Gooding, David: 2 - Christ and the House of God

This is now the second talk in a series of talks on the first and second book of Kings. In our first session, we thought particularly about what this book had to say on the topic of God's provision for his people. The book opened, we noticed, with the death of David, who had brought the nation not only to unity, but to a very large, by their standards, empire. Now he was going. And the question would be, what provision, if any, did God make for the maintenance of his people Israel when David had gone? And what provision did God make for the recovery of Israel, if ever they should go astray. And we found that the answer to those two questions was that God's provision did not depend simply on a succession of very brave and wise kings. Some of the kings that followed David were wise, some wise in their own conceits, but, uh, some of them were powerful. But they were a varied bunch, and some of them were spiritually hopeless. So that the story of First and Second Kings, from one point of view, is a melancholy, uh, melancholy, uh, su- succession of spiritual failures. On the other hand, we noticed that there were revivals in the course of Israel's history. So let's look, uh, at a slide of the... uh, of a reconstruction of the house of the Lord. It is called here a temple, and it was in our modern sense a temple, but it is referred to constantly by another name, that is the House of the Lord, or the House of God at Jerusalem. This that you see before you is a reconstruction, as best can be done, of the, what the building might have looked like. As you approached it, there were two pillars, and they were probably self-standing pillars. They weren't upholding anything of the building, but they had on the top of them two beautiful capitals with fruit and flowers, uh, arranged, delightful things. Their job as pillars were, was to hold it up. So there were two of them. They were so important that they got names. One was Jachin and the other Boaz. You'll see, in it is strength, and he shall support. Then, uh, there were doors at the front. They were folding doors, and they were carved with cherubim and open flowers. For our purpose tonight, we ought to notice that, uh, the temple itself, the house of God itself, is formed of this oblong building. This here, this side, the side bit here, and you see at the front of the side bit here too, was strictly speaking not the house of God. These were rooms, presumably for the use of the priests, who had their task to do in the house of the Lord, to prepare the sacrifices, to prepare the incense, to look after the treasury, to bake the showbread, uh, to process the oil for the light, and so forth and so on. These were rooms, uh, for the priests, therefore side rooms. They were strictly not part of the house itself, though they were there for practical purposes for the running of the house. We shall be now reading together the technical terms that describe this house and then the side chambers. And we may notice in advance that the way these side chambers were built secured this, that the beams that, uh, formed the substance of their structure did not penetrate the actual wall of the house. That for the Jewish rabbis was exceedingly important and had great significance. So let us read the passage, if we may. This is one Kings chapter six. at verse one. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he, that is Solomon, began to build the house of the Lord. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore, that's sixty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length of it according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. And for the house he made windows of fixed lattice work. And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle. And he made side chambers round about. The nethermost story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For on the outside he made rebatements in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone, made ready at the quarry. And there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building. The door for the middle side chambers was in the right side of the house, and they went up by winding stairs into the middle chambers and out of the middle into the third. So he built the house and finished it, and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high, and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. So let us look at another slide that will help us comprehend the, uh, uh, s- material that we have been considering. Here is a ground plan, uh, do you see, with the temp- with the pillars here, freestanding pillars, with their capitals. There was the porch in front of the house called the Ulam. There was then in the, uh, as in the tabernacle, the holy place with the lampstands and the table of showbread and the incense altar. And then there was the holy of all, the holy of holies with the ark, uh, called the Debir in Hebrew. There were differences, uh, s- some significant differences between the furniture for the house of the Lord at Jerusalem and the tabernacle that had been. We shall come across that later. Here is the floor pan of the store chambers. We'll look now at, uh, uh, drawings of of how they might have been arranged, if we could have the next, do you see, like this. Here is the wall of the, um, House of God itself, running up here. Against it are rebatements. So every, now often there's a a bit inside here, you see, and bit here. Yes? The point of it was that the beams that formed the ceiling of this house on the ground floor and the floor of the room above it were on a wall built here, but they did not protrude into the actual wall of the temple itself. That was very deliberate because, in technical terms, had that protruded into the wall itself, it would have partaken of the holiness of the temple itself, whereas, uh, not protruding into the wall, it was in that sense a separate arrangement. So then, as the text has told