...greatly to be praised.
In the city of our God, in the
beautiful situation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion, the city of the great
King.
God is known in her palace.
Although the kings were assembled, they passed by
together, they saw it, and so they marveled.
They were troubled and hasted away.
Fear took hold of them, and pain as
of a woman in trouble.
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with them.
As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of the Lord, of hosts,
in the city of our God, God will
establish it forever.
We have thought of thy loving kindness, O
God, in the midst of thy temple.
According to thy name, O God, so is
thy praise unto all the ends of the
earth.
Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of
Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
Walk about Zion, go round about her, tell
the towers thereof, mark you well her bulwarks,
consider her palaces, that ye may tell it
to the generation following.
For this God is our God forever and
ever, and he will be our guide even
unto death, or possibly even over death.
As Psalm 49, 15 has it, God will
redeem my soul from the power of the
grave.
David loved Zion, and I think God loved
it before David did.
A long
way back, if we correctly look, we will
again be appraised.
The other thing was, it wasn't always the
way it was.
The possession of an Amorite commanded that that
unholy people should be wiped off the face
of the earth.
I think we have noted together the promises
made to Joshua and fulfilled in him, and
yet the strange conflict in the book of
Judges.
For instance, Joshua 23 and verse 14.
And behold, this day, says Joshua, I am
going the way of all the earth, and
ye know in all your hearts and in
all your souls, that not one thing hath
failed of all the good things which the
Lord your God spake concerning you.
All are come to pass unto you, and
not one thing hath failed thereof.
And verse 9, the Lord hath driven out
from before you great nations and strong, but
as for you, no man hath been able
to stand before you to this day.
And in Joshua chapter 21, verse 44, verse
43, the Lord gave unto Israel all the
land which he sware to give to their
fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt therein.
And the Lord gave them rest round about
according to all that he sware unto their
fathers.
And there stood not a man of all
their enemies before them, for the Lord delivered
all their enemies into their hands.
There failed not ought of any good thing
which the Lord had spoken unto the house
of Cain to pass.
And then you turn over to Judges, and
you find there are clauses to reduce almost
everything.
And verse 17, the Lord hath whipped up
a Jabezite's dwell with the children of Benjamin
in Jerusalem unto this day.
And verse 27, neither did Manasseh drive out
the inhabitants of Bethsheb.
And verse 28, they put them unto tribute,
but did not utterly drive them out.
But in
Joshua you get all those, and then you
turn over to Judges, and you find that
in instance after, not
unfamiliar though is it, God has given us
exceeding great and precious promises, that by these
we might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the
world.
And yet often in life after life, situation
after situation, there is awareness that the fullness
of those promises are very complete and full,
and yet there are inconsistencies.
Now in the very heart of the territory
of Israel was the little Jabezite fortress.
And the Jabezites, as Judges tells us, remained
there in peace.
The Israelites couldn't drive them out.
They had a neat little fortress there that
nobody could overcome.
There was no engine of war that could
attack those walls.
The place was inaccessible to the foe.
Only a little fortress it was, about a
quarter of a mile long and less than
that wide.
Surrounded by great hills, but no one could
get at the Jabezites, and so the Israelites
settled down and got used to a compromised
situation, and existed that way for 400 years.
And just think, all that time God had
his eye on that heart of nation, and
all that time it was in other hands,
and God was not on it there.
Until David obtained the throne and moved into
power, and he said it's time that this
sort of situation should cease.
Second Samuel, chapter 5, verse
6 to 9.
And the king and his men went to
Jerusalem unto the Jabezites, the inhabitants of the
land, which they heard of David saying, except
thou take away the blind of the lame,
thou shalt not come in hither.
Thinking David can't come in hither.
Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, the
same as the city of David.
And David said on that day, whosoever get
it up to the gutter, and slighteth the
Jabezites, and the lame and the blind, that
are hated of David's soul, he shall be
chief and captain.
Wherefore they had said, the blind and the
lame shall not come into the house.
So David dwelt in the fort, and called
it the city of David.
And David built round about from millow.
And there's also a related passage to that,
let me see, in 1 Chronicles chapter 11,
verse 4.
David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which
is Jabez, where the Jabezites were, the inhabitants
of the land.
And the inhabitants of Jabez said to David,
thou shalt not come in hither.
