The Glorious Presence of God (2 Chronicles 5:2-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:05.080 Well, let's a turn to second chronicles chapter five. If you would please 2 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:10.429 remain standing. Second Chronicles Chapter Five, I'll read from verse two to the 3 00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:15.949 end of the chapter. Let's hear God's word. Second Chronicles Five, verse 4 00:00:16.030 --> 00:00:22.019 two. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the 5 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:26.739 tribes, the leaders of the father's houses, of the people in Israel or 6 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:30.820 of Israel in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the covenant of the 7 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:35.700 Lord Out of the City of David, which is I am and all the 8 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:39.210 men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh 9 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:44.170 month, and all the elders of Israel came and the Levites took up the 10 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.450 Ark and they brought up the ark the tent of meeting and all the holy 11 00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:53.600 vessels that were in the tent. The levitical priests brought them up and King 12 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:59.399 Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were before the 13 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:04.069 Ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or 14 00:01:04.109 --> 00:01:08.750 numbered. Then the priests brought the Ark of the covenants of the Lord to 15 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:14.829 its place in the inner sanctuary of the house in the most holy place, 16 00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:19.780 underneath the wings of the Cherubeam. The cherubims spread out their wings over the 17 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:25.379 place of the Ark so that the Cherubeam made a covering above the Ark and 18 00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:30.219 its Poles, and the Poles were so long that the ends of the pools 19 00:01:30.260 --> 00:01:34.849 were seen from the holy place before the Inter sanctuary, but they could not 20 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:40.090 be seen from the outside, and they are there to this day. There 21 00:01:40.129 --> 00:01:44.969 was nothing in set in the arc except the two tablets that Moses put there 22 00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:49.040 at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when 23 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:53.120 they came out of Egypt and when the priests came out of the holy place, 24 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.120 for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves without regard to their 25 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:04.790 divisions, and all the levitical singers, Asaf he moon and Jedithan, their 26 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:08.590 sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, the symbols harps and liars, 27 00:02:08.949 --> 00:02:13.870 stood east of the altar with a hundred and twenty priests who were trumpeters, 28 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:17.060 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in 29 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:23.460 unison, in praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord. And when the song was 30 00:02:23.539 --> 00:02:29.379 raised, with trumpets and symbols and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, 31 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:36.250 for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. The House, 32 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:40.169 the House of the Lord, was filled with a cloud so that the 33 00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:45.479 priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of 34 00:02:45.560 --> 00:03:09.629 the Lord filled the House of God. He may be seated. When you 35 00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:15.819 hear second chronicles, Chapter Five, if you are not hearing it with your 36 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:23.020 mind, remembering the context around it and sort of placing this event in all 37 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:28.650 that has come before it, it may feel a little bit like just another 38 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:36.530 assembly of people, just another movement of the ARC. Some musicians the glory 39 00:03:36.610 --> 00:03:38.330 the Lord. That's pretty neat. At the end. It may not make 40 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:45.879 a very big impact, but I want you to remember for a moment how 41 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:53.680 big this is. This is huge. This is like the climax of the 42 00:03:53.879 --> 00:04:00.270 story. We have been tracing the movement of the ARC on back in from 43 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:04.430 first chronicles and indeed, if you go into earlier parts of scripture, even 44 00:04:04.550 --> 00:04:12.659 back into exodus, the movement of the ARC was since it was first constructed, 45 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:18.019 has been moving and moving and moving until finally it reaches this place of 46 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:25.370 rest and there's a lot of things like this in this book or, I'm 47 00:04:25.370 --> 00:04:29.170 sorry, in this chapter. The things other than the Ark that have been 48 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:33.930 leading up to this point have been going on for a long time. And 49 00:04:34.089 --> 00:04:39.279 consider the Promised Land, for example, when God sent his people out, 50 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:43.879 rescuing them out of Egypt, bringing them into a promised land took a long 51 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.759 time. Even after they finally got there, they were not settled, even 52 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:53.550 after they got their first king, Saul, their second King David. Now 53 00:04:53.629 --> 00:04:59.829 they're third King Solomon. They have yet to really fully settle. Finally, 54 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:03.430 the temple has been built, this temple that Dave and Solomon's father wanted to 55 00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:09.300 build. Finally, the temple has been built about eleven months before this point. 