Brian Luke - I Have Set My Affection To The House Of My God - Class 2 - He Shall Purify The Sons Of Levi

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Our brother Brian will now lead us in our second session today, which he has entitled. He shall purify the sons of Levi, brother Brian, dear brother Ron and my dear brother and sisters. I’d like us to turn firstly to Psalm 78. There’s a beautiful reference here about how David became. King and it fits with wonderful a position alongside what we have looked at in that last a few verses of First Chronicles. It says in verse 70, in reiterating the story of Israel, he chose David, also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.

2. 0:54

   Did he, from following the Ewes, great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob, his people, and Israel his inheritance. The shepherd became the shepherd king. And verses 70 and 71 put it as though he went straight from the fields of the shepherd to the throne, and again using the terms of the shepherd, The Psalm so beautifully says so He fed them according to the integrity of his heart and with all the background of the shepherd, and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. That’s a very beautiful description, my dear, but it’s an actual fact that’s not chronologically quite correct is that there was a number of years of exile from where he was a shepherd before he became king, first of Judah and then of Israel.

3. 1:53

   But this very beautiful passage at the end of of Psalm 78 is saying that David took the qualities that he learnt as a. Shepherd. He took those to the throne. That’s what it’s saying, isn’t it? And as he tended the sheep that was great with young or the ewes, or on a hot day, he cared for them and provided them with defence and food. So in that small environment, he had learnt how to look after people after a great nation, an expanding nation, and he tended to them with the skill point of his of his hands and he defended them.

4. 2:33

   It’s a very beautiful passage indeed. It’s exceedingly beautiful. And you might think, well, it’s sort of a pretty high gloss on the story of David, but it’s not is it? Because here in his own words, in a time of absolute crisis with the the sword in the hand of the Angel and and above David and Jerusalem threatened he says as we read in that verse 17. Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have?

5. 3:05

   Sinned and done evil indeed. But As for these sheep, what have they done? You know, that’s a very wonderful man, isn’t it? There’s not many people in in life that will be able at the end of their days to say my spirit is the same as when I was a young man. You know, when we came out of the waters of baptism, we were ready to give everything, weren’t we?

6. 3:32

   It’d be a lovely achievement in life if on our last days of breath we’re able to say my spirit is the same toward my God as when I came through those waters of baptism. David’s spirit is the same. Service, service, service for Israel. That’s why he is, I’m sure, saved the life of that little lamb.

7. 3:52

   He took it out of the clutches virtually of the lion threatening his own life. Was he concerned? About the market value of the land, wasn’t concerned about the market value of the land, was it? But he clearly had seen in that land that that was like a person in Israel and that he was going to be the defender of that person, and therefore he put his own life on the line on behalf of his people. Magnificent man, wasn’t he?

8. 4:20

   As a young boy he could see that. And then when after that the the the lamb having been saved, the the bear came, he stripped the bear apart as well. Twice he would threaten his own life. He wasn’t foolhardy. That was wrought out of faith and defence of God’s people. He’s the same man here, isn’t he? Let me be offered, and my people, my family, my father’s house, but let it not be upon these sheep. But as we know, the sheep had some pretty unfortunate goats among them.

9. 4:54

   And God took, indeed, He made the separation and took what he wanted. Well then coming then on to the rest of this chapter. We will deal with the Levites in time, but I wanted to complete some of the very beautiful things that are in the rest of this chapter. The Angel of the Lord, it says in verse 18, commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set an altar unto Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

10. 5:23

    This message came through Gad, you might notice, and that a second time the Gad was David’s seer. Now it’s quite an amazing statement. Don’t just read it, my dear. This is an astonishing. Statement isn’t it? Is God saying that in a a Gentile’s backyard, in a presently occupied threshing floor? That’s what Ornam was doing with his four sons, we read in verse 2021.

11. 5:51

    He was. He was using the place then. Wouldn’t that have seemed to a legalistic Jewish mind that that was the last? Place on earth that God would choose to be a place of an altar. And an altar that was going to improve upon the altar that was in the Mosaic Tabernacle that then was officiating at Gibeon.

12. 6:17

    There were two tabernacles. There was the Tabernacle of Moses that was at this time at Gibeon. And the altar of burnt offering was there. It was, it was officiating at that time. So if God was saying this in verse 18, it was clear that this was going to be a superior alternative to that which was already in existence. There was 2 tabernacles.

13. 6:44

    There was the Tabernacle of Moses, and as we said, that was a gibeon. But it was without the ark, wasn’t it? But in Jerusalem there was the Tabernacle of David that David had set up. The Second Samuel chapter 6 tells us that when the ark came in, David constructed a Tabernacle and became known as the Tabernacle of David. It didn’t have an altar of offering, but it did have the ark as it were, the presence of God. It’s a really interesting stage in Israel’s history. 2 Tabernacles.

