it. He incites David. Now
David, of course, has a choice
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in this. As Joe, ABB
is commander, puts to him. He
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says, don't do this thing.
This is obviously a bad thing, and
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David and decides to do it anyway. What is it that he does?
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Well, the easiest thing to say
is that he he takes the census.
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That's obvious. Why is that a
sin? Is perhaps not so obvious.
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There are some hints in the text
and there are some various reasons that might
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be true why this is so offensive
to God. But it seems to me
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that the chief reason is that this
sensus is about David's personal pride as opposed
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to God's work. Censuses, if
I don't know if you can make that
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plural in that way, but we
will for the moment. The these countings
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are not in and of themselves sinful. God in a number of times throughout
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the Old Testament commands them for purposes
of sanctuary, taxation or military things or
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population issues. There's various reasons that
God commands census has to be taken,
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but we don't hear of anything them, of them here in this chapter,
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and that's one reason. It seems
to indicate to me that this sensus is
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not about doing the Lord's work but
about David and his pride. Another reason
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to believe that this is something of
what's going on here is in Joe Ebbs
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appeal to David, he says in
verse three, are they not my Lord,
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the king, all of them,
the Lord's servants? Do you really
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need to go out and exercise this
kind of political pressure on the people?
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Are They not loyal? Do you
not have enough this sense? What seems
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to be going on here is David
is using this very powerful political tool to
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achieve something for himself in Israel.
But what reason, what possible reason,
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would he need to have this?
God has promised him everything, God has
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given him everything. There seems to
be something of David's personal pride at work
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here and not God's work. David
wants something for himself. He wants to
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do wants to perhaps see this kingdom
established in his name as opposed to the
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Lord's. And so we this is
this is his sin. He does the
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Census and clearly God is displeased and
he judges David for this. David commits
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the Sin Anyway, despite the warnings
of Joe Ebb. It kindles God Ang
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a God's anger, and he then
punishes David. We read of God sending
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the Angel of the Lord to bring
about this pestilence on the people of Israel.
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This is great irony that David goes
out to count the people as a
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way to sort of shore up his
power, but ends up losing seventyzero men
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as a result. The numbers decrease
as opposed to increase, because of his
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pride, God is often very fitting
in his judgments. A second thing to
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notice to here is who it is
that brings this judgment. Earlier we read
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this section from Matthew and we read
that an angel of the Lord appeared to
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Joseph, but here we do not
read that an an, an angel of
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the Lord, appeared to Joseph,
but the angel of the Lord appeared to
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Joseph. Well, what's the difference? Well, it's quite a big difference.
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Throughout the Old Testament there is this
angel, the angel of the Lord,
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who is remarkably different and distinguished from
the other angels. Angel simply means
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a minister, one who is sent
to Minister or to do God's work.
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But this angel is described in different
terms throughout the Old Testament. For example,
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in Genesis Forty Eight, versus fifteen
and sixteen and Malachi three one,
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he's called the angel of the Covenant. I'm he's given this very prominent status
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and terms of Israel's legal relationship with
God. On in Genesis one hundred and
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thirteen, in speaking to Jacob,
the Angel says I am the God of
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Bethel. In Genesis Forty Eight,
we read that Jacob says the speaks of
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this angel in parallel with God and
says this is the angel who redeemed me.
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In next it is thirty two,
the burning Bush with Moses. We
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read that the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a flame of fire
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out of the midst of the Bush. That's in verse two of Exodus Three.
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Then in verse four we read that
God called to him out of the
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Bush. I am the Lord You, I am the Lord, or I'm
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sorry, I am the God,
the Angel says, of Your Father,
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the God of Abraham, the God
of Isa Isaac, the God of Jacob.
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We read there an exodus three that
Moses hid his face for he was
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afraid to look at God. So
who is the angel of the Lord?
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On the one hand, he's distinguished
from God and that as he comes to
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do God's work, he often will
speak of God in the third person.
