I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn back to 2 Samuel. I just happened to see
2 Chronicles as I was turning, just before Kings. 2 Samuel 24. I'm going to be looking at verses
15 to 25, but before we look at them, let's ask our Lord's
blessing. Our Father, as we call upon You
this evening, we thank You for this night that You have given
us. Thank You that we can come and worship. Lord, I pray for
these that have been mentioned, those that are sick. I pray for
Carl, and we pray for Mark, and Sandy, and Jean Humphrey, and
Carol's sister. Lord, those that are recuperating,
Pray for Patti as she is healing and others. I pray that You would
bless our congregation as You have. Lord, thank You for Your
mercy. Bless Your Word tonight. Forgive us for Christ's sake.
Amen. The Lord established back in
the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, you turn to Exodus
30, The Lord established the manner in which a census would
be taken in Israel. Exodus chapter 30, and I'm going
to look, just read verses 11 to 15. And this was God's law
concerning the taking. Exodus 30, starting in verse
11, Scripture declares in the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children
of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man
a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numberest them,
that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give every one
that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel,
after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is twenty giras, and
half a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone that passeth
among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above
shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give
more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel
when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement
for your souls." Now, when a census was taken, this was the way that
it was to be. Every person in Israel that was
counted, 20 years old and above, they were going to have to give
a half a shekel of money. The person that was counted had
to give an offering unto the Lord. And the Scripture sets
forth that that half shekel When they took that census that was
given, it was going to be a ransom for his soul. Now, obviously,
we know that our souls are not redeemed by money. 1 Peter 1.18 says, For as much
as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." But when the
children of Israel were counted, and it's the children of Israel
only that this pertained to, this was God's law to His people. Israel is a type of God's spiritual
Israel, and the half-shekel payment That every person, whether they're
rich, whether they're old, everybody paid the same amount, same piece
of money, half a shekel. And that piece of money was typical
of two different things. Number one, first of all, that
offering that was given when they took a census. First of
all, here's what we know. God's elect are a numbered people. They have been chosen by Almighty
God from before the foundation of the world that they should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. They are a counted
people. They would take a census. They
were counted. And you pay this piece of money. And their names, all of God's
people, they're all written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world, and they're known of God. held
in His hand, and they are precious, being found in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So when they took a census, that's
what it said. God's people are a numbered people. God knows
who they are. But secondly, the amount that
was given. That half a shekel, 20 years
old and above, the rich didn't give more than the poor. If you
were filthy rich, you gave a half a shekel. If you didn't have
hardly any money whatsoever, you gave a half a shekel, and
here's what it is. That typified that the price
of redemption of God's people is the same, rich or poor. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nobody paid more and said, well,
it took more to redeem me than you. No. Everybody's redeemed
by the blood. Now, failure. to obey God's law. Failure to do this brought on
God's judgment. What it says right there, it
says in verse 12. I'll read it again. Let me turn
back. Exodus 30, verse 12. When thou takest the sum of the
children of Israel after their number, then shall they give
every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numbers
them, that there be no plague among them. when thou number'st
them." Failure to pay brought on God's judgment. Now listen,
here's the thing we know. Hebrews 10, 28, 29, He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
How much sorer a punishment, suppose ye, that he be thought
worthy who hath trodden under the foot of the Son of God, and
hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified
an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace."
Here's what he was saying. If the types and the figures
of redemption was despised and rejected, what Paul was saying
under the Spirit of God is this, what do you think is going to
happen to those that actually reject? the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God sent a plague for rejecting
the picture. He will reject a man that rejects
his son. So from our study last week,
we noticed that David did something that God Almighty did not approve. Scripture says forth that the
Lord allowed Satan to move David to number Israel and Judah. Now, obviously, it wasn't what
David did, but why he did it. God made allowances for taking
a census. You take a census, you count
the people, there's going to be an offering given. Failure
to give that offering is going to bring judgment. God sent a
plague. Why? because what they were doing
is they counted not even the type of the blood redemption
by the Lord Jesus Christ to be a precious thing. That payment,
the payment was a picture of Christ's payment. And to not
pay it, God sent judgment. Now, what David did was he took
census. Now, here's the thing. Almighty
God allows, at least until the day of judgment often, this world
to do what he will not allow his people to do. You remember
Augustus Caesar? You remember when Augustus Caesar
passed this ruling that the whole world, over his domain there,
was going to be taxed? Well, what that was, they were
going to take a census. They were going to count off,
and everybody had to go back to where they were from. That's
why Joseph and Mary was going to have to go back to where they
were, and this, that, and the other. They were going to have
a census. Now, Augustus Caesar was doing
exactly what he wanted to do, fulfilling the will of God. But because Augustus Caesar wanted
to count the people for his pleasure and for his information, for
his pride, because he wanted to do that, Almighty God didn't
immediately punish him. But when David wanted to do it,
that's when there was a problem. Remember Joab? It says when Joab
gave David the sum of the number, he told him, he said, I want
you to go out. And Joab told him, he said, oh, King, I wouldn't
do that. I pray the Lord increase the
number 100 fold. But to do this thing, David said,
you go and number the people. And he went out. And he did exactly,
I'm back in 2 Samuel now 24, he did just exactly what the
king wanted him to do. But here was the reason that
David wanted to do it. 2 Samuel 24 verse 2, For the
king said to Joab the captain of the host which was with him,
Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba,
and number ye the people. And here's the reason, that I
may know the number of the people. That was his reason. I want to
know how many I got. I want to know what the sum is.
Verse 9 here in 2 Samuel 24 said, So Joab gave up the sum of the
number of the people unto the king. And there were in Israel
800,000 valiant men that drew the sword, and the men of Judah
were 500,000 men. What David wanted was How many soldiers do I have? Did you catch that? In verse
9, there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew the sword. How big is my army? How many
mighty, valiant men do I have? And Joab brought him the number
back and said, this is how strong your army is. And the Scripture
says, as soon, verse 10, as David heard that number, David's heart
smote him after he had numbered the people. And he said unto
the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done, and now
I beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant,
for I have done very foolishly. God sent His Word to David by
Gad. David's seer, a prophet. Gad
told David, he said, the Lord said, there's going to be seven
years of famine. There's going to be three months
fleeing from your enemies or three days pestilence. You choose. You choose whatever you want
for disobeying me. And he confessed. He said, I'm
in a great strait. I'm in trouble. I don't want
to make the call. Let us fall now into the hands
of the Lord. And here is where we pick up
from last week. Verse 15 and 16, So the Lord
sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the
time appointed. And there were of the people
from Dan even to Beersheba 70,000 men. If there died, I'm sorry, of
the people, from Dan even to Beersheba, 70,000 men, and when
the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it,
the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that
destroyed the people, it is enough. Stay now thine hand, and the
angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Aaronah the
Jebusite." Now, it's not It's not easily discerned exactly
how long this pestilence lasted. It may have been and probably
was, exactly as God said, three days. Some say that when it says
from morning even to the time appointed, it may have been less
than three days. But whatever the time was, the
Scripture sets forth that Almighty God sent judgment. There's no
mention of any shekels being paid. There was no mention of
David adhering to the Lord's law and rule. And Almighty God
set the plague that He had promised that He would because of the
lack of respect given to the Lord Jesus Christ in type and
sent this plague and the scripture says, of the men from Dan even
to Beersheba." That was the realm that David told Joab to go and
count. I want you to go from Dan to
Beersheba and tell me how many valiant men do I have? How many
do I have? He came back and told him. As
soon as he did, David's heart smote him. And out of all the
number that David had numbered, God killed 70,000 of them. He said, this is what you put
your trust in. This is what you look to for
your strength. And God killed 70,000 of those
that David had trusted in. Now, the marvel of this blessed
passage of Scripture that we just read, 1516, is what happened
when this angel that was going through and killing people, when
he came to this certain spot, the Lord said, That's enough.
The Scripture says, When the angel stretched out his hand
upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the
evil and told the angel, That's enough. Stay now thine hand. And where
he was was a precious place. It was called the threshing place
of Aaronah, the Jebusite. Let me read something to you
out of 2 Chronicles chapter 3 of this account, another account
out of 2 Chronicles chapter 3. And this is talking about what
was this place, this threshing place of Aronah, the Jebusite. 2 Chronicles 3 verse 1, Then
Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount
Moriah. where the Lord appeared unto
David his father in the place that David had prepared in the
threshing-floor of Oran." That is Arona, the Jebusite. At this threshing place, it was
on top of Mount Moriah. And also on Mount Moriah, the
Scripture reveals that that is where Solomon began to build
the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was right here on top
of where this Aronah's threshing place was located. He had him
a business going here. He had him a threshing place
of grain and things like that. He had all of it built nice.
It was set in exactly where Abraham took his son Isaac and went up. where the Lord told Abraham,
I want you to take your son, your only son, and I want you
to go to the place that I'm going to show you. Scripture says that
he left and three days later he saw the place. God said, this
is it. You remember the story. Abraham and Isaac went up and
Isaac says, here's the fire and here's the wood. Where's the
lamb? God will provide himself a lamb. That was the place that Solomon
built Jerusalem, the temple there in Jerusalem. But do you know
what else happened right outside the gate of Jerusalem? That's
where the Lord Jesus Christ's blood was shed. This was a precious place. This
was a precious place. David had sinned against God. And right in this place, in the
place called the threshing place of Arona, Mount Moriah, the very
place where Solomon built the house of God, the temple, right
in the place where the ark was going to be in that temple, there
is the mercy seat. Right in that place, Abraham
and Isaac, can you imagine what happened at that particular place? Almighty God When that angel
came and had been killing the people, he came to that spot.
And he was right there at Jerusalem, Mount Moriah, the threshing place
of Aaronai. And the Lord said, It's enough.
It's enough. Stay your hand. I think upon that which Almighty
God saw before the foundation of the world. The Lamb slain. Listen to David. Verse 17, David
spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people
and said, Lo, I have sinned. He knew. He knew. What he had
done was out of pride and arrogance. It wasn't for the glory of God,
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've done wickedly. But these
sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee,
be against me and against my father's house." Here's David. I want you to listen to the significance
of what's going on. Here's David, a man that truly
has sinned against God. But let me ask you this. Do we
not see the Lord Jesus Christ as a type, David in type of the
Lord Jesus Himself The Lord of Glory, who said of Himself, being
the divine substitute of His sheep, here's what He said. David
said, I've sinned against God. I did this. What did these sheep
do? What did these people, these
70,000, what have they done? What did they do? I did it. I'm
the one. But listen to what the Lord said
in prophecy. Psalm 40, verse 12, "...for innumerable
evils have encompassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." Truly,
the Lord of glory, He who knew no sin was made sin. David said, I have sinned. The Lord was made sin. Almighty
God, where sin was found of the Lord Jesus Christ, judgment fell. David said, listen to these words
of intercession from David. But these sheep, what have they
done? Let thine hand, I pray thee,
be against me and against my father's house. Hold your place
right there and turn to John 18. John 18. John 18, verse 4. John 18, verse 4, Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and
said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then
asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am He. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. You want me? You leave these
alone. What did David say? What have these sheep done? Let
thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house. Back in 2 Samuel 24, This place
right here, the threshing place of Arona, this place upon which
Abraham placed Isaac. Remember the ram caught in the
thicket. There was substitution. There
was deliverance. There was a picture of Christ
raised from the dead. There's where the temple is going
to be. There's the Ark of the Covenant. There's where the place
where God's going to meet with his people between the cherubim
In that place right there, that place, Almighty God said, it's
enough. Christ cried from the cross,
it's finished. He cried in His high priestly
prayer, Father, I've finished the work that Thou has given
me. It's enough. Do we not hear the precious words
from the heart of the Savior of sinners? The Good Shepherd
who laid down His life for the sheep. The Lord of Glory who
suffered in the stead of His people that they might go free.
The One who prayed, Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son
that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Father, for the reason
that I came into this world to redeem, to suffer in the stead
of, those that You gave Me, coming into this world as Your Lamb,
as their surety. Father, for the reason I came
into this world, the hour has come. Glorify Me that Thy Son
may glorify Thee." Truly, David, as a type of our Lord, displayed
his love and care for his people. 2 Samuel 24 verse 18, And Gad
came that day to David and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar
unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Arona the Jebusite. Now here is the Lord revealed
through His prophet. What is it going to take for
the appeasement of rebellion? What's it going to take for the
appeasement of sin? Here's what it's going to take.
It's going to have to be a sacrifice. There's going to have to be an
altar. David, you go rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing
floor of Aaronah, the Jebusite. What sacrifice but the precious
and glorious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured
here? The amazement of this passage
is that the Lord was said back in 16, whenever the angel had
come to Jerusalem and was going to destroy Jerusalem. That's what it says, when the
angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it. Now, here's Jerusalem as a picture
of who? The city of God. the heavenly
Jerusalem, the church, the bride, God's elect, God's chosen, God's
people, those who are the apples, the objects of His eye, His affection
being found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever the angel stretched
out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord said, it's
enough. Not them. Not them. What's it going to take? It's
going to take an altar. It's going to take sacrifice.
The Lord set forth back in 16 that it was enough before He
ever sent Gad in 18 to go tell David, you have to go build an
altar. The Lord stopped him. Why? Because Almighty God saw, again,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Almighty God beheld
the satisfaction that was due to the transgression of David
and Israel before He ever revealed to them, before we ever know
it. God Almighty, before He ever created us, there was a Savior. Before He ever breathed the breath
of life into Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as the surety of
His people. Let's just read verses 19 to
24. And David, according to the saying
of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Aaronah looked and saw the
king and his servants coming on toward him. And Aaronah went
out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the
ground. And Aaronah said, Wherefore? is my Lord the King come to his
servant.' And David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee,
to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed
from the people. And Aaron said unto David, Let
my Lord the King take up and offer up what seemeth good unto
him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt
sacrifice, and threshing instruments, other instruments of the oxen
for wood, all these things did Aaronai as a king give unto the
king. And Aaronai said unto the king,
The Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Aaronai,
Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will
I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which
doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing
floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. Now, you know,
in our day and age, somebody come and tell somebody, I'm going
to do something. I'm going to build a building
here. I'm going to do something for the church. You know, we're going
to do this, that, and the other. And say, well, if it's going
to be for the church, we'll just donate it. We'll just give it
to you. No charge on that. And you know,
probably knowing how we are by nature, say, oh, my, what a blessing. The Lord has just blessed and
just opened up all the doors of heaven. And look, He's just
given us everything. We've got it all right here.
The Lord has truly blessed us. David said, No. No. Absolutely not. 1 Chronicles
21-24 of this account says this concerning the purchase of this
particular threshing floor. Here's what David said, But I
will surely buy it for the full price. For I will not take that
which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without
a cost." Almighty God is going to have mercy upon whom He will
have mercy. Almighty God is a just God, and
justice must be served. But for God to show mercy, there
is going to have to be an altar built. There is going to have
to be a sacrifice offered for peace and pardon and safety from
ruin and destruction. For God's elect, that which is
deserved because of their sin, Almighty God is going to have
to please Himself. And there's one that can please
Almighty God, and it's Almighty God. Orona was willing to give
the threshing floor, the oxen, to David for nothing. But David
said no. As a beautiful picture of the
price that was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ, David said no. I'm going to give you the full
price. I'm going to give you everything that it's worth. What did our precious Lord give? He gave Himself. He said, ìGreater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.î
He said, ìYouíre my friends, if you do that which I have commanded
you.î Oronah said, ìIíll give it to you. Iíll give you the
oxen. Iíll give you the wood. Iíll
give you the land, whatever. Iíll give it all to you.î David
said, ìNo. There's not going to be any boasting
on your part. Man's not going to have any glory
in this, Neil. Orona's not going to say, well,
I just wanted to let you know. I don't want to, you know, say
anything. But I did donate all of that. I gave the land. That was mine. And I donated it. David says,
no. I'm going to pay you every cent.
What that land right there. is worth, I'm not going to have
any boasting on your part. You're not going to say, I made
the sacrifice possible. No. All the honor and glory and
praise is going to be to God Almighty, to the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The high and full price is what's
going to be paid for me. What was that full price? Well,
the Scripture sets forth it was 50 shekels of silver. That was the full price of what
was the high cost of free grace. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And David, verse 25, built there
an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
So the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed. from Israel. Do you catch that?
From Israel. Two offerings, David offered.
He came to the place of God's choosing, the threshing place
of Arona, the place Mount Moriah, the place where the temple was
built, the place just outside the gate where the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ was shed. For that reason right there,
for the blood, God Almighty said it's enough. It's enough. That's
enough. I'm satisfied with that. That's
enough. And David offered two offerings. He offered a burnt offering,
setting forth the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, who put
away our sins by His own blood. He willingly laid down. That's
what the burnt offering was. It was a sweet, savor offering
offered unto God, setting forth the willingness and the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the other was a peace offering,
that peace offering which is a beautiful picture of Christ,
our reconciliation before God Almighty. What was the cost of
free grace? It was a high price. It cost
the blood, Acts says, of God Almighty, the blood of God. May the Lord bless the Word to
our hearts this evening.