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2nd
Samuel 24:1-25 “And
again the anger of the LORD
was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number
Israel and Judah. 2 For
the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go
now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye
the people, that I may know the number of the people. 3
And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD
thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that
the eyes of my lord the king may see it:
but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? 4
Notwithstanding the king’s word
prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went
out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5
And they passed over Jordan, and pitched
in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the
river of Gad, and toward Jazer: 6
Then they came to Gilead, and to the
land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about Zidon, 7
and came to the strong hold of Tyre, and
to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even
to Beersheba. 8 So
when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of
nine months and twenty days. 9 And
Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred
thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five
hundred thousand men. 10 And
David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD,
I have sinned greatly in that I have done:
and now, I beseech thee, O LORD,
take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11
For when David was up in the morning,
the word of the LORD
came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12
Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD,
I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it
unto thee. 13
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of
famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine
enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days pestilence in thy
land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait: let us fall now into the hand of
the LORD;
for his mercies are great: and
let me not fall into the hand of man. 15
So the LORD
sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to
Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16
And when the angel stretched out his
hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD
repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It
is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD
was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. 17
And David spake unto the LORD
when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I
have done wickedly: but these sheep,
what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my
father’s house. 18 And
Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD
in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19
And David, according to the saying of
Gad, went up as the LORD
commanded. 20 And
Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself
before the king on his face upon the ground. 21
And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord
the king come to his servant? And David
said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD,
that the plague may be stayed from the people. 22
And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord
the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt
sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen
for wood. 23 All
these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD
thy God accept thee. 24 And
the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a
price: neither will I offer burnt
offerings unto the LORD
my God of that which doth cost me nothing.
So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver. 25 And
David built there an altar unto the LORD,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD
was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” Introduction: God For Some Reason, Is Angry With Israel [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED680] “2nd
Samuel chapter 24 says “And again the anger of the LORD
was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number
Israel and Judah.” (verse 1) Now the account in 1st
Chronicles 21:1, “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to
number Israel.’ So the first
question is, who is “he” here in 2nd Samuel 24, “And again the
anger of the LORD
was kindled against Israel, and he”
the grammar seems to point to the LORD,
where Chronicles specifically says it was Satan that provoked David to stand up
and to number Israel. No doubt, both of
those things are true. We see Satan at
work in Job chapter 1, only by God’s permission, no doubt Satan around the
cross of Christ thinking he had permission, only part of God’s plan, God meting
out the victory. Certainly as we look at
this, there are facets to this, and I don’t understand them all. Look, it says here that God is angry against
Israel. Because if you read through the chapter
you’re going to see 70,000 of the men of Israel die in a pestilence, and you
immediately think ‘Well that’s not fair, David blew it, he messed up, why
would God punish ordinary Israelites? He
doesn’t do that.’ And I believe
you’re right, he doesn’t do that. But it
begins in the first verse by saying that God’s anger is kindled against Israel,
not against David. And we’re not given
the details of what takes place or has taken place. Some try to come up with conjecture that God
is dealing with Israel because they had sided with Absalom in the
rebellion. That seems to be set in the
past at this point in time, it doesn’t seem to fit. Has Israel forgotten to come to the Feasts? What’s happening, the Ark of the Covenant has
been carried up to Jerusalem, but the Tabernacle is still in Gibeon of
Benjamin. What’s happening in the
national life of the nation religiously? we’re not sure at this point in
time. Have they stopped circumcising
their male children? Have they not kept
the Sabbath, have they not let the land rest?
There’s something that’s happened where God’s anger is kindled against
Israel. Israel at this point in time,
probably six to seven million in population, we’re going to read the number of
fighting men at about 1 million, 600 thousand when you total it all up. As we look at percentages in the past,
according to the numbers, if there’s that many fighting men, you have to
understand what an incredible army that is anywhere in the world today. But 1 million 600 thousand probably the population
of Israel is somewhere around 6 to 7 million.
We find out that they’re on the other side of the Jordan, of the Jordan
River living in the area of Jordan all the way up through Gilead, they’re
spread out, they’re wealthy, what’s happening in the land is amazing. Solomon will shortly take the throne, and it
tells us in his days that silver was like rocks in Jerusalem, they counted it
as nothing, there was so much gold and there was so much wealth. So Israel as a nation, certainly, at its
pinnacle, at least historically at this point in time, God’s anger for some
reason is kindled against the nation. There’s
something we should take note of here, I think in some ways, I wonder what his
disposition is towards the United States of America right now [and right now in
2023, 13 years later], as I think, as I pray.
And God is going to take David, and allow Satan to tempt David, to act
in a way that he shouldn’t act. Out of
that God will bring his chastisement both on Israel, for whatever his anger is kindled
against them for at this point in time, and upon David, finishing the man in so
many ways, the finishing touches, deep work.
I’m sure if you could ask David, ‘David, what were the greatest
moments of your life, was it when Goliath came crashing down? Was it when they took you from Hebron up to
Jerusalem and the kingdom was united? Was
it when you finally brought the Ark of the Covenant?’ I’m sure that David would say, the pinnacle
of my experience with the LORD
was in Jerusalem, when the Eternal Fire of God fell from heaven on the
threshingfloor of Ornan, and God revealed to me his mercy, and God revealed to
me his mercy anew and showed me where the Temple would be built, I’m sure, and
that’s all in this chapter. God even
makes these difficult things for his glory.
I look at his anger, or his public displeasure with our nation today, we
have sown to the wind, that’s never going to pass away. But I think he will make that work unto his
glory. He makes that work. We may see the greatest days that the Church
[greater Body of Christ] in America has ever seen. I don’t know about America as a nation. [No, we’re going down for the count, as they
say.] We may see some incredible things
in front of us, because God is merciful, and he’s longsuffering. And I believe he still hears the prayers of
his people. “again the anger of the LORD
was kindled against Israel, and he” the
LORD, through the
intermediate agency, allowing, God himself tempteth no man, allowing the enemy
to do this, “moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For
the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go
now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye
the people, that I may know the number of the people.” (verses 1-2)
Now listen, “And Joab said unto the
king, Now the LORD
thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that
the eyes of my lord the king may see it:
but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” (verse 3) ‘Let
him multiply the nation a hundred times David.’