us, this one was five cubits, this, because of the extra rebatement, was six cubits, this, because of the, again, the extra rebatement, was seven cubits. That is how the, um, uh, side chambers were constructed. But now tonight we shall notice one of the most im- uh, most important things. There was only one house of God for the whole of Israel. Let that, uh, so to speak, penetrate our thinking. Later on, during the centuries, the institution of the synagogue was made in Israel. And there were synagogues all over the place. You will read, for instance, in the Christian gospels of how our Lord went into the synagogue in Capernaum or the synagogue somewhere else, the synagogue in Nazareth. There were synagogues all over the country. And indeed, because of the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world, there were synagogues in many foreign countries as well. There was a very big and important synagogue in Alexandria in Egypt. Very exceedingly important synagogue it was. S- uh, one of the Cleopatras had two leaders of her army, they both of them were Jews. There was a very big synagogue just outside Babylon over the years, in a place called Pumbeditha. Do you see? There are synagogues to this very present day, or at least at one synagogue in Northern Ireland. There used to be two down in Dublin. But it is important to see the difference between a synagogue and the house of the Lord, or the temple at Jerusalem. In the synagogue, there were no priests. In the synagogue, there were no sacrifices. Inside the synagogue, to this very present day, there is no showbread or lampstand or incense altar. There is no ark. I better correct that. They have what they call in a modern synagogue an ark. And the long end at the end of the synagogue, there is a, a an arch with a curtain drawn across it. If you draw aside the curtain, you will find inside that, uh, uh, niche in the wall a scroll, which is the scroll of the law, the Pentateuch, the first five books of scripture, uh, in Hebrew. And on a Sabbath, it is taken out and ceremonially walked around the whole synagogue, you'll see, and the, um, uh, then the cantor will, on a big stage, he will rise up and he will recite, uh, or read a long, long passage from the law. This is done every Sabbath in a Jewish synagogue to this present day, do you see? And when the s- uh, scroll is then, uh, paraded round, uh, the congregation, the men take their prayer shawls, and they touch with the, with the shawl, they touch the, uh, scroll of the law, put it to their mouth and kiss it to signify what is written in the Psalms, thy law is like honey to my mouth, you see. But there was no sacrifice in the synagogue. There was only one house of the Lord. It was at Jerusalem. And, uh, we are to think about that as to what is the concept behind the house of God. Why did they not have more than one? Why didn't they only have one in the whole world? Well, of course, it depends on their concept of what the house of God was. So I'm about to read one or two ideas about house of God, as people down the ages have, uh, talked about it. The first one comes with Jacob's experience as described in the book of, uh, Genesis. Genesis chapter twenty eight. And what we're looking for now is Jacob's concept of what the house of God means. And you'll see Genesis twenty eight then, and this is Jacob, had he running away from home to escape being murdered by his brother, whom he cheated, and uh he, when he couldn't keep awake any longer, he laid down, and verse twelve of chapter twenty eight says, he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. I ask you to notice, if you will, that the ladder wasn't let down from heaven, and the bottom of it almost reached earth. The ladder was set up on earth, and the top, uh, uh, went towards heaven. And he beheld, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. You notice the direction the, the angels are, uh, traveling, yes? They're going up and down. Angels normally, so we have in other parts of scripture, angels stand in the presence of God waiting to be commanded. When they're commanded on some business or other, they leave the divine presence and go wherever necessary to go, and then the job finished, they return. These angels were not coming down and going back. They were ascending and descending. Where was God? Well, we should be told. Josie. Verse sixteen. Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, surely the Lord is in this place. Notice he doesn't say, surely the Lord is in heaven. Jacob belie- had believed that a long, long while, God was in heaven. It was sometimes convenient for Jacob to have God somewhat removed up way up in heaven, particularly when Jacob had some very questionable things to be done, uh, do you see? But God in this place, where Jacob was. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place? This is none other, uh, but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place. We should notice then where God was, and behold, verse thirteen says, the Lord stood. Now, I don't know what translation you have of the Hebrew. It should not be stood above it. It should be by the side of it, or even perhaps stood above Jacob. Because you notice what Jacob says, the Lord is in this place, where Jacob was, had been sleeping these last nine hours or so with a rock for his pillow. God in this place, and I knew it not. This is the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Again, we shall have to ask what Jacob meant by that. Jacob was not saying to himself, as far as I can make out, oh, how marvelous. Well, last I have discovered the way into heaven. Look at that, and the gates open, I shall go in. Oh, no, no, no. It wasn't for going into heaven just so quick as all that. Hadn't been married, for instance. You want to be married first, find out what life was about. I want to go to heaven too quick. Not Jacob, do you see? And he says, this is the gate of heaven. He's thinking like an Easterner would. You'll