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Sunday school from January 3rd, 2021
We are going to pray and then we are going to get started. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, so that by patience and comfort of your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. Okay, give me one second here. Now, rather than going into the book of Revelation today, I wanted to do a little mini-study to kind of build off of the themes that were brought out in the sermon.
And there's a reason for this, and that is that the mystery of the Trinity is one that is very profound. And it's very easy for us to relate to Jesus, or I would say easier for us to relate to Jesus, than it is for us to relate to the Father.
And we have to see Jesus and the Father working in tandem together, because they do. And if you do not understand the love of the Father, then you are not going to understand the willingness of the Son to lay down His life for our sins.
And so as a result of that, this is one of those themes that's really easy to not see in Scripture. But I took the occasion of the sermon today to really kind of zoom in on the themes that we saw in our Epistle text, from both our Gospel text and also a portion of the story of Joseph.
And what we're going to do today for Sunday School is we're going to take a look at another account that I think in many ways profoundly shows us the love of the Father. Now if you remember, King David, he's a man after God's own heart, but is David sinless?
No. Like far from it. So you'll note that David had some pretty serious falls when it came to his sin. We've looked at the Bathsheba affair, the murder of Uriah the Hittite, also his numbering of the people of Israel, his census of the people of Israel, and not giving the proper atoning price for the numbering of Israel.
God has forbidden that Israel can be numbered unless there is a proper offering given to atone for each person as they're being numbered. David refused to do that, and as a result of that, this led to 70 ,000 Israelites being killed by the Avenger of God, the Angel of the Lord.
And of course there's a great story at the end of that as to how then the Temple Mount is chosen, and the fulfilling of the prophecy that is found in Genesis chapter 22. But if you remember Nathan the prophet, when he gave David God's discipline, if you would, there would be earthly consequences for David's sexual sin and the murdering of Uriah the Hittite, and then the taking of his wife as his own.
And that included that there would be no peace in his house anymore, and this will result and this will be fulfilled in the story of Absalom. If you're familiar with the story of Absalom, we're going to take a look at some of the highlights, if you will.
We're not going to do a full study of all of the passages as it relates to Absalom. Instead, what we're going to do is we're going to pick up in 2 Samuel chapter 15, and I'll just briefly give a little bit of the background.
Absalom had a sister named Tamar, and Tamar, his sister, was violated by their half-brother Amnon. If you're familiar with that particular affair, it's quite horrific the way that went down, and Amnon is a wicked fellow.
And in order to, let's just say, get back at Amnon for what he did, Absalom plotted and murdered Amnon in the sight of all of their brothers. And had David not had something else to do on that particular night that Absalom killed his brother Amnon, David would have been there to witness the murder himself, but he wasn't.
And as a result of the murder, Absalom had to live in a citadel city, one of these cities where you can go if the avenger of blood cannot take your life without reason. And so he spent some time in exile.
And then eventually, under really interesting pretenses, Joab worked with another woman to get Absalom reacquainted with and restored in his relationship with David, his father. And it's after that, then, that we pick up in 2 Samuel 15.
No sooner does Absalom return to Jerusalem after having been exiled for three years, he now begins his ultimate revenge. And what he's going to end up doing is planning a very elaborate coup d 'etat to overthrow his father and to take the throne for himself.
And this is all due to the fact that in Absalom's mind, David had done nothing to punish what Amnon had did to their sister Tamar. And so we know the justification. We know what's going on. So consider, then, if you would, this particular coup d 'etat attempt in the Types and Shadows really shows our participation in the rebellion against our gracious Heavenly Father in joining with the devil in his allegiance.
You kind of have to think of it in these terms. So here's what it says. Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, 50 men to run before him. And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate.
And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, From what city are you? And when he said, Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel, Absalom would say to him, See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.
Then Absalom would say, Oh, that there were a judge in the land. Then every man with a dispute or a cause might come to me, and I would give him justice. Now let me explain what's going on here. So Absalom now has hired 50 men to run before him.
So every time he's out in public, everybody knows exactly who it is. Oh, who's that guy? Oh, that's Absalom. He has his 50 men running in front of him. And so he's always traveling through the city of Jerusalem with much pomp and circumstance, if you would, letting everybody know that he's one of the princes.