There’s something wrong in David’s
heart, whatever this is that Joab sees, David is delighting in numbering the
people, so that he might know how many of them there are. 1st Chronicles 21:3 there
Joab says “The LORD
make his people a hundred times many more as they be, but my lord, the king,
are they not all my lord’s servants? Why
then doth my lord require this thing, why will he be a cause of trespass in
Israel?” So Joab was not always the best
Sunday-go-to-meeting guy, realizes there’s something wrong here in David’s
approach in what David’s doing. We’re
told specifically Satan stood up and tempted him to number the nation. What is David thinking? he’s about 70 years
old now, he’s ruled 40 years as the king of the nation, he’s somewhere around
70, maybe a little older. He’s thinking ‘My
son, Solomon, he’s tender, he’s going to take over, he’s never been a man of
war, maybe I need to muster the troops, I need to understand what our military
strength is.’ Whatever he’s doing,
and whatever he’s thinking, Joab realizes ‘David, this is wrong, there’s
something wrong about this.’ And
Satan, in Isaiah 14, he lifted himself up, it was pride is says there. And this may be pride, vainglory, David may
be saying ‘I want to leave just a strong nation, I want to know how
powerful, the strength of the nation.’ Is
This Thing About What Legacy David Would Leave? But
the truth is, that’s not the legacy that David has to leave to us. [Thutmose III built up Egypt’s army and
chariot strike-force to the point where it was the #1 military force in the
world, and left it as a legacy to his son Amenhotep II, the Pharaoh of the
Exodus, and Amenhotep II only to see it destroyed in the midst of the Red
Sea. That Pharoah and his son Amenhotep
II symbolized Satan himself, as other prideful rulers have, like the prince of
Tyre, who in Ezekiel 28 becomes the direct type for Satan himself as the king
of Tyre. God did not want David leaving
a prideful legacy of military strength to his son Solomon, like Thutmose III
had done for his son Amenhotep II.
Solomon’s reign was to be a direct type or representation of the future
Kingdom of God when it comes with Jesus to rule the world in peace and
prosperity.] Imagine if all you and I
glean from David was how many soldiers in number were in his army and how
strong they were. If that’s all David
had left, we would have known nothing about David, you wouldn’t think about
David. What David’s left to us is the
Psalms, what David has left to us is God’s faithfulness and mercy to him after
he sinned in adultery and murdering Bathsheba’s husband, what David’s left to
us is stepping out on the battlefield to face a giant with the LORD. The legacy that David has left to us tonight
is the legacy of faith. None of us are
impressed or care, when we got here tonight, how many men were in David’s army
and how many battles they won. David was
never vulnerable, he was never threatened by a lion as a teenager, or a bear,
he was never threatened by a giant, his life was not at threat when Saul
persued him for 20 years, and all of the odds were against him. He was never at threat when the Philistines
were at war against him. David’s legacy
was that his battles were won supernaturally, they were won remarkably. The chapter before this, beginning in verse 8
tells us about his mighty men, and the captain of his host under Joab slew 800
men by himself with a spear. You know,
you’re in the second tier guys if you only killed 300, Abishai killed 300 by
himself. This Benaiah going down into a
pit and killing a lion, in a pit on a cold day, none of that sounds pleasant to
me. Kills an Egyptian, 7-foot, six
inches tall whose in a bad mood. You
read about his mighty men, about what happened in the chapter before this, and
none of this, those were all Samson-like supernatural victories. God had been with David, he was more secure
in Adullam, gathering the misfits of the nation than he is right now at this
point, sitting on the throne counting his warriors. And he is staining the legacy that he has not
only for Solomon, and for Israel, but for you and I. And God sees that as sin in his life. Now look, some people want to draw attention
to Exodus chapter 30, verses 11 to 16 in there, where it says that God had
taken census at least twice before, and counted the people in particular to the
fighting men, nothing wrong with that, when God said in Exodus 30 ‘when
you take a census of the people, you have to pay this part of the shekel,
there’s a price of redemption that you pay on every individual, because their
mine, God says, they’re not yours.’
So perhaps at least on David’s part, we don’t hear anything about him
fulfilling that, maybe he’s forgetting, ‘Hey, these are all God’s, I have no
entitlements here.’ And sometimes
when we’re in God’s work, and sometimes when it begins to grow, and sometimes,
pray for me, we start to think about numbers, and you can get an attitude of
entitlement, ‘Let’s just do this, and let’s just do that.’ David was much different when he was
younger, and every day his life was being breathed in and out, a breath at a
time, and he was dependent on the LORD,
and he saw some incredible things happen.