56 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:14.220 Finally, everything is in place, everyone's ready, the preparations have been 57 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:17.980 made, the people are assembled. That's why Solomon brings them together. And 58 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:24.009 in this chapter and the next to Assaul, we are going to hear this 59 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:30.290 dramatic climax of all the easy events, not only from first chronicles but all 60 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:34.839 the way back, all the way back to the very beginning when God first 61 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:40.759 promised Abraham that he would make a numerous people and they would all come into 62 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:48.040 the land and here they are. It's great number of people, a temple, 63 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:55.230 a land, freedom from enemies, tons of money, tons of wealth 64 00:05:55.269 --> 00:06:00.029 and power and on every side Solomon, this great king, this great anointed 65 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:05.779 one, a response to God's covenant, to David. And then they all 66 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:12.620 are there, arranging themselves, getting ready. They bring they process the arc 67 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:17.459 out of Gibbeon, they bring the old tent of meeting that's the temple is 68 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:21.930 now replacing. They bring it up to the Levites, all get together, 69 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:29.290 they get this huge orchestra and or choir on this vast number of musicians. 70 00:06:29.370 --> 00:06:32.879 A hundred and twenty trumpeters are mentioned, but there's others, symbols, Harps, 71 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:38.120 liars, there's a choir. They're all standing over there by the altar. 72 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:43.519 I'm ready, ready to announce this thing, and they start announcing it. 73 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:49.829 They're they're playing. I've never heard a hundred and twenty trumpeters. I've 74 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:54.550 been in a lot of different musical setting. Summer has played the trumpet. 75 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:58.470 Have you ever had a hundred and twenty? That is a lot of trumpets 76 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:02.180 and bouncing off the walls and all of these stones. It would have been 77 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:11.379 intensely loud and if my just from a musician standpoint, if these others are 78 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:16.089 going to even hope to compete with a hundred and twenty trumpeters, Harps and 79 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:20.569 liars. I suppose the symbolists wouldn't have the percussionist would have any trouble, 80 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:26.490 but that choir you would have to have very large groups of people. We're 81 00:07:26.569 --> 00:07:33.079 talking about a lot of musicians ready to a ready to see this temple dedicated, 82 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.600 and there they all are, not making some kind of cacophony, but 83 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:43.720 devoting themselves. We read in verse thirteen, to being heard in unison, 84 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:49.110 in praise and Thanksgiving to Yahweh to the Lord, and that's what happens when 85 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:53.670 the song was raised, the trumpeters in the symbols and the musical instruments of 86 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:57.990 the Lord and they're all singing for he is good, for his steadfast love 87 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:03.060 and doors forever. Then something that it doesn't seem anyone was expecting, though 88 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:15.290 there are reasons to expect it. Suddenly the Lord fills the temple with this 89 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:20.930 cloud, this glorious cloud. He reveals himself in this cloud in such a 90 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:26.370 powerful way that all these musicians, all these people, all these priests who 91 00:08:26.370 --> 00:08:30.720 had been carrying the arc, everyone who was there couldn't stand to minister because 92 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:35.559 of the cloud. Imagine if something like that happened here. We all get 93 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.320 together for our service, we'RE READY TO SING, we're here to praise God 94 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.309 and then all of a sudden the room fills up with a cloud so thick 95 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:48.230 that we all just have to leave. They built a temple for God and 96 