26, following King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezeongiba, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir and fetched from thence gold, 420 talents, and brought it to King Solomon. And King Solomon made a navy of ships. Now why at the end of this chapter does the Holy Spirit record and draw our attention to this navy of ships that Solomon made, which Hiram assisted in by providing servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea. and which were sent to go to Ophir to fetch from thence gold. Why is this recorded? Is it simply to set forefront to us the fact that Solomon had a navy or the fact that it is by ship that he brought up the gold from of Solomon, his riches, his glory, his kingdom, his might, not just in having an army but having a navy. Well of course all of this is true and to a degree this is a record of that but it's far more than that and there's far more meaning in this than that. Here we see the fact that there are seas upon which this navy, these ships sailed. There are ships that the king sent forth upon the seas, that he sent them forth to bring gold from Ophir into his kingdom, to bring it from Ophir across the seas in his ships into the king's, the son's kingdom. All of this is a reminder of those other recordings in the scriptures of ships by which God delivered his people, by which he brought a people through, through the seas, through the storms into his everlasting kingdom. in Genesis that Noah made for the saving of his house. That ark that brought Noah and his house, those eight people, safely through the storms, the rain, the seas that rose up upon the earth. That great storm of God's judgment against the wickedness of mankind. I'm reminded of that the land of the whole earth and destroyed everything in its wake except for those who were safely in that ark that God commanded Noah to build. A picture of Christ, our ark, who brings his people through the judgment, the wrath of God, the waters of God's judgment which funder down upon sinful man. Those waters of judgment that came down upon our sins through which Christ as the ark of his people brought his people through the judgment upon the waters into an everlasting and a heavenly kingdom. We think also of the child of God, who, because of his own sin and rebellion, flew away from the presence of God, taking a ship from Joppa, headed for Tarshish, to flee from the presence of God. And a great storm came upon the seas, a great storm came upon the waters, such that the men upon that ship with Jonah thought they would perish. Jonah confessed why he was there and they threw him out of the ship and he was swallowed up by that whale for three days and spat out upon dry land. He gave himself as it were that those upon that ship would be delivered and in so doing he again is a picture of Christ. Christ who delivers his and for three days suffered and was buried in the depths of the earth buried as it were in this whale as Jonah was and then came to life as he rose again on the third day Jonah in the end cries out salvation is of the Lord and his tale depicts that another example of a ship in a storm and the salvation of God from the certainty of death that our sins will bring. Oftentimes in the gospels we read of Christ taking a ship, going on a ship with his disciples across the lakes, travel from one side to another to preach the gospel on the other side. And we're reminded, of course, of that one time when he was in a ship with the disciples and a great storm came upon the waters. And Christ was asleep in the midst of the ship whilst his disciples thought they would perish. And they came unto him and cried unto him, Master, save us. And he rised and stilled the storm and calmed the waters and rebuked their lack of faith because with Christ in the ship they had nothing to fear nothing to fear again we see another example of the storms that will come upon us and the deliverance that Christ brings as he brings his people through the storms Christ is there in the ship. If he's bringing us across the waters, there is nothing to fear. Three examples of ships in the scriptures, all examples of this Navy that Solomon built. Reminder again of the ships that God brings through the waters of judgment into his everlasting kingdom. Yes, these waters, these seas that these ships are launched on, are pictures of the waters of judgment of God against our sins. Mankind's sins have multiplied from the day that man was created upon this earth. They have multiplied. They themselves have multiplied like waters upon the sea. The multitudes of people and the multitudes of sins that flow forth from them come forth as seas, as rivers, as it were. They envelop the world. How many are our iniquities, or how great they are, how much comes out of our hearts, how many thoughts, how many actions, how many deeds flow forth from us. not like rivers of life that Christ brings to his people in the gospel but a multitude of sin which we need to be cleansed from and God's response to this sin is his wrath that