All right, welcome everybody. I'm gonna go ahead and get started since it is right at nine o'clock and that way we have plenty of time. As you notice, I'm not Logan or Steven. So since Steven's, you know, we need to be still praying for him, but I'm gonna be helping fill in a little bit since, but Steven's hoping to be back, hopefully he'll be back doing this in a year and you don't have to see me again. Oh, good. But today we're going to be in 1 and 2 Kings. So if everybody wants to pull out their Bible, that's where we'll be spending our time. And I'm going to get us going with a prayer. Father, thank You so much for another Lord's Day. Thank You for this Sunday morning where we can break open Your Word and to see Your Gospel in the book of 1 and 2 Kings. Lord, I pray You'd help us to see Jesus Christ more clearly in the Old Testament, and to see the way that You have revealed Yourself throughout. throughout history to your people Israel and then fulfilled all your promises in Christ and now are with us, dwelling with us by your Holy Spirit. So be with us this morning and help us to see you more clearly. Okay, well welcome back. So last time, I know most of you guys here, pretty much everybody, but if you don't, remember my name is Jake Malone. I'm not a pastor, but like I said, we'll be helping teach a little bit. Last week, this is an Old Testament survey course, so we've been going through the whole Old Testament, and last week Logan finished up 1st and 2nd Samuel. Today we're going to be doing First and second Kings, however, we'll probably split this one up into two, so I'll come back next week and finish up. Today, we'll go through probably the first third, and then we'll finish through the rest of Kings next week. So today, we're laying a big foundation. But first, I thought it'd be helpful. Also, your handout. This is for both all the way through Kings. So today, we're really only going to get to that part where it says new vocabulary. We probably won't start that quite yet. So we're really just kind of laying a good foundation. Just a heads up there. So bring this same handout to this next week as well. But I thought it'd be helpful to give an overview. Remember this is an Old Testament survey class, so we're surveying the entire Old Testament, giving a big sketch of the history of the Old Testament. So let's just kind of remind ourselves where we're at in the big picture. When we do these books, sometimes it's easy to get lost in the trees when really the whole purpose of this is to try to look at the forest. So let's remind ourselves where we are. We started in Genesis, where God created creation, the world, and humanity. He created Adam, our first human, and our federal head. We'll get into that in a little bit. Adam, as we know, fell into sin, distorting and depraving all of creation, especially humanity. We've all fell into sin. In Genesis 3, Stephen taught that one. there was a promise of a coming seed that would bruise the serpent's heel or reverse the effects of the fall. Then God, continuing through Genesis, he made a covenant with Abraham, our fathers, and promised he would create a people for his own possession. And in that sense, he would be their God and his people would be his people. So he would be God. So thus, that created the nation of Israel. As we move along through the Bible, we get to Exodus and God's rescue of his people from the Egyptians and his eventual leading of them into the promised land in the book of Joshua. But in the books of Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, he gave the Mosaic Law, which had blessings for obedience, but also curses for disobedience. And in this law, it continued to reveal more and more of who God is, his character, what he likes, what he doesn't like, But Israel, trying to follow this law, is in a flux, continually being disobedient, but God is continuing to show mercy despite their disobedience. We enter the book of Judges. God's people are continuing in their idolatry and worship of foreign gods. And it says, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And when they cried out for mercy, God raised up judges to deliver them. And the cycle continued. So now they were being led by various judges. Entering 1 and 2 Samuel, God transitions Israel's leadership system from these judges to a monarchy and institutes a system where now we have kings. We read of King David and what is called the Davidic Covenant, which is the promise that God would raise up a Messiah and a king from the lineage of David that would be established forever. That's an important point. And yet, David's sin highlighted the need for a king even greater than David. So it's in this context that we enter 1 and 2 Kings, a book describing the continued monarchy of Israel ruled by lots of kings, as we'll see, and then eventually its fall and division into the northern and southern kingdoms, and eventually the fall and Israel being exiled to Babylon. So like I said, we'll split up 1st and 2nd Kings into two lessons. But really, you've got in your handout, you can divide 1st and 2nd Kings into three sections on the back there. So this first one, 1st Kings 1 through 11, that's as far as we'll get today. So what do we know about 1st and 2nd Kings? Kind of four things that we can note. One, it was originally one book. And so we're going to look at it as