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God says this. God says that
there is something distinguished between the person of
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the angel and the one who sends
him. And yet at the same time
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there is a unity in which,
in various places this angel is worshiped,
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this angel is called God, this
angel, who appears to people, is
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called, is called and worshiped as
God. So who is this angel?
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Well, as Herman Bobbing puts it
succinctly, a true personal revelation and appearance
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of God. It is God,
the Son I'm appearing in this particular form.
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Later on in the scriptures we read
that he took takes on not the
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form of an angel but the form
of man. Very remarkable thing. I
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say all this to point out something
quite significant, as will see a little
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bit later. God, in sending
the angel of the Lord, in the
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son of God, as this great
angel of judgment, is coming to do
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the will of the father. In
this great and powerful way. He is
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called the Lord of hosts, the
the ruler or the one who commands thousands,
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myriads of and this angelic army.
But yet he himself is strong in
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himself to destroy this entire city.
This is whom God sends. What happens
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then? David calls out to God, he begs him for mercy, and
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God holds back his hand a momentarily
and reveals to him, reveals to Jay
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David on the fullness of this coming
judgment. This is the moment when David
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and the elders see this angel.
Can you imagine how terrifying that would be
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to look up and be able to
see in the space between heaven and earth,
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somehow they are in the sky,
we might think, up above the
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city, the angel of the Lord's
Standing Ready, and not just standing there
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with all of his awesomeness and power, but with a sword unsheathed, standing
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over Jerusalem. The meaning of this
is clear. God is about to destroy
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his people. This same angel,
which has gone out and destroyed other people's
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is now standing there over Jerusalem,
over God's people. And at this moment
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when God reveals the fullness of coming
judgment, he then reveals a second thing.
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He sends this Prophet Gad and tells
David to go and prepare a sacrifice,
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and he does this. He's he
goes to the place where the angel
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is, he goes to Ornan,
the JEBUSITE, and he buys at sacrifice
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to himself, this threshing floor in
the oxen, and he prepares a sacrifice.
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What do we see in this?
We see God's revelation of two things.
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One, his coming judgment, but
also the possibility for propitiation, for
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atonement, for forgiveness through sacrifice.
It's not David who comes up with this
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idea. Yes, David appeals to
the Lord, but it's the Lord who
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provides the solution. He gives David
this opportunity and he takes it. And
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as a result of these sacrifices,
of the iniquity being forgiven, of the
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sins being propitiated, we read in
Verse Twenty seven that Yahwi Commands the Angel
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Lenny put his sword back into his
sheath, and when he saw this,
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this was confirmation that this is where
the temple would be. This is where
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the Temple of God would be built, here on this threshing floor, here
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we are, judgment and mercy come
together in this perfect witness. For All
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time, this place would be a
mark that God will withheld judgment over his
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people because of sacrifice, and it's
there that sacrifices would be given again and
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again. In a tone, it
would be made that in the temple and
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in the Ark, God would live
and dwell with his people. So in
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all this, God says, I
am King, and I am King in
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a very particular way. I'm establishing
a Kingdom of grace, a kingdom of
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mercy, a kingdom in which the
very place of my throne is a reminder
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that your sins have been forgiven that
I belong to you, not because of
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your great works, not because of
the things you have done, but because
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I have turned judgment away. This
is not about David he is no shoe
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and he's no great military leader who
just happened to have enough charisma and good
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looks and strength to rally a people
together for the good of God. Know
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there are powers at work against the
Kingdom of God, and God will overcome
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them. There are satanic powers.