14. 7:17

    Now there’s going to be two altars in Israel. And that’s how David saw it. He saw the whole import of verse 18. What God was saying was astonishing, absolutely astonishing. There was already his official altar. In giving and now God was saying this to you and where in the threshing floor of on and the Jebusite and that had it’s strange overtures. You know Jesus was the last place in the whole of that land then to be Sheba the last.

15. 7:49

    Place to be rested from the foot of the Gentile. You remember that? Because David had been king, hadn’t he? In Hebron for 7 1/2 years over Judah, and then he shifted the capital to Jerusalem. Because Joe went up the gutter and they overran the Jebusites. And that then became a suitable place to make the capital of the United Kingdom. The last place we might have thought was that that would become the place of the altar of offering. It might have been, you know, suitable plates for David because it was more centrally positioned on the border between that which was and that which was going to be his Kingdom. But there was more than politics involved in. That, and the intriguing thing is that there are still Gentiles there.

16. 8:38

    This ground is still owned by a Gentile. It’s the threshing floor of Orn and the Jebusite. And yet just underneath that place is the capital of Israel. Just underneath the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite is where you will see today the Mosque of Omaha. And the big wall that goes around it must be there because that’s where the temple was, right?

17. 9:06

    Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple were on, was on that site. The capital of David was on an elongated piece of ground that went down to Siloam below that area. That was the City of David, not the walled city that we have today at all. That was outside David City. The intriguing thing is, my dear brother sisters, that that Ornan was still operating his property in the area.

18. 9:38

    Immediately adjacent to the capital city, and he was a gentleman. And that tells you a great deal about David and his relationship with the Gentiles, doesn’t it? David did not have an antipathy towards the Gentiles. He could have. Immediately taken that property from Ornam in days of old. But he didn’t. And being so close to the capital city, it was a remarkable thing. This man was still farming on the property. And we’ll see a little bit more about the spirit of this man as we go down.

19. 10:07

    In fact, this whole section is just filled with wonder, just absolute wonder that God should have chosen that very place still being used by him and his sons. David went up at the saying of Gad. There’s 19 which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back and he too saw the Angel.

20. 10:28

    Can you picture this amazing scene and his four? Sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. They were operating the site in the midst of all this tragedy, he and his four boys. And when Orna turned back and he saw the Angel above, and there was the king of Israel. There was the elders of Israel with him.

21. 10:53

    So Israel and the Gentiles were there together. He was a a Gentile man and his sons. And the Angel above was threatening the city. And David has been told to go and see Orna and to make an altar on his land. There was a time before, my dear, this is when an Angel of death threatened Israel.

22. 11:17

    And you mean remember at that time he made a separation, didn’t he, between the Egyptians and the Israelites? An absolute separation, so that the Egyptians lost their first born and Israel’s were saved. Here we have an Angel of death that is now over the over the threshing floor that still remains to a Gentile trodden. Down, as it were, of the Gentiles, but not really trodden down, this man.

23. 11:46

    Fully appreciates the circumstances in which he is living. And what we’re going to see come out of this is an offering that’s that’s going to be salvation not only for Israel, but also for the Gentiles, and an altar established that will be not only for Israel but also for the Gentiles. Just like the Tabernacle of David was for the same thing, a most amazing circumstance.

24. 12:12

    So David came to Ornan, verse 21, and Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Great respect he had, didn’t he? Like the sorrow Phoenician woman, and he had great respect to the king of Israel. Then David said to Ornan. Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord Thou shalt grant it me for the full price, that the plague may be stained from the people. And Ornan’s response is really quite remarkable. Ornan said unto David, Take it thee, and let my. Lord the King, do that which is good in his eyes. Hello, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering.

25. 13:14

    He knew a few things, didn’t he? He knew the kind of sacrifices that Israel had, and in effect, He’s providing all that was necessary. The oxen that were there for the threshing of the wheat. The oxen for burnt offerings. The instruments of threshing that can be provided as the wood. And the wheat will be for the meal offering. I give it all.

26. 13:39

    There’s this amazing man. And King David said to Ornam, Nay, he says, no doubt deeply impressed by this remarkable man, Nay. But I will verily buy it. For the full price, that’s the second time he has said that, isn’t it verse 22? And he says it again in verse 24. For the full price, for I will not take that which is thine for Yahweh, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. And so David gave to Ornan for the place 600 shekels of gold by weight, which in our money would probably come today like something like $100,000.

27. 14:24

    It seems that he, he paid it there and then. No, this man David and this man Ornan are really remarkable people. If you come back to Second Samuel chapter 24, just notice a little detail that’s so intriguing. I give it all he said.

