If you turn to 1 Chronicles, we're going to look at some typology of part of the promises of God. 1 Chronicles, we're nearing the end of our series on the life of David. And I'm just going to read the first few verses, even though we're going to cover most of chapter 28 and 29. Now David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel, the officers of the tribes and the captains of the divisions who served the king, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials, the valiant men, and all the mighty men of valor. Then King David rose to his feet and said, Hear me, my brethren and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God and had made preparations to build it. But God said to me, You shall not build a house for my name because you have been a man of war and have shed blood. However, the Lord God of Israel chose me above all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be the ruler, and of the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, he was pleased with me to make me king over all Israel. And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many sons, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. Now he said to me, it is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. Moreover, I will establish His kingdom forever if He is steadfast to observe my commandments and my judgments as it is this day. Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it." Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat. and the plans for all that He had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things, also for the divisions of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord and for all the articles of service in the house of the Lord. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word and for all of the ways that You have put it together to direct our eyes to Jesus and His grace and to the advancement of His kingdom. We pray that You would anoint my lips and enable me to faithfully preach this Word and help each one of us to grow as we study it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, last week we saw that there was significance for placing that one chapter that was really out of order, but placing it right where it was, chapter 27. It had to be there for the symbolism of what God was constructing this book for. And part of hermeneutics, and that's just a $10 word for rules for interpreting the Bible. Part of hermeneutics is understanding the flow of the argument of a whole book. It's not just looking at each paragraph in isolation from the rest, but realizing this paragraph is contributing to a tightly knit book and the arguments of that book. Anyway, we saw that verse 3 of our chapter here describes David's entire reign as being a reign characterized by war. And later we see that Solomon's entire reign is a reign characterized by peace, with one little exception. Toward the end of his reign, there was a little bit of warfare that was going on. And by the way, just as a side note, I believe that that little exception toward the end of his reign also foreshadows the futile, unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Christ's kingdom at the end of history. And I'll get to the typology later on, but first I think I need to remind you that not all of Scripture is typology, or is it typology? Typology, well, if I pronounce it either way, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's types are pictures in the Old Testament that portray something in the kingdom in our own era. And there are some people who take a different perspective, people like Peter Lightheart and James Jordan, and from a slightly different angle. Who is the radio preacher? herald camping, they will see a deeper meaning in absolutely every passage of Scripture. Almost everything becomes typological and they say that you have to have this special hermeneutic to understand those types because just using the grammatical, historical method of interpretation that the Reformers used is not going to show it. The Old Testament saints would not have known necessarily that all of those passages were types. But even though there are these disagreements, I think everyone agrees that David and Solomon are kind of a unit together foreshadowing as a type the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and His reign. And last week we saw that the trajectory of 1 Chronicles is from David's wars and rumors of wars to Solomon's peace and prosperity. And it symbolizes the movement from the beginning of Christ's reign when there were wars and rumors of wars to the latter part of Christ's reign, which I think is still future to us, when there will be a time of extended peace and prosperity in the gospel. By the way, that's what the name Solomon means. We'll get to that a little bit later. But the same can be seen in terms of the change from the Davidic tent where the ark was temporarily residing to the permanent structure of the Solomonic temple. Both Amos 9 and Acts 15 make a big deal. There's other passages as well, but those two make a big deal about the booth or the tent of David referring to the beginning of the New Testament kingdom. So what I'm going to be doing today is a little bit different than my normal preaching. I'm going to be ranging all over 1 Chronicles. We're going to try to look especially at the significance once we get toward the middle or latter part of this sermon, the significance of the placement of chapters 28 and 29 in this book's theology. One author said, by the time David became the king, the throne of Yahweh had been