And there’s something at this point, where he’s taken something to
himself, I don’t know what it is, there’s an ambivalence it seems in the Holy
Spirit being specific, because he wants us to be able to take inventory in our
own lives. Where do we find our strength
in difficult times? If this nation caves
in, if God deals with it, where’s our strength going to be? Where, how are we going to survive? He’s always been the one that’s been strong
in our lives, when our pockets were full, when our pockets were empty, he’s
always the one that’s provided, always the one that’s kept us. How many times should we have been dead over
the years? [I can think of at least
three or four incidences, where God’s unseen intervention saved my life, for
real, undeniable. And there’s probably a
lot more times I was unaware of.] Wait
till we get to heaven [at the soon-coming Wedding Feast of the Lamb] and see
our guardian angels, ‘pant, pant, I’m glad that’s over,’ you know. Somehow he’s perceiving that there’s strength
in numbers here, what a warning, this is at the end of his career as it were, ‘I
want to know, I want to know how many,’ well God knew the number, he didn’t
have to count them, God already knew what the number was. Joab says, again verse 3, “And Joab said
unto the king, Now the LORD
thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that
the eyes of my lord the king may see it:
but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” “Notwithstanding”
verse 4, “the king’s word prevailed against Joab,” and
notice this, “and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went
out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.” we know
one of them is Benaiah, one of them is Abishai, these are guys that killed
hundreds of men by themselves, they must be saying ‘David, what are
you doing? there’s something wrong with this, what are we doing, depending on
numbers now? You know I could go out on an
afternoon in a bad mood and kill 800 guys myself, what are we doing here?’ But his word prevailed against his
captains of the host. We know Benaiah
was over 24,000, Abishai was over 24,000, interesting. Joab
Numbers The Children Of Israel “And
Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to
number the people of Israel.” (verse 4b) just
like Satan’s inspiration in Isaiah 14, it says he was lifted up with pride,
first thing, lifted up against God. And
no doubt we see a measure of it here, as he is at work. “And they passed over Jordan, and pitched
in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward
Jazer:” I wish all the words here were like Gad, “Then they came to
Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi;” who would name a place like
that? Imagine singing that in a national
anthem, “and they came to Dan-jaan, and about Zidon, and came to the strong
hold of Tyre,” they’re all the way up in Lebanon on the Mediterranean, “and
to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even
to Beersheba.” (verses 5-7) we’re
going to find out, look at verse 8, “So when they had gone through all the
land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.” Nine months and twenty days, there’s no
way it takes that long to go through the land of Israel, what took the time, in
each place they were, rallying and then counting up the fighting men, and
that’s what it’s talking about in Israel.
And no doubt Joab was aggravated the whole time, and you didn’t want to
be around him. Nine months and twenty
days that God was probably speaking to David’s heart. You know, it’s going to be interesting,
because he’s going to say here “I have sinned greatly,” when he
comes to his senses, “I have sinned greatly.” Back in chapter 12, when Nathan confronts
him, and unmasks him in his sin with Bathsheba, and Uriah the Hittite, he says ‘I
have sinned,’ isn’t it interesting?
You would think after adultery and murder he would say ‘I have sinned
greatly.’ But here is where he says ‘I
have sinned greatly.’ You know, he
had months and months to think about this, it seems with Bathsheba, and again,
they knew who their neighbours were at that point in time, it tells us it was
upon a day that he looked at her, he lusted after her, it didn’t seem there
were nine months of thinking about it or measuring it, and he did it and he
sinned, and the sin caused chaos in his family, with his children, cost the
lives of people around her family. But
here, 70,000 lives are going to be lost.
But again, there’s an angle behind the scenes where God is working, that
we don’t have all the information. David
says “I have sinned greatly” here, he had nine months and twenty days to
think about it, “And Joab” verse 9 “gave up the sum of the number of the
people unto the king: and there were in
Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of
Judah were five hundred thousand men.”
So he has 1,300,000 soldiers here, that’s the number he hears, 1
million three hundred thousand. David,
when he wrote the 20th Psalm in verse 7 said “Some
trust in chariots, some trust horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD
our God.” And
he had wrote that, he had that measure of light in his life. Isn’t it interesting? Jeremiah would say ‘Cursed
is the man that trusteth in the arm of flesh.’ Now look, by the way, for you bean counters,
not me, it says in 1st Chronicles 21:5, somebody’s
going to ask me, it says “And Joab gave the sum of the people unto David,
and of all of Israel there were one million one hundred thousand that drew the
sword, and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten that drew the sword.” four
hundred and seventy thousand that drew the sword. So, you’re going to say ‘Wait a minute,
back in 2nd Samuel 24 it says there’s 800,000 and that there’s
500,000 in Judah, and 1st Chronicles says there’s 1 million one
hundred thousand [in Israel] and four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah,
see, why should be believe any of that?’
Well it says in 2nd Samuel 24 there were 800,000
valiant men that drew the sword, these were seasoned warriors. And evidently there were 300,000 conscripts
above that, that were not seasoned warriors.
It says there were 500,000 men in Judah here, 470,000 back in the other
passage, but it specifically says there, but Joab refused to number those that
were in Benjamin, we don’t know if it was because the Tabernacle was in Gibeah,
it says “he took not the number” so he hadn’t finished the census. So if there were 30,000 in Benjamin, we get
in 2nd Samuel 24 the full 500,000, and we have the number in 2nd
Samuel 24 plus the 300,000 that were not valiant, you ready for your
Excedrin. Some of you, but not all of
us, and I’m thankful that all of us are not like that. I’m thankful we have people like that on
staff at church, that like to sit and look at these columns and look at the
numbers, believe me. I oversee it, I say
‘Make me a pie,’ so I can see the sections of everything, where
everything’s going, I need to do that.