28. 14:46

    We read in Second Samuel 24 verse 22. And Alrana said unto David, Let my Lord the King take and OfferUp what seemeth good unto him. Behold he be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments, and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did all runner, as a king give unto the king, and a runner said unto the king.

29. 15:11

    Yahweh, thy God, accept thee. Now he must have thought this is a strange day, that the Angel of God, the Angel of the God of Israel, has told the King of Israel to come to my property. Surely the most unclean sight in Israel, in the view of a of a legal minded Jew, has come to my property there to make an offering to stay the hand of the Angel of death.

30. 15:41

    And yet he takes it in as best he can and says I give it all. Totally happy with that, even though it was the last. Bit of land, no doubt, that was owned by the Jebdusites. Why do you think in fact? He had been allowed to retain it, surely, because perhaps there’s his spirit.

31. 16:00

    This man is like the Sarah Phoenician woman, isn’t he? He’s in Israel, but he fully appreciates the privilege of Israel and that he’s still to be alive in that land. And no doubt that had a lot to do, why he had been allowed to be retained. Why didn’t David just clear him out and say, would you go where? You might you’re.

32. 16:20

    Not going to be around here by the capital. You’re a gentile hanging around. You know, he had some amazing precedent predecessors, didn’t he? It says that he as a king gave that to David, which is intriguing in itself because there was a great king in Jerusalem before David. In the times of Abraham, there was Melchizedek. Later on there was another king in Jerusalem called Adi Adonai Zaydek.

33. 16:52

    Zaydek means righteousness, Milky meaning king, King of righteousness. Adoni Zaydek later in the times of the Judges, meaning Lord of Righteousness. It. Was the title of the king of that city the king of the future? Jerusalem is going to be indeed a Zaydek, isn’t it? The king of righteousness, Yahweh, Our righteousness will be the name by which he will be called.

34. 17:15

    Jeremiah says that. So there was that. A wonderful heritage in that city, and perhaps, my dear brethren sisters, it may be that Orrunner had some of the. Spirit of that former Kingdom, the former Lion, and that David being the mind he was. And seeing the. Character of Orrunner said, look, this is the capital of Israel indeed, but that man deserves to be here and I want him kept so now at a critical moment when.

35. 17:50

    David’s in one of the great crises of his life and the thinking is intense before God is as it was standing above him. There is another man, a Gentile, in the line of Melchizedek, because he he was a king. He was the remaining person of the line of the Jebusites. And whilst they had despised David and he had loathed them, hadn’t even remember how it says that Second Samuel 5. They were despised in David’s mind because they ridiculed Israel at that time, yet in fact he has preserved their king, and now that king in the spirit of.

36. 18:26

    In the spirit of a gentile that accepts the hope of Israel says I give it all and David spares him and and will pay him the full price. What an amazing story. I verily will buy it for the full price, for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. What a mine, my dear brother and sisters, wouldn’t you with that threat above you simply just take the fielder and run. You know if he wants to give it to you, take it would OK, we’ll have it.

37. 18:59

    But he didn’t, did he? What a presence of mine was David you see when Abraham in earlier time. This just shows you where the mind of David is when he was in a in a stage. Where he wanted. Land to bury his wife. You remember he went to The Cave of Machpelah and he would have been given it, but he would not.

38. 19:21

    Take that, would he? He said, I’ll pay it for the full price. And thus he buried Sarah. And later on, the other patriarchs were buried in that play, or Jacob also in Genesis chapter 33. And this is perhaps even more relevant, Genesis chapter 33, verse 19, verse 18. Jacob came, it should be in peace to Shechem. It doesn’t mean he came to Shaylam, the city of Shechem. There wasn’t such a thing as as Shaylam, the city of Shechem. He came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan.

39. 20:03

    When he came from Pedenaram and pitched his tent before the city and he bought a parcel of a field. Where he had spread his tent at the hand of the children of Hamor Shechem’s father for 100. Pieces of money, And he erected there an altar and called it IO, a Lower Israel. He bought the land on which he would erect an altar.

40. 20:30

    He would not do it for nothing. There must be cost in our sacrifice. And so, in the same spirit, an amazing. Thing in this. Crisis, my dear, insist. When you know, when you sort of grab anything that’s going, don’t you just take whatever’s there and use it. The crisis is enormous. The whole life of Jerusalem, of your family and yourself all rests upon this. If your if it’s their, take it.

41. 20:55

    But he wouldn’t principle. What an amazing man, my dear. Insisted That’s the man that was in the bed just a few weeks before perhaps dying, but he came out of that bedroom where people thought he was a write off and in his mind was scotched the principles of God so that even in this crisis event when he could just snap and he’d have the whole thing in his hand, he would not do it. I find that really breathtaking my dear brother and sister. So it really isn’t.