burns from heaven against it a wrath that comes down and swallows that man in his judgment a wrath that was depicted when Noah sailed upon the waters that rose up as God's reign of judgment, as his storms of judgment came down from heaven against the wicked in Noah's day. This is a storm, this is a judgment that will come upon each and every one. We are either in Christ in the ark, who sailed through the seas of judgment, through these waters of wrath at the cross on our behalf, we're either in him, For one day we will face these waters of judgment in death. In death. And we'll have no ship to save us. No captain on board to lead us by the right way. No anchor for our souls. No deliverer. No navy of ships brought forth by the king to bring his gold from Ophir. as these are waters of judgment that will swallow us up these waters are depicted in numerous places in the scriptures how often God's people have been brought safely through the waters we've seen it Because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, God looked upon Noah and his household with grace, with mercy, and said, I will spare them. And he brought them through the judgment, not because of any good he saw in Noah, but because of the grace that Noah had in the eyes of the Lord. God looked on him in mercy. Does he look upon you? in grace and mercy well the waters of judgment came down that day those days those 40 days and 40 nights until God eventually brought Noah and his household out onto dry land in a new heaven as it were and a new earth he brought them into newness he brought them in picture in type and figure into the new heavens and the new earth into his kingdom He brought them forth, as it were, as gold. He brought the gold from one side of the storm, from one side of the sea to the other. And he brought that household, Noah and his house, into his kingdom to dwell with him forevermore. He delivered him. He saved him with an outstretched arm. We see this salvation, we see this bringing of God's people through the storms, through the seas, multiple times. Moses, as God brought the Hebrews, his people, out of Egypt, out of their captivity, out of the world, out of sin, he delivered them with a mighty arm and he brought them out from Pharaoh's grip. Pharaoh, in the end, relented. Let my people go, the Lord said by Moses unto Pharaoh. And in the end, Pharaoh said go and they went. But they came to the Red Sea. waters in front of them through which they could not pass. And the might and the fury of Pharaoh came after them with his chariots and his soldiers, pursuing them behind. There was nothing they could do. They could not go forward into the waters and they had certain death coming from behind them. Oh, how helpless they were and how the Lord showed them and shows us in that picture how helpless we are. How often we're brought into situations and states where there's nothing we can do. We've gone a certain way and now we're blocked. We can't go forwards and we can't return. If the people then look back, they saw an army coming to slay them. If they went forwards they'd go and drown. There's nothing they could do. And so often the Lord will bring his people there. He'll bring you to see your sin. He'll bring you to see the waters of your sin and the waters of God's judgment that are coming against your sin. You know that ahead of you there's death and you deserve it and there's nothing you can do to escape it. And pursuing you there's death pursuing you there's an accuser pharaoh here is like the king of this world he's like satan the accuser he comes pursuing us to find out our fault and to show it to us look what you've done look how guilty you are so he comes pursuing us and here we have ahead of us waters that prevent us we can't go there's nothing we save us. And Moses said unto that people at the seashore, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. How we need to be told that, stand still. We're forever striving, we're forever thinking, we're forever talking, we're forever arguing, we're forever trying to get ourselves out of trouble and the Lord will bring us in and hedge us in until there's nothing we can do but stand still and see his salvation. And as the people stood still and Moses held up the rod, The Lord parted the waters before them. He brought forth a way, a deliverance through the waters of judgment. And that people walked through the Red Sea, dry shot. And as they walked through, the Egyptians came behind them. And the Egyptians tried to follow them. And as the Hebrews passed out from the waters the other side, God closed up those waters upon their accusers, upon Pharaoh and his army. He not only brought his people through the waters of judgment, but those waters destroyed all their enemies. It destroyed the accuser of the Brethren. It destroyed his power. It took it all away. In that picture we see again Christ's deliverance of his people through the waters of death, the waters of judgment. Later on in Joshua 4, we read a similar situation where the people with Joshua are