in exile from Israel for a century. So let's just do a little bit of detective work and look at some scriptures. If you would turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter four. In this chapter, The high priest Eli had been a very poor ruler, a very poor high priest in the tabernacle and a very poor parent. And so God's judgment fell on his household and upon all of Israel. I want you to look at verses 10 through 11. So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. Also the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. Then in the next verses, Eli dies. Then in verse 22, there's this lamentation. It says, quote, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. Then in chapter five, we have the story of God plaguing the Philistine cities, one city after another, until they decide just to get rid of the ark. And then in chapter six, they get rid of the ark by a miracle. Well, they're trying to test it out. See, if this is God, he's gonna take care of this ark. And it's a miracle because God wants to show that when this ark is in Gentile hands in the next hundred years, it's by God's design. This miracle demonstrates that it is by God's design. Anyway, they get two milk cows. to pull this cart, and they specifically get milk cows who have never been trained to pull anything. They want to see if God's in this or not. If you know anything about cows, even get a cow trained is a hard thing. That it's not tearing the cart to pieces is a miracle all by itself. Then they tie up the baby calves behind, and the baby calves are bawling for their mamas. And yet, miraculously, the mother cows, without even being led, go straight to the city of Beth Shemesh, which is a Levitical city. So it's a miracle that this cart is being directed without anybody leading it. So in that chapter, God has given the Levites a chance to properly take care of this ark, just as Jesus first appeared to the Jews and gave them, the house of Israel, a chance to receive the kingdom. Anyway, in 1 Samuel 6, The Levites mess up. They don't do a good job of taking care of this ark. In fact, they're curious. They open up the ark and look inside. And just like in the movie, you know, they're slain. 50,070 of these Levites are wasted. We're not sure exactly how God killed them, but boom, they are destroyed. And all of a sudden, they don't think they want God's ark in their midst. He's a little bit too dangerous for them. So in chapter 7, these guys say, hey, how would you like this ark? They ask the people at Kirjath-Jerim if they will take it. And the interesting thing about that is that it is a Gibeonite city. Now keep in mind that the Gibeonites had not become technically a part of Israel at this time. 2 Samuel 21 verse 2 says, The Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. So the ark is in Gentile hands, and these Gentiles take very good care of that ark. They take much better care of it than the Levites and Bathshemish had. Now in verse two, it says that Samuel started judging Israel after the ark had been there for 20 years. What's significant about that is that Samuel was one of the closest to God kind of prophets, almost like Moses, speaking to God face to face. And he knows God's purposes and he rules over Israel according to God's purposes. And yet, despite the fact that he is inspired, he's got God's leading, he does nothing to move that ark back into the tabernacle. Tabernacle has not had this ark for quite some time already, but he does nothing to move it back in there. So all during Samuel's reign, all throughout Saul's reign, and well into David's reign, the Ark is in this Gibeonite, Gentile city. Now, turn with me to 1 Chronicles 13. Abinadab and his family has been hugely prospered by the Lord during the time that the ark of the Lord is in his house, and David is jealous of this blessing. And so in this chapter, David tries to bring the ark to Jerusalem. Now that's not a bad thing because he's been commanded to do so, but unfortunately David does not do it according to the law of God, and in the process, Uzzah gets destroyed. Now take a look at verses 12 through 14. This is chapter 13, 12 through 14. David was afraid of God that day, saying, How can I bring the ark of God to me? So David would not move the ark with him into the city of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months, and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had." Now, Obed-Edom was another Gentile in a Gentile city. No self-respecting Jew would name himself Obed-Edom, which means servant of Edom. And the word Gittite is a name for a Philistine tribe. Okay, so he's a convert to Israel, but he's still characterized as a Gittite. So God, very strangely, keeps this Gentile theme going, and he'll keep it going when David brings the Ark into Jerusalem, and he'll even expand it under Solomon, because for the first time, Solomon is going to make a temple that has a huge court of the Gentiles, where Gentiles and Jews will be worshiping in the same building. So the symbolism is very deliberate. Anyway, here's another Gentile who is closer to the Ark of God than any Jew in past history has ever been. God's throne is right inside of his house, and he is blessed with God's presence there. Now, David hears about it, and the Bible says this. Now, it was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with gladness. So that brings us to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. David, by divine inspiration, according to the proper pattern now, he's following God's law, he brings the ark to Jerusalem