We read from 1 Kings 1 and we
continue in chapter 2 where we read, Now the days of David drew
nigh that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son,
saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong therefore
and show thyself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord
thy God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his
commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is
written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all
that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself. that the
Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying,
If the children take heed to their way, to walk before me
in truth with all their heart and with all their souls, they
shall not fail thee, said he, a man on the throne of Israel.
Moreover, thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to
me, and what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel,
unto Abner the son of Neah, and unto Amasa the son of Jephah,
whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the
blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and
in his shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according
to thy wisdom, and let not his whorehead go down to the grave
in peace. But show kindness unto the sons
of Basilariah the Gileadite, and let them be of those that
eat at thy table, for so they came to me when I fled because
of Absalom thy brother. And behold, thou hast with thee
Shimei, the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with
a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at
Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not
put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore, hold him not guiltless,
for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to
do unto him. But his whole head bring thou
down to the grave with blood. So David slept with his fathers,
and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David
reigned over Israel were forty years. Seven years reigned he
in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father, and his
kingdom was established greatly. So David slept with his fathers
and was buried in the city of David and the days that David
reigned over Israel were forty years, seven years reigned he
in Hebron and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father and his kingdom
was established greatly. This first book of Kings as the title indicates, is commonly
called the third book of Kings. Because 1st Samuel and 2nd Samuel
concern the rise to the throne of Israel of 1st Saul and then
obviously God's king whom he anointed David in his place.
And then as we enter 1st Kings, we read of the passing of King
David before Solomon comes to the throne and other kings follow. This is the third book of the
Kings. And here David's life draws to
a close. But surely there was never a
king in Israel quite like David. We read of the great wisdom of
his son Solomon who for 40 years reigned over Israel and walked
justly before the Lord. But in his latter years Solomon
fell. But David's reign, despite the
many falls of David, despite his sin and wretchedness, David's
reign was one in which Christ was typified in so many ways. The Psalms that David wrote,
the experiences he went through, set forth the gospel and the
experience of the child of God and the experience of the son
of God, Jesus Christ, in so many ways. And even here in his dying
days, in his final hours, we see pictures once more of Christ,
our Lord and Savior, in David. and in the rise to the throne
of Solomon in his place. In chapter 1 we read that David
was old and stricken in years and they covered him with clothes
because he got no heat. As he aged, as death started
to draw him into the grave, the consequence of sin And the effects
of death were very evident. He was cold. He was weak. He was frail. Nothing could be
done to stem the consequences. A picture of death and its effect
upon us all. The darkness that sin and death
bring upon mankind. the coldness the weakness it
comes upon us all it's there from the moment we're born inwardly
inwardly we're full of darkness and sin inwardly we're full of
coldness and apathy and hatred towards God there's no light
within our hearts by nature there's no warmth there's no righteousness
As we grow old and approach the grave, the killing effects of
sin finally bring about the death of our bodies too. And into the
grave we're plunged. How cold sin is. So they tried to cover David
with clothes to warm him up, to give him strength, to cover
the effects of death within him, but he got no heat. We do the
same spiritually. We try to cover ourselves, we
try to put clothes around ourselves to cover our sin, to cover the
coldness. It's a picture of wrapping ourselves
in our own righteousness, our self-righteousness. But even
our best deeds before God are but filthy rags. They are clothes
that cannot cover the coldness of death, the coldness of sin. They bring no warmth. They have no righteousness. There
is no life in them. The works of the flesh Though
we may call them works of righteousness, though we may look upon our outward
conduct as though it's good works, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It's dead, it's cold, it's sinful. There's no life in our efforts. We cannot bring life unto ourselves. We're cold, we're old, and we're
dying, like David the king. So they sought a young maiden
to nurture the king, to minister under him, to cherish him, to
bring him comfort in his dying hours. But she could not spare
him the consequence of age and of death in the end. Notice the contrast. Here's David,