Nevertheless, David took the castle of Zion, which
is the city of David.
And David said, whosoever slighteth the Jabezites first,
shall be chief and captain.
So Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went first
up, and was chief.
And David dwelt in the castle, therefore they
called it the city of David.
There is a mention
that
Joab went up a gutter.
And those of you who have been to
Jerusalem will know where that gutter is.
For the secret of the strength of the
Jabezite fortress was its hidden spring.
Beautiful spring of water.
That was its strength.
And strange to say, its strength was also
its weakness.
For David somehow found out that there was
a way up through a secret gutter or
shaft to the very heart of the fortress.
And when Joab moved in, he led a
small expedition by night, no doubt, up to
the open end of the spring.
It was in a cave.
He entered the cave and began to climb
up the shaft where the women used to
let their buckets down, or their pitchers down,
to draw water.
And he and his men climbed up that
gutter and opened the gates to David's waiting
armies.
Its greatest strength was also its greatest weakness.
There is a way of victory.
No matter how long victory has been delayed
in your life and mine at all, the
promises are there, sure and impregnable.
And the greater than Joshua has secured them.
And God waits for our place of holy
impatience.
Where we say, this shall not be.
God has a way of victory.
And that way in was surprisingly enough, the
very source and centre of strength of those
Jabezites.
We often find this sort of thing in
the spiritual warfare.
We look all kinds of places to find
the way of victory.
We read all sorts of books and work
out all kinds of theories.
But basically, the heart of the matter is
the secret of the matter.
And when we get right to the heart
of things, then God can begin to move
and give us the promises.
They moved in and obtained the victory.
So if there is someone feeling that the
promises are there but they are not quite
working, well that is the sort of situation
that David was in.
And he won through.
Praise the Lord.
So can you.
There is a way through.
And it is a simple way.
It is a way which deals with the
heart.
It is a way which deals with the
very core of the problem.
And there, everything can be reversed when they
are simple enough.
So the fortress became the city of David,
the stronghold, very precious to God and very
precious to David.
And that is why there are so many
songs about it.
Zion, city of our God.
It is related to the signs of the
Lord.
Well, the little fortress of
Zion was way down in the valleys.
And later on, David obtained that beauty.
And probably that is the idea on the
signs of the Lord.
Possibly too, just beyond Moriah, we have seen
the beauty of the days of David onwards.
David got strong.
Built his palace down in his little fortress
city.
All the tribes submitted to him.
He became ruler of the whole country.
His armies were increased.
And he was so very, very pleased with
himself that something like spiritual pride rose up
in him.
And he saw that he was become so
great that he could take confidence upon it.
And in, let me see, 1 Chronicles chapter
21, we
are told how David's pride rose up.
1 Chronicles 21.
And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked
David to number Israel.
Behind his pride was Satan.
2 Samuel 24, verse
1.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel and he moved David against them
to say, go, number Israel and Judah.
One of those apparent contradictions.
There are lots in these two accounts.
And I can't explain.
They are beyond me.
There are differences in the figures and differences
in the sources.
I just can't explain them.
And there is something very interesting here.
The one writer says that it was Satan
at the back of the tribe.
Someone said that Satan is God's watchdog.
God's hound.
God's sheepdog.
To do some of his jobs for him.
Some of the less pleasant jobs.
I don't know if that ties all together.
For instance, we know that Satan entered into
Judas to betray his Lord.
But when Peter is preaching after Pentecost, he
says that we know that you did it
through ignorance, but you did it to fulfill
that which the Lord had ordained before should
be done.
Isn't that odd?
Satan with all his cunning and corruption and
wickedness was in the end only fulfilling God's
sovereign and inscrutable will.
Now if you're a pessimist, you can say
it's all Satan.
If you're an optimist, you can say God
allows it and he's got to cause it
for all to work together for good.
These are two aspects of nearly always behind
every crisis you will find that Satan and
God are operating.
There are tremendous spiritual bosses dealing in your
life and mine.
When David was persuaded of Satan, David said
to Joab and to the rulers of the
people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to
Dan.
Joab was a bloodthirsty man.
He wasn't a bit spiritual.
Wasn't it a bit annoying for David, the
sweet singer of Israel, to question
his spiritual principles?
The principles of the trespass are very,
very upsetting.