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:56.179 God said it's mine, I'm moving in. This is a dramatic moment, 97 00:08:56.259 --> 00:09:03.460 an amazing moment. The glory cloud here that descends on the temple is also 98 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:07.179 a reminder of the movement of Israel. You remember, back from the very 99 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:11.970 beginning, when Israel came out of Egypt, God sent his cloud and his 100 00:09:13.169 --> 00:09:18.289 fire to lead them by night and by day. This was such a great 101 00:09:18.490 --> 00:09:22.169 thing that the people of Israel. We read when the cloud, the same 102 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:28.399 cloud, descended on the Tabernacle, they shouted for Joy. Leviticus nine hundred 103 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.919 and twenty four. In the Psalms we read about the glory of the Lord. 104 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:37.789 Like Psalm Eighty five nine. Surely his salvation is near those who fear 105 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:43.070 him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Indeed, there's a 106 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:50.669 moment after Israel made the golden calf. They're at Mount Sinai in front of 107 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:56.220 these Great Glorious Cloud of the Lord that had descended on the mountain that the 108 00:09:56.340 --> 00:10:00.259 Lord so angry with them, this is an exodus thirty three, so angry 109 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:03.059 with them, threatens to take his presence away. Says I'm going to take 110 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:07.139 the cloud away, I'll lead you to the promised land with an angel, 111 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:13.889 and they begin to mourn, they're scared and they don't want it to happen. 112 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:18.769 God does relent and they continue on. But this shows you the preciousness 113 00:10:18.970 --> 00:10:26.200 which God was to them in this cloud. But the cloud is it communicated. 114 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:33.120 This kind of blessing was also sort of always on the move. They 115 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.350 never knew exactly what would happen. They would follow the cloud and the pillar 116 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:43.470 of fire and the smoke and they'd stopped for a few days and they move 117 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:46.429 and then then stop again and then stop for a long time. Maybe they 118 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:50.419 never knew what was going to happen. There was kind of a unsettling nature 119 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:56.700 of being pilgrims, as we all know. So think about what it means 120 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:01.539 that when the land is established, the king is enthrone, the temple is 121 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:07.049 built and then the cloud comes down not over a tent, but over this 122 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:16.370 rock solid gold plated temple. It's not going anywhere and it rests down. 123 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:22.679 It fills the house of the Lord. This is the ending of a great 124 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:30.039 story, or at least it would seem that way. Second Chronicles Five, 125 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.549 to me, reads like one of those passages that sometimes you'll read in a 126 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:39.750 great big novel, or or usually these kind of grand, lengthy stories, 127 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:45.669 where you're about two thirds of the way in and everything gets resolved, and 128 00:11:45.789 --> 00:11:48.940 yet there you are with a third of the book left and you're going, 129 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:54.340 why is everything conclude? hoooting now the guy gets the girl there where they 130 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:56.179 wanted to be. You know, all these things are kind of getting wrapped 131 00:11:56.220 --> 00:12:01.009 up, but yet you still see all these pages left. I think second 132 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:07.289 chronicles five is kind of like that. We read the culmination of all these 133 00:12:07.370 --> 00:12:09.889 things, the great hope of all that was happening, the presence of the 134 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:16.759 Lord descending on the people, music, sacrifice, the overwhelming glory and majesty 135 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:20.639 of God, and yet boy, there's sure a lot of pages left still. 136 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:28.519 It seems like such a perfect ending, but it's not. That's because 137 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.870 there's these loose ends. If you pay attention to those stories, these grand 138 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:37.230 stories, these novels that I was talking about. Even though it feels like 139 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:41.190 everything's wrapped up, as soon as you read on you kind of go, 140 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:46.100 Oh yeah, I didn't remember that there was that one thing that didn't get 141 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:48.820 resolved and there was that other thing too, and it's like that here in 142 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:54.220 second chronicles five. It seems like the climax of the story, and in 143 00:12:54.419 --> 00:13:01.129 many ways it is, but there are these loose ends. For example, 144 00:13:01.210 --> 00:13:07.450 if we think back and we