old and about to die. And here's this maiden, young
and full of life. Where one has his life about
to be taken away, another with vigour of youth, full of life,
is brought to care for him. But she cannot spare him the
death which will come upon him. In this she is seen, Abishak
the Shunammite, as a picture of the church. She is brought to her king, her
lord, in his dying hour. She ministered to him, cherished
him, but ultimately he must still die. As Christ was crucified and slain
and buried, we're reminded of the women who cared for him. Mary Magdalene, in the days leading
up to Christ's crucifixion, washed the feet of Jesus. She anointed
his feet with perfume. She gave her all to care for
him. At the cross, as the Savior hung,
the women looked on. And as he died, They cared for
him. He was wrapped. He was anointed. He was laid in the grave. And
in the morning they went to the grave to seek for him. They poured
out their love upon him. They did all that they could
for him. And yet, still, because of sin,
he must die. He must die. Sin must be atoned
for. There is no escape. No matter
what Abishak could do to look after the king, David still died. And Christ must die if he was
to redeem his people, his bride, from death. It is interesting
that Abishag is a Shunammite because the one other Shunammite
woman we read of in the scriptures later in 2 Kings 4 is that woman
that Elisha comes unto who has a pot of oil which never wasted
away which miraculously provided meal endlessly and who had a
son who was sick and died. But Elisha went to the son, and
by the power of God, the son was brought to life again. Again,
that Shunammite woman is a picture of the church, and a picture of Christ, the
son, who came back from the dead. Yes, David was old and stricken
in years. David's life drew to a close. Now the days of David drew nigh
that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son
saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong therefore
and show thyself a man. From dust David came, to dust
he must go. He went the way, even mighty
King David went the way of all the earth. You and I are just
the same. From dust we are made, and to
dust we shall go. We grow up like grass in the
morning, that is cut down in the evening. Our lives are but
brief because we're born, we're conceived in iniquity. Sin is
in all that we do. And when sin entered the world,
death entered by sin. It's sin that slays us. It's
sin that will take us to the grave. We shall all go the way
of the earth, the way of all flesh. Christ himself, of whom
David is a picture, being made flesh, taking upon himself humanity,
made a man, born of the Virgin, lived and grew in the place of
men. He walked amongst us, but he
was made flesh, in order that he should bear in his flesh the
sins of his people. He was made flesh that he should
be made sin in the sinner's place, that he should be offered up
as a man in the place of men, that he should be slain in our
stead. He was made flesh in order that
he should die. In order that He could be offered
up as a suitable sacrifice, a perfect, a pure sacrifice, the Lamb of
God, without spot and without blemish, but in order that that
Lamb should bear the sins of many. In His flesh He bore the
sins of His people. He was made sin. That caused
His death. He was not spared death. Like
David, he went the way of all the earth. Not because he deserved
it as David did, as you and I do, but because he took in substitution
his people's sins. He stood in their place. He stood
as their representative. He stood as our substitute. And
he said unto God the Father, lay their sins upon me that they
should go free and I should die, that they should live. Yes, he
was made sin. In his flesh he died. That sinners
like you and I, that sinners like David, should live. Before the day of David's death
came though, there was a challenge to his throne. David had previously
said that Solomon, his son by Bathsheba, should be king over
all Israel. But one of Solomon's brothers,
Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I will
be king. And he prepared him chariots
and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. And he slew sheep
and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoeleph, which is by
Enrogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons and all the men
of Judah the king's servants. that Nathan the prophet and Benaiah
and the mighty man and Solomon his brother he called not. He
set himself upon the throne. He made himself king. He found
those who would support him. And he usurped Solomon's position. He took the throne of David. He said in his heart, I will
be king. I will be king. He engineered
it. He used his own devices to bring
this to pass. He desired his own will, not
the will of his father. He desired his own glory. And
in his actions, we see a picture of us all. Of all who seek to
put themselves on the throne of God. Of all who say in their
hearts, I will be king. Firstly we see this in Satan
himself, in the serpent, in that angel who fell, who sought glory
and sought position and sought to put himself upon the throne
of God. God cast him out. So then he
tries to take man and lead man in the same pathway. He comes
subtly unto Adam and Eve in the garden and tempts them to eat
of the fruit of the tree that the Lord God had commanded that
they should not eat and he says unto them, you shall not surely
die. He said unto him that the Lord
had said that in the day that thou eatest of this tree, thou
shalt surely die. And he says, no, you shall not
surely die. Have God said. He deceives. He deceives and he says, no.