and God has David erect a tent for the ark that becomes a major point of eschatology. And God has David continue to appoint Obed-Edom, the Gittite, and his family to be the caretakers of this ark. Robert Gordon calls this a Levitical preferment to a Gentile. It's like the Levitical tribe has adopted this Gentile into their midst and he has become a Levite to prefigure Gentile pastors in the New Covenant. whom Isaiah characterizes, oddly enough, as Gentile Levites. Almost an oxymoron, but it's part of the mystery of the new covenant where Jew and Gentile together become the new Israel. It's also part of the mystery of how God makes both Jew and Gentile become jealous of the gospel. Here's how one author puts it. This story represents an Old Testament preview of what Paul calls a provocation to jealousy, Romans 11, one through 14. Salvation was offered to the Gentiles, Paul said, to make Israel jealous, and one of the goals of Paul's own ministry was to provoke such jealousy among his countrymen. So David is clearly jealous of the blessings that these previous caretakers of the ark had been experiencing, and he brings the ark to Jerusalem. This is where the theology of Zion begins, where God is inhabiting Zion. Never before had that happened. Okay? Never before had the ark been in Jerusalem. And in terms of Old Testament eschatology, it's a major, major turning point. Now as a result, 1 Chronicles says, Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. Now the phrase all nations means all nations of the known world, probably not referring to China and places like that, but he uses the phrase all nations again to prophetically foreshadow the fact that Christ's kingdom is going to advance into all of the world. And this then is followed by the psalm in chapter 16 that predicts that all the ends of the world will be saved and will be worshiping God. The psalm that's given there in 1 Chronicles 16 is a wonderful psalm. And so what is implied in the type is made explicit in this psalm. People were not you know, clueless on how to interpret the types. They were not left to guess. God gives all kinds of hints in the Psalms and in other passages. And just as a side note, I should say that the Reformation A principle of hermeneutics is the grammatical historical approach to hermeneutics. It was not the census plenior that the Roman Catholics used during the Middle Ages, where they said there's a deeper sense. And the only way you'd be able to understand that deeper sense is that the church, you know, tells you by their own spirit given authority what this passage means. You can't get it just by grammar alone. you've got to have the church. And unfortunately, James Jordan, Peter Lightheart, and there's a number of other people who have begun using this deeper sense of theology or this census plenior. Those gentlemen claim that The census plenior, the deeper meaning, is in absolutely every verse, every portion of the Bible, and that you cannot always, sometimes you can get it from grammatical historical exegesis, but you can't always get it just by grammatical historical exegesis, so they read many things into the text that the original audience absolutely would not have had a clue about. Now, they say that the Bible authorizes this, that the New Testament reads meanings, interpretations in the Old Testament text that the Old Testament people would have been clueless about. And there actually are five texts that are problem texts for my position. If you're ever interested in hermeneutics, I can show you how they're really not a problem. I can show you how they would have been forced to the same meaning. But yeah, every position has its problem text. But anyway, they appeal to those. And they say that the Old Testament, I mean, the New Testament does exactly the same thing. And I disagree, I side with Walter Kaiser in rejecting that as actually being a dangerous hermeneutic and a sliding away from the Reformation. Instead, we would argue that the text of 1 Chronicles itself would have mandated the topology that we're gonna be looking at today. And just to be fair to James Jordan and Peter Lightheart, their interpretation of these last chapters are going to be identical to mine, almost identical. So they do agree that the grammatical historical interpretation does uncover this typology. Where we differ is that we insist that by using grammatical historical interpretation, you can always find every type that is in the Bible, and that the Bible itself is the determiner of what's a type and what is not a type. So that's just a side note. 1 Corinthians 16 is one of many, many pointers to the original audience that David and Solomon stood as types of the New Covenant kingdom. And by the way, you can find this in pre-Christian exegesis, where they said, yeah, the coming Messiah, whenever he comes, is prefigured by David and Solomon. So we're not coming up with something new here at all. Now before I mention how Amos 9 and Acts 15 use the Tent of David as a type of the New Testament church, let me mention two other very, very unusual features about this booth or this Tent of David. The ark is within the Tent of David while the Mosaic tabernacle is still standing some miles away. It's just a very, very odd thing. It's not been in the Mosaic Tabernacle for over a century now, but even under David, it stays separate. That ought to seem very odd. God had made that to be in the Holy of Holies. Secondly, different words are used for the word Tabernacle of David or Tent of David or Booth of David than is used for the Tabernacle of