But anyhow, that all works out. I’m
just saying that because somebody’s going to say ‘You see the Bible’s got
mistakes, you can’t trust it,’ no, anybody who digs and isn’t irresponsible
can find out exactly what’s there [read through http://www.unityinchrist.com/ProofOfTheBible-FulfilledProphecy.htm], even
the bean-counters can be happy. So,
David, here it says that there’s 1 million, 300 thousand fighting men. Imagine that. “And
David’s Heart Smote Him After He Had Numbered The People”--The Difference
Between Condemnation & Conviction Look
at verse 10, “And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the
people. And David said unto the LORD,
I have sinned greatly in that I have done:
and now, I beseech thee, O LORD,
take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
After he hears the number, does he sit around at first and think ‘Wow! one
million, three hundred thousand, and they’re kind of rookies, wow.’ David’s heart smote him, after that he
had numbered the people. Not just
foolishly, very foolishly. Look, you can
bet too that David here at this point, it says his heart smote him, we’re glad
his heart was like that, he had a heart towards God. But you know, Satan didn’t leave him alone at
this point in time, condemnation, the Bible says, is from the devil. And whenever you’re down and out, he has a
picnic on your forehead. He doesn’t
leave you alone. When you’re eaten up
with condemnation, the devil doesn’t say ‘Poor Christian, I love a fair
fight, I’m gonna wait till he gets back on his feet again, and then I’m going
to whup him.’ No, he will kick you
when you are down and out. Look at the
Book of Job, that’s one of the other places in the Old Testament we see him
specifically involved. And he comes to
God and says ‘Hey, you know, Job serves you, you bless him, why shouldn’t he
serve you, it pays off. But touch him
and see what he does.’ And God says
to Satan ‘OK, you can touch him, don’t take his life, you can mess with
him.’ Now if God told you that you
could tempt somebody, to test out where their heart was, what would you
do? Drop a hundred dollar bill out of
your pocket and walk by and say ‘Hey, excuse me sir, you just dropped a Ben
Franklin there,’ what would you do?
Attractive woman walking in front of the person, or an attractive guy? God says to Satan ‘You can tempt him,’ Satan
says ‘ok,’ he burns down all of his fields, his kills all of his herds,
he burns down all of his houses, he kills all of his children, and he leaves
his wife alive, whose saying to him ‘Curse God and die, Job, curse God and
die!’ That’s a mad man, that’s an
insane person. So you know that the
enemy’s not leaving him alone at this point in time, when he’s struggling with
this, he’s heaping it on, he’s heaping it on.
And look, David, his heart is smiting him, that means there’s a
conviction. The difference between
conviction and condemnation is the origin.
The Bible tells us condemnation is from the devil, conviction is from
the Holy Spirit. They both feel
lousy. Here’s how you tell the
difference, and it’s extremely important, particularly this evening if you’re
condemned, if you’ve been backslidden or you’ve been AWOL, you’re a prodigal,
you’re trying to come back. Understand
this, the enemy’s going to be there to condemn you. The Holy Spirit’s going to be there to
convict you. Both of those feel
bad. The way you tell the difference is
condemnation from the devil will drive you away from Jesus Christ, and conviction
from the Holy Spirit will drive you to Jesus Christ. And if your heart is smiting you, and it’s
causing you to get on your face before the Lord and say ‘Oh Lord, I am so
stupid, I’m such a jerk, Lord, forgive me, I messed up,’ that’s good,
that’s good, that’s the Holy Ghost. If
that bad feeling is causing you to say ‘Why should I even try, because I
blow it over and over, and I’m not stupid, and I’m saved, and when I sin I sin
against Light, I should know better, I’m going to throw in the towel, I’m
moving to Kansas and changing my last name, getting a perm.’ [laughter]
Look, that’s the devil, driving you away from the Lord. Condemnation is from devil, conviction is
from the Holy Spirit, it’s good. In Ephesians
Paul says ‘Any thing that doth make manifest is light.’ And tonight, if you’re aware of what
needs to change in your life, if your heart is smiting you, if you know what
you’ve done wrong, and you know that God wants you to turn something around, it
says that couldn’t happen unless God was shining the Light of Eternity, the
light of his Word, the light of the Holy Spirit on that to convict you. And we don’t have time to play around. Look at the world we live in, we don’t have
time to sit around and mope around for a year, ‘No, I’m not worthy’ [in
an Eor voice], stop whining, Jesus died for you on the cross, he paid the total
price, he paid it all, and he said ‘It is finished,’ he didn’t
say ‘You’re finished,’ he said ‘It is finished, the price of
redemption,’ ‘and he who knew no sin became sin so that you might become the
very righteousness of God.’ And
we pray that if you are living in rebellion and open sin, and you don’t repent,
we hope he busts you, we hope you don’t sleep, we hope you get ulcers, because
there’s not time to play games, because you don’t have to do that, you do that
because you want to do that. You can
turn around and turn to him and cast yourself upon him, and he will give you
the strength, the Gospel of Christ produces the power, it is what D.A. Carson
calls “the crisis of the intellect,” it is stepping out of the boat onto the
water, and if the Gospel doesn’t have the power to change our lives, we might
as well shut down the building and go home.
If you’re struggling tonight and you’re in sin, you turn to Jesus Christ
with all your heart, and he will heal you, and he will put your feet back on
the path. Now he may whup you a little,
and whup you into shape and get you going again, but it will be as a father
[elder brother?] who loves his children, and that’s what the Bible says. None of us have excuses to be away, we walk
in too much light, we know of his love, we know what he’s done on the cross for
us, and if we are doing those things, we’re in willful sin, willful sin. David says here, his heart smote him, after
he numbered them, he heard the number, he thought ‘What have I done!? this
is so stupid, you know, I didn’t need one million three hundred thousand to
kill a stupid giant, I needed one stone to sink into his forehead. What is going on, I have been very foolish.’ God
Says To David ‘You Know, I’m Gonna Chasten You, But I’m Offering You Multiple
Choice’ “For
when David was up in the morning,” so
he couldn’t sleep, that’s good, it’s bothering him, “the word of the LORD
came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,” isn’t
it interesting here, God is using somebody else to speak to David, until
David’s heart gets in the direction it needs to be in [somebody else besides
Nathan the Prophet], “Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD,
I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it
unto thee.” (verses 11-12) ‘You know, I’m gonna chasten you, but I’m
offering you multiple choice,’ God is merciful, isn’t he. He says ‘God wants you to know, he’s
offering you three things, choose one of them, that I may do it unto thee,’ God
says. “So Gad came to David, and told
him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land?
