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from the scripture reading from
1 Chronicles, and I don't propose to read them again, so hopefully
you caught it the first time around. So after the proclamation
of the gospel, let's sing together from hymn 15, the stanzas one,
two, and three. Well, beloved, I mentioned earlier
this is the fourth Sunday of Advent. And I guess we probably
might be thinking to ourselves, well, after we've listened to
1 Chronicles, parts of 1 to 4, this is about the strangest Advent
text that we've ever heard. Because all we have here are
name after name. In fact, these first number of
nine chapters of Chronicles are chock full of all kinds of names.
Some of them we know, a lot of them we don't know. They just
keep on rolling out, as it were, endlessly by the tens, hundreds,
perhaps, who knows, maybe a thousand. I haven't counted them. Perhaps
that's something you might be entertained to do. So the question
is, well, what in the world is the sense of all of this? Why
is this in the Bible? Isn't this a proverbial waste
of pen, paper, and papyrus? Well, a lot of scholars, you
know, tend to agree. They really think that, you know,
the Bible shouldn't bother with all of these names that we have
here, as well as in other places in Holy Writ. Besides, they would
say, it's all a bunch of dead people. And what in the world
can dead people teach us today? So why are in the Bible? And
you know, for a while, I kind of thought so too. I thought,
what's the sense of all of these names? But then as you start
to reflect upon it, you ask yourself, well, you know, this is no ordinary
book. This is the Bible. This is the Word of God. This
is the Holy Spirit writing, initially. And does the Spirit impart useless
stuff? Does the Spirit give us portions
of Scripture that have no rhyme, no reason, no sense, no profit? Is that the way the Spirit of
God operates? Well, beloved, that's not my understanding of
who the Holy Spirit is and how the Holy Spirit works. Well,
we have to ask ourselves another question. Well, if that's not
how the Holy Spirit works, well then, well then there has to
be some kind of meaning to all of these obscure parts of Scripture.
Also these genealogies, also these names. There has to be
some kind of message in them for us today and throughout the
ages. Well, what's that message? Well,
I guess you could say that's for the spirit to know and for
us to figure out. And that's true. Sometimes the spirit serves
you stuff on a platter. It's easy to see, to understand,
to digest, and sometimes The Spirit makes you work for a living,
a spiritual living. And so with that in mind, I'd
like to preach to you on the following theme, looking at Advent
through the lens of a whole lot of dead people. And we're going
to see, first of all, there are selected people. Secondly, there
are special people. Thirdly, there are singing people.
And finally, they are a sacrificial people as well. Well, beloved,
it's obvious we don't have time to deal with all these names
in all of these nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. We have to make
a choice. We have to do some picking and
some choosing as well. We have to do a bit of pointing.
And in that connection, I would point you first of all to chapter
1. What do we find there besides
names? Well, you say, we find there
are a number of names, any number that we recognize. Names like
Adam, Seth, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, even Esau. But
you know there's more here than just a bunch of names. There's
also a certain structure or pattern here. In verse one of chapter
one, we're presented with the names of all of the main personalities,
you might say, in the book of Genesis. But then in verse 4,
notice the spotlight shifts to Noah and his sons. And thereafter,
the sons of Noah and their sons are mentioned in the order of
Japheth, Ham, and finally Shem. And next, in verse 27, we meet
Abraham, and then his sons are listed. Keturah's sons come first,
by the way, but then Isaac is mentioned as well as his two
sons, Esau and Israel. And after listing all of Esau's
sons and descendants, the names continue with Israel or Jacob's
families. So we ask ourselves the question,
what is the Chronicler doing here? Or better yet, even you
might say to yourself, what is the Holy Spirit doing? Well,
you might say he's introducing us to the history of God's people.