And in behaving this way, he's telegraphing that not only is he a prince, his expectation is that he will be the next in line for the throne. But it gets a little bit more interesting than that. And this is where you have to understand how in the ancient world the city gates worked.
In the city gates, what would end up happening is obviously in order to protect cities from marauders and raiders, they would build walls around them. And usually the walls were pretty thick. And so if you've ever been in a castle or anything like that, when you walk through the archway of a walled city, the wall isn't just two or three feet wide.
You walk in, and there's a gate that would come down, and you're in a covered archway. And in the ancient world in the Middle East, you would have those covered archways. It was a nice, cool place to stay because there was no air conditioning back in those days.
And they were in the shade, and stone has a tendency to be a little cooler than everything around it because it takes a little bit more energy to get those things to warm up. But there would be two benches facing each other on opposite sides of the gate.
And usually the city fathers would sit there at the entrance to the gate, and they would discuss the politics of the day, make decisions. There were land. So if you had to sell a piece of property and you needed witnesses, you would sell it in the presence of the city fathers at the gate.
And because people didn't have the internet and the ability to check in on Facebook or let people know where their GPS coordinates were, the city gates were oftentimes the place that people would meet others who were traveling from out of town.
And so Absalom's plan here at this point is he's going to pick off everybody who's coming into Jerusalem for the purpose of having the king hear a court case. Because in a monarch in the ancient day, they didn't have a distribution of the different branches of government like we do.
We have the executive branch, we have the legislative branch, we have the judicial branch. In a king, all branches of government reside in the one man in his office. And so when there were land disputes or disputes regarding criminal cases and things like this, the king is the one who's supposed to be hearing these cases.
And so Absalom's idea is what I'm going to do is I'm going to find everybody who's coming to Jerusalem for the purpose of seeking justice in some kind of a dispute with their neighbors, and I'm going to lie about my dad and make it appear as if there is no way set up by the king David for their cases to be heard or for them to receive judgment.
It's a flat-out slander on his part. What he's saying about David is a lie. David of course would have heard cases, and texts prior to this make it clear that David was hearing cases. He was doing his judicial duty as the sovereign of the nation of Israel.
All of that being said though, you'll note that what Absalom was doing, sitting in the city gates, and some guys come in, he's obviously dusty, his feet are dirty, and he's coming into town, and he kind of has that look about him.
And so Absalom says to him, hey what city are you from? They say your servant's from such and such a tribe. And clearly the guy's in town to have the king decide on a dispute. And he would say, oh your claims are good, but there's no man designated by the king to hear you.
And Absalom would say, oh if only there were a judge in the land. I wonder who that would be? That would be me, right? So then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.
And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, Absalom would put out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
And you're going to know, this takes a lot of planning on his part, and an extremely meticulous amount of detail goes into the plan, and an absolute tenacity in following through and executing the plan.
Because it's going to take some time to steal the hearts of all of the men of Israel. And you can see what happens, you know, first few fellows who this happens to, they head back home and they go, I went to Jerusalem and there's nobody designated by the king to hear cases.
I can't believe it. Who told you that? The king's son himself told me. Oh my goodness. But he was really a nice guy. Boy, he's handsome. And have you seen, he's got 50 guys running in front of him whenever he's traveling through town.
Man, if only Absalom were king. And so what happens is over time is David's popularity polls are in the tanks, you know, they're tanking out. And Absalom's popularity is rising. And he waits until it looks like the right time to then execute the next portion of his plan.
And at the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, let me go and pay my vow, which I vowed to Yahweh in Hebron. For your servant vowed a vow while I lived in Geshur in Aram saying, if Yahweh will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to Yahweh.
So he's going to now kick off the coup d 'etat officially under the pretense of acting piously. All right. Never underestimate our ability to put on a religious pretense in order to cover our evil. Absalom is doing that in a quite profound way.
But Absalom sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel saying, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, Absalom is king at Hebron. With Absalom went 200 men from Jerusalem who were invited guests and they went in their innocence and they knew nothing.
They weren't really on board with this. They didn't know what was going on. And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gileadite and David's counselor from his city, Gilo.