or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or
that there be three days pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what
answer I shall return to him that sent me.” (verse 13) Now the interesting thing is, if you read
Deuteronomy chapter 28, beginning in verse 21, these are the very things God
says he would do, not to a man, but to a nation that turns away, his people, if
they turned away, worshipped other gods, turned away in rebellion, turned away
and didn’t keep his commandments, he said that he would bring famine, he would
subject them to their enemies, that he would bring pestilence, very
interesting, they’re listed just like that in Deuteronomy 28. [And that’s about what is going to strike the
English speaking people, the United States and British Commonwealth of Nations,
for the same reasons, as well as the tribe of Judah, the Israelis.] “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait: let us fall now into the hand of
the LORD;
for his mercies are great: and
let me not fall into the hand of man.” (verse 14)
“I am in a great strait” I would say so David, good thing to call it. That
should be a Blue’s song. Man oh man, how
true that is. The way it was written out
in Chronicles, interesting, he says ‘Either three years famine’ now
evidently David had gone back and forth, it seems that the LORD
had shortened the years to three years, and he’s going to shorten the
pestilence in the actual plague, ‘or three months to be destroyed by thy
foes, while that the sword of thy enemies overtaketh thee, or else three days’ interesting
‘of the sword of the LORD,
even pestilence in the land.’ God
makes it clear there is famine that would come to the land, or there is the
sword of the enemy, or the sword of the LORD. And David is going to chose the sword of the
LORD. He’s going to say ‘I’d much rather be
under the sword of the LORD
than under the sword of mine enemies, because the LORD
is merciful.’ “for his mercies are
great” David is remembering the God that had
been so gracious to him, David is remembering this God that he had gone and
said ‘Before thee and thee only have I sinned and done this great evil in
thy sight. Sacrifice and offering thou
hast not desired, but a broken and contrite spirit thou wilt not despise.’ David is remembering he had committed
capitol offenses, adultery and murder, and there was no offering or sacrifice
for them, and he said ‘God, that’s not what you’re looking for.’ David is remembering his mercy, and as he
sits back and he comes to his senses, wonderfully he says ‘Natural
disaster, no thanks, the hand of my enemies, no thanks, but let me fall into
the hand of the LORD,
in fact, let that come on the nation, not the hand of man.’ The
LORD
Stops The Pestilence At The Threshingfloor Of Araunah “So
the LORD
sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed:” that’s
the time of the evening sacrifice, “and there died of the people from Dan
even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD
repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It
is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD
was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.” (verses 15-16) So
we’re going to find out that David sees this angel, Araunah who owns the
threshingfloor sees this angel. It says
here when the pestilence comes there’s an angel standing there swinging a
sword, bringing a disease on the nation.
What a strange world the spiritual world must be, as we look at
this. David is realizing this, ‘LORD,
one million three hundred thousand guys is no match for one angel with a sword,
what in the world was wrong with me? How
did I forget your might and your power, LORD? How did I forget what it is to have you on my
side, how did I number, start counting people and start trusting in horses and
chariots, start trusting in the arm of flesh, the very thing I told everybody
else not to do?’ No
doubt, in this scene he comes to realize that in a very remarkable way, and it
says here this angel’s swinging his sword, and as he’s swinging his sword,
there’s a pestilence that’s breaking out.
It’s very interesting. [Comment: When Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent
half his army south to surround the walls of Jerusalem, under the reign of
Hezekiah, whose Prophet was Isaiah, to conquer it, and Isaiah and Hezekiah
cried out to the LORD
for deliverance, the LORD sent
one single angel, “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD
went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five
thousand” 185,000 “and when they arose early in
the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” (2nd Kings
19:35) in one night the work of one holy angel killed 185,000
battle-hardened Assyrian soldiers, some of the fiercest soldiers known to the
ancient world, but no match for one angel of the LORD.] Ah, you scientists that are here, you
biologicalists, new field, epigenetics, it’s the final stroke against [blind]
evolution [not theistic evolution, which is not evolution at all, but God’s
bio-engineering of the Species throughout all the epochs of time], he said “What
we’ve discovered in the DNA is that there are these little markers that ride
above the DNA, hence epa-genetics, above them, we just discovered them, we
never knew they were there, what we’re discovering is they actually turn off
parts of the DNA and leave other parts on.”
He said “We’re starting to think that’s why, when an egg is
impregnated by the sperm and it starts to divide, and every single cell has the
same information, now we’re starting to realize it’s probably epigenetics that
makes one cell become bone, one cell become nerve, because every cell’s got the
same information.” he said “This
information above the DNA, wherever that comes from, is telling the DNA what to
do,” Rupert Sheldrake his theory or
what he called it was “morphic resonance,” that there was some influence, and I
said I read that because I know that’s God, and he said “Joe do you know
what Quantum Physics is?” He says “To
the biologist,” and they’re studying this now in the University of
Pennsylvania, it’s one of the places in the country, he said “This is
Quantum Biology, what we’ve come to discover, is that those tags of information
that ride above the DNA are influenced by environment and nutrition. Because they tell us, It’s in your genes,
it’s in your genes, if your mom had cancer you’re gonna get cancer,” he
said ‘We’re starting to realize, this whole other set of information is
actually influenced by environment and nutrition.” And I think this angel was just tripping
off the epigenetics here, swinging his sword, he’s producing this [plague], but
science is finally catching up with the Bible [waay too much speculation on how
the angel did it in my opinion, way overthinking this thing.] If you wait long enough, the Bible always
wins, it always wins. An interesting
thing, in fact they, I just read an article, there were several men that had
this disease, and they refused the traditional treatment, and they took them
somewhere, changed their environment, changed their diet, put them in a hiking
thing every day, and in three months they were all free of the disease. They changed their environment, they changed
their nutrition, and they said ‘This is epigenetics,’ so I’m glad
they’re all confused and all scratching their heads and all working on it. But the angel evidently knew all about it
here. You can Google, if you think I’m
crazy go home and Google epigenetics, I’m not even smart enough to use a
computer, so you’re all waay ahead of me, but go home and Google epigenetics
and start to study it. Look, not only
will you be ahead of every church in the area, you’ll be ahead of most
scientists in the area, they’ll be amazed when they talk to you, how smart you
are [the real scientific articles showing up on Google are way over the average
person’s head or average schooling level, I did look it up, and I don’t have
sufficient schooling in advanced bio-chemistry or genetics to make heads or
tails of the explanation. I’m not saying
the scientist that gave Joe his facts was wrong, it’s just both Joe and most of
us are way below the level of understanding epigenetics.] Now the angel stretched out his hand, “And
when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD
repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It
is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD
was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.” (verse 16) the
LORD couldn’t even stand to
go for three days, this seems to be like a 6-hour period, if the morning is the
time of the morning sacrifice, to the time of the evening sacrifice, and it
says “the LORD
repented” that’s an anthropomorphism, it’s taking a human activity and
ascribing it to the Divine Being, trying to get us to understand what he
does. God cannot “repent” in the context
of New Testament repentance. New
Testament repentance is you and I would turn away from our sins and turn to
God. God can never repent in that
way. God changes his mind in this
context. If his people sin and rebel, he
has to respond to that one way. If they
turn away from their sin and turn back to him, he then changes, because he’s
unchanging and related to them in another way.