one book. So I keep saying 1st and 2nd Kings, but if you hear me say Kings, it's really the same thing. In the original, it wasn't actually split up and it was the Greek translators that ended up making a division likely because of space reasons for the scrolls. But it's meant to be one book. We don't know exactly who the author is. We do know that they drew upon many different historical documents to compile what we now know as Kings. Three, that compilation most likely took place during the time of the exile when the people were taken to Babylon. So the book of 1 Kings, oh yeah, number 4, the events recorded in Kings spreads over about 400 years. So it's easy to look at books like this and forget how long of a span it really was. So about 400 years. And during that time, the kingdom was eventually divided to the northern kingdom being scattered to the nations when the Assyrians came and spread out the people. And then the southern kingdom of Judah, we'll probably get into more of that next week, was exiled to Babylon. So Kings is really a study of how God's promise of mercy, this is kind of the theme, really for the whole Bible, but also Kings and what we're gonna be talking about today, How does God's promises of mercy interact with His promises of judgment? So a good place to start is thinking about that with us right now. Are there any promises of judgment to us as humans? Do we have promises of judgment? Yes, we do. What is the wages of sin? death. So we are promised death if we sin, yet we have also promises of mercy. Do we have promises of mercy? Exactly. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you will have mercy. So this tension that we're going to see in Kings is really the tension of, one, the whole Bible, but two, the redemptive history. We have sin, we have God promising sin. How can God be both just and the justifier? How can He have promises of hatred and wrath and judgment upon sin, then have his people, us, who are sinners, and still have his promises of mercy. How do those things coincide? How does that work? So that's really the theme that we're going to be hitting on today. So to go back and really understand that theme, we're going to start in the book of Deuteronomy. So will someone turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and read verses 1 through 4? Go for it. 28. 1 through 4. listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, being careful to do all His commandments, which I have commanded you today. Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall you be, the offspring of your body. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body, and the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd, Great, thank you. So what you have here in this passage of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are about to enter into the promised land that we read about in the book of Joshua, but he's reiterating the law to them, and he's also reiterating the blessings and the curses. So he's saying, if you obey this law, if you obey the voice of the Lord and be careful to do all these commandments, You will have blessings. Blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. So, there are blessings for obedience to this law that God is giving before they go into the promised land. If you skip down to verse 28, we have something opposite. I'll read this one. If you're not careful, so this is the same passage, but down in verse 58. If you're not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting, and he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt of which you are afraid, and they shall cling to you. And then, if you continue down to verse 64, "...and the Lord will scatter you among all peoples." What does that sound a lot like? The exile. Right. So, there it is. A promise of blessings for obedience to the law, promises of curses for disobedience to the law. And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known." So, there are God's blessings on His people if they keep His covenant, and curses if they do not. Now this is, remember we're not in 1 and 2 Kings yet, this is in Deuteronomy. At this point, God is speaking directly to His people. He is using Moses to speak to them, but they are representing themselves before God. So the people are representing, sorry for the terrible handwriting, they are representing themselves before God. That's an important part and we'll get farther into that as we go on. So these promises and conditions in Deuteronomy are really the undercurrent of everything that happens in Kings. And really, this is the tension of all of the Old Testament. So remember, going all the way back to Genesis, like I talked about, we remember the seed that will bruise the serpent's heel. You know, if you just read that on its face, it's kind of like, what is that quite talking about? But that was a seed of an unconditional promise of God saving his people through a coming one. Who is this seed that will bruise the serpent's heel? Who is that? And again, it's important to note, that was an unconditional promise. We have a promise from God from the very beginning that he will save a people from himself no matter what. And yet, as we've seen, God promises punishment for disobedience to his law, and even exile. So he's gonna promise to punish sin. I mean, that's really the whole Bible we have right