And the conspiracy grew and the people with Absalom kept increasing. Now Ahithophel is one of the sons of Jonathan. He's lame in his feet because of a tragic accident when they were fleeing the city when David became king.
But he has since reconciled with David and eats at David's table. Ahithophel, even himself, is not even aware of Absalom's intent. He's going in good faith. So a messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the people are telling you to go to the latest polls, David.
It's not looking good for you. If there were an election, you'd lose to your son. There are no elections. So David said to all of his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom.
And so David realizes that at this point, militarily, he's got to get out of town because Absalom has enough men behind him that they could lay siege to Jerusalem. And once Jerusalem is under siege, no one's going to come to David's rescue.
It's just a matter of time before they would have to surrender. So his only hope, militarily, is to get out of town and be able to maneuver out in the open. And so go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.
And the king's servant said to the king, behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides. So the king went out and all of his household after him, and the king left 10 concubines to keep the house.
And the king went out and all the people after him, and they halted at the last house. And all of his servants passed by him, all the Karathites, all the Pelathites, and all the 600 Gittites, who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.
By the way, the Gittites are the ones who play the guitars. So no, that's not true. Those of you online, I'm glad you don't have tomatoes. Anyway, I can never resist the temptation to say that stupid joke every time I teach this text.
It's really sad on my part. I just have to go for it, you know. Hang on. Indeed, indeed. All right. So then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and an exile from your home.
You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I know not where? Go back and take your brothers with you, and may Yahweh show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. But Ittai answered the king, as Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.
And David said to Ittai, go then, pass on. So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all of his men, and all the little ones were with him, and all the land wept aloud, as all the people passed by the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on towards the wilderness.
Now, I'm going to show you where exactly this takes place. You're going to note that this is kind of a lament. This is the opposite of a triumphal entry. This is a mournful retreat. And the path that is being taken here is really important.
And these are the details of the Old Testament, that if you can find their correspondence in the New Testament, it begins to, again, to scream just what a miraculous book the Bible itself is. There's no human being could have written this.
So I will kind of fast forward just a little bit. And let's see here. I'm going to look at verse 30 real quick, so you can see the entirety of the route out of Jerusalem. Verse 30 says, but David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.
So here's the route. Crosses the brook Kidron, goes up the ascent of the Mount of Olives. We know exactly where this is. Now, we're going to do a little work in Google Earth today. Again, I haven't traveled to Israel yet.
I always travel there either virtually using Google Earth, or I travel there using other people's vacation photos. Both ways are very inexpensive. And one of these days, I'm really hoping to make the trip.
But here, what we're doing is we're looking straight down a satellite view. Here is the Temple Mount. The Temple would have been there at this time. And there's two important features here. On the south end here, you see the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
And then up here, we see the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim mosque built over the rock where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac. That's the place. It's on Mount Moriah.
It's also the same mount that Jesus dies on just outside the city gates of Jerusalem. And so that's the same. It's the same mountain, Mount Moriah. But the Temple used to sit in between the two. You can see the trees here.
And over here, we have the western wall. This is the place where the Jews will go up against the wall. You have to put on the little yarmulke. And this is where they put their prayers. But the eastern wall over here, this is an important feature.
Because on the eastern wall, there is a feature called the Golden Gate. And it's completely bricked over right now. You cannot go in or out of the Golden Gate on the eastern wall. That's where David would have gone out of.
And when Christ on the Palm Sunday came into Jerusalem, he came down the ascent of the Mount of Olives, crossed the Kidron Valley, the Brook Kidron, went up and entered into Jerusalem using what's called the Golden Gate on the eastern wall.
Now, the Muslims have come up with a very interesting thing that they've done. And on the east, on this Golden Gate right below it, in this area, there is a Muslim cemetery. In fact, within the Golden Gate itself, there are bones of Muslims that have been buried there.
And the thinking is, is that as the lore goes, that when Jesus returns for his second coming, that he's probably going to come back to the Mount of Olives, make his entrance into the city of Jerusalem through the Golden Gate.