see, you can see an ancient gate if you go to a place called Dan or Laish in the north of Israel. The ancient gate is there, and it's like the vestibule at Queens. When you go into the building, you find it's a big open place. You see, and doors going off it, and then you come out the other side into the green lawns of Queens, you see. So a gate of a city was like that, and it had seats around the side of it because it was there that the elders met to administer the affairs of the city. The elders sat in the gate, to use the Hebrew phrase, to administer the gate to, uh, the affairs of the city. And now it begins to make sense, doesn't it? This is house of God. What do you mean by house of God? This is the gate of heaven. Look at those angels. Going up and down ceaselessly on the ladder, going out from the divine presence and coming back to the divine presence. Gods, I nearly said his civil service, more civil than some, a- and uh, as you'll see, and uh, uh, his executives going out from the presence of God and coming back. That was Jacob's concept. And of course, he had a proposal to put to God, for Jacob wasn't, uh, slow to see the business implications of this. Well, Lord, if in fact you're by my side, and plenty of angels, I mean, God, would it be too much to ask if you would give me a decent living and a decent wage and food to eat and clothes to wear? Uh, I'm not fussy, but I like good clothes, a- and and uh, uh, bring me back again, you'll see, in peace. Oh, what else would you use angels for, if you were Jacob? But the concept of God's executive, the gate where God administers his affairs. Down by Jacob's elbow. Well, let's leave me leave it there for a moment. That was Jacob's impression of the house of God. Now let me read you a New Testament one. This is the Gospel of John and chapter one. And Philip has gone after Nathaniel and has preached the gospel to him. And Nathanael says to him, verse forty six, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him, behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael saith unto him, whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? Is that why you believe? You shall see greater things than these. And he says to him, verily, verily, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Of course, it's no, uh, uh, uh, um, wonder, perhaps, that Christ should address Nathaniel like this, because Christ had begun his, gone his comments by saying, this is an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Jacob, the first Israelite, was moderately full of guile. He knew how to get a good bargain, uh, you'll see, but um, uh, this Nathaniel was an honest fellow, said Christ, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile, says openly what he thinks, and he doubts my character, says Christ, in by implication. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And if I come from Nazareth, he thinks I'm worth nothing. Says he to Nathaniel, you shall see greater things than these. You impressed because I said I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you. I knew you were there, I saw you. You impressed by that? One of these days you'll see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. So let me ask you a question. Do you hope to see it? When do you think the angels will start ascending and descending upon the Son of Man? Did I hear some adventurous soul saying, I think they're already doing it? Well, wait a minute, you said, no, that won't be until the second coming. Oh, really? What is Christ's relationship with the angels nowadays? We are reliably told, are we not, that he has ascended up far above principality and powers. He's seated in the heavenly places, far above the principalities and powers, and if you please, it is your claim as believers that you are seated with him above the The angels. angels? Oh, you are somebody, aren't you? What, above angels? Well, without exaggeration, I can quote to you Colossians chapter two, verses nine to ten. For For in in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. So you're seated in Christ in heavenly places, and he's above the angels. And in him you are made full. Because, you see, he is the head of all principality and power. You believe it? For if you believe it, you have a right to say with Jacob, this is none other than the house of God. This is the very gate of heaven. This is where heaven's business is done and executed. Yes. Yes. But if that be so, and I taught theology for a while. Um, let me try to prove to you from scripture that Christ already holds this exalted position. We cited it last week, let's cite it again. When Solomon dedicated the temple, Solomon was aware of the inadequacy of that building. Says he to God, well, God, you fill everything. A God who is immeasurable. How will you get a God like that in a tiny little building like this I have built, says Solomon. And so he adopts a formula, he says, this building where you have put your name. What name would you put on the Lord Jesus? Was he God's son when he walked on earth? Yes, you say, I can't care about that. I go by what scripture says. He was God, incarnate, even as he traveled in the f- Peter's fishing boat. Now he's ascended, far above principalities, powers, mights, and dominions, and every name that is in name, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. Tell me, are the angels subject to him already? Or are... or are they not? You think they are? Well, jolly good for you. And the archangel as well, and all the serried ranks of angels and... What? Well, by what you, you, you, you say to me, you seem to be claiming that the house of God exists. Can you give me any example of the house of God? We noticed last week, didn't we? That whereas the New Testament speaks of the church in the singular, and then in the plural, the churches. But it never speaks of the bodies of Christ, does it? Do you know anywhere? There's only one body. And it doesn't speak of the houses of God