there from the beginning of Genesis. the fall. We have everybody falls in Adam, but then we have this promise of redemption. And in Genesis, it's really this kind of just a small little inkling of what God has promises. But as we move along through the Old Testament, what do we have? We have the Abrahamic Covenant, so God revealing those promises more and more. Eventually we get to the Davidic covenant, where now we have this king who's going to, God's going to establish a lineage from this king, and he's just revealing that promise and this tension farther and farther and farther. And Kings is kind of quite the climax of it, but again, just think about it in those terms. It's continuing that tension. So, we move on. First we had the people representing themselves before God, but now we enter into 1 and 2 Samuel, and we have God's people with their first faithful king. So we move past the judges, past King Saul, and now we're here to Israel's first faithful king, David. So now the focus of the Old Testament turns to the kings in the line of David. It's not that the people and their behavior are unimportant, but the king now serves as a covenant representative before Yahweh on behalf of the people. So with these kings, God's relationship with his people changes. We read in 2 Samuel 7, we talked about that just last week, that David's house and David's kingdom will endure forever. So is that promise conditional or unconditional? Unconditional, exactly. God's promising that David's kingdom will endure forever. That has zero to do with how the king does, with how the people do. God has made a promise and he is going to be faithful to that promise no matter what. But again, we have these curses, we have these promises for punishment and curses if you disobey. What do we do with that tension? So God says that he will punish David's descendants when they do wrong, but this promise of a forever kingdom is without condition. God is going to do it. It does not depend on his people at all. So the book of Kings starts on a real cliffhanger. The blessings and curses of Deuteronomy are in full effect, but so is this new promise of a kingdom that will last forever. We're met with this tension. So that's what we need to be thinking about when we open our books to Kings. What's gonna happen? Will the people have a king who obeys the law so that they might have blessing or rebel and cause the people suffering? And if they rebel and are cursed according to God's promise in Deuteronomy, what about his promise in 2 Samuel? How does this work? So before we jump into kings, someone give me some thoughts. What are y'all's thoughts on this tension? If you could give one word to describe this tension, tense would be the one that I would choose for sure. It intensifies. The questions become more intensifying as Scripture progressively reveals itself. Such that the demands of the law are as severe as they've always been. And yet, the solution is so clear. As that's intensified, so too has the solution, so to speak, become so much clearer. Right. God is progressively revealing also how that glimmer of hope that we have in Genesis 3 is going to come about. So Genesis 3 doesn't actually mention a king, but here we have, keep going, now we get to 2 Samuel 7 and we have the promise of a king. You draw this on the board. The king is now representing the people. When the people Now they're going to put, not don't hang up on it, but kind of in a way put their faith in the king. Is their king going to be obedient or disobedient? If he's disobedient, now the people are going to, not that they don't deserve it for their own sin, don't get me wrong, but the king is now representing the people to God. What does that sound like? Yeah, exactly. So we are the same way. We will face the Lord in judgment for our own sin, absolutely, but if we try to approach Him based on our own works or our own merits without a representative king, that's not going to be good. But God is revealing how He's going, in the Old Testament, He's revealing how He is going to bring about that sea that will bruise the serpent's heel. Great, okay, so now we're gonna jump into the actual book. Well, that brings us to the book of Kings and to the next king after David, David's son, Solomon. So everybody open your Bibles to 1 Kings. We're gonna start by reading chapter two, verses one through four, where we'll find out exactly who King Solomon is. So King David is here on his deathbed. And he speaks these last words to his son and his successor, Solomon. So he gave this charge to Solomon, his son. When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon, his son, saying, I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses. that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel." Does anybody see anything? We got really two promises that God made to David through this charge of David to Solomon. Does anybody Anything jump out? Yeah, I put that his line will never fail. You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. Two, that David's descendants Verses three are charged to walk in God's ways and keep his decrees and commands if they are to experience God's blessings. So again, we have this unconditional and conditional tension. His line will never fail yet. If you're going to experience God's blessings, you must walk in God's ways and keep his decrees and his commands. So what happens next? Will Solomon be this fulfillment king? Will Solomon be the king that we need to represent us? No, he will not. But let's look at the life of Solomon a little bit. So turn to chapter three, verse 12, where God grants Solomon to be the wisest person who ever lived. And as a result of this wise ruler, chapters four through 10 really describe a prosperous time for the nation of Israel. So we did have a good king, Solomon. Verses four, or chapters, sorry, chapter four, 20 through 21. There is, I'm gonna, let me read that one. Chapter four, 20 through 21. Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. So Solomon is bringing population growth, eating, drinking, happiness. And if you go down verses 24 and 25, For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the river, from Tipsa even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the river, and he had a peace on every side all around him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree from Dan as far as Beersheba all the days of Solomon. So there's peace and prosperity in the land. And then in verse 32, it speaks of his 3,000 proverbs. Well, we know where we can read those. In verse 34, there is world-renowned fame for God's people and their king. And men of all nations from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. So we have this really prosperous time in Kings. Solomon is obeying the commands. What did he do that he is known for that was so great? He asked for the best thing to ask for, wisdom. And guess what? God gave it to him and blessed Israel through it. And one of the most wonderful things is the Lord blesses them with his own special presence in with the, who knows what? What does Solomon build? The temple. In chapters five through eight, we read of Solomon building his glorious temple. And then chapter eight, verse 10, And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord." So Solomon built his grand temple, but the most grand thing is that the Lord dwelt there. The Lord entered the temple. He created a further dwelling place for God. And there's a lot of biblical historical themes that we could get into at the temple, but we don't have time to dive into those right now, but think about it. God walking with Adam in the garden. Sin happens. Separation from God. Now, surveying through the whole Old Testament, one of the themes that you can see is God dwelling with his people in more intimate and intimate and intimate ways. First it was, chase him around the wilderness. Then we have the tabernacle, where he actually gives a place. That tabernacle moves all around, but God is He's there. If they have the tabernacle, they can have the presence of God. Well, what's different between the temple and the tabernacle? The temple's there. That's built with all kinds of gold and ornate stuff. It's a temple. It's not going anywhere. So it's just, again, a picture of the solidifying of God's presence with His people. Unlike the moving tabernacle, the temple is here to stay. Furthermore, listen to Solomon's benediction that he gave to the people of Israel on that day. This is the day that he dedicated the temple. It's shot through with just about every redemptive historical theme that we've considered so far. Not just today, but all of this survey. See how many redemptive historical themes you can hear that Solomon says are now fulfilled with the building of the temple and God's presence with them. So this is a good exercise. I'll read this. Think about any sort of redemptive historical theme that you can hear in here. Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed all of his good promise which he spoke by Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night. And may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other." Shoot them out. What did y'all hear? Rest. That's a big one. We talked about that one last week. Dwelling. God's presence with his people. Got a couple others. I mean, may He not leave us or forsake us. God's with His people. He's not going to leave. Again, those promises of mercy. Any others? I see at least one more. That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other. Missions, in a way. The spreading of God being with Adam here to the whole world at the end of history. The name of God will go to the ends of the earth. So notice that phrase in verse 56, not one word had failed. So here we see the covenant mediator, the king, is bringing God's blessings to his people through his obedience. In many ways, Solomon is the peak of covenant. God's people need a king, not only to receive God's blessings, but also to help them display God's glory to a watching world. So back to the drawing board. So the people are blessed, glorifying God. And if you just stopped right here, you could almost be like, well, I guess the Bible can end now. We have God with a, at this point, righteous king, representing his people well. The people are experiencing blessing. They're glorifying God. God is being glorified throughout all the nations. There's a sense where you could be like, well, We're done. God did it. God answered His promise that He had in Genesis 3. What are we missing here? What's wrong with the scenario I just put forth? True, yes. There's a big one. Exactly, sin. Exactly, sin. God has not dealt with sin. The king is, you know, he's obedient, yes, but