The reason why it's bricked up is to keep Jesus out. And the reason why there are Muslim bones there is, again, to keep Jesus out. I don't think their plan is going to work. Okay. Yeah, I just, well, being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I'm beginning to think that Jesus might just solve the problem of the cemetery by, you know, raising them all from the dead for the Day of Judgment.
So let me see if I can, I'm doing a little bit of work here. I'm a little too close. From time to time, so that's Zechariah's tomb. From time to time, I can get my little Google man to land on the right spot.
And I'm going to, let's see, let's go over here by Absalom's tomb. No, that's not quite far enough. How about if we come out over here? Hang on a second. Ah, this is a good place. Okay. So here is the eastern wall.
And that, and I wonder if I can zoom in differently. Hang on a second here. That might work a little better. That right here in the center, that's the Golden Gate. And you can see the cemetery, the Muslim cemetery.
These are grave sites right up in this area. All right. So David, what he did is, this is not a triumphal entry. This is a morning retreat. This is the exact opposite of what Christ did on Palm Sunday, taking the exact same route.
And this is where it gets interesting, because sometimes the types in the shadows, they work in reverse. Okay. Could David die for his sins? No. Why was David being hounded and had to leave the city? This was a consequence of his sin.
And so David isn't the one who is the Messiah. He is the one who needs to be saved by the Messiah. And so David leaves the Golden Gate, crosses the Brook Kidron, which is down in this valley right in here, and ascends up the Mount of Olives, which is just right up in this area right here.
The Garden of Gethsemane is right here. And the Mount of Olives is just this ascent right up in this way. And that's the route that he's taking out of town. And so you'll note here that in the types and shadows, this is all backwards on purpose, so that when you see that Christ takes the opposite entrance, and Christ doesn't come triumphantly into Jerusalem militarily, he comes humble, riding on a colt full of a donkey.
But he comes rather than with lament, with high praises. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. David, on the other hand, cursed. David, on the other hand, suffering the consequences of his sin.
David, heading the opposite direction. And so these details in the types and shadows, they are just not throwaway details. So all the people in the land, they wept. They crossed the Brook Kidron. All the people passed on toward the wilderness.
Abiathar, who is the high priest, came up and beheld...actually, Abiathar and Zadok are the priests. And behold, Zadok, they came also with all the Levites, bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God. They wanted to take the Ark out of the Temple, and they're ready to follow with the Ark.
And they set down the Ark of God until the people had all passed by out of the city. Then the king said to Zadok, carry the Ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me back and let me see both it and its dwelling place.
But if he says, I have no pleasure in you, behold, here I am. Let him do to me what seems good to him. So you'll note, David, throughout his career, lifted no finger to become king. He had two opportunities to kill Saul.
Did not kill him. Refused to do so. And now, as the monarch, established by God, he knows full well that if God wants to depose him, God can depose him. That's God's business. And so David here is not going to protect his throne at all.
He's going to entrust himself to the Lord while at the same time being quite cunning. That's the best way I can put it. David is a little cunning as well. But if he says, I have no pleasure in you, behold, here I am.
So the king also said to Zadok the priest, are you not a seer? You go back to the city in peace with your two sons, Ahimaaz, your son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, and see, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.
So Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and they remained there. But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and they went up weeping as they went.
And it was told David, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. He's not really. He just, he was one of the people who traveled with Absalom in good faith, unaware of what the plot was. And David said, O Lord, please turn the council of Ahithophel into foolishness.
And while David was coming to the summit where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on his head. And David said to him, if you go with me, you will be a burden to me.
But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king, as I have been your father's servant in time past. So now I will be your servant. Then you will defeat for me the council of Ahithophel.
Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. Behold, their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son.
And by them, you shall send to me everything you hear. So Hushai and David's friend came into the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem. Now, a little bit of a note here. David now has three spies.
I seem to recall a story about spies. So you'll note here, we've got a little political intrigue. We've got some cloak and dagger spy stuff going on. All the typological details are there. Oh, by the way, Ahithophel, my apologies.
It's Mephibosheth who is the one who is the son of Jonathan, not Ahithophel. I get the two confused sometimes due to the fact of age, and I can't pronounce either of their names without a lisp. So my apologies.