Moses. There's two words used for the Tent of David. First one is Ohel. and it means a nomadic tent. And then the second word that's used is suka, which refers to the booths that were erected at the Festival of Booths, a bunch of branches that you kind of tie together. It's a very flimsy structure. And the word that's used for the Tabernacle of Moses, the mishkan, is a much sturdier long-term kind of a tent or a tabernacle, but they're two quite different structures, with David's tent being the flimsier of the two. Now, take a look at 1 Chronicles 16 and look at verses 37 through 39. First two verses deal with the Davidic tent and the ark in Jerusalem, and then verses 39 to 40 deal with the Mosaic tent that's still missing the ark and that resides not in Jerusalem, it resides in Gibeon. They represent two different places of worship. So let's start reading at verse 37. So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to minister before the Ark regularly as every day's work required, and Obed-Edom with his 68 brethren, including Obed-Edom, the son of Juduthim, and Hosea, to be gatekeepers. So here's a bunch of Gentiles together with the possibility of a couple lowly Levites who guard the Ark of the Covenant in David's tent. There's obviously worship that's happening there. Now look at verses 39 through 40. and Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place that was at Gibeon. So the Mosaic tabernacle is not in Jerusalem. It's four kilometers away as the crow flies a little bit longer by road. And then here is a different set of people who are ministering at Gibeon. They're priests. Verse 40, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening and to do according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel. So it's clear there's two tents where there's worship going on. There's one that has Gentiles and Jews, and then there's another one that has Jews. Only the Jews have a part. And where is God's throne dwelling? Remember, the Ark of the Covenant is God's throne, right? His throne is dwelling in David's tent in Jerusalem. Now, what's especially strange is that when the Ark was in the Mosaic tabernacle, not even the Levites were allowed to see it. Only the high priest could see it, and he could only see it one day out of a year. If any other priest or if any other Levite went into the Holy of Holies and he saw that ark, the threat was he would die. God's fire would come out and kill him. And even the high priest, when he went in one day a year, he had a rope tied around his leg. How would that make you feel, you know? Okay, go in there. We'll pull you out if you get killed, you know, but go in there. They didn't dare do it. Never had this Ark of the Covenant been seen by the Jews. But during the century before Solomon built the temple, and during the years that it was housed by David in Jerusalem, Gentiles saw it. They were blessed in its presence. Lowly Levites ministered before that Ark. David sought. He regularly went before the Ark of the Covenant. This should be absolutely astonishing to any Jews who read these details. In fact, David's boldness is just astonishing. I'll just give you one example. Take a look at chapter 17 and verse 16. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? Now, Peter Lightheart points out, this is in the one-roomed tent, right, of David. And God has said to dwell between the cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant that was housed in that one-room tent. So David is in effect coming directly before the throne of grace. He is sitting down while he is praying, all of which shows he approaches the throne of grace just as boldly as we do in the New Covenant. It prefigures the New Testament church. And therefore it makes sense that the New Testament is going to appeal to the tent of David, the booth of David, in order to prefigure what's going on in the New Covenant. Let me quote Peter Lightheart at length on his exposition of the psalm in 1 Chronicles 16. And this shows the flow of the story of the whole book. He says, as several of the quotations in the previous paragraph indicate, the exhortation to publicize, proclaim, and tell about Yahweh is addressed to the nations. In fact, the psalm is structured as a series of concentric circles. Initially, Israel is called to praise, verses 9 through 22. Then the nations join in, verses 23 through 30. And finally, the entire cosmos rejoices at Yahweh's coming and His enthronement at Jerusalem, verses 31 through 33. Not only Israel, but the earth is to proclaim the salvation of Yahweh and to recount His wonderful deeds. As the nations join in Israel's song of praise, they are simultaneously encouraged to reject their idols, which are nothing. In context, and I'm not reading all the verse references, but I think you get the point. In context, verse 29 is especially striking. The series of exhortations to ascribe glory to the Lord is addressed to the families of the peoples. And the same audience is being addressed by the closing exhortation of verse 29 bring a tribute, Minka, and come before him, worship Yahweh in the glory of holiness. Thus, the families of the nations are being invited to join the worship of Israel." Now, I'm barely giving you a glimpse, kind of a bird's eye view of the typology of David's tent in 1 Chronicles, but hopefully it'll be enough. And with that as a background, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 15. This is the great debate, the circumcision debate in Acts chapter 15. In order to settle the question of whether Gentiles had to become Jews before they could join the church. or whether Jews and Gentiles could be equals in the church, James appeals to the tabernacle of David, and he shows how Amos used it to prove that it was designed to prophetically foreshadow the growth of the church worldwide. Now let's start reading at verse 12. Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, After this I will return, and that's referring to the first coming, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all of these things." Okay, let's turn back to 1 Chronicles now. 28, these chapters portray the movement from Christ's first coming all the way through to his second coming. David's reign prefigures the messy times that we are living in as the gospel moves from nation to nation converting the Gentiles. Solomon's reign prefigures the time when all nations will be converted. The ark moving around having no permanent home under David and being nomadic. That's one Hebrew word for the tent of David. It's a nomadic tent. It's definitely not permanent. It's the exact opposite of permanent. And flimsy, that's the other Hebrew word used for the branches. In fact, you can translate it as branches that are used for the festival of booze. And this The rattiness and the flimsiness prefigures the time when the church is still in a state of disarray, still under attack from its enemies. And yet the Tent of David also graphically shows that Jew and Gentile will be one to Christ in the New Covenant, while Solomon's temple shows the permanence of the gospel kingdom in the world where Jew and Gentile together constitute the temple of God, will jointly serve God in gospel prosperity. Now, Peter Lightheart shows the foreshadowing of this in the psalm, and let me read a little bit further in his book. Like a pebble dropped into a pool, the song of Israel reverberates until it causes the seas to roar, the trees to sing, and the heavens to ring with praise. Just as the Levitical singers were at the center of the chroniclers' genealogies, so they sing now at the center of a universal choir. We are so used to Psalms and prophets inviting Gentiles to worship Yahweh that we forget how innovative it was in the time of David. In the songs and hymns recorded earlier in Scripture, Gentiles are included only as enemies to be crushed, killed, dashed, drowned, and hammered in the head. But Israel's stance toward the nation shifted from one period of her history to another. Under the Davidic covenant, The nations were particularly encouraged to join in Israel's homage to God. They were encouraged to sing along. Incorporation of Gentiles into the order of Levitical priests was to be a central feature of the new heavens and new earth that Yahweh promised to create. This was central to Israel's eschatology. We have seen that this is no ethereal, unachievable promise. It is not an airy nothing. Chronicles gives this hope a local habitation and a name, and that name is Obed-Edom. Now that is a huge amount of background to give to chapters 28 through 29, but I had to give it so that you could see I'm not pulling this typology out of thin air. It is grounded in 1 Chronicles chapters 1 all the way through. It's been developing all through the book. There are many other scriptures that highlight this unusual transition from the mosaic tabernacle that represents the kingdom of God under the old covenant to the tent or booth of David, which represents the beginnings of the new covenant church, to the temple of Solomon, which symbolizes a future time in the kingdom when it will be permanent. And Jew and Gentile will permanently worship God gloriously and beautifully together. Now, with that introduction, let's just whiz through, whiz through 1 Chronicles 28 through 29. Let me just show you where it's going. Verses 1 through 10 show David's disappointment at not being able to build the temple, but show, hey, it was absolutely essential that it be that way. His role in the kingdom was very important. Then verses 11 through 21 show David's directions to Solomon concerning a permanent temple to symbolize the permanence and the glory and the prosperity of the latter part of Messiah's reign. Then chapter 29 verses 1 through 9 records David's devotion to God, along with the devotion of all of the other leaders. And so there's going to be a time in history when all leaders will be totally sold out to God. Then chapter 29, 10 through 25 records David's delight in God and the fact that the whole earth owes God devotion. and allegiance and delight. Then chapter 29, 26-30 deals with the transition from David to Solomon. Now I will mention just one, I think, very legitimate difference of opinion on what the topology points to. Lightheart sees the Davidic portion as the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In other words, 8030 to 8070. And there are some hints that it actually could be pointing to that. I think it's a very legitimate viewpoint. I disagree with him. I believe that the Davidic portion refers to the conquest of the whole earth through the Great Commission until there are no more enemies to resist the gospel. I think that's what it's symbolizing. And when all nations are converted, there will be the Solomonic period of peace and gospel prosperity. So that's the bird's eye view. Now let me quickly give you some key verses. And let's start at chapter 28, verse 1. Now David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel, the officers of the tribes, and the captains of the divisions who served the king, the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials, the valiant