brought to the edge of Jordan. There the other side lies Canaan, the promised land. And yet here before them lies waters which they cannot pass through. Water is a picture of death, a picture of judgment, a picture of that which separates them from the kingdom. They cannot get into the kingdom, they cannot enter the promised land except they pass through the waters and how can they? Oh, how this reminds us we cannot get to God. We cannot enter his kingdom. We cannot pass into glory, into heaven. We cannot pass through death in and of ourselves. We would drown. We would die. Our sins condemn us. Those waters will swallow us up. There's nothing that we can do. And yet, the Lord led that people through those rivers on dry ground. With Joshua ahead of them, with the ark of the Lord in the midst, the waters were parted and the people went through dryshod. Again, God reminds his people that he will bring them through the waters. He is their ark. He is their deliverance. He is their ship that will bring them through. There, that Ark of the Covenant, overlaid in gold, was led through the waters. How God, in picture, in type, brought his people in an ark, a golden ark, through the waters of judgment into his kingdom. Later on, when we read of the prophets Elijah and Elisha in 2nd Kings, we see them too come to Jordan. And we see how both Elijah and then Elisha that followed him pass through the waters. They are reminders again, looking back at both Moses going through the waters at the Red Sea and Joshua passing through the waters at Jordan. Elijah the former prophet, Elisha who follows him, Moses the prophet of the Lord, known for being he by whom the Lord gave his law, and Joshua who followed him. When the Lord's work was done, when the Lord's condemnation had come down upon the people and brought them in guilty, Joshua, Elisha, who follows him, pass through the rivers on dry ground into eternity, as it were. All pictures of deliverance through the waters of judgment. How often in the scriptures God reminds us, reminds us of our sin, reminds us of the judgment to come, reminds us of the rivers, the seas, the waters, and reminds us of the need to be in the ark, Christ Jesus, in his ship, passing through the waters. In Isaiah 25, we read, for thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall how we need a refuge from the storm and there's no refuge and there's no deliverer but Christ the ark of God of which Noah's ark was a picture is he your refuge when you come and stand before the sea is he the ship that's going to take you through to the other side do you have an answer do you have a deliverer you have a savior what a navy solomon made what a navy he made and how that navy was sailed by shipmen that Heron provided that had knowledge of the sea. Knowledge of the sea. In order to safely bring these ships from over across the sea, there was a need for skilled shipmen. who could bring the ship safely through. Again, pointers unto Christ. It's no good just having a ship. We need his ship. We need one to sail that ship that knows the way, that knows the storms, that can bring us safely through. These ships that we read of in the scriptures in multiple places We will read of ships of Tarshish, great ships, ships that brought gold from places like Ophir. We read of Ophir in more than one place in the scriptures. Here we read of it, we read of it elsewhere, we read of it in Isaiah, we read of it in Job. It was known as a place to bring gold. And multiple places we read of the ships of Tarshish. Tarshish wasn't just a place. Tarshish that went across the great seas are referred to as great ships of Tarshish. And in order to bring a great company, a great people with much gold, God needs a great ship. He needs great ships to bring us. And the ships of Christ's Navy, the ships that he uses to bring his people through the storms and the waters of death, are great ships. But what makes them great is not their size, but the one who brings the ship. the one who's in the midst, the one who owns it, the one who sails it, the one who brings the gold from Ophir. They brought gold from Ophir. This is a picture of the king, Solomon the king, bringing his gold into his kingdom. A picture of Christ himself, across the waters, through the judgment, through death, into his kingdom. How often the people of God are likened unto gold in the scriptures. Gold purified in the fire, gold brought forth in the fires pure, is burnt off how God sends the trials the storms our way to burn off the dross and bring us forth as pure gold and how he'll bring his people as gold in his ship through the storms across the waters into his kingdom gold of Ophir pure gold fine gold Ophir was known as a source of the finest gold And Solomon sought the finest gold to use in the building of the temple and use in the building of the house. He brought the finest gold into his kingdom. Pure gold, refined gold, gold refined in the fire. So Christ brings his people forth and he makes them to be the finest. The finest, not because of any