But moving then forward, I'm going to fast forward just a little bit. And suffice it to say that the cloak and dagger work has occurred, and Absalom has received bad counsel, which is going to result in him making a bad decision.
And the decision that had to be made was whether or not to pursue his father immediately or muster the army of Israel. And it was one of these fellows who David had set up to basically give bad counsel.
He basically said, oh, listen, your father is crafty. He is known as a warrior. There's no way that you can defeat him now. He's ready to pounce on you at this very moment, and you don't have enough men to take him.
You had better muster the entire army of Israel. Otherwise, you have no chance against your father, which was actually bad counsel. Had they attacked David immediately as he was retreating, they would have easily overcome him.
He was in no mood. Morale was at a low, let's put it that way. They would have easily defeated him. And interesting enough, Absalom listens to the bad counsel and decides that they were going to muster the entire army of Israel to go after David.
And this is what gives David a little bit of time to muster his own forces and prepare for the coming battle. In 2 Samuel 18, it says that David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds.
And David set out the army, one-third under the command of Joab, one-third under the command of Abishai, the son of Zariah, Joab's brother, and one-third under the command of Ittai, the Gittite. He was a guitar player.
And the king said to the men, I myself also will go out with you. But the men said, you shall not go out, for if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth 10 ,000 of us.
Therefore, it is better that you send us help from the city. So the king said to them, whatever seems best to you, I will do. So the stood at the side of the gate while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.
And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. And here, it seems like one would sit there and go, what are you thinking, David?
This son of yours has plotted methodically, stolen the hearts of Israel, declared himself to be king, and he's sending an army right now to kill us all. And there's no guarantee we're even going to win this thing.
And you want us to deal kindly and gently with Absalom? Now, it's really easy to sit there and go, what is he thinking? But here's where we have to pay attention to the themes here. And you'll see it more clearly as the story unfolds.
This, in The Types and Shadows, expresses for us the love that the Father has for rebel humanity, each and every one of us. Although we have joined forces with the devil in trying to overthrow God himself, that's exactly what the devil's coup d 'etat is about.
It was for the purpose of overthrowing God, and for Satan himself, establishing himself on the throne of God, and being worshiped as God. And by us listening to the voice of the serpent, and you sit there and go, well, that was Adam and Eve.
We're all charged with that. All right? Us listening to the voice of the serpent, rather than the voice of God, we have joined then forces against God, and we are rebel sinners. What's God's disposition towards us?
He longs for us to repent, and for us to be reconciled to him. So David's behavior here seems out of place. And if you're thinking in human terms, it is. This has like zero political sense behind it at all.
But that's not what the story is about. This is the story then of the love that God has for rebel sinners like us. And here's what it comes down to then. Rebel sinners like us, we can either die for our sins, or Christ can die for our sins.
That's really what it comes down to. If you will not repent, you will not relent, you will not be forgiven, you will not be reconciled to God, then you will die for your sins, and you will be punished for them.
But God, in sending us his son, will show how this works then on the opposite end. Again, you're going to note these types and shadows are working in reverse. They're mirror opposites. So David says, Now wait a second here.
I know a son of David was suspended between heaven and earth. It wasn't Absalom. It was Christ. And so the detail of Absalom being suspended between heaven and earth invokes the death of Christ, and also an important passage in both the Old and the New Testament.
Let me give it to you. In the book of Galatians, chapter 3, starting at verse 10, it states,. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
And that's cited directly from Deuteronomy 21, verse 23. Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.
Now here's the thing. Every Torah observant, Bible-believing Jew of David's time would have immediately recognized the fact that Absalom being suspended between heaven and earth, and that being done by him being hung on an oak tree, they would have immediately recognized that that means that Absalom is cursed.
You'll note that the son of David here, Absalom, is the anti-Christ. He's the opposite of Christ. He is the exact opposite of what Christ looks like. But the two have one thing in common. Both were cursed by being hung on a tree.
Both were suspended between heaven and earth. Absalom being cursed and dying for his own sins, Christ being hung on a tree and suspended between heaven and earth for your sins and for mine. And when you see it, it's actually quite profound.
Quite profound indeed. So there he is. He's suspended between heaven and earth, and a certain man saw it, and he told Joab, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. And Joab said to the man who told him, What you saw him, why then did you not strike him there to the ground?