And from the earthly view it looks like he changed, but it isn’t
repentance the way we understand it. It
is because he is unchanging, he only related a certain way relative to,
particularly at this point in time, the Law, to how his people responded. And evidently, what we’re not told, as this
plague is coming, for God to change, there must have been voices now crying out
to the LORD,
there was some change, and because he is unchanging, he demonstrates now his
mercy, that looked like a change from the earthly position. And it says that he told the angel, ‘That’s enough, hold your hand,’ “And
the angel of the LORD
was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.” (verse 16c) King
James here “Araunah,” Ornan the Jebusite, interesting, this guy is a Jebusite,
he’s not even an Israelite, who has become loyal to David. And his threshingfloor is there, we’re going
to find out that’s interesting. “And
David spake unto the LORD
when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said,”
listen to what David says, “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done
wickedly: but these sheep, what have
they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s
house.” (verse 17) The
shepherd-king, these sheep. No doubt the
heart of the Father resonating in such a spectacular way, because that was the
voice of David’s greater Son, Jesus, ‘punish me, let it come upon me, not
these sheep, Father.’ And we’re
going to find out this whole scene transpires on Mount Moriah, where Christ
would be crucified, there’s a very interesting scene that comes before us here. ‘I’m the one whose done wrong, I’m the
one whose done evil,’ how the LORD
must be pleased with that, ‘but these sheep, have mercy on them.’ The
Threshingfloor Of Araunah Becomes A Very Special Altar “And
Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD
in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.” (verse 18) Gad,
the Prophet, the Seer. And when David
hears that, he takes a deep breath, because knows that if an altar is going up,
God is going to be satisfied. Blood is
going to flow, and God will be satisfied.
Remember, every worshipper in the Old Testament, and you need to apply
it to yourself in Christ, when any worshipper came, the priest never examined
the worshipper, he examined the lamb. If
you came with a lamb, it was a foregone conclusion you were a sinner, you
weren’t examined, you were there as a sinner, with a lamb, who was to be
without spot or blemish, it was the animal that was examined, and it was the
animal that died in the sinner’s place.
[That just explained in simplistic format the whole Old Testament
sacrificial system.] And David
understands that well, when he hears Gad say God wants you to build and altar
on the threshingfloor of Araunah. David,
what a remarkable, remarkable scene this is, and how David must feel this
excitement pulsing, especially when there was an angel with a sword swinging
around. “And David, according to the
saying of Gad, went up as the LORD
commanded. And Araunah looked, and saw
the king and his servants coming on toward him:
and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon
the ground.” (verses 19-20) What
does it mean “Araunah went out”? Well
back here in 1st Chronicles 21:20, it tells us this, “And
when Ornan [Araunah] turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons,” him
and his four sons must have been saying ‘Do you see that?’ ‘him and his
four sons all saw the angel,’ “and they hid themselves.” Now Ornan was there threshing wheat and David
came, so Ornan and his kids are hiding, they looked up and saw the angel,
strange day for Ornan the Jebusite. And
now he looks and sees David coming. And
it says when he saw David coming toward him, then Araunah went out, from
wherever he was hiding from, he comes out in the open, “and bowed himself
before the king on his face upon the ground.”
“And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his
servant? And David said, To buy the
threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD,”
and David makes it plain, “that the
plague may be stayed from the people.” (verse 21) And Araunah with his four sons hears that
if David buys the threshingfloor the plague’s going to be staid, Araunah says
to David, “And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer
up what seemeth good unto him:
behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing
instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.” (verse 22)
‘Take everything, quick, get moving.’ I
think David’s got no hesitation from Araunah.
“All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the
king. And Araunah said unto the king,
The LORD
thy God accept thee.” (verse 23) he
wants it to end, he don’t want this angel standing there. Now look, it’s a tough verse, verse 23, you
hear it in the Revised Standard, it gives a good shot at it. It’s not saying that Araunah’s a king, the
Hebrew seems to say “Araunah gave, as he gave to David, said O king, you’re the
king, and I give thee, O king,” the word “king” slides out of his mouth three
times in the Hebrew towards David. Some
try to say what he’s saying, and it doesn’t effect our flow here, that he was
giving David the king, as another king would give to him without cost. But you have to torture the original text to
get that. So it seems he says ‘O
king, here king I will give you, O king, take all this,’ “The LORD
God accept thee.” “And the king said
unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the
LORD
my God of that which doth cost me nothing.