remember, Israel is still under this covenant, 145 00:13:07.730 --> 00:13:16.279 the Old Covenant, that promise is blessing if they obey, but threatens curse 146 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:20.960 if they disobey. If they just if they obey, God present promises to 147 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.240 be with them, to protect them, to give them all kinds of blessings, 148 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.909 but if they disobey his laws, if they break the covenant, then 149 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:35.590 he threatens separation, exile and destruction. This is even this point is even 150 00:13:37.990 --> 00:13:41.899 brought up, alluded to, when it mentions that in the arc are these 151 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:48.899 two tablets of Moses, this great thing that signifies the foundation on which these 152 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:54.299 people belong in the land. They are there by the grace of God, 153 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:58.049 but if they're going to stay there, they must obey or they will be 154 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:03.090 kicked out, they will be sent out, they will be exiled. Moses 155 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:07.690 says this very explicitly. He got he said. God says, I will 156 00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:11.519 spit you out of the land. I will do exactly what I did to 157 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.639 all the people were here, were here who were here before you. And 158 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.399 so there's this loose end that's left a kind of question in our minds. 159 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:26.470 What's going to happen? Will they obey? And in some ways it's not 160 00:14:26.629 --> 00:14:31.669 quite right for us to just suppose that they will. Right, and they 161 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:35.549 lived happily ever after. The glory cloud descends, there are the people in 162 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:37.230 the land, the temple is built. Well, of course it will all 163 00:14:37.350 --> 00:14:43.580 work out fine. The reason we can't say that or expected is that God, 164 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:48.980 the author of this story, the one who's recounting this history, has 165 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:54.570 old us many times that we don't really have any reason to believe that this 166 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:58.210 is going to end up in a happy ending. We don't have any reason 167 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.690 to believe that Israel will be the faithful bride and they will live happily forever 168 00:15:03.769 --> 00:15:13.440 after in the kingdom. We don't believe this and we know that this isn't 169 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:20.039 true for many reasons. Remember, for example, the Golden Calf. There 170 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:26.710 Mount Sinhai, there is a God speaking his laws to Moses on a mountain 171 00:15:26.830 --> 00:15:31.789 that is shaking in a cloud that's flashing lightning. It's so terrifying that the 172 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:39.139 people are afraid they will die, and yet they make a golden calf and 173 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.379 say these are Aaron says, these are your gods who brought you out of 174 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:48.259 Egypt. If you wouldn't be scared enough in a situation like that, what 175 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:54.210 could possibly scare you? Do you see how deep down the sin goes? 176 00:15:54.570 --> 00:16:00.049 And we see this over and over again throughout Israel. The lack of sense 177 00:16:00.250 --> 00:16:07.759 of fear of the Lord, even when his glory is present, is evident 178 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:14.360 in many places. Paul summarizes all of these up when he talks about the 179 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.029 Old Covenant and Second Corinthians Three. He says that the old cove and came 180 00:16:18.230 --> 00:16:25.509 with glory, but it was a ministry of death and condemnation. Why would 181 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:29.830 he speak of it that way? Because the Covenant and would which they were 182 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:34.740 under created a situation in which every time God came close to his people, 183 00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:41.179 he was repulsed by them because they kept sinning over and over and over again. 184 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:48.450 And indeed the story doesn't turn out well. We know this because second 185 00:16:48.490 --> 00:16:55.850 chronicles itself is being written after the exile, after they have already been spit 186 00:16:55.929 --> 00:17:00.090 out of the land, after all the horrors that came upon the Canaanites before 187 00:17:00.129 --> 00:17:04.680 them have come upon them as well. The people that are hearing chronicles for 188 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:11.480 the first time are hearing this knowing that the glory of the Lord did depart 189 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:18.630 from Israel, that it didn't dwell in that house which Solomnon made forever. 