I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt. But the man said to Joab, Even if I had felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son.
For in our hearing, the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, For my sake, protect the young man Absalom. On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life, and there is nothing hidden from the king, then you yourself would have stood aloof.
Joab said, I will not waste time like this with you. And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom.". A little bit of a note here. So you're going to note that Absalom, it was offered to somebody to betray Absalom for pieces of silver.
And he wasn't. He was not betrayed. Okay? But you're going to note that now Absalom and Jesus have something in common. After Christ dies on the cross, the request comes in that because it is a Sabbath, because of the Passover, that the legs of all of the three men who are on the cross be broken in order to hasten their death.
And when it came to Jesus, when they came to Jesus, did they break Jesus's legs? No. Let's take a look at the text so we can kind of see how this works, because there's more to it. And I think I want to go to 19.
Hold on a second here. All right. Let's see here. Yep. John 19 .31, Since it was the day of preparation, so the bodies would not remain on the cross, the Sabbath, the Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
So the soldiers came and they broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness. Now a little bit of a note here. I read decades ago, I remember reading an article in the American Journal of Medical Journal, whatever, Journal of American Medicine, something like that.
I have to look it up. I think it was published in the late 80s. And a physician, you know, taking a look at these details regarding the death of Christ, noted that when the Roman soldier took his spear, which is, you know, the javelin is the same thing as this, really, and had punctured Christ's abdomen, that the fact that there was blood and water that came out from the womb meant that the soldier had pierced the sack right around Christ's heart.
So that's how that works. He had his, you know, that cardial sack around his heart was pierced, and that's where the blood and the water would have come from. Because post-mortem, that would have been what would have happened.
You would have seen the separation of the hemoglobin in the water and all that kind of stuff. And that pools up, that's one of the places it pools up. So Christ himself, at least he had his cardial sack pierced by a spear.
And here, Joab, he kills Absalom by putting a spear into his heart. Again, the callbacks to the crucifixion are profound. It's unmistakable when you just look at some of these details. And so that being the case, we've got it.
You just sit there and go, okay, I can see what's going on here. So he thrust him in the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. And then ten young men, Joab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom, struck him, and they killed him.
Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel. For Joab restrained them. And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a great heap of stones.
And all of Israel fled, every one to his own town. Now Absalom, in his lifetime, had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the king's valley. For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.
And so he called the pillar after his own name, and it's called Absalom's monument to this day. How much more like the devil can you be? I'm going to set up a monument to myself. Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said, let me run and carry news to the king that Yahweh has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.
Now you think David's going to be thrilled, excited, happy? No. His desire was that he'd be reconciled to Absalom. He yearned for his repentance, and he yearned to forgive him, and he yearned to be reconciled to him.
And this is, again, what scripture teaches us. It's not God's will that any of us should perish. Not His will that any of us should perish. And like I said in the sermon today, God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
And so the love of the Father is really, I think, typified here in David's hard-to-understand desire. He's delusional by human standards. You really think you can be reconciled to this boy? But again, this is typifying the love of the Father.
So Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said, let me run and carry the news to the king Yahweh has delivered him from the hand of his enemies. So Joab said to him, you are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news because the king's son is dead.
Then Joab said to the Cushite, go, tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed before Joab and ran, and Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said again to Joab, come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.
Joab said, why will you run, my son, seeing that you have no reward for the news? Come what may, he said, I will run. So he said to him, run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and outran the Cushite.
Now David was sitting between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall. And when he lifted his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. And the watchman called out and told the king.
And the king said, if he's alone, there is news in his mouth. And he drew nearer and nearer. And the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gate and said, see another man running alone.
And the king said, he also brings news. And the watchman said, I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, he's a good man and comes with good news.
Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, all is well. And he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and said, blessed be Yahweh, your God, who has delivered up the men who raised up their hand against my lord, the king.
And the king said, is it well with the young man Absalom? Ahimaaz answered, when Joab sent the king's servant, your servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was. Ahimaaz thought better of it, decided not to tell him the news, right?
So the king said, turn aside and stand here. So he turned aside and he stood still. And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, good news for my lord, the king, for Yahweh has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.