So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver.” (verse 24) “And David built
there an altar unto the LORD,”
and when you read 1st
Chronicles again, it specifically tells us, it says ‘That David gave
Ornan for the threshingfloor, the area, 600 shekels of gold by weight,’ so
David pays for the threshingfloor and the area, listen this is important, 1st
Chronicles 21:25, he gives him 600 shekels of gold, that’s a good price, by
weight. And then he gives him 50 shekels
of silver, the price of redemption, he gives him the silver for the oxen, the
plow and the wood and the animals to offer.
The reason that’s important is, there is and has been and will be till
the Lord comes, constant contention over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (the
whole account is given in 1st Chronicles 21:15-30, be sure to read
it). [Comment: and here is a very interesting YouTube about
the Temple Mount (produced in associated with Koinonia House), and that
it may not be where everyone thought it was.
Major rabbinic authorities in Jerusalem are beginning to believe what’s
presented here is true, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQEJcsyI0Us]
The most tense place in the world is
the Middle East, not Washington, not Moscow, not North Korea [Comment: as of the 22nd of February 2022
right up to now in the month of April 2023 the Russian Federation under
Vladimir Putin has been waging all-out war against the Ukraine, drawing in both
the European nations of the EU and the United States in supplying military
weapons to the Ukraine for it’s self-defense.
This war has proven to be a unifying factor contributing to a
re-armament of Germany and many European nations not seen since World War
II. So the Middle East, at least
temporarily, is not the major hot-spot or focus of the world. But due to the cut-off of Russian natural gas
and petroleum to European nations, especially Germany, the Middle East and it’s
reserves in natural gas and oil, has become a major focus of the European
nations and Germany. The Bible
prophecied about a coming United States of Europe superpower over 2,500
years ago and 1,900 years ago, in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation
(see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm).] And the greatest tension in the world is over
Israel and the Jews in the mind of the Muslim world. And the greatest tension is over the Temple
Mount itself. But right here there’s a
Bill of Sale, it shouldn’t be any contest about who it belongs to, David bought
it for 600 shekels of gold weighed out, that’s a Bill of Sale. No matter what anybody says, no matter what
the President says or Putin says or the president of Iran says, here’s the Bill
of Sale. That’s why it’s important, I
don’t mean to bore you. But that’s why
it’s important for you to understand. In
Chronicles it says specifically that David paid 600 shekels of gold, weighed
out to Oran, and he bought the threshingfloor of Ornan, we’re going to read
specifically where that is, he bought it and then paid 50 shekels of silver for
the animals, “And David built there an altar unto the LORD,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD
was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” (verse 25) It says here in 1st Chronicles,
wonderfully, listen to this, “And David built there an altar unto the LORD,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD;
and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.” (1st
Chronicles 21:26) it says in Chronicles
that eternal fire fell from heaven, as it did with Nadab and Abihu, as it did
when Elijah called down fire from heaven, that the Eternal did on Sodom and
Gomorrah, it tells us in Jude, eternal fire.
Here the fire of heaven falls upon the altar that David built on the
threshingfloor of Ornan, “And the LORD
commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath
thereof. At that time when David saw
that the LORD
had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he
sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of
the LORD,
which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were
at that season in the high place at Gibeon.
But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the
angel of the LORD.”
(1st Chronicles 21:27-30)
Chapter 22:1, “Then David said, This is the house of the LORD
God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel…And David
said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is
to be builded for the LORD
must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all
countries: I will therefore now
make preparation for it. So David
prepared abundantly before his death.” (1st Chronicles 22:1, 5)
David, when he saw the fire of God fall
out of heaven, on the threshingfloor of Ornan [Araunah], said ‘This is
the place, I know now where the Temple is to be built,’ and it
tells us in 2nd Chronicles chapter 3, “Then Solomon began
to build the house of the LORD
at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the LORD
appeared unto David his father in the place that David had prepared in the
threshingfloor of Ornan.” It
tells us specifically the threshingfloor of Ornan is on Mount Moriah, where
Abraham brought Isaac, a remarkable place.
And David bought this threshingfloor, and it says that the fire of God,
eternal fire, fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, and that the LORD
was entreated, and David understood what had taken place. And I am sure, when you talk to David in
heaven [at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 19:7-9)], he will tell
you, that was the high point of his life.
Because I wonder what else he saw there, on Mount Moriah, where Abraham
had offered Isaac? I wonder if he saw
his greater Son there on the cross, I wonder what he saw as the fire fell? Those of you who go to Israel with us, if
World War III doesn’t happen before the end of October, if it does, we’ll all
go together at some point, there is an interesting site several hundred feet
north of the Dome of the Rock mosque.
The Dome of the Rock mosque where the Muslims believe Abraham offered
Ishmael, they don’t believe he offered Isaac, around the top of the mosque it
says in Arabic ‘God is not begotten, neither does he beget,’ it is a
slander against the God of the Bible and his Son Jesus Christ, ‘God is not
begotten, neither does he beget,’ because they can’t get past this idea
that God had a Son, they can’t put it in their minds, into the context, you
know, the Incarnation, they for some reason can’t get ahold of the fact that he
came. But north of there, on the Temple
Mount, there is a small dome there, and it’s called the Dome of the Tablets,
interesting name, or the Dome of the Spirits, it’s not as big as this stage,
but it’s an area, and it has a little dome over it, and all the rest of the
surface there are stones that are brought in.
But in the base of the Dome of the Tablets, it’s bedrock, and it is
perfectly flat. Inside the Dome of the
Rock there is a huge jagged outcropping where they believe Abraham offered Ishmael. But that could never be a threshingfloor, a
threshingfloor was perfectly flat. And
north of, on the same Temple Mount, north of there, is a flat outcropping that
is called the Dome of the Tablets, in Arabic, called the Dome of the Tablets,
or the Dome of the Spirits, and it goes back in antiquity to these days. And that, when we stand there and look at it,
may have been the place where Solomon’s Temple was built, that may be part of
the threshingfloor of Ornan, that may be the spot, if its in fact the Dome of
the Tablets, where the Ark of the Covenant stood in Solomon’s Temple. [Comment:
and again, here is a very
interesting YouTube about the Temple Mount (produced in associated with Koinonia
House), and that it may not be where everyone thought it was. Major rabbinic authorities in Jerusalem are
beginning to believe what’s presented here is true, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQEJcsyI0Us] There’s not enough room for all of you to go
on this trip, for those of you who are going.