good in themselves. But because he burns up the dross, he takes it all away. And there's nothing to be seen in his people but his righteousness, his life, his grace, his mercy, his sanctification. He is their all in all. They are fine gold in Christ. He is their purity. He's their gold. He's what makes them pure and golden and precious. And he brings them forth through the waters. In Isaiah chapter 13, we read, I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. than fine gold. Even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger. What did it take God to make a man more precious than fine gold? even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. What did it take for God to bring his people through the storms, across the waters as gold of Ophir into his kingdom? What did it take? It took God Almighty sending his own son into the darkness and the evil of this world It took Christ being made a man, made a little lower than the angels even for the suffering of death. It took Christ living as a man amongst men, but as a perfect man amongst sinners. It took him coming to his own and being rejected by his own. It took him coming into this world to you and I, and suffering the out, pouring of our rejection, our scorn, our dismissal of Him. It took Christ walking amongst us and coming unto those of us, like you and I, who did not want Him, who hated Him, who despised Him. It took Him walking amongst men, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, preaching His salvation, preaching the message, Preaching the message of righteousness. Preaching the message which was made known when Moses led the people forth over the Red Sea on dry ground. Preaching the message made known by Joshua as he led the people through Jordan. Preaching the message that Elijah and Elisha preached of the glory of God in salvation in Jesus Christ. Preaching the message of Jonah salvation is of the Lord, that he must lie in the belly of the earth for three days, cast out by all, judged by all. It took Christ walking amongst sinners, being despised by the wise and the prudent, cast out by the religious, It took Him walking amongst those who wanted to stone Him to death, who wanted to destroy Him, who wanted to catch Him in all His words. It took God sending His own Son to the cross. It took Christ being wrongly accused cast out and rejected by all, abandoned by all, abandoned in that last hour even by his disciples, by those closest to him. It took him being abandoned by all men and accused with a false accusation that he made himself equal with God. When he was equal with God, he was God. Yes, the Jews contrived all manner of accusations against him to put him to death. and they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. We will not have this man to reign over us. Just as you and I have cried out in our own hearts, just as we've said of him in our unbelief and apathy, we don't want him, we don't want his gospel, we don't want his rule. We want to sit upon the throne of our own lives, in our own kingdom, ruling our own destiny. And yet where has our way brought us? There's a way that seems right unto a man, but it leads unto destruction. We've cast him out, we despise him, and yet all that that brings us to is the edge of a sea like the Red Sea, is the edge of the River Jordan death. with pursuers behind us ready to destroy us and certain death ahead of us. Our way has not brought us under salvation, it's destroyed us. Our works have brought us in guilty before God. Our attempts to save ourselves have brought us in more sinful, more wicked, more proud, more arrogant. than anything else. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We come in guilty before God. And in our guilty, arrogant, proud way, we cast out Christ. We went our own way, which leads to destruction, but we would not come under him. So we said, crucify him, crucify him. And they took him. And they nailed him to a tree. They hammered nails into his hands and his feet. They set a title up above his head. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. They lifted him up to die. The men looked on and mocked and scoffed and derailed him. And so did we in our hearts. But God in mercy facing death in the storms of his wrath. And he took their sins, and he laid them upon his son. And he made his own son to be sin for them, that they should be made the righteousness of God in him. their unbelief, he bore their despising of him, he bore their pride, their arrogance, he bore all their iniquity. And God poured out the storms of his wrath upon him. They came down from heaven upon his own son. He was plunged into the waters of death for them. He was cast overboard as Jonah was from the ship. He was swallowed up in the belly of the earth. The storms rained down upon him as they rained down upon that ark in which Noah was. He bore the wrath of God for his people. He was cast out by all men. The father looked upon him, bearing the sins of his people, made sin as a sinner. He poured out his fury upon his own son. His father