he's also sinning. The tension's still there. And Solomon actually understands that. What's shocking when Solomon prays in this time of his, of the seeming perfection, he also asks for God's mercy, not if the people sin, but when. Look at verses 46 through 50. I think that's in the same chapter. Yes, and some of y'all's translations will say if. Mine says when, so we'll go with mine. Actually, does everybody say when? Okay, I knew there was a couple that said if, but we're just going to act like those don't exist. We're going to act like they got it wrong. Because true, I mean, I'm joking, but everybody knows it's not if you sin, it's when. So I'm sure there's some textual things in there that I don't understand, but the point is actually the same no matter what translation you're using. So verses 46 through 50, when they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, there so say if if you want but there is no one who does not sin and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy far off or near yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors saying we have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name. Then here in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you." So we have a couple problems here. The first problem is there is no one who does not sin. And secondly, perhaps counterintuitively, God will keep His promises. So despite the almost picture-perfect situation we're in, we still have the ultimate problem. We still have sinners that are sinning, that will sin. Not if, but they will. And two, God promising to judge Sin. God is not a God who will pass over sin. It has to be dealt with. So we're still faced with that same tension. So, remember back to Deuteronomy 28, God will judge Israel when they disobey, even sending them out of the land. As a result, God's people need a king to ask for mercy when they fail. So bless, glorifying God. Yes, almost a picture-perfect situation, but we still have sinners that need mercy. And again, what is God revealing through Solomon? He's teaching us that we need a king to represent us. We have sinners. We need a king to plead on our behalf. So, we all know the rest of Solomon's story. Sadly, what follows is the fulfillment of his own prayer. The so-called fulfillment king will fall and take all his people down with him. To see how this kingdom fell from the towering heights that we just read about, turn to chapter 11. This chapter tells the sad story about how Solomon didn't heed the advice in his very own song, which we looked at last week. Instead, as we read in verses one through three, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and these wives led Solomon's heart astray. Will someone read chapter 11, verses one through, you just read all the way through verse four. This is why I had someone else read this one. concerning which the Lord said to the Son of Israel, you shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after your dies. Solomon held fast to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, You can stop there, Logan, sorry. Okay, so here we have the fall of Solomon. What turned him away? Disobedience. He took wives that he was not supposed to take, and they did exactly what God said they would do. If they intermingled, it would turn their hearts away to the other gods. That's exactly what happened with Solomon. I mean, it says it right there. His heart was... Solomon was old. His wives turned his heart after other gods. That's an important point. So, was David a sinner? Absolutely he was. And his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father, David. So David, he was a sinner, absolutely, don't get me wrong. He fell all over the place. But he never turned his heart to other gods. That's an important point. In the rest of the Old Testament, we have a constant hearkening back to David and his heart for God. You'll see that we're constantly, in fact, 11.6, Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as did his father David." So as we get farther into Kings next week, we'll see a hearkening back to David and comparing the Kings to David and his heart. I mean, as the Bible says, he's a man after God's own heart. So verse 11, the kingdom is torn from the hand of David's son and yet Even in anger, God remembers mercy. Look at verse 13, chapter 11. However, I will, well, I'll read verse 11 all the way through 13. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this and have not kept my commandment and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." So again, wonderful situation, Solomon Falls, how is God going to maintain this promise that he have in the lineage of David to endure forever, not just a little time, but forever? Yet, how is he going to keep his promises for curses, exile, in the midst of disobedience? Here we have the Lord dealing with that tension a little bit. He's gonna tear the kingdom away, yet, that little hint of mercy here, I will not tear away the whole kingdom, I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David. I take that to mean for the sake of the promise that I made to David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen. So Solomon blesses the people for a time and asks God for mercy, but he is indeed not the fulfillment king. We talked about the two big problems with it. He doesn't live perfectly, he