men, and all the mighty men of valor. Now it was obviously a big occasion. They needed to understand David's disappointment was a glorious disappointment. It's a very important thing to understand, but symbolically it was important that every ruler, down to the dog catcher, every ruler was showing his allegiance to God before the glory of the Solomonic temple could begin. Verse 2, Then King David rose to his feet and said, Hear me, my brethren and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and had made preparations to build it." Three things to notice here. First of all, David very understandably wanted rest for God's kingdom. He wanted rest for the Ark of the Covenant, but it was premature, premature to do so until all the enemies were conquered. Second, the Ark was simply a footstool of God at this point. Even though it was visible, even though it had a sense of awesomeness in comparison to the fullness that God intended, It was humble. It was humble in comparison with a heavenly kingdom. So it's called a footstool. Third, David's efforts were not wasted. He was laying up an inheritance that would enable a later generation to have that peace and rest. So he made the preparations. And in the same way, we may wish that we could be in the the Solomonic rest for the kingdom, but hey, if God has called us to be born during the Davidic period of spiritual warfare, then so be it. Let's embrace our calling to engage in spiritual warfare. Second, what we see on earth is simply God's footstool, so to speak. God's kingship is so much larger. In fact, I believe that when the church eventually sees the incredible glory that God anticipates for it in human history, what we're experiencing today is going to be seen as humble as a footstool. But third, that does not make our efforts wasted. Solomon's glory would have been impossible without David's sacrifices and David's wars. They paved the way. And unless the church today is diligent and faithful like David was, the Solomonic glory is going to be postponed. We may wish that the church was not as ratty and as flimsy and as nomadic as David's tabernacle was, But there's coming a time when the church will be as beautiful as Solomon's temple verse 3 But God said to me you shall not build a house for my name because you have been a man of war and have shed blood Again, there's the times and the seasons that are in God's hands. There's a time for conquest and war there's a time for peace and glory and we still live in the time of conquest and Persecution where you know, you make two steps forward you you make two one step back But there's no reason to be discouraged. Verse 4, however, the Lord God of Israel chose me above all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever for he has chosen Judah to be the ruler and of the house of Judah, the house of my father and among the sons of my father he was pleased with me to make me king over Israel. And so the transition to the tribe of Judah ruling is indicating the transition to the time of Jesus the Messiah. Though it started off humbly, it was being exalted. And Jesus, the greater David, was indeed exalted above all of his brethren to the right hand of God, where he is now extending his kingdom. Verse 5, And of all my sons, the Lord has given me many sons. He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And so this deals with the continuance of the house of David. And the name Solomon, which is pronounced Shlomo in the Hebrew, It comes from shalom, shlomo and shlom, they're exactly the same root. And shalom means peace, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, or complete restoration. That's the goal of Christ's kingdom is shalom. And various theologians say that Shalom represents the restoration or the wholeness of everything that was lost by Adam. That means that Jesus has to reign until everything lost by Adam has been restored and brought to wholeness. And that's what the name Solomon symbolizes. Okay, verses six through seven. Now he said to me, it is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts for I have chosen him to be my son and I will be his father. Moreover, I will establish his kingdom forever if he is steadfast to observe my commandments and my judgments as it is this day. Kingdom established forever. That's the trajectory of Christ's reign. And even the temporariness of David's tent To the permanence and the glory and the beauty of Solomon's temple shows that trajectory and the father-son relationship, all of that. There's lots of deep things in there. Verse 8, now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever. He's speaking to the people. The people as a whole here, their ethical standards are not irrelevant to the advancement of the kingdom. Covenant succession is not automatic. It is conditioned upon obedience to the law and careful, detailed, studious application of the law to all of life. But notice the goal is to leave an inheritance of prosperity to the next generation and the generation after that forever. Okay? So even though verses 1 through 8 deal with David's disappointment, it's all put into perspective. And David embraces his role of being preparatory to Solomon, preparatory to the coming temple. And let me be very, very brief on the directions that David gave to Solomon in verses 10 through 21. These Spirit-given plans for the temple show stability, utility, incredible wealth and prosperity and a world that is centered on the heavenly temple. Okay? The last chapters of Revelation show that it's only when the earthly kingdom approximates the