Do what you will. Go the way you want to go. You
won't die. So he puts a whisper in our own
hearts to cause each and every one of us to say in our hearts,
I will be king. I will choose. I will decide
my destiny. I will go my own way. I will
not bow to the will of God. I will not follow him. The throne
is mine. And yet all the whispers of Satan
do not spare the consequence of eating of that tree. In the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. We say
in our hearts, I will be king, and it's a path that leads to
destruction. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but it's a way that leads unto death. Yes, Adonijah
put himself upon the throne. He exalted himself. But it would
not stand. It would not be. It could not
be. David the king, the father, chose he should reign. And he chose Solomon. As we read in 1 Kings 30, Even
as I swear unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly
Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my
throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this day. Verse
34, And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint
him their king over Israel, and blow ye with the trumpet and
say, God save King Solomon. David chose his son. The father chose the son and
set him upon the throne. In this we see the electing grace
of God. Mankind by nature seeks to put
himself upon the throne. We may say in our hearts, I will
be king. We may in our pride and our arrogance
think that we determine what will be. Think that we can turn
our backs against God and make God out to be a liar. Think that
we can say of God that what he said is not true, it will not
come about. Think that we can exalt ourselves
over him. And yet God, rules and his sovereign. God chose his son Jesus Christ
and set him upon the throne and God chose a multitude of
people in Christ as his bride to live and to reign with him. Christ was the firstborn He is
the elect of God, chosen of God, anointed King and Saviour over
all the kingdom. He is crowned with all glory. He reigns over all things, beginning
and end, time and eternity. He is the beginning and the ending,
the Alpha and the Omega. He is over all, He rules over
all, every nation, every people, every tribe. He is the one who
rules this day, over every hour, every moment, every action. He is the Son whom the Father
has chosen. And no Adonijah, no sinner that
says, I will be king, will sit upon the throne, except God,
in grace and mercy, looks upon them in his Son and says, you
will be his bride. As his people, his bride, are
chosen of God, elected by grace in him, everyone who comes to
know the Son and praises the son and loves the son and serves
the son will reign with him. But those who say in their hearts,
I will be king, will find that the son, as Solomon did with
Adonijah, will choose what becomes of them. For initially, when
David put Solomon upon the throne had an idea of hearing of his
coronation, on hearing that Solomon reigned, feared greatly. We read in verse 50 that Adonijah feared because of Solomon
and arose and went and caught hold on the horns of the altar
and it was told Solomon saying behold Adonijah feareth King
Solomon for lo we have caught hold on the horns of the altar
saying let King Solomon swear unto me today that he will not
slay his servant with the sword Solomon had in his power the
authority and the reason to slay Adonijah for his treachery. Having
put himself upon his throne, Adonijah was worthy of death,
just like you and just like I. When we shake our fist in God's
face, we show forth our condemnation. But we see the great mercy of
God towards sinners in Solomon's initial response to his brother.