42. 21:23

    How many times in ecclesial life do we act like that, where we will not be part of ecclesial life unless there is give involved in what we make our offering to be? Have we learnt? Are we losing the sense of giving, of going the extra mile, of making the extra time, of taking on the extra work, of helping the person that really needs help down the line? It’s going to put us out.

43. 21:54

    But you know, there’s no offering if there’s no price, isn’t it? That’s what David thought, and he could think that in the middle of the Was this the night? I don’t know. I sort of imagine it was the night with the Shining Angel. Perhaps it wasn’t. But anyway, in the middle of this crisis, he could think like that.

44. 22:09

    That must be paid for, Jacob. Paid for it, Abraham paid for him, and I’m not offering on that unless I. Pay for that the. Full price, no discount. Even though it’s a king to a king. Wonderful man, absolutely beautiful man. So in a collision of life where there’s a call for service, if it’s going to put us out and it’s going to mean you have to go home a different way, or you have to get up early and do this or that, then always remember that if there’s not some cost, then it’s not really a true offering to God.

45. 22:52

    You come now. To the the next little picture which is given in verse 26. And it’s astonishing. It’s a really astonishing picture. Again, he’s paid the money. He seems to have had the the forethought to bring it out with him. He knew he was going to have to buy that field. And so he’s taking the money with him.

46. 23:14

    He pays it on the spot. And it says in verse 26 that David built there an altar. Unto Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord. And he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. You know, sometimes we read a verse and we just take it for granted.

47. 23:40

    But that really is a most amazing verse. Here is the king in this crisis, and it says David built there an altar. What? What did he build the altar out of Here he was in all of his weakness, hobbling around with large stones. This was an altar that he constructed brass and have it made in the finest way. This was a an immediate altar.

48. 24:06

    He would have to therefore find stones around that place. So here’s the king of Israel in this great crisis and perhaps the elders of Israel with him helping and the king is building the altar. David, the man that came out of the bed, is now finding strength to build that altar and he offered burnt offering. He prepared them and laid them upon the altar and peace offering.

49. 24:35

    What an amazing. Thing, wasn’t he the king? But he’s more than the king, isn’t he? He’s also the priest. We said before that perhaps Orana was in the the line of Melchizedek, who was king priest of Salem. In this environment there certainly is a king priest. David is offering us both king and priest, and he, in the heat of summer, carries the the large stones, prepares the wood, slays the oxen.

50. 25:10

    It was an incredible sight and all underneath the eye of the of the heavenly Watcher. And then there was the divine answer. The Lord commanded the Angel, and he put up his sword again into the cheek. After the fire had accepted the offering, fire came down from the altar of upon the altar of burnt offering.

51. 25:36

    Now again, the significance of that must be felt because there hadn’t been such a thing since right back in Leviticus Chapter 9. Come back to Leviticus 9.

52. 25:53

    In Leviticus Chapter 9, the Tabernacle is all ready. Aaron conducts his son into his sons, into offices, and makes offerings for himself and for the people. And so the Tabernacle and all of its pristine newness is now brought into office. And there came, verse 24, a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which, when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces.

53. 26:29

    There has not been such an event since the days of Leviticus Chapter 9, verse 24. He answered him from heaven by. Fire upon the altar of burnt offering. So you can see, my dear brethren and sisters, that this is not just any old incident. This is a new phase that has been introduced into Israel. There’s going to be an increased teaching about the atonement and the taking away of sin.

54. 26:58

    Although you might notice in verse 26 that it doesn’t actually say that David offered a sin offering. He offered burnt offerings and peace offering and called upon Yahweh in Psalm 51. David learnt what the true offerings were in Psalm 51 after his sin, for which there was no prescribed offering for adultery or for murder, and there was no offering provided under the law. But in Psalm 51, David, having been spared his life by the mercy of God, says verse 16.

55. 27:49

    Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips and my praise shall show forth. My mouth shall show forth. I pray for thou desirest not sacrifice else. Would I give it? Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, for thou would not despise. So that smitten heart that he had before, as recorded in the record, was the greatest and truest offering that he could make for his sin.

56. 28:27

    So here we have. Now, my dear friend, sisters, another altar that is outside the mosaic system. And David was outside the Mosaic system. It was not right according to the rules of Moses law that the king should be a king of Judah, should be making the offering. So it is a new system, isn’t it, that is being portrayed here to Israel, up there in Gideon just 5 miles away, not a long way.

57. 28:54

    The fire upon the altar was still flicking the altar that was given by Moses. So we have two fires and two altars, 1 Mosaic and 1 Davidic. And in verse 30 David saw the whole point of that. David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the Angel of the Lord. He said if God has in fact lit this altar, then I will no longer be going to give in.