heavenly kingdom that history as we know it will cease and the new Jerusalem will descend out of heaven to the earth and the temple of heaven will become merged with the temple on earth, which is the people, right? So the bride of the heavenly Jerusalem will be merged with the bride on the earthly, and then eternity will be ushered in. And until that happens, we keep praying, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now Isaiah picks up on the work given and those instructions to the Levites. And it says that in the new covenant, all Gentiles will not only come into the temple, there'll be Gentile priests in that temple. And let me just read the last verses of Isaiah 66, which are amazing. For I know their works and their thoughts, it shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them, and those among them who escape I will send to the nations, to Tarshish, and Pul, and Lod, who draw the Bo, and Tubal, and Javan to the coastlands afar off, who have not heard my fame nor seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses, in chariots, and in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mount in Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering and a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will take some of them, and Kyle and Delete show how the them is referring to the Gentiles who have been provoking the Jews to jealousy. I will take some of them, some of them Gentiles, for priests and Levites," says the Lord. That's identical to Abinadab, the Gibeonite, and Obed-Edom, the Gittite, becoming Levites. Identical. Verse 22, for as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. Wow. all flesh, worshiping God from one Sabbath to another. That's a converted world. And what's the result of this converted world? Isaiah speaks of every nation bringing its wealth into the kingdom just as all nations brought their wealth into Solomon's kingdom from as far away as Queen Sheba, right? From as far away as Ethiopia. But 1 Chronicles 29, 1-9 gives a glowing testimony of how delightful it was for David to be able to give his millions of dollars for this temple and how delightful it was for the other leaders to be able to give so willingly. And this devotion to God enabled the temple to be so glorious that it was spoken of even by pagans as being one of the wonders of the world. It was known all over the world as being an incredibly glorious building. I think of hymn number 345 in the Trinity Hymnal. Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. He whose word cannot be broken formed thee for his own abode. On the rock of ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayst smile at all thy foes. And the whole hymn actually deals with this typology, I think, so well. Now I think it would have probably been inappropriate to spend those millions and millions of dollars on a temple during the time of Judges or even during the early period of David's reign. There's priorities to finances, and I think that glorious buildings should be a little bit less of a priority during our reign when the nations are not converted. Now, once the nations are converted, you won't be sending money to missions. There won't be any more missions, right? They're all converted. So a lot of that money will be diverted into other glorious things like incredible architecture that glorifies the Lord. But I think that's the time to build those glorious buildings, not now. But I especially love the way that David delighted in giving. And in the same way, the sacrifices and contributions that we make today will not be lost on God. They will not be lost on the world. Even though we are living during the typological time of David, when things aren't going very well, Our labors in the Lord are not in vain. The New Testament guarantees that if we persevere, we will see a harvest and we will see our efforts being laid up before the Lord to beautify the kingdom of the future. Lord willing, I'm going to preach on David's prayer next time, maybe tie it in with the giving. But verses 10 through 25, of the next chapter show David absolutely delighting himself in the Lord. But I'm going to end the sermon today by reading two verses from 1 Corinthians 15 that I believe capture David's attitude as he works for, as he anticipates the glory of Solomon's future kingdom. He was not discouraged and neither should we be. But 1 Corinthians 15, 57 through 58 says, But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. in the Lord. Our labors are not in vain because Jesus triumphed over death in His resurrection and He is building His church so that even the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. May we have the faith to believe that and may the church be so effective in rebuilding the broken-down tabernacle of David that we soon will be able to enjoy the glories of the Solomonic period. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. Every portion of it, every letter of it, we treasure your word. And we pray that you would stir up our faith and hope as we study your word and realize that you have ordained great and awesome things for the church of Jesus Christ in the future. And even though we are facing trouble, and even though we are facing persecution, much like David did, I pray that we would not lose hope, but that we would fight valiantly for our brothers and our sisters, for our lands and for, Father, the law of God and for the glory of Your name. And we pray that You would indeed be lifted up in our own generation as we seek to advance Your cause. In Jesus' name we pray it. Amen.