Solomon said, if he will show himself a worthy man, they shall
not in hair of him fall to the earth, but if weakness shall
be found in him, he shall die. So King Solomon sent, and they
brought him down from the altar, and he came and bowed himself
to King Solomon. And Solomon said unto him, go
to thine house. He showed him mercy. Adonijah
flew to the altar. He pled for mercy. And the son
Solomon, the king, was merciful. Now each and every one of us
has sought to place ourselves upon God's throne. We've said
in our hearts, I will be king. And there may come a time when
in the Gospel we discover that what we've done in our heart
has brought us under condemnation. God by the Spirit may come unto
us and begin to show us what we are and just how grievously
we have sinned. That all those things we've done
and thought and said which once upon a time we thought was acceptable,
righteous even, He begins to show us the iniquity of it all. And when He shakes us and causes
us to see just what we've done, just how hateful we have been
to His Son, to the Son of God, to Jesus Christ, just how we've
despised Him, how our sins crucified him. How we in our heart in saying,
I will be king in his place, took the rightful king and we
nailed him to a tree and slew him and said, away with this
man. We will not have him to reign over us. We took the king
of whom Solomon's a picture. We took Christ and we slew him
because we wanted to be king. Our sins crucified Him, we spat
upon Him, we bruised Him, we despised Him. And should God show us that we've
done this, and put an alarm in our hearts,
and cause us to cry out unto God for mercy, If we are brought
to our knees and say, Lord, I have sinned against Thee and Thee
only have I sinned, like as David prayed. If we plea for mercy,
then God is gracious. Lord Jesus Christ will say unto
us, go to thine house. Come down. Fear not. But Adonijah, despite being shown
mercy, went too far. And we can hear the gospel, and
we can hear of Jesus Christ, and we can hear of his grace
and his mercy, and still despise. Still our hearts are seeking,
one way or another, in one fashion or another, to take what is rightfully
his. Still the cry is there, I will
be king, or I will have the kingdom, or I will take what I can, but
I will not bow to him. For later on in chapter two,
We read that Adonijah went too far. Being denied the throne,
he then sought, he contrived to have the maiden that was given
to David to have the Shunammite Abishag to be his wife. And he
went to his mother Bathsheba and pleaded that she should ask
the king if he could have Abishag to be his wife. And Bathsheba
went to Solomon But Abishak was consecrated to the king. There's
a picture of the church. She was a bride of Christ. Her
inheritance is connected with the king, his throne, his kingdom. And when Solomon heard the request
of Adonijah, he knew what this meant. This was Adonijah by sleight
of hand. by deceit seeking to lay his
hand upon that which belonged to the king and his kingdom. Adonijah's heart had not changed. He still wanted everything in
his power. He did not serve the king. He
would take from him. So Solomon commanded that Adonijah
must die. What is all this? It is a picture
of how Satan, being thwarted in his attempts to take God's
glory, God's throne, then attempts to steal away God's people. If he cannot be on the throne
himself, he'll come unto the bride and try to deceive her. He'll come unto Eve and say unto
her, have God said. He will have the heart of the
woman. He will seek to destroy and to
steal the heart of the bride. But she's consecrated to Christ. She's bought for his death. Through
his death he purchased her, he redeemed her, he ransomed her. Through his death he saved her,
he justified her, he sanctified her, he washed her clean, he
purified her. And through his death he gave
her his inheritance, his kingdom. And yet Satan will do all that
he can to steal her away from her Lord and Saviour. Oh, how
he whispers in our ears, come this way. Ye shall not surely
die. Oh, how he would steal her away.
But what does the son, the king, say of Satan's attempts to steal
his bride? What does Christ say? What does
he do? Like Solomon, the king, the son.