either, does it? There's only one house. It is the center of God's executive power. But let me use a thought model. In South Sudan, where the folks are getting their independence. I ask you to imagine a prayer meeting of delightful believers. And if you ask them what they're doing and how they expect it to be effective, they would tell you, ah, you see, we gather together in his name. You m- you- you- you mean God has put his name there? Well, forget them for a moment. Here's you at your weekly prayer meeting. And... And... Is Christ among you? For the verse reads, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. You hold that's true when you meet in your prayer meeting? You say I've met in Christ's name, and Christ according to his promises with me. Oh, what about those in, in, in, in Southern Sudan? They've met in his name too. Is Christ in them? Among them? You say, yes, he is. Well, that's two Christs, I say then. No, no, you say, no, no, of course not. There are not two Christs. There's only one. You mean he's simultaneously with them and simultaneously with you? And if you say yes to that, now you're telling me something else about the house of God. There are not two houses, or three. There's only one house. He's the sun over his own house, as Hebrews has it, in command of the mighty angels of God. Believe it? What an importance and an awesomeness does it put upon our meeting together in his name? I repeat, there are not many houses of God. There's only one house of God. He is the sun over his own house. And we shall see one day with literal eyes, perhaps we may see it by faith at the moment, the angels of God ascending and descending on the glorified man of Calvary. God's God's government. government. Yeah, but... if that is what... in its early days, the House of God at Jerusalem was about, largely symbolic, of course. But it would account for this, that the Jews, the, uh, believing Jews, would never have any other house of God anywhere else in the world. Just in Jerusalem. That was the place where God had put his name. Yes, they would read the Bible in their synagogues. They still do. Sing praises to God in their synagogues. Celebrate the annual festivals such as are in Leviticus twenty four. But no sacrifices. The only house of God they would know. But now it doesn't exist. They have no place to offer their sacrifices. The only place they ever did recognize officially was that one house in Jerusalem. When our Lord was here on earth, and the said, uh, the priests asked what authority he had to cleanse their temple, he replied, did he not? Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. They thought he was mad. But he referred, says John, to his own body, conscious that he was the house of God. In charge of all the angels of God. Son of the Father. Son over his own house. And he died for you, my brother, my sister. Only one, therefore. So now we have to face a sorry fact, that when Solomon grew old, he became foolish. There are those who think he became foolish a long while before he became old. You see, because we are told, you see, that when he go- uh, when he, uh, he was established in his kingdom, he, um, loved a number of ladies. This is one Kings eleven verse one. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love. The wisest man that then existed in the world. But academic wisdom is one thing, isn't it? Marvelous, you know, to have dinner with Solomon. I've often wished I'd have been there, you see, because over the soup he's liable to ask you, have you considered the, uh, the ivy recently? You say, well, you mean the ivy that comes over the wall? Yes, yes. Have you considered that recently? Oh no, why should I? Oh, but my dear, it is marvelous, you see. And he would expound to you the ivy, and then the cedar tree on Lebanon, if you liked. He was interested. What a marvelous thing it is to find people that are interested in life. I don't know what he could have told you about the stars, but they are interesting, aren't they, our stars? Solomon knew all about those kind of things and rejoiced in it. Why shouldn't he? But the heart is another thing. Wise in intellect, grievously astray. In heart. He loved these foreign women of whom God had explicitly said, you shall not love them or go after them or marry them. He took no notice. And of course, you know, well, perhaps you don't. But, uh, I mean, he didn't just marry commoners, you know. He had that kind of sense anyway. He's married princesses and things, and their fathers gave them great dowries, you'll see, uh, Pharaoh gave, uh, the, uh, uh, great dowry to his daughter that he gave to Solomon. And, uh, Solomon had plenty of money anyway. And at their request, he built the houses of their gods all around Jerusalem. Totally idolatrous shrines. Because he lost his heart to these women. So he... contradicted the very basic notion of the house of God. Built other houses for foreign deities. And it led Israel astray, of course. And a lot of labor was invested as Solomon used his troops and his citizens to build these temples for these foreign ladies. Well now, among the many offices that, um, Solomon had. There was a particularly vigorous young man. His name was Jeroboam. Phew. There's no mud round his shoes. He was at it and rose in the ranks to be a foreman and a, a, a, and a controller of the some of the building works of Solomon. Made a good job of it, he did. But when Solomon went astray, there came a prophet of the Lord, a Hijah, to Jeroboam, and said, Jeroboam, because of Solomon's foolish sinfulness, I'm going to rend the kingdom from him, except for one tribe, and I'm going to give it to you. And when Solomon heard about that, of course, he persecuted the young man who ran off to Egypt. When Solomon died, came out on the BBC that, you know, that that weekend that Solomon was dead. Um, Rehoboam came back to Jerusalem. And, uh, led some of the disaffected citizens. So they came, a lot of them did, to Rehoboam, Solomon's