58. 29:24

    He has made a switch of altars and so he could see the point of that. And driving home that point, he says in chapter 22, verse one, this is the. House of the Lord. God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. Now in the second of Chronicles chapter 3, it tells us exactly where that site was.

59. 29:51

    But because there’s a nice little echo to it, let’s actually read the word Second Chronicles chapter 3 and verse one. Just pacing these little pieces together. Brethren says it says David would have in his own mind. I’m sure of that. It says Solomon began to build the House of Yahweh at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah.

60. 30:18

    Now where have we heard that word before? Where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared, in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jeb Desire. Mariah, of course, was the place that Isaac was taken by Abraham, and God said upon one of the mountains in the land of Mariah, there you will OfferUp Isaac.

61. 30:48

    And don’t you think it possible? Is it? It’s really impossible to think the opposite, that when David was told that he was to go to the threshing floor, born in the Jeb desire, which was such a mountain in the land of Moriah, that his mind would have been in another place where there had originally been another altar where Melchizedek had had officiated, and where the Yaquid of God, the beloved of God, the beloved of Abraham and of God was offered up all.

62. 31:23

    But except that there was provision made in the ram that was provided. But there it says, doesn’t it, that Abraham saw my day? Jesus says that when he offered up Isaac and he came away from that time, he saw, he said that I have seen what God is teaching me. There will be a Yaqui which means an only one mine only below the Hebrew word which goes through the Septuagint to the only begotten in John chapter one verse 14, the only begotten of the Father. And that’s what the Hebrew word yaqui which is used all through Genesis 22.

63. 32:02

    I think it’s four times it is used Yaqui the the only begotten. Abraham came away from that and he could see that God was telling him that there was another Yaqui that was coming, and he would be. Offered to take away transgression and it would be in that place in the mountain of the Lord.

64. 32:26

    It shall be seen and so he called the place Yahweh Yarra in the mountain of the Lord it shall be seen. Now David with this, with an uncluttered mind wasn’t he didn’t have all the stuff that we’ve got today that to him was ABC. He had a clear picture. Of all of that. Here he is in exactly that sight. And I’m sure, my dear brother sisters, that you know, God’s saying, make, set up the altar and make the offering. David would have felt all of that coming upon him as he remembered the history of Israel and what had happened in that place.

65. 32:59

    And they’re the Yaquid, the Yaquid of Abraham, which was portraying the Yaquid of of the Lord God. That in that very place it was going to be offered. It was outside the camp, it was beyond the Mosaic institution. And you know, there a knife was held back, wasn’t it? As here the Sword of God was put back in its sheet by the Angel.

66. 33:25

    And just nearby there had been a king priest, Melchizedek, that had had offered up acceptable worship and provided provided opportunities to even such as Abraham. And now he was the patriarch, you know, the, the, the family now was represented by the man who was standing with him in Orana. Who was in the line of Melchizedek? What an amazing thing, you know, a distant relative of Melchizedek.

67. 33:52

    And now David has acted that part. And so all of Genesis chapter 22 and all of the things that happened there. Because remember. Melchizedek couldn’t have been very far away when Abraham offered up Isaac. He must have been very, very close to the scene at that time. All of that must surely have come into David’s mind, as he could see that God was foreshadowing the offering of something very much greater.

68. 34:16

    And when we. Look at the picture. Again, and we see David there making that offering, accepting that sin. We see that in fact it it wasn’t his sin with which God was angry, was it? What he was going through was really on behalf of the people. He was a sin bearer. So the whole picture of it, my dear Vince, is, is exceedingly remarkable.

69. 34:44

    The ironic priesthood is up there in Gibeon and here now in Jerusalem. There’s all the portrayal of a greater sacrifice by a king priest who has been brought into the problem he was. Made sin for us soon, Unosi. And he’s come and borne that, and he’s taking it away. And I’m sure, I’m really sure that if Abraham saw my day, said Jesus, that I’m sure that David too, on this occasion would have gone home from these circumstances and seen also Christ’s day to come. Well, this incident then was rightly, it was new life for old bones, as we might put it in the first two Chronicles, chapter 22.

70. 35:31

    David, seizing the whole momentous event, says this is the House of Yahweh Elohim. And this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And there’s this lowly altar, just put together as best he might with his weary arms and his limited ability, just put hastily. Together. And in fact, he can see this whole house now in front of his eye.

71. 35:56

    This, he said, is the House of Yahweh Elohim. He’s standing in a threshing floor. What an amazing man he was. But that was his mind. And it shows us, doesn’t it, the the depth and wonder of his mind. And it says David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel.