The king said to the Cushite, is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, may the enemies of my lord, the king, and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man. And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and he wept.
And as he went, he said, oh, my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom, would I have died instead of you? Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. Now David could not die for the sins of Absalom, but Jesus, the son of David did.
And so here again, we see not only a hook into the gospel itself, but we see in David's lament over the death of his son, that God, it is not his will that any should perish. God does not rejoice with the death of the wicked.
It is absolutely heartbreaking and foolish that anybody would die impenitent, that anybody would leave this earth not reconciled to God, because God himself sent his son to die in our place so that we would not have to die the rebels that we are.
And so you'll see, Absalom is a stand-in for me, he's a stand-in for you. And thanks be to God that Christ has been sent and he has died in our place so that we do not have to suffer the fate of Absalom and die for our sins, but that Christ has died for us.
Now, this mercy, this disposition of David in grace and love towards his son, Absalom, really upsets the commander of David's army, Joab. So it was told Joab, behold the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.
So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, the king is grieving for his son. And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.
And the king covered his face and the king cried with a loud voice, oh my son Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son. And then Joab came into the house to the king and he said, you have today covered with shame the faces of all of your servants who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you.
Now, is that true? But what can we say about God? God does love those who hate him. God does. And he wills and desires and yearns for their repentance so that they can be forgiven and reconciled. And so you can kind of see in Joab's thinking, there's no political expediency for this mourning and lamenting over the death of your son.
But that's not the point, is it? Okay, David here is exemplifying in the types and shadows the love of the father for all of us. Now therefore rise and go and speak kindly to your servants for I swear by Yahweh if you do not go not a man will stay with you this night and it'll be worse for you and then all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.
So the king arose and took a seat in the gate and the people were all told behold the king is sitting in the gate and all the people came before the king. Now that's as far as I'm going to go today in this text, but I thought that this particular story would be a good one to add to today's sermon.
You know, this idea of highlighting the love of the father towards rebel sinners like you and like me. It's so clear in scripture when you know what to look for that, you know, when you sit there and you go how is it possible that God loves us?
But this is kind of the point then that the Apostle Paul makes in the book of Romans. Let me see if I can find this. Romans 5 verse 6. For while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
One will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son how much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. More than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have received reconciliation.
And so you'll note then that the comfort then that this brings is twofold. God demonstrating his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dies for us and while we were enemies Christ dies for us.
But now think of it this way this then becomes the comfort for us as Christians because each and every day that passes that you are still breathing in this cursed creation or Christ has not returned. We struggle against the unholy trinity of sin death and the devil.
Our own sinful flesh desires things that are contrary to the word of God. And it's very easy for us to think you know I just have a hard time imagining that God isn't finished with me because I just can't seem to get my act together.
If we could get our act together we wouldn't need Christ. And so here this compassion this love that God has for us in demonstrating his boundless mercy grace compassion for us even when we were enemies note then that that then gives us comfort because now that we have been reconciled how much more now do you think God is determined to save even you and this gives us hope and this gives us the belief you know maybe just maybe God can forgive a sinner even as bad as me as bad as you and sustain us in that faith so that we can have a joyous reunion with God the Father Son and Holy Spirit rather than having God lament our death so needless as it would have been apart from him you get the idea I just thought it was appropriate all right let me check questions here died from a broken heart by his creation.
Yeah I think Tony that's a good way to think about Jesus's death. His heart was broken indeed while this lesson will this will this lesson be posted at all. Yes it will be. We post it at kongsvingerchurch .org and there's a there's a link there to our bible teaching so and uh that we're been over the past few months pretty good at getting our our sermons and sunday schools out usually same day you know.
So there's a good chance it'll be out today and also posted on facebook. All right. Thank you so much pastor Chris. I find it criminal how preachers and teachers avoid the obvious Christ-centered emphasis in God's word so do I.
So that's why I consider me preaching Christ to be some kind of a bizarre act of defiance in the visible church today it's just so bizarre you know may you live in interesting times. So all right. Peace to you brothers and sisters.
I'm going to go ahead and log out and we'll wrap up for today and Lord willing we'll see you next time.