190 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:29.190 There are pictures in Ezekiel, visions Ezekiel Haves, right before the destruction of 191 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:33.500 the temple, of the Glory Isekiel Ninety three of the glory of the God 192 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:38.700 of Israel went up from above the Cherubim, whenever it had been and moved 193 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:45.569 to the threshold of the temple and then eventually lifts up and out before the 194 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:49.569 destruction of the temple, before the invading armies came in. That's what Ezekiel 195 00:17:49.690 --> 00:18:03.480 saw God leaving. And yet Ezekiel also promises that even that is not the 196 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:08.799 end of the story. And Ezekiel Forty three I'm he pictures he sees, 197 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.670 God reveals to him the glory of the Lord Coming back into the temple, 198 00:18:14.750 --> 00:18:18.670 but yet a much more magnificent temple, a glorious temple. And it's not 199 00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:22.789 just Ezekiel. The other Prophet speak to this as well. A return of 200 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:27.700 the Lord, a wall of protection, Zachariah to five, a wall of 201 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:33.420 fire surrounding of the temple. Hagi to speaks of this as well, but 202 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:37.940 speaks of it in these grand terms. They picture a temple that's greater, 203 00:18:38.339 --> 00:18:44.730 they picture the glory of the Lord returning. They also picture the nation's coming 204 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:49.769 into this place, the temple being a place that is desired by the nations 205 00:18:53.250 --> 00:19:00.000 when Israel comes back out of exile. These things don't really happen. Indeed, 206 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:04.039 even the nations are trying to keep it from happening. They're they're not 207 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:12.190 exactly desiring it and hoping for it. But when Jesus comes, this changes. 208 00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:22.349 These prophecies that we read throughout the Bible are pointing towards another descent, 209 00:19:22.750 --> 00:19:27.859 the descent of the son of God, who is called a temple, who 210 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:33.019 comes to live with us, dwell with us, Tabernacle with us. He 211 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:38.690 comes as the holy one through whom we can approach God. He is that 212 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:45.369 great sacrifice for sin on cut. He is the one through whom we worship, 213 00:19:47.410 --> 00:19:52.119 and we see the spirits manifestation in him, in the way that it 214 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.640 overshadowed Mary, in the way that the spirit descended on him like a dove 215 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:03.319 at the amount of transfiguration, then again at pentecost when the the spirit descends 216 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:11.269 again in these tongues of fire on the disciples. All of these things are 217 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.309 pointing us to this reality that when the Temple of the Lord comes, it 218 00:20:15.470 --> 00:20:21.349 comes in Jesus, and indeed we are even made into this temple as we 219 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:29.259 are united with him now. These are striking differences. When we speak of 220 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:33.900 the temple in terms of Jesus, were obviously talking about a person and not 221 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:41.769 a building, but those differences indicate to us that things are similar in some 222 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:45.329 ways. Here is a Manuel God with us, dwell with us, coming 223 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:52.480 to us to bless us, but he's doing so in a different way than 224 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:59.119 he's done before. The Bible says that God in Christ is putting together a 225 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.509 new kind of house, a different kind of house in which his spirit will 226 00:21:03.509 --> 00:21:11.549 dwell, and this house truly is the end of the story in second chronicles 227 00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:14.910 five, it feels like it, but there are still all these pages, 228 00:21:15.950 --> 00:21:18.460 but in the pages to come, we read of the Lord Jesus coming to 229 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:26.099 build a house out of his people, to build and establish a kingdom and 230 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:30.019 to give them an inheritance in this kingdom, even himself, and inheritance that 231 00:21:30.180 --> 00:21:40.849 is imperishable, in destructible, spiritual, eternal. That temple was destroyed. 232 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:45.769 The second, the first temple that we read of here in second chronicles, 233 00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:51.440 the temple that was built again, was also destroyed. But the temple that 234 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:57.680 Jesus builds will not be destroyed. And when we connect these two things, 235 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:03.789 we begin to see what it is Jesus has accomplished for us, what it 236 00:22:03.950 --> 00:22:07.829 means that the climax of the story is in him. It means that the 237 00:22:08.069 --> 00:22:12.230 peace and the security in the rest and all that p Israel was hoping for 238 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:18.859 and longing for and in some measure achieved there on that day when the glory 239 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:26.940 of the Lord descended into the temple. That is what is achieved permanently and 240 00:22:26.099 --> 00:22:33.210 in the grand way that the prophets predicted. This means that Jesus establishes us 241 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:38.769 a grace with it, by His grace, the presence of God that will 242 00:22:38.769 --> 00:22:47.160 last forever in Jesus, in his perfect atoning for our sins, in his 243 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:52.319 removing the curse of the law, in giving to us all his blessings. 