72. 36:16

    And he said Masons to hew wrought stones to build the House of God. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails, for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings, and brass in abundance without weight, and cedar trees in abundance for the Dydonians. And they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. Wasn’t this the old man was upon his bed, worn out, finished. There’s a new lease of life come to this man. He’s never going to be able to build this house himself, but look at the the new infusion of energy which he has. I mean, who would want to be bothered with all of those things?

73. 36:51

    People leave work and they say it’s nice to have the pressure off and they don’t want to come home to a whole lot of busy circumstances in their latter years. But this? Man is doing. Just that he’s involved in tremendous preparations, determining how much iron might be needed and how many nails and how many doors and joinings in the brass.

74. 37:13

    He’s involved with Masons in verse 2, finding men that can do certain trades. He’s got men right up there in the mountains of of Lebanon. Cedar trees are coming down towards Jerusalem. And he’s involved in all of that organization, sending his servants in all those directions. Oh man, that Abhishek once had to warm up. He was so inebriated, or he was so finished in life, one might have thought.

75. 37:39

    And yet now he’s in full control and he’s about that land, he’s about the side of the temple and measuring it up and seeing what needs to be done. And it says so. David prepared abundantly before his death. You know, there’s a great inspiration of that to that story. You know, many younger men are retiring at younger ages. Aren’t we dumb of us?

76. 38:04

    Or some of you I should say. Because I’m not retired. But it it. The statement’s been made and it’s absolutely true that we don’t retire in the truth, do we? I mean, how can you retire in the truth? I run it in retire, he said. I give it all. You know, that was his, that was his superannuation package as it were.

77. 38:25

    Whatever else he had left. He said, I give it all. There isn’t any retirement in the truth really that we, we see it through to the end. Our master said it is finished and it and it was the finish wasn’t anything left. And that’s really how we should be about our lives. In the truth. We don’t retire, find our way down to the the fishing spot and there we are frequently away from pleasial life or to be in another place where we’re not associated with the work of. The truth.

78. 38:56

    And we all know that the the frontiers of the truth are expanding on every side, aren’t they? There’s more and more work to do. I saw just yesterday a pick a depiction of, of where there are ecclesias in the United States, America. And the thing that really impressed me is that, you know, the the states out there without ecclesias states, whole states, a vast increase in population. I think when I last inquired about the population of America, it was around the 220 mark.

79. 39:26

    And you’ve got a census on the day. That was appropriate reading you had this morning, wasn’t it? You’re on a census on at the present time and they say that it’s probably likely to be something like 280 or 90 million people. That’s a tremendous increase of people, isn’t it? 8090 thousand 80 and 90 million people since the last time that I heard, which gives tremendous scope for work if Pomona for example.

80. 39:51

    Can have 400 people that come to their seminars or want to get in. I don’t know what kind of town hall Pomona’s got, but you kind of need a big hall. I mean, if there’s that kind of interest, then there’s no retirement in the truth. We need a bit of this spirit, don’t we? That says that before his death He prepared abundantly for the House of God.

81. 40:11

    He said his. Affection in that direction he. Channelled his energies. And you know, there’s nothing more inspiration for US younger men than to see an older brother who to the last bit of his life, he’s steadfastly in his chair, terribly interested about the truth. Talking to you about the signs of the times, talking a bit about the old days, telling you about when people really gave of their life and their time and their substance.

82. 40:37

    I find that tremendously inspiring. There are people. In this room, I can tell you that some of the most inspiring people to me in my life. His dedication is profound. Every time I ever come, they’re there. They’re the same people, exactly same type of person as you’ve met before, same interests, absolutely the same fervor for the truth.

83. 41:00

    I love that. I find it personally a great inspiration. So do we all. That’s a Davidic type of spirit, isn’t it? That here he could have put his shoes up and say, well. If you don’t want me, well, I I’m finished with the innings. But he didn’t. He came right back into the front of that nation and he rose and elevated that people.

84. 41:18

    And so they no doubt were all busy at the end of his life. And when finally he passed off the scene, I bet there was many and I that was filled with moisture as they thought of the amazing life of this dedicated person.

85. 41:40

    Well, he speaks in verses 6 to 16. He speaks to Solomon as only a father could speak and commands him to arise and build the House of God, my son. As for me, it was in my house verse 7 to build a house under the name of Yahweh my God. But God didn’t have it for so to be He said another would come. You might notice that in verses 9 and 10 He has really sketched Second Samuel 7.

86. 42:12

    The promise hasn’t. He. And he’s applied it in a primary application undoubtedly to Solomon. And so turning to Solomon, more particularly verse 11, he says, now, my son, the Lord, be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the House of the Lord thy God, as he had said of thee. Only Yahweh give thee wisdom and understanding. Give thee charge concerning Israel. That thou mayest keep the law of Yahweh thy God. It’s estimated that Solomon was about 18 years of age. 18 year old boy.