forsook him. He was alone in the darkness, in the depths, in the sea. He cries out, out of the depths, he cried unto his God. And in that darkness, In the seas of God's wrath, in the depths, under the fires of God's wrath, his faith never wavered. He looked up and he trusted and he believed and he knew that salvation is of the Lord. He knew that he'd be brought through the waters. He knew he'd go through dryshod the other side. He knew that his people would be in him, brought through and delivered in him. He knew everyone for whom he suffered would be saved. And he bore every judgment of God's holy law, every judgment of God's wrath and righteousness against that people. He bore it to the end. He endured eternity in hell for them, contracted to three hours upon the cross in the darkness. He bore that. And at the end, he cried out, it is finished. And he arose. On the third day, victorious, and his people arose in him, and he led them forth into glory as fine gold of Ophir. Fine gold. He made in himself of them a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. In Christ they are gold in God's kingdom. He shook the heaven and the earth. They were removed out of their place. The wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger that was poured out upon Christ. Christ God punished the world for their evil, the wicked for their iniquity. He caused the arrogance of the proud to cease and he laid low the haughtiness of the terrible. But in his son, he made a man more precious than fine gold. Were you in him? when he suffered upon the cross. What a storm he sailed through to bring his people to the other side as fine gold from Ophir into his everlasting kingdom. He was their ark upon the waters. He led them across the sea into everlasting glory. Oh, what a savior he is. What a deliverer. But we, as we're brought to faith to look upon him as our only hope, our only salvation, as we pass through this world, we are like ships at sea. We pass through stormy waters. We're tossed to and fro by all sorts of evil, all sorts of trials, all sorts of temptations. We have no strength in ourselves. We have no wisdom. We don't know the way to sail. We can't keep the rudder of the ship. We can't keep ourselves from capsizing. We can't keep ourselves from falling over. We're like ships at sea in the midst of a storm. And we need a captain in our ship that guides us. We need an anchor for our soul. For if we're in Christ's ship, if he's our ship, if he's our ark, if he's our captain, if he's our anchor, he will bring us through every trial, every trouble, every storm, every gale, every wind that comes upon us. He'll bring us through it all and nothing will destroy us. In Hebrews 6 we read, that we have a hope, which is as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Is he your hope? Is he your anchor in the midst of the storm? There's no hope in man. There's no hope in our own wisdom. There's no hope to be found in our own works and our own righteousness. They cannot save us. There's no hope to be found by turning to the Lord to keep us. It will condemn us. It will find us out guilty. It will throw us overboard into the waters. It will be as Pharaoh and his army pursuing us and accusing us. There's no hope to be found by turning back to the law, by turning around and trying to return to Egypt. That was only bondage there, only captivity. There's no hope by staying where we were, by staying in bondage, by staying in sin, by staying in the world. There's no hope there. We must go forwards. But you say, how can I go forward? There's just water, there's a sea ahead of me. How can I get through it? Well, not by the law, and not by your works, and not by your free will, and not by your wisdom, only by Christ. God will bring us to faith in him alone. who is our hope and our anchor in the midst of a storm. He's the one that's in the ship. When the storm comes, he may seem like he's asleep, and we may be full of dread and fear, but he knows where he's bringing us, and all is well if he's there. God will bring us to the edge of those waters, the Red Sea, and say unto our souls, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And when we're in the sea, in the ship, and the storms come, and we know not where to turn, he will come in his gospel, by his spirit, and say, fear not, fear not, look unto me, and be ye saved. And Christ will surely bring us through safely to the other side, because he'll bring his people as fine gold from Ophir, safely through the waters of judgment, in Christ his ark, into an everlasting kingdom prepared for them. Oh, what a saviour he is. Salvation is of the Lord. Oh, what a deliverer he is. Oh what a ship he is, what a navy he has that he brings his people through in his ships, in him, to the other side as pure gold. What a king, what a son, what a saviour. God give us faith in the midst of the storms, in the midst of our trials, to look to no other one, not to self, not to man, not to wisdom, not to the law, but unto Christ alone, who is the Saviour of sinners. Amen.