244 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.240 We stand before God, with God, in God, knowing that we not 245 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:04.589 need ever fear that his spirit will depart from us. When Jesus gives us 246 00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:11.750 his spirit, it will never leave us, he will never forsake us, 247 00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:19.539 because his presence with us is not dependent upon our obedience, but is dependent 248 00:23:19.619 --> 00:23:32.130 upon the final and perfect obedience of Christ. When we consider this high point 249 00:23:32.329 --> 00:23:38.130 in Israel's history and second chronicles five and in the chapters coming, we consider 250 00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:45.599 this great thing that God has done, and I want to point that out 251 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:53.759 on a day September eleventh, when we remember one of the lowest points in 252 00:23:53.960 --> 00:24:00.990 our national history. September eleventh, for many of us, marks this point 253 00:24:02.269 --> 00:24:08.430 of evil and murder and terror and horror. It's a reminder of the evils 254 00:24:08.549 --> 00:24:14.500 that we've always been facing and that we continue to face day to day, 255 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:21.059 evils that in many ways seem to be strengthening, and this can cause us 256 00:24:21.579 --> 00:24:26.569 to be anxious, to worry and to wonder if the Lord really is doing 257 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:32.569 his work, if the evils of this world really are winning the day. 258 00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:38.400 But this high point in Israel's history and its connection with our Lord Jesus and 259 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.559 the things that he has done, reminds us that God has not departed, 260 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:49.960 that God has not left us, that God is with us and, by 261 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:55.549 his spirit, unites us to his son in such a way that we live 262 00:24:55.910 --> 00:25:00.589 and love and have peace and rest, even in the midst of a broken 263 00:25:00.069 --> 00:25:07.539 and fallen world. In many ways, we are like the Israelites before they 264 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:14.059 entered the promised land. We walk by faith, we wait for the glories 265 00:25:14.460 --> 00:25:18.019 of the Lord to be revealed in their consummated way. We have to trust 266 00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:22.490 day by day, even as the those who would seek to attack the Lord 267 00:25:22.490 --> 00:25:27.650 and his anointed surround us and press in on us. As Christians around the 268 00:25:27.730 --> 00:25:34.529 world have to endure much suffering and much persecution. But even while we find 269 00:25:34.609 --> 00:25:41.240 ourselves in this stage of pilgrim, of pilgrimage, even as we find ourselves 270 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:48.680 in some sense as exiles, we also, through Jesus and his testimony to 271 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.910 us, know that we belong to him and that we've already begun to enter 272 00:25:53.029 --> 00:26:00.349 into this final sabbath rest, that the work Jesus has caught, as done 273 00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:04.980 on the cross, has inaugurated a kingdom has brought into the world something that 274 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:14.180 will not pass away, that is strong and secure. So when we look 275 00:26:14.220 --> 00:26:15.980 at the suffering in the world, when we look at the evils of the 276 00:26:17.059 --> 00:26:21.569 world, when we think of the ways in which we are afflicted, whether 277 00:26:21.609 --> 00:26:29.690 nationally or personally in our families, are most importantly spiritually and as the as 278 00:26:29.730 --> 00:26:33.359 the Satan attacks the Kingdom of God. As we consider all of these things 279 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:40.920 and we think about God's work throughout redemptive history, let us not forget that 280 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:47.119 God has come down, he has come down into our world in order to 281 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:52.150 lift us out of it, that we belong to him and that the pages 282 00:26:52.190 --> 00:26:57.190 of that book are quickly, quickly, coming to an end. In all 283 00:26:57.269 --> 00:27:02.500 this, I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, do not be 284 00:27:02.660 --> 00:27:08.180 weary, don't be anxious. The Lord who is come to us in our 285 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:14.819 Savior, Jesus Christ, God who has given us his very spirit, who 286 00:27:14.900 --> 00:27:21.369 dwells in us, we as the Temple of God. He will not leave 287 00:27:21.410 --> 00:27:26.809 you, he will not forsake you, because Jesus has fulfilled all things and 288 00:27:27.089 --> 00:27:32.960 soon, very soon, you will see all things in subjection to him. 289 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:40.160 You will see the complete end of sin, of death and the devil and 290 00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:47.869 you will enjoy the perfectly blessed state of righteousness of life enjoy in the Lord. 291 00:27:49.069 --> 00:27:53.750 So do not grow weary, do not grow faint, but lift your 292 00:27:53.789 --> 00:27:59.700 voices and praise the Lord and sing with all the saints who have come before 293 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:07.180 us. The Lord is good and his steadfast love endures forever. Let us 294 00:28:07.220 --> pray