87. 42:41

    Imagine that one lad in your Sunday school was 18 years of age and now he’s going to be left behind with this enormous task. Never has there been a brick building stone building made. For God to be worshipped in and this young man is going to have that auspicious responsibility laid upon his shoulders. You know, parents, you don’t have to be too soft with your children.

88. 43:07

    It’s not a wrong thing to ask them to get out and help with the garden. Not a wrong thing to be asked to help with the chores in the home. If they don’t learn that, they’ll never be a Solomon. We’ve got to make sure that our children are brought up to serve in every opportunity brought up to serve, indeed cherished, indeed encouraged, but nevertheless to learn to serve.

89. 43:27

    There’s a lot of people out there in the world know nothing about their about life except their own interests. We’ve got to make sure that our children know how to serve. Solomon didn’t get to this this degree of responsibility except that his father had put upon him weights of responsibility, not the not the fault that happened with Absalom.

90. 43:45

    He’s not going to repeat that or Adonit you that had never been set back, never been turned back from what they wanted to do. It says that of idolatry. This young man has definitely been brought up differently and he’s learnt to serve. Stolen didn’t say Oh dad, come on this. Is a bit. Bit too much for me.

91. 44:02

    I’m only a lad. Come on. I’m still surfing out there on the on the beach. He didn’t say that, did he? I’ve got to do my degree, got my study. That’s more important. Now. Look what I’m doing. He didn’t say that at all. His degrees were in the things of God and he was steeped in that and the young man was prepared to accept that and beautifully he carried that responsibility on. There’s inspiration for our parent who doesn’t or our grandparents were dealing with our children. Tell our children the things of old, Tell them the old way. Tell them what service in Christ means. And that’s to be done with a full heart and enjoy fullness of spirit and wherever there’s opportunity to see it and do it. Make their lives happy in service so that they know that that’s what life is about.

92. 44:50

    If it’s not like that, my dear, how will they ever come to the truth? If you just indulge our children and just give them everything they want and send them off to some other place in the critical time of their life, how will they ever come to Christ? Very, very difficult. I. Feel for them.

93. 45:08

    Tremendously. I think sometimes we put upon them circumstances that if it. Were you and I, we wouldn’t make the truth. And yet, because that’s what the world’s doing, we kind of walk in with it. We’ve got to see it clearly. That child’s going to reach the Kingdom, has got to be made sacrifices in his life.

94. 45:26

    He’s got to see that that’s what life is all about. It’s inspiring here to see this old man standing for his son before all of this rather, and laying upon his shoulders a tremendous responsibility. He’s only an 18 year old boy so expect something of our children. And when they’re young, expect something of them, because it’s in their interest, their eternal interest, and our joy and happiness. Let that be so.

95. 45:53

    Be strong and of good courage. Dread not, nor be dismounted. And so verse 17, David also commanded the Princess of Israel to help Solomon and his son. Saying is not. Yahweh your God with you, and have He not given you rest on every side? We have given the inhabitants the land into mine hand, and the land is subdued before Yahweh and before His people. Well, if that’s the case, it hasn’t been given for us to sit, sit back and lay back in the sun. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise therefore and build you the sanctuary of the Lord God to bring the ark of the Covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord no longer up there at Gibeon.

96. 46:35

    The old is not going to be a given. God’s not going to be somewhere else. He’s going to be in the centre of this nation and you can feel here, my dear, there’s all the change that’s coming. There’s the days of the judges weren’t there when there was no king in Israel, there was no centralized authority whatever tribes might want to wander off with Gideon, so they did and if it was with he would so they did.

97. 46:56

    It was never the whole nation, but under David they had learnt to come as a nation together and he eventually brought the two and the 12 together in a common city, as it were, in Jerusalem, which was on the border between. But the worship of God was still at a different place. And so he brought the ark in because he wanted God to be in that Kingdom.

98. 47:20

    What was that Kingdom if God was not in the centre of that Kingdom, What he to be the king? God really was the king and he under God reigning for God. And he came to see, didn’t he, that God had made him to prosper under him? But now he really wants the worship of God to be in that city. That’s his concept.

99. 47:42

    It always was. Well, he’s not going to build the house, but this house is going to be exceeding magnificent. Nations are going to come and see this king, this, this, this magnificent building. And they’re going to see something that I’ve never seen before. And so all Israel are going to come and they’re going to see that.

100. 47:59

     This is going to be a great centre of of activity and interest and a drawing point of the whole of that nation. And it rests. Upon young Solomon and he says to the nation as a whole, don’t let this down, look what God has brought you to. Therefore, set your heart and your soul to seek Yahweh, your God.