son, Rehoboam. Easy to get him confused with Jeroboam, isn't it? But Rehoboam is Solomon's son. Jeroboam is the upstart. And they said to Rehoboam, Your Majesty, your father made his yoke very heavy on our necks. We're not going to put up with it anymore. We're now asking you formally to make our yoke lighter, and we will serve you. But if you don't change it, we shall revolt and serve you no longer. We've had enough of it. So Rehoboam, Solomon's son, he, he thought what, what to do. So he had a word with the old, old men, the senators, you see, and they said, well, tell the people to go away and think it over for three days. So that's what he did. And the old men said to him, now listen, young man, if you treat them reasonably and make their yoke lighter. And if you serve them. I'm quoting scripture there. This is literally what the old men said. If you serve them, Rehoboam. Your job as king is to serve them. If you ease their burden and serve them, they will obey you and serve you forever. That's what the old men said. Then he consulted the young men, and the young men said, nonsense. You, what you want to say to them is, um, hmm, uh, like the tyrant of Libya. You going to have a lighter yoke? What do you mean? Your father? Well, my little finger is thicker than his loins. He chastised you with whips, did he? I shall chaps- chastise you with scorpions, that is, with whips with nails inserted into them. Okay. And when he said that, following the young men, the ten tribes said, and thank you very much. We have no longer any inheritance in David. Look to your own self. We're going out independently of you. And eventually anointed Jeroboam as king. Interesting thing, isn't it, that it came down to this question of should the yoke be heavier, or should it be lighter? I- I- I- I think you're prejudiced. Because you follow one who said, come unto me, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm lowly in heart, and you shall find rest indeed, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's the king you follow, don't you? And of t- it's true of that king that he said, the kings of the earth exercise authority over them and grind them down. But I am among you as one who serves you. You believe it? Come on now. You nodded your heads, you agreed with me that he's in charge of all the angels and mighty angels and archangels. Now you're going to tell me, are you? That he serves you? When you get home to glory, I don't know what kind of tables they have up there, whether they're conference tables, you know, trestle things or however, I don't know what the tables are, but when you sit at meat, be careful about the waiters, won't you? Because, when perhaps you're least expecting it, one of the waiters will turn out to be Christ. I shall gird myself, I shall come forth and gird myself and serve you, says Christ. That's our Lord. But then... let us not forget that he's speaking about his yoke. And now, as you hear from the story that we have referred to in the first book of Kings, when the people came and said, your father Solomon made his yoke heavy. You, his son, please make it lighter. They're talking about the king. And what they mean by his yoke is his kingly rule. And when our Lord says, my yoke is easy. And my burden is light. Yet he still uses the word yoke, doesn't he? For we remember surely that he is king. It is kingly yoke. Now there have been some folks, God bless them, and they have interpreted the yoke in this fashion. I've heard them do it myself, so I'm not telling tales out of school. They say, you know, a farmer who plows with horses will have, for instance, two horses. One is a a youngster full of pranks and prancing around about the place and difficult to maneuver. And so the farmer will put an older horse beside the younger one, you see, so that they're sharing the same yoke, and the older one will keep the younger one in check, you see, and somewhere near the line of the plow. And so they say, you know, God in his mercy has given us a saviour. He is the, excuse the term, the counterpart of the older horse, uh, and we're the youngsters who have to be trained. And he joins us in the yoke, you see, and it's his yoke really, but he allows us in and he helps us along to plow straight furrow in life. It's a very nice thought, and the Lord is certainly with us. But as far as I can see, that is not what our Lord meant anyway. When he talks about his yoke, he's using the term yoke in the sense they used it in one Kings, of the king's rule. Take my yoke upon you. He's king. And as, um, Matthew himself tells us, that, well, as our Lord tells us in Matthew, all authority has been given to me in heaven and upon earth. He is a sovereign Lord. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. He's there to serve us, but he is king and will insist... on ruling us. What shall we say to him? Son of David he is. Shall we say to him, like the crowd said, we have no portion in David. Or shall we not bow our knees and hasten to say, Lord, forgive me that I haven't taken your yoke so fully as I should have done. Help me to bow my neck and my heart to receive thy yoke and live according to thy guidance. The house of God then, and what it means. There's only one house throughout the whole universe, and our Lord is the sun over that house. Shall we pray? Lord, thou hast read our minds and measured our hearts, as we have thought about these ancient controversies and the problems that came up in Solomon's day. We recognize, Lord, the human heart is the same. But by thy grace, thou hast died for us. Thou hast forgiven us and received us. We ask now thy grace, Lord, that we may accept thy yoke, not with simple emotion, but with studied thought and deliberation, that thou mayest control our hearts and their loves, and our brains and their thinkings, so that we might be in thy good hand a blessing to those around us. So we thank thee for thy word. Work out its reality in our lives, we pray, for thy name's sake. Amen.