It is Satan who incites this. It's
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Satan who tempts, tempts David Justice. He tempted Adam in the guard and
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just as he tempted Jesus and the
Wilderness. Satan seeking to take this anointed
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one of God and keep him from
his temple building. He wants to take
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these chosen ones of God and keep
them from doing the work that God has
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called them to do. There is
this very real threat in Satan, and
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then there is this very real threat
in sin, in which not only Satan
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but man himself rises up against God
and says, not your will, but
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mine be done. I will do
things in my own way, I will
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establish things in my own power,
but God says no, but instead of
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just smiting everything, he offers sacrifice, he gives us his mercy. Satan
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would seek to undo this, sin
would seek to undo this, but God
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rules over them both. God is
king, is righteous in destroying his enemy,
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and David a confess but David confesses
and leans on something else that is
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true of God. David Appeals to
God's mercy. You see, this is
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all. This is the mark of
someone who has been marked and chosen by
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God. It's someone who, in
the time, I am of their great
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sin, does not only look to
the Lord in his Justice and confesses that
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he is righteous in in bringing about
justice, but also knows and sees the
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mercy of God and calls out to
him. And this is what David does
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well. In all of this we
have great reminders about ourselves as the church,
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foreshadowings of and lessons about who we
are. The church today is one,
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with Israel having been grafted in,
and as much as that is true
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that we are an administration of God's
kingdom, but at its core, as
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with this kingdom we call we belong
to and are under God by that same
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principle of mercy. Just like Israel
was established here, Jerusalem and the temple.
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It is also through atonement that the
wrath of God is turned away and
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that we stand as citizens in the
Kingdom of God. It is that reason
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that the angels minister to our needs, as Hebrews says, rather than strike
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us down for our sins. This
is an amazing thing that the angel of
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the Lord who stood over Jerusalem here
are ready to destroy them, would one
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day become incarnate and take on the
form of man and be destroyed by the
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people in Jerusalem. But he would
do so that he would take down that
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temporary temple and build another one,
a permanent one, one that each of
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us would belong to. And how
much better is that? The temple,
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as it has, as it is
to day, has no sight, no
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specific place, no found geographic foundation, because it is spiritual, it is
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universal and located in Jesus himself,
in Heaven, and that is good news
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because it means that it can't be
destroyed, it can't be undone. The
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temple that David Built, the temple
that Solomon built, would be destroyed,
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and the temple after that, but
not this one, because this temple that
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is founded not on a fallible king
but on God himself, it means that
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the Kingdom of God, the Temple
and the people have already passed through judgment
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because of the sacrifice, an atonement
of Jesus Christ. It means that the
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temple and we, as his people, belong to the age to come,
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founded on cry least. There is
therefore no king, no church leader,
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no secular power that can undo us, and this is just as true in
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our individual lives as it is in
our corporate lives. God, who has
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come, has founded us in a
permanent and saving way. So as we
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conclude, we can remember this that, as with David in Jesus, God
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has established his Kingdom of grace with
us. We belong to it because of
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that same principle of mercy, but
we belong to it in a permanent way.
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Before, the sacrifices in the temple
were offered over and over and over
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and over again, year after year, the priesthood being established again and again
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and again, or rather continuing on
priest after priest, because they kept dying.
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But we have a priest who lives
forever, who offered a sacrifice that
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atones for our sins forever, that
established a kingdom that cannot be shaken forever,
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so unlike David. This is all
true because our king is also God
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in in that we need to never
fear that our king might sin or fail
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in every any way. As those
who are established in God's kingdom through Jesus,
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the king, this son of David, we don't need to worry that
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Jesus might mess up and Seventyzero of
US might die. That's good news.
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Jesus is a permanent king, a
good king, a perfectly righteous king,
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and he rules in that way.
The Angel of the Lord has sheathed his
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sword for us and we are under
him by grace, and so let us
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worship him and stand in him and
have courage in him and be confident in
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him. Earlier we sing saying several
hymns about the work of Satan in this
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world and the powers that are there. We don't need to fear these.
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We don't need to fear that Satan
might incite Jesus to some great sin,
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because he tried already and he completely
and utterly failed. Jesus is our great
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king and he rules and reigns forever
on our behalf. Let us praise God
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for this and when we sin,
let us remember the forgiveness that he offers
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to us in Christ, the sacrifice
that he has made, this perfect sacrifice
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that forever turns away his wrath.
Let us pray