101. 48:19

     Isn’t that beautiful? He prepared abundantly, he said, His affection upon the House of God. He wants everyone in Israel now to pick up the spirit of that and to set their heart and their affection upon the future that was coming. So when David was old and full of days, 23 verse 1, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. Now if you turn to chapter 29,

102. 48:50

     that was 23 verse one. Keep keeping our hand in there because this is very important little exercise in chapter 29 it says in verse 22 at the end of two amazing chapters that we look at actually tomorrow, it says they did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness.

103. 49:16

     They made Solomon the son of David King the second time and. Anointed him unto the Lord to be the chief governor and Zadok. To be priest, all right. Then verse 23 Solomon sat on the. Throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father, instead of David his father. Well, what do you make then of chapter 23 verse one?

104. 49:42

     So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son, king over Israel. Obviously chapter 29 verse 22 when it says the second time is indicating that 23 verse one is the first time. Happy with that?

105. 50:01

     When was the first time? Chapter 29 is a formal occasion in chapters 28 and 29. David. Called all the principal people. It was formal. It was done with time, it was done from priority and they all came down. But the first time wasn’t like that. Wasn’t the first time. Was that the usurping by Adonager in First Kings?

106. 50:25

     Let’s have a look. First Kings chapter 1. This is a very helpful little picture in First Kings chapter 1 and verse 28. Then Tidings came to Job, where Job had turned after Adonager, though he turned not after. Absalom and Job fled into the tabernet. Sorry in chapter 2 in first kings chapter 1 Adonijit usurps the throne and we read in verse 6 his father had not displeased him at any time in saying. Why has thou done so?

107. 51:16

     And verse 7 he conferred with Jarab the son OF0Y and with the birth of the priest, and they followed. Following Adonijit helped him, but Zadok the priest and Benaiah did not, and so they anointed A Donaghet to be king, and they had a great feast. Verse 9. Johnagers through sheep and oxen and fat cattle, by the stone of Zoeleth, which is by Enrogu, and called all his brethren the King’s sons, and all the men are due to the King’s servants.

108. 51:45

     It was a pretty general revolt. But Nathan the prophet, and Ben and I the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not. And so Bathsheba became aware of that when Nathan spoke to her in verse 11. And Bathsheba verse 15 went into the king, and the king said in verse 28, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the King’s presence, and stood before the king and the King’s square, and said, As Yahweh liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I swear unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, Even so will I certainly do this day. And a hasty assembly was called, and Solomon was anointed. That’s nothing like First Chronicles 20. 8 and 29 if you look in chapter. 28 verse one.

109. 52:33

     It’s probably the longest verse almost in Chronicles, and it tells you of all the people that came and who were invited. It was very formal, very proper, but here over in First Kings one, it’s hasting there’s a time of rebellion involved in it. Some people are there and some people are not. Some people are down at a donagers feast.

110. 52:55

     It’s a totally different environment, isn’t it? So that’s the first time and First Chronicles 29 verse 22 is telling you about the second time. So it’s reasonable, therefore, to say that first Kings one and two equate with. What we have here in Chronicles 23, verse one, as he made Solomon his son king over Israel. Now is that clear?

111. 53:20

     I want that little concept to be clear because it’s very helpful. It it puts the whole background behind what was happening at the time of the numbering of Israel. It was not an easy time for David. There was rebellion in the environment and therefore the circumstances were very difficult for him. Is that all clear?

112. 53:42

     And what also now it makes very clear to us is this. When things are going hard, when things are going difficult and everything’s not, again, not in favour of you might be a Clichelean. You feel there’s lots of people in the meeting that perhaps think you’ve done this or think you’ve done that or why you did this.

113. 54:01

     They think of this reason why you did that. They think of that reason and you feel really in the Blues, the best thing to do is to do what David did, isn’t He kept his faith through all of that. He never swerved his course, but he picked up and worked in the things of God.

114. 54:18

     He increased his activity before God. He admitted his sins without a question. But he picked his ball up and he ran with that in the things of God. What a wonderful person he was. He didn’t sit around moping and bemoaning his life. He said there’s a great work to be done. I’m going to get on with it and encourage the rest of Israel to come behind that word. What an inspiring person.

115. 54:44

     My dear Britton sisters. It’s the same boy, isn’t it? If we might say so, that ran down the slope of the valley of Elah and went toward Goliath. There was Goliath with all of his difficulties. David went against all of his his enemies, all of his problems. He treated the same as if they were Goliath from the time he was a boy to the time he died. That’s how he treated his problems in. God.

116. 55:05

     He went against those problems and in that way he conquered.