Well deserved.
So do it.
When they'll take us to the son of
the tomb of Israel, then shall they give
every man.
David was saying, Oh, I'm very popular.
Tax on the people.
Retain my popularity and help you do it.
To remind them that they're not yours, King
David, they're God's.
The tax is a redemption tax.
To remind them that God purchased them out
of Egypt and they are his and his
alone.
David said don't you worry.
And Joab got busy and went up and
returned the whole list to David.
David was so pleased to be right.
Isn't it nice to feel cherky about it?
And David was like that until, poor fellow,
papers were returned and all the facts and
figures were in.
And then, look at it, verse
10.
And David's heart spoke to him.
Details in his heart spoke to him.
These things are written for us.
You and I go dancing in heaven.
And just when you're succeeding and the whole
thing is done.
When David was up in the morning, the
word of the Lord came to David.
Thus said the Lord, I offer thee three
things.
Choose your judgment account.
And it wasn't until he had done the
whole thing.
I read these things with, and go
ahead carrying out wonderful schemes.
And then just when you're finished.
So I thought I did.
I thought it was a good idea.
Anyway, I consulted lots of people and everybody
said it was okay.
And were you thinking of your, of mine?
And here was the alternative.
Verse 10 of 1 Chronicles 21.
Go and tell David, saying, Thus said the
Lord, I offer thee three things.
Choose thee one of them, and I may
do it unto thee.
So Gad came to David and said to
him, Thus said the Lord, Choose thee either
three years famine, or three months to be
destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword
of thine enemies overtaketh thee.
For else three days the sword of the
Lord, even the pestilence in the land, and
the angel of the Lord, destroying through all
the coast of Israel.
Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall
give.
And David was then a great strait.
What should he do now?
And he thought the matter over.
I don't want to fall into the hands
of the enemies, the haters of God.
Let God judge me.
And he sent a saint to put himself
right into the hands of God.
And he said, Alright Lord, let the judgment
come directly from you.
Now it could have been a long drawn
out thing, over three years of famine.
But he, the Lord didn't give him that
one.
He had already refused being destroyed by that
driving enemies of Israel over three months.
And the alternative left was three days of
pestilence.
It was awful, it was terrible, it was
sudden.
The angel of the Lord, invisible in the
heavens, began to unsheathe his mighty sword and
sweep through the land with pestilence until thousands
upon thousands died.
And not only was David's numbers numbering all
upset, but innocent men and women and children
were dying because of his pride and famine.
He, the shepherd of Israel, he the man
who was appointed to be God's under shepherd,
was now the cause of the nation dying
all the way down from Dan to Beersheba.
The pestilence was moving in terror of destruction.
And he could hear the wailing and the
mourning of those who had lost their loved
ones as the angel of death moved through
the land.
The bigger our calling, the higher our responsibility
for more damage.
It was because of David's high calling that
his little bit of pride and folly destroyed
thousands upon thousands.
So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel and
then 70,000 men.
And God sent angels for Jerusalem to destroy.
And as he was destroyed, the Lord beheld
and he repented him of the evil and
said to the angel that destroyed, it is
enough, stay now thine hand.
And the angel of the Lord stood by
the threshing floor of Onem the Jebusite, the
great hill to the north of David's little
fortress.
And David's eyes were opened and he saw
now visibly the angel of the Lord above
the city with his sword extended to destroy.
He now saw clearly, oh he had seen
a little more clearly at the beginning, but
now he saw in the hour of God's
tremendous judgment the terror of the Lord.
And David lifted up his eyes and saw
the angel of the Lord stand between the
earth and the heaven having a drawn sword
stretched out over Jerusalem.
Then David and the elders of Israel who
were clothed in sackcloth fell on their faces.
And David said to God, is it not
I that commanded the people to be numbered?
Even I it is that have sinned and
done this evil indeed.
But as for these sheep, what have they
done?
Let thine hand, I pray thee, oh Lord
my God, be on me and on my
father's house, but not on my people that
they should be.
And then came mercy.
When David recognized deeply, realized his pride and
sin and repented, then the angel of the
Lord commanded that David should go up and
sit.
He didn't flee from the suspended sword of
judgment.
He moved and there he met the owner
of the land.
Paul answered to
David with his face to the ground.