sins. Two, Logan mentioned it, it wasn't the point I was wanting to make at the time, but he doesn't live forever. How can a kingdom endure forever through a king that still dies? It can't happen. For the kingdom to endure forever, we need an eternal king. Pausing here, I think it's worth making a few points of application. This narrative section helps us to reflect on the danger of how being even a few degrees off of God's law can send us in the wrong direction totally. Solomon was wise, but he was very, very unwise in one particular area. He sinned greatly, and this brought down the entire nation. So it's, again, this idea that it has to be perfect. God demands perfection, and he demanded perfection even in Kings in the Old Testament. But ultimately, this passage helps us to see God as trustworthy. In the midst of all this sin, we have a God who is going to continue to remain faithful and keep His word. And this should encourage us immensely. Questions? What thoughts do you all have about that? We're just about done. Yes. Yes. Exactly. That's kind of how I've always thought about it. Right. Verse 13, I will give one tribe, one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David. Who's the one, who's the one tribe? Judah. So he, Israel is going to get taken over by the Assyrians. They're going to come in and scatter the peoples, just like he said, and I'm kind of jumping ahead to next week. But he's preserving one tribe who will be led by the kings in David's lineage. just holding on to his ultimate overarching promises. We'll get to it next week, but Judah in the end falls, and they're exiled to Babylon, and we're just still faced with that same tension. I basically could just end 1 Kings, or 2 Kings after saying that, but we'll talk about that a lot next week. But yeah, you're right. Any other thoughts? Finished a few minutes early. Oh yeah. Right. Right. This story didn't just happen by accident. That's one of the brilliance of when you read Scripture like this. I love these survey types of classes, looking at the Bible holistically all the way across. You really see the story of Scripture, which really brings out the glory of God and what He's doing, and you're right. He's doing this all for Himself, doing it for His glory. So there's different types of theology. There's one that's called systematic theology where we can really look at how does, what is the angels and demons? How do we look at angels and demons throughout scripture? What we're doing is called biblical theology. It's the story of scripture and how God is working through the whole scope. I personally love biblical theology. I think it's beautiful. Anybody else? I think it's interesting that as he unfolds While he makes the original covenant and adds another covenant and adds another covenant, none of them are distorted or built. And each time he adds something new, it seems that people go further from him. By the time we get to Christ, people are very far having set up their own systems and things like that. It's this continuous story of people sinning and God continuing to show mercy despite their sin getting worse and worse, almost. It's like when he talks about a remnant. It's like there's a remnant of Israel, but it's almost like the church is a remnant of humanity. Exactly. That's exactly right, yeah. Sure, sure. Right, yeah. Yeah, there's so many. It's a fun exercise, but when you think about biblical theology, you can pick different, like the temple. We didn't really talk about it that much, but God's dwelling place with man. There are, you know, textbooks that thick about people working with the relationship of God's dwelling place with man from here all, you know, Genesis 1 to Revelations 22. How does that look, and how was it developed, and how did it change? How did Christ change, you know? These are rich, rich things. Idolatry is one of them you could look at. Yeah, when you say that, thinking about how David, really his sin was not idolatry, interestingly, and that could be a reason why He is one that we look back to as a, all of these kings, they're types of Christ. They themselves are not Christ, they are sinners and failures, but they're pointing to, there's something about them that is pointing to the ultimate one who will be perfect and good. And David is really the best type of Christ as king that we, I mean the Bible gives him as that. Okay, let me pray and then we can continue on with our Lord's Day. Father, thank you so much for this day. Lord, we're grateful to read your word, to see what you have done in history with your people. And we're grateful, Lord, that your mercy is evident throughout all of scripture. And despite, as Paul said, despite our sin that has also been seemingly growing and growing, your mercy is continuously there. It is never abandoned, it is never gone. And Lord, that is our only hope. Even now, we are not Solomon, but we are sinners. Lord, we need mercy just as much as he did, just as much as anybody does. So we thank you, Lord, that the ultimate king, that you did provide him, Lord, Jesus Christ. We look to him to be our covenant representative, to be our head. We want to be found in Christ so that on that judgment day, we do not come upon our own merits, but we come upon the righteousness of Christ. That's our only hope, Lord. Thank you. It's the name of Christ that we pray. Amen.