It’s remarkable to stand there, to look at that. In
closing Tonight,
we’re going to have the musicians come, we’ll lift our hearts. Look, I encourage those of you who are
struggling with assurance, it’s not about your performance, it’s not about your
weaknesses or about your strength, it’s about faith, and God’s sacrifice. He rained down his own fire upon his Son,
propitiation was accomplished, God’s wrath was satisfied on Jesus Christ, the
perfect sacrifice. And when he came out of
those three hours of darkness he said ‘It is finished, Tutelisti, paid in
full.’ Now that doesn’t mean you
may not mess up, and you won’t make mistakes, it doesn’t mean tonight maybe you
may not have a defeatist attitude, you may think ‘Hey, I know better, I’m a
Christian, I shouldn’t be doing this stuff.’
Let me tell you something, he loves you, and the day he saved you,
he knew that you were going to mess up, and he saved you anyway. Because he paid for all of that 2,000 years
ago. And sometimes we get so warped in
our thinking, something happens to somebody around us, and we think, ‘That’s
what God’s, getting them to get at me,’ that ain’t happening. That’s that not Biblical, neither is “ain’t”
but that’s not either. Because God got
somebody else for you, 2,000 years ago on a cross, he got somebody else. And he got all of it done there, your sins
from today, from yesterday, and tomorrow, he got it all done, and he said “it
is finished,” we’re not, God’s working faithfully to conform us into the image
of his Son, and he’s going to continue to do the good work he’s begun in us,
and what a job it is. But it, the issue
of redemption, and God’s wrath being satisfied, is finished, if you have come
to him by faith. So those of you this
evening, that are wrestling with the condemnation of the devil, look if that
rotten feeling is driving away from the Lord, you refuse that, you refuse
that. This is God’s Word, in God’s Word
the anti-christ can’t change his number from 666 to 667, it’s all going to
happen exactly the way God says it’s going to happen. And you come to him in repentance and in
faith, your sins are taken care of. If
you have never come, this evening, as we sing this last song, we’d encourage
you just to wander down here, we’d love to pray with you. But look, in doing that, this is an issue
between you and God, you and a holy God, and what you’re saying is, ‘I know
I’m a sinner, and I’m willing to turn away from my sin, repent, and I’m willing
to turn to God and believe that the blood of Christ that was shed on a cross
paid for my sins, and I’m willing to trust that in faith, I’m willing to come
tonight, I want to know when I die I’m going to go to heaven, I’m not going to
go to hell, I want to know that.’ Nothing
in this world is certain, what I’m telling you is certain, is certain. And if you’ve never made that decision, we’d
love to see you, we get excited when somebody comes, to watch what God does,
he’s the one who adds to the church daily such as should be saved. But if you haven’t done that this evening,
you come. If your friend brought you,
they’re going to say ‘Come on, come on, I’ll go down with you,’ that’s
their job, they got you this far, they can’t stand the fact that you won’t walk
the 40 last feet, so they’re going to be ‘Come on, come on, come on.’ And they’re going to say ‘You set me
up!’ You say ‘No, God set you up
a long time ago, I’m just part of it.’ You
come tonight. If you’re tired of playing
games, you’re tired of the emptiness, you’re tired of being able to fool
everybody else, and not fool yourself, and you know you need forgiveness, we’d
love to pray with you and give you a Bible and some literature to read, you
come. I would encourage you tonight, if
you’ve been a prodigal, and Satan’s lying to you, and he’s telling you that God
in heaven doesn’t love you anymore, Jesus said ‘No man knows the Father
but he who has come down from above,’ Jesus himself, and he says ‘the
Father, let me tell you what he’s like, he’s not like these Pharisees over
here, he watches, like a brokenhearted father, every day for his child to
return, and when he sees him coming in a great distance, he girds himself up,
and he runs, and he falls on that prodigal, and he weeps, and he kisses him, he
washes him in tears, he gives him a fresh robe, puts the ring of being a son
and an heir back on his finger.’ If
I said that to you it would be blasphemous, Jesus said it to us, he said that’s
who his Father is. And if you’ve been
away, tonight as we sing this last song, you just bring your heart back, it
doesn’t matter what anybody in this room sees or doesn’t see, you bring your
heart back before the Lord, and say ‘I want a fresh start, I want to walk
back out of here tonight, past Go, collect $200, and start around the board
again, fresh, I just want a fresh start tonight,’ and do that with all
sincerity. Let’s pray…[transcript of a
connective expository sermon on 2nd Samuel 24:1-25, given by Pastor
Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia,
PA 19116] related
links: Some
people say ‘The Bible’s got mistakes, errors in it, so I can’t trust it,’ the
Bible proves itself to the skeptics through fulfilled prophecies, read through http://www.unityinchrist.com/ProofOfTheBible-FulfilledProphecy.htm Here
is a very interesting YouTube about the Temple Mount (produced in associated
with Koinonia House), and that it may not be where everyone thought it
was. Major rabbinic authorities in
Jerusalem are beginning to believe what’s presented here is true, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQEJcsyI0Us As
of the 22nd of February 2022 right up to now in the month of April
2023 the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin has been waging all-out war
against the Ukraine, drawing in both the European nations of the EU and the
United States in supplying military weapons to the Ukraine for it’s
self-defense. This war has proven to be
a unifying factor contributing to a re-armament of Germany and many European
nations not seen since World War II. The
Bible prophecied about a coming United States of Europe superpower over
2,500 years ago and 1,900 years ago, in the Book of Daniel and the Book of
Revelation (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED680 |