Can you imagine these two men aware, visibly
aware by supernatural sight of the angel of
judgment over their heads, the sword of the
pestilence suspended above them and they move under
the awesomeness of God's disfavor, move toward each
other and strike the bargain which will bring
the salvation of the people.
David said, grant me the place of this
threshing floor, that I might build an altar
there to the Lord.
Therefore grant it to me for the full
price that the plague may be stayed from
the people.
And the owner said, you take it my
Lord for the meat offering, I'll give it
all.
No, he said, David, I can't do that,
I'll buy it for the full price.
So he paid the price for the whole
hill of Moriah, which had long sinned.
And there he built an altar to the
Lord.
There he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings,
the books and the wood of the threshing
floor for fuel.
There he called upon the Lord and he
answered him from heaven by fire upon the
altar of burnt offering.
Fire came flashing down where that sword had
been and consumed the whole burnt offering.
And there was no need for David to
apply a torch, no ministry of any member
of the Aaronic family.
God sent the fire from heaven and consumed
the offering.
And the plague was stayed.
And the Lord commanded the angel, many, many
years after that very same hill,
suspended over the whole.
And another sacrifice was made and
the judgment of God for
him here beautifully recorded.
There upon Calcutta's hill, our Savior was hung
between those trees.
O Christ, what burdens thou thy head, our
loaves laid on thee.
Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead, despair all
ill for me.
A victim laid, thy blood was shed.
Now there's no load.
Death and the curse were in our cup.
O Christ, it was full for thee.
But thou hast drained the last dark drop.
It is empty now for me.
That bitter cup, love drank it up.
Now blessings drowned for me.
There's another verse that is not in this
book.
I'll just put it here somewhere.
Jehovah bade his sword awake.
O Christ, it woke against thee.
Thy precious blood, its thirst must slake.
Thy heart, its sheath must be.
All for my sake, my peace to me.
Now there's no sword.
It was on above Moriah, above Golgotha, that
David saw the sword suspended.
The sword of death and judgment.
And there he knew, dear, the power of
peace with God.
The tempest's awful voice was heard.
O Christ, it broke on thee.
Thy open bosom was my ward.
It braved the storm for me.
Thy foremost scar, thy visit marred.
Now cloudless peace for me.
For me, Lord Jesus, thou hast died.
And I have died in thee.
Thou art risen.
My bands are all untied.
And now thou livest in me.
When purified, made white and tried, thy glory
then for me.
There upon Moriah, David enacted, and saw divinely
enacted, the judgment of Calvary on our behalf.
Now there's a strange sequel to that.
1 Corinthians, 1 Chronicles, chapter 20.
At that time, when David saw that the
Lord had answered him in the threshing floor
of all Ammon and Abizite, then he sacrificed
them for the tabernacle of the Lord which
Moses made in the wilderness.
And the altar of burnt offering were at
that season in the high place at Gibeon.
But David could not go before it to
inquire of God, for he was afraid because
of the sword of the angel of the
Lord.
That's the ultimate contradiction.
Gibeon was the place where the tabernacle was.
Gibeon where the altar and the sacrifice and
the priesthood were functioning.
And David said, I'm not going down there.
I might meet with the sword of the
Lord down there.
The only place that I'm going to meet
with God in the future is this place
where I saw the Lord, the sword of
the Lord, magnificent
immersion in David's thinking.
He realized now the only place of safety
for him was not in all the outward
ritual of the tabernacle.
Remember before, almost
unconsciously, we get taken up with our work,
where peace was made through the blood of
his cross.
One of the greatest marks of a Christian
who is going on with God is his
awareness of where peace has been made once
for all.
Where righteousness has been established.
It wasn't in you, it wasn't in me.
And the truly sanctified heart is the heart
that has learned to look away in the
area of service or success, that place called
Calvary, and see in Christ peace and sanctification.
That's why the Lord calls us back.
He says, do it in remembrance.
Because he knows that as we go on,
our very successes, as with David, may lead
us away.
And he brings us back, back to the
place where peace was made.
And when all this story was over, and
the matter had been settled, then God had
brought his ultimate purpose for Jerusalem into view.
And the threshing floor of Orlando's Jezuzite became
the site of the temple.
And there was God's designed place for his
work.
Now I can't go through all this again.
It's much too...