He says, surely this day he must die. Satan must be destroyed,
and his ends must be brought to an end. And that's what Christ
did upon the cross. Satan bruised his heel, but Christ
crushed the serpent's head. It took Christ's death to destroy
Satan. It took Christ giving himself
in death to take away Satan's claim upon Christ's bride. And yet by giving himself upon
the cross for her, Christ slew Satan forevermore. Where is your heart? Are you
still crying out, I will be king? even though God shows you mercy,
even though God might come unto you in the gospel and make his
truth known unto you, even though he might point you unto Christ
the true King, even though he might say this is your King,
this is the Saviour of sinners, flee unto him, even though he
might show his love and his mercy and display it to you, do you
say no, I will be King. And do you try to come unto others
and say, no, come this way and steal the bride from her husband? The end of Adonijah was solemn
indeed. He would not heed. He would not
hear. He was not thankful for the mercy
he received. Still he pursued his ends. But
David, put Solomon upon his throne and in chapter 2 we read of how
David spake under Solomon commanded him in his rule and then finally
he laid down his head and died. So David slept with his fathers
and was buried in the city of David and the days that David
reigned over Israel were forty years. Seven years reigned he
in Hebron and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. Oh the depths and the meaning
in just these few words. What a reign David had. Forty
years in entirety. Seven years in Hebron, 33 in
Jerusalem. 40 years, a period of testing,
a period of trying. Like Israel, 40 years in the
wilderness. 40 years David reigned. A reign
that was well tried, well proven, well pleasing unto God. divided
into seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. Hebron in Judah, that place where
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the patriarchs dwelt, that place
where Abraham was buried in the cave of Hebron. David reigned
for seven years, a perfect reign in the place of his fathers. And then coming unto Jerusalem,
into Zion, the capital of Israel, into Zion, Jerusalem, he reigned
for 33 years. Typical of Christ, his savior,
who walked himself upon this earth for 33 years, leading unto
his death. So David slept. with his fathers. Then sat Solomon upon the throne
of David his father, and his kingdom was established greatly. The father David said, Solomon
shall reign upon my throne. God the father, says Christ,
shall reign upon my throne. and his kingdom will be forever. His kingdom shall be forever. How we see in Solomon's coronation,
his anointing, his ascent to the throne, the establishment
of his kingdom, how we see the hand of God upon him, all this
is God's doing. God is sovereign, he rules over
all, he establishes his kingdom, he brings about his eternal purposes
in spite of all that man may do. In spite of all man's sin
and rebellion, and all that Satan attempts to do, nothing can thwart
God's will. Nothing that you or I can do
will alter God's purposes. Nothing that you or I can do
will affect the establishment of His heavenly kingdom. God purposed that Solomon should
reign. And he declared that Christ of
whom Solomon is but a picture, should reign, and his kingdom
shall be established greatly. His kingdom shall know no end. His kingdom shall be forever.
Do you know this king? Do you know his reign? Do you
know his glory? Do you know his sacrifice? Have
you beheld him in his death? Notice in Solomon's rise to the
throne the intervention of Nathan and Zadok the priest and the
other mighty men. In various places they are mentioned.
Nathan, that prophet of God that once came unto David when David
sinned over Bathsheba and said unto him, David thou art the
man. You're the sinner in all of this. He addressed him to his face. Oh, how we need a prophet like
Nathan to come unto us. How we need God by His Spirit
to come by His prophet, to come in Christ and to address us and
say, it's not others. It's not that person, that thought. Don't point the finger to others. This is between you and me. Thou
art the man. You are the sinner. You're the
one in need of redemption. Yes, the prophet and the priest
come to the king to bring about God's purposes in righteousness. In righteousness. A priest must
offer a sacrifice for sin. And God in Christ, our great
high priest, came and gave himself as the sacrifice for sin. He offered himself. He was both
the priest and the sacrifice. He shed his own blood. to bring
in righteousness for a sinful people like you and I. And having at the cross offered
himself bringing in a great victory over sin. Having died, having
risen again, having ascended, having saved His bride, He now
sits upon His throne, He now sits upon His throne in glory
above. And as The Prophet, as The Prophet,
He preaches today, throughout all time, throughout all the
earth, His Gospel. the gospel of the kingdom, declaring
his throne, his reign, his kingdom, his salvation. And by this he
establishes his kingdom greatly. But have you heard? Have you
heard this king from his throne? Have you heard of his glory?
Have you heard of his sacrifice? Have you heard of his great love
and mercy for sinners like you and I? Have you, like Adonijah,
sought to put yourself upon his throne? Have you said, I will
be king? Has he come unto you and said,
I am king. Thou art the man. You are the
one that put yourself upon my throne. You're the one that sought
to destroy me. Thou art the man. Has he brought
you to cry out for mercy? Has he brought you to cry out
for mercy? Or will you yet persist? Will you yet turn the hearts
of others from Christ? Will you follow in Adonijah's
folly? Or will you follow Solomon's
wisdom? Will you follow the wisdom of
God in Jesus Christ? Will you cry out unto him for
mercy? Has he looked upon you and said
unto you, go to thine house, come into glory, be washed of
your sins, be my bride?