He's showing you that God, throughout the ages, has been carefully
selecting, forming, and separating for himself a people ever since
the dawn of human history. Beginning with Adam, continuing
with Seth, and Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
In Israel, God has been building. He's been gathering. But notice,
in addition to gathering, He's also been discarding. He goes
only so far with Japheth, Ham, the sons of Gethurah and Esau,
and then He stops. There's only one thread that
keeps on going. There's only one line to which
he repeatedly returns. There's only one people who receive
his constant attention. Oh, and as he's doing this, keep
in mind that these books of the chroniclers were written probably
as the very last books of the Old Testament. So it is as if
the writer is looking back Way, way back to the very beginnings
of God's people. Yes, and as he gazes back, he
sees ever so clearly that God's covenant people are no accident. They didn't just happen. They
didn't just fall out of the sky. They are the product not of luck
or fate or fortune. Now these are the people of God's
very own choosing. He elected them. He calls them. He gathers them. He preserves them. In Deuteronomy 7, Moses says
to the Israelites, for you are a people holy to the Lord your
God. The Lord your God has chosen
you. out of all the peoples on the
face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. You see, the Israelites are not
just any people. They are God's people. All through the Old Testament,
God introduces us to them, and as he does so, he keeps on moving
forward. And if you ask forward to what?
Well, forward to that day of the first Advent. For notice,
the angel comes to Joseph. And when he comes to Joseph and
speaks about Jesus, he says, he will save his people. It doesn't say people. It doesn't
say all people. It says his people. This savior is going to have
his very own chosen people. God will present a people to
him. They'll be handed to him, as
it were, on a platter. He will be given to them, and
he will become very special to them. And why? Because he will save them, liberate
them, redeem them. And so when Jesus Christ is born,
beloved, he immediately comes into possession of a great inheritance,
namely his people. that elect, selected, chosen,
appointed by God. All of those believing saints
that have died in the Old Testament really and truly belong to Him. And you know, by the same token,
all those saints since His birth belong to Him as well. Well,
you know, God doesn't stop selecting and electing a people to himself
once Jesus is born. No, the process continues, and
it continues even today. God is still, through his Spirit
and by the power of the Spirit, gathering his children together.
Only today he's no longer gathering from just one people, one tribe,
one nation, but he's gathering them from all tribes and nations
and peoples of the earth. Oh, and what a comfort it is
to know that. It shows that we who are believers are special,
because we're the object of God's eternal love, his eternal mercy,
His eternal goodness. We are the objects of His special
affection. And if we are that, then we can
be certain that He'll never abandon us. He doesn't just give up on
His people. He doesn't do that in the Old
Testament. He doesn't do that in the New Testament. Because,
you know, He's invested so much time, so much effort, so many
tears So much love and mercy into you that he will not let
you go. Remember that as a believer,
you are part and parcel of the divine special people of God. But you know, that's not all
we learned from the Chronicler. He also wants us to show us something
else. And what? Well, you begin, for
example, the second chapter, verse 3, where we meet the sons
of Judah. It continues in chapter 3, where
we meet David and his sons. It goes on to chapter, the next
chapter, where we meet the kings of Judah. And then you notice
in the last part of chapter 3, we even get to hear about the
descendants of Jehoiakim, The last real king of Judah and his
sons. So what is Chronicler doing now?
What is the meaning of these names and the particular process
of their selection as well as rejection? Well, you need to
understand what he's doing now is he's showing you the royal
line within that wider framework of his electing work. You see, again, the chronicler
is tracing. He's tracing out just how God
kept the line of David alive through all those years of faithfulness
and faithlessness, of peace and war, of sojourn in the promised
land, and even of exile. You see, the Lord is not about
to forget the promises he made to David in 2 Samuel chapter
7, that he would have an eternal son on an eternal throne for
an eternal kingdom. This will all come to pass. And
indeed it does come to pass. Because the New Testament opens,
and what do we hear first? We hear these words, a record
of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham. Matthew 1, verse 1. Did you catch that? Right away,
Matthew introduces us to Jesus as the son of David. And you children may have noticed
the order's wrong here, right? Because it should be Jesus, the
son of Abraham, the son of David, and so forth. Chronological.
Abraham should go before David, but it's not so. Because this
is the chronicler's way of reminding us that he's sketching the process
of the royal line. And the fact that David's great
son is now about to make an appearance in Israel. He's going to sit
on the throne of his father, David, forever. Yes, unless we forget he's still,
by the way, sitting there. You know, after Jesus died, rose
again, and ascended into heaven, what did he do? Well, Scripture
says he sat down. He sat down on his heavenly throne
at the right hand of the heavenly father, he is still sitting there
today even now at this very moment still ruling and reigning still
sovereign and in control of all things indeed he will reign there
Paul says until he has put all his enemies all of his enemies
under his feet And then the end will come when he hands over
the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion,
authority, and power. In other words, once he's finished
with all of his enemies and all of his opponents, he will hand
everything back to the Father. But in the meantime, he is reigning
and ruling still. And of course, that doesn't necessarily
solve all of our problems today. It doesn't get rid of our weaknesses
and our illnesses. It doesn't do away with all of
our worries and fears and concerns about what's going on today with
COVID and with cancer and with the climate and you name it.
But in the midst of all of that uncertainty, surely it gives
us hope. Even though we're living in a democracy, we need to remind
ourselves that actually we're part of a monarchy. And it's not just the British
monarchy I'm referring to. I'm referring to the fact that
the son of King David sits on the throne today. and that he
is in control and he's moving towards victory, a cosmic victory,
a perfect victory, a victory of renewal and restoration. But, as you know, we're not there
yet. So what are we going to do between
now and then? Well, we turn to the next chapters
in 1 Chronicles, And if you look at that next part, you'll see
we're not just dealing here with a selected people and a royal
or a special people. We're also dealing with, if you read it carefully, a symphony
orchestra. You have here a whole bunch of musicians. And if you
want, you can find them listed in chapter 6, verse 3 and following. There are a lot of them. They're
all from the tribe of Levi, the Kohathites. We have Heman and
his sons from the Gershonites. We have Asaph and his sons from
the Mararites. We have Ethan and his sons. And
together we're told they play, sorry not pianos or organs, but
they play harps and lyres and cymbals. And we read as well,
they do a lot of singing. In total, and that's really interesting,
there are 288 musicians. And all of them, it says in 1
Chronicles 25.7, are trained and skilled in music for the
Lord. So, you ask yourself, well why
does the Chronicler then include these people? Why does he mention
this orchestra, all these musicians? What's so special about them?
Well, surely it's a reminder to them as well as to us that
throughout the ages, God's people have shown themselves to be more
than just a selected and a royal people. They've also shown themselves
to be a worshiping and a praising people. You know, wherever God
is, there is music, there are songs to be sung, there are praises
to utter. Music and worship are an integral
part of the people of God. It's in their fiber, in their
bones, their hearts, and on their lips. And that, beloved, is particularly
true when special things happen. You know, after the Israelites
had escaped from the Egyptians by going through the Red Sea,
what's the first thing they did? They sang. Led by Mary, they
sang a new song. And when the tabernacle is finally
completed, what happens but the Levitical orchestra begins to
play? And when the kings of Israel are crowned, what happens? But
people begin to sing and to dance before the Lord. And when the
temple is finally finished, then Israel erupts in a huge musical
tribute to the God of all creation. You see, all the major events
and every Sabbath day, God's people show themselves to be
a worshiping, praising God kind of people. And so it's no wonder, it's no
wonder that when Christ is born the same thing happens. Why else
are those first chapters of Luke so filled with music and song. There's the song of Mary, there's
the song of Zechariah, who's kind of old and probably lost
his voice, but he's still singing. We have the heavenly choir of
angels. What would Christmas be without
music? God's people are a singing people,
and we are a singing musical people because we are a worshiping
people. That's what we've always been.
And you know, that's what we'll always be. Look at the book of
Revelation. How many songs don't you find
in the book of Revelation? How often are God's people and
the angels not singing? And that's what we should still
be doing even today. Unfortunately, it's not always
the in thing to sing or for people to sing together. Remember a
few years ago when Langley sponsored the Vancouver Symphony Brass,
and at a certain point in the concert, the musicians, they
asked the congregation to sing. And the congregation sang. and
the musicians were blown away. We've never heard, they said,
this kind of congregational singing. The only thing we hear is kind
of people muttering, not really opening their mouths or using
their lips or their vocal cords. That's kind of common today,
isn't it? Most people would rather be spectators. They'd rather be the audience.
They don't want to really, truly sing. Of course, I realize that
singing isn't everybody's in thing. But you know, no matter
what, if you're a believer, then singing is part of your DNA. Even if you sing off tune. For
all of God's people, all of us, we have something, someone glorious
to sing about. Jesus Christ, our Savior, who
is Christ the Lord. So, beloved, you can see the
Chronicler has shown us, first of all, we're a special or elected
people, we're a special royal people, we're a singing, worshiping
people. One more insight from 1 Chronicles,
and that comes from chapter 6, verses 48 to 52, and you can
also gather that from the rest of chapter 6, but it are those
verses 48 to 52 that bring it out best. And what do these verses
of chapter 6 bring out? Well, they draw our attention
to the matter of sacrifice. Read verse 49. But Aaron and
his descendants were the ones who presented offerings on the
altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense in connection
with all that was done in the most holy place making atonement
for Israel. You'll notice here our attention
is drawn to the altar to the most holy place and to the matter
of atonement. And it's all a reminder that
here we've come to the heart and the focal point of Israel's
worship. You know, look at how the Israelites
set up camp in the desert. You may remember that. Three
tribes on the north, three tribes on the south, three tribes on
the west, three tribes on the east. And what's in the center? it's the tabernacle and if you
look closely in the tabernacle it's the altar because you see
at bottom these people whom God brings together are a sacrificing
people and you ask why why is that necessary because by nature we are also
a sinful people, a wayward people, a doomed-to-die people. And God
knows this. And that's why God, in his mercy,
provides a way of escape. And how does he provide that
way of escape? By means of the sacrificial system,
by means of the death of another, by means of atonement. Do we understand that? You understand this is at the
heart of your faith? Do we applaud God for finding a way out for
us when it comes to our sins and guilt? Do we rejoice in the
gift of his Son? The Son who took our sins and
guilt away, who nailed it to his cross. Is there any other way? to deal
with sin and guilt than this? You know, I guess over the time
in history a lot of different things have been tried. For example,
sometimes in history people thought that, well, we could deal with
our sins and misery by depriving ourselves. You know you. You take off your clothes, you
throw out the comforts of home, you turn down the heat, you let
in the cold, you stop eating, you fast, you pray, you concentrate
really hard on your sins. Others took it a bit further. They added self-flagellation
to the list. You know what that is? You take
a whip and you use it to whip yourself. as an expression of
your remorse over your sins. And if you really want to be
extreme, you tie pieces of sharp metal at the end of these whips,
and then you whip yourself until your skin is torn open and the
blood begins to flow. And then perhaps you think you've
atoned. Of course, you might think the Japanese
way is preferable. You know what the Japanese do
to atone for their sins? They commit hari kari. They fall on their swords. Well,
they take a sword and they put it on their abdomen and they
press until the sword goes up and in until it finally hits
your heart and you die. Is that the way to atone for
sin? Well, scripture says no. There's
a better way. There's a God-ordained way. It's
by God himself stepping into the breach and becoming our substitute. That's why in the Old Testament,
for example, worship is all about these animal substitutes, right? These substitutes for sin and
iniquity that point forward to the greatest substitute of all,
namely Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ finally comes and
he gives the one great final great sacrifice you know what else does the angel
say to Joseph when he announces the birth of Jesus he says his
name will be Jesus he will come and he will save his people from
their sins that's it The angel doesn't say Jesus is going to
come, Joseph, and he's going to make you happy or he's going
to make you wealthy or healthy or whatever. Just one thing. He will save his people from
their sins. And how will he accomplish that?
By becoming their substitute. Their sacrifice. their offering,
their altar. Hebrews 13 reminds us that we
have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle
have no right to eat. And we have a high priest, it
says, who suffered outside the city gates to make the people
holy through his own, own blood. Jesus is our substitute, and we need no other. So does that mean we're no longer
a sacrificing people? Hardly. You know, in light of
what Christ has done for us, the writer of the letter to the
Hebrews says, let us, therefore, as a result of all of this, continually
offer to God a sacrifice of praise. which sublips that confess his
name. And do not forget to do good, and to share
with others, or with such sacrifices God is pleased. In other words,
God is saying, you know, you leave the sacrifice for sin to
me, and you make sure that your life is lived every day as a
sacrifice of praise to me. Or as Paul writes, offer your
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, this
is your spiritual act of worship. And so we are still to be a sacrificial
people, giving a sacrifice of praise to God every day also
in this time in which we're living. Christmas really is about the
Lamb of God who has come and who atones for the sins of his
selected, special, worshiping, and sacrificing people. Amen.
Looking at Advent Through the Lens of a Whole Lot of Dead People
Looking at Advent Through the Lens of a Whole Lot of Dead People.
- A Selected People
20 A Special People - A Singing People
- A Sacrificial People
| Sermon ID | 1219212239557753 |
| Duration | 